Mayo TD Ms Beverley Cooper-Flynn broke down in tears at the High Court yesterday while being asked about a letter from RTE journalist Charlie Bird which was delivered to her room in a Co Cavan hotel.
Mr Justice Morris, President of the High Court, adjourned the hearing for about 10 minutes to allow Ms Cooper-Flynn to compose herself. The letter from Mr Bird said RTE News was investigating the operation of National Irish Bank CMI offshore investment schemes. It concluded by saying RTE was planning to broadcast a report based on its investigations within the next 48 hours. It added that it was anxious to interview Ms Cooper-Flynn and to give her an opportunity to respond to what NIB customers had said.
On June 18th, 1998, when she was leaving Leinster House, Ms Cooper-Flynn said she got a call on her mobile phone from Mr Bird. She was on her way to a Fianna Fail parliamentary party meeting in the Slieve Russell Hotel. Mr Bird said he wanted to fax her a letter and asked if she was near a fax machine. She asked what the letter was about and he said there was a number of allegations from people she did business with through NIB. She was at Leinster House and said she would talk later. Mr Bird said there were allegations in the letter but he would not identify his sources. When she was passing through Dunshaughlin 45 minutes later, Mr Bird called her and asked if she had arrived yet.
He said he wanted to give her the letter and got irate. She told him there was no point sending her such a letter. He said his bosses in RTE insisted he give her the letter and, if he had to, he would drive to the Slieve Russell. She said she could not stop him. Mr Bird said he thought she might do him the courtesy of saving him a journey to the Slieve Russell.
Ms Cooper-Flynn said she asked for the identity of persons making allegations. Mr Bird then got "hot and bothered" and started to read pieces of the letter in a disjointed fashion, she said. He said RTE was going to broadcast anyhow. She said: "Do what you have to do." He did not say when the broadcast was going to be. The conversation was short and heated. Mr Bird was very annoyed that she was not in a position to assist him.
She arrived at the Slieve Russell at 3 p.m. She was at the meeting until 7 p.m. and at 8 p.m. there was dinner. She heard Mr Bird had been in the foyer and, apparently because of time constraints, he had to leave before 7 p.m. When she awoke next morning, a letter had been pushed under her door. She was shocked when she read it and could not identify the people mentioned.
Ms Cooper-Flynn began to cry and the hearing adjourned.
When it resumed, she said that after she got the letter, she contacted her family and her parents who were out of the country. This was at 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. When she went into the foyer of the hotel, she saw the lead story in the Irish Independent by Sam Smyth was headed: "Flynn's TD daughter is facing bank tax grill." This was published before there was any RTE broadcast and was the source of some discussion at the meeting.
Ms Cooper-Flynn said she watched the broadcast on RTE at 6 p.m. that day with her solicitor. She said she was shocked and "devastated really by it".
She said the conversation which a farmer claimed during the broadcast to have had with her had never happened. She did not know him and had never made a call to him.
She watched the 9 p.m. news that Friday night where it was again the lead item. Next day, the story was the main front page lead in each of the three daily papers. She attended several of her clinics and felt everyone was looking at her. It was a horrible weekend. On the Monday, she found out that the farmer's name was James Howard. She did not sell Mr Howard a CMI personal portfolio.
The hearing continues today.