THERE is a gombeen man in this case and his name is Fergus Finlay, Lord Gareth Williams QC, for Mr Albert Reynolds, said during his closing speech to the jury yesterday.
Lord Williams said it was Mr Finlay whose actions led to the fall of the Fianna Fail/Labour coalition. "Why did Spring leave the government?" he asked. "Who's looking for an excuse to bring down the government? And who made the phone call to Mr Spring? Do you reckon it was Mr Fly? If he'd just taken the short walk up there to swear on the book we could have asked him."
Mr Alan Ruddock's was the hand, but Fergus Finlay's was the knife which the Sunday Times stuck into Mr Reynolds's back. The newspaper decided to give "Albert Reynolds a kicking with the help of the Fergus Finlays of this world, lurking, as you know, behind a curtain".
Contrary to its complaints, the Sunday Times had a witness, he said, "and his name is Fergus Finlay, Mr Spring's spin doctor.
"The only person that Alan Ruddock went to was Fergus Finlay, a creature of Dick Spring.
"He is a programme manager, he is a fixer, he is an anonymous figure, he hides, he skulks in the dark. He wouldn't even put his name in the paper if he is accusing someone of lying should he not at least be up front about it?"
He asked the jury to remember what they learnt of Julius Caesar in school. " "`I came, I saw, I conquered.' He came. He was here while Mr Ruddock and Mr Witherow were giving evidence. It would be very wrong for me in a solemn court to say he did a runner. `I came, I heard, I ran away.'"
"He was here all Thursday. He was here on Friday and then he went. It is not true to say that he was not called because Mr Reynolds's witnesses were not called. Mr Reynolds finished his evidence on Wednesday.
"There are two possibilities: Fergus Finlay was afraid to give evidence in case the truth was got out of him; or the Sunday Times was afraid to call him because they were afraid the truth would be got out of him. Or both were afraid.
"You would not use the word chicken about them. Because that would be unfair. To chickens. They think they can play with people's lives and then not call one source."
It boiled down to a simple choice, he concluded: "On the one hand you've got Fergus Finlay's story, and on the other hand the enormous weight, power and experience of Vincent Browne's article."