FRANKLIN D Roosevelt once remarked that "the President of the United States does not sue for libel". It is an approach not favoured by Albert Reynolds.
In the past five years Mr Reynolds has taken at least five actions against newspapers and broadcasting organisations and agreed out of court settlements estimated to amount to more than £150,000 in damages.
His action against the Sunday Times is the first to have been fought in open court, but it was not the first case he took in Britain - nor was it his first against that newspaper.
The following is a breakdown of Mr Reynolds's cases:
. In April 1993, an action against the Sunday Times was settled on the day it was due to open in the High Court. The settlement was not disclosed, but was reported to be £50,000 to £60,000. Costs were awarded to Mr Reynolds and an apology was published. The action was provoked by a front page article on March 17th 1991, when Mr Reynolds was Minister for Finance.
A month after the settlement Mr Reynolds refused to confirm to the Dail the amount in damages he received. "I don't think anybody should worry about what I do in my private capacity," he said. "If people choose to write the truth about me they have nothing to worry about."
. In July this year, he accepted £10,000 and an apology from the publishers of the UK Guinness Book of Political Blunders. An offending chapter dealt with his appointment of Harry Whelehan as President of the High Court and the fall of the last government.
. Last month he settled an action against Radio Tara Ltd, trading as Atlantic 252, over a news report from December 1994. The settlement was reported to be £20,000.
. In the first of two actions against The Irish Times, Mr Reynolds sued over comments about his alleged conduct as Minister for Industry and Commerce. The action was settled in July 1992 when, in a confidential agreement, Mr Reynolds accepted payment for damages and costs, estimated to have totalled between £50,000 and £100,000.
. In his second action against The Irish Times, Mr Reynolds is understood to have accepted more modest damages believed to be between £10,000 and £20,000, for a report, which appeared in one edition only, in which his name was associated with Italian political scandals. This settlement, reached last February, was also confidential.
Other Irish publishers and broadcasters say they have received solicitors' letters from Mr Reynolds although these have not, to date, resulted in court actions.
Two of Mr Reynolds's daughters are suing Mirror Group Newspapers over an article written about the sale of the Mespil flats in Dublin. The case is not expected to be listed for hearing until next year.
