AFTER 15 minutes of evidence yesterday afternoon, the hearing was adjourned for legal argument when Mr James Price QC, for Times Newspapers, asked the former Taoiseach, Mr Albert Reynolds, whether he had sued any Irish papers which had written critical articles about the fall of his government.
Referring to Mr Reynolds's earlier evidence to the jury that he normally relaxed with his family on Sundays and read the newspapers, Mr Price asked him whether he had read the Irish papers on November 20th, 1994, following his resignation as Taoiseach.
Mr Reynolds confirmed that he had purchased the Sunday Independent, Sunday Tribune, Sunday Press and Sunday Business Post that weekend, but had not read any of them, because the week had been "too traumatic".
"I wasn't very interested in the papers, certainly on that Sunday. I was more concerned in trying to come to grips with the trauma, as anybody would be if they had resigned as prime minister and leader of their party. It would have a traumatic effect on anybody and takes time to come to grips with," he said.
Alter agreeing that an article in the Sunday Independent, published on November 20th, 1994, was also "not very nice", Mr Reynolds told the jury that he had only actually read that article about four days ago and had consulted his solicitors over it.
Expressing surprise at this answer Mr Price requested that Mr Reynolds bring the legal correspondence relating to the Sunday Independent article to court today.
Mr Price: "You had the Sunday Independent article in your living room that very day. Two years have now gone by and nobody has drawn your attention to this article, which is far worse?"
Mr Reynolds confirmed that neither his friends nor his family had shown him the article. "They may well have been protecting me from more hurt. Nobody but nobody has pointed it out to me," he said.
After Mr Price requested that the Sunday Independent article be put before the jury, Lord Gareth Williams QC, representing Mr Reynolds, intervened. "I am at a loss to understand the purpose of this cross-examination. I object to material being brought in by a side wind," he said.
To which Mr Price replied: " I am putting my case fairly and squarely. The jury may have to assess whether they believe this witness when he says he first saw this article four to five days ago. It simply could not have escaped his notice . . . this is a critical point.
"The jury have been told that the Sunday Times is the only paper in the whole world that have made accusations against Mr Reynolds. I seek to correct that impression."
When Mr Justice French requested that the jury not look at the Sunday Independent article, Mr Price added: "It is worth bearing in mind that Lord (sic) Reynolds is seeking massive damages."
The jury then retired to allow the legal arguments to continue in their absence.