The former Labour Party leader, Mr Dick Spring, reacted to the Woodchester Bank loan controversy yesterday, saying the media had gone "to the dregs" in terms of its treatment of individuals connected with the affair.
Mr Spring, one of four guarantors of the £28,000 loan (including interest) and party leader in 1996 when the bank made a political donation to offset the debt, said he was taking legal advice on the way the matter was represented "in certain newspapers" last weekend. He said the presentation of the story suggested he did not repay his debts.
He believed the leaking of the story to the media was "an attempt to blacken my name and my colleagues' on a totally legitimate transaction".
He said the loan, taken out in 1994 to fund the unsuccessful European election campaign of former RTE reporter Ms Orla Guerin, would normally have been subsumed into the Labour Party finances after a period of time and would have been paid for through party fund-raising. It was a normal process to have named individuals as guarantors for such loans.
He did not request Woodchester Bank to offset a donation against the loan. He had asked the bank for a contribution to party political funds. The matter had been known for about two years in certain circles, he added.