Reynolds wins round in retrail of libel case

By Andrew Bushe

DUBLIN — Former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds has won the latest round in a marathon libel battle against the Sunday Times of London and now plans to press ahead with his appeal against the first High Court decision.

Five British Law Lords decided by 3 to 2 to dismiss an appeal by the newspaper that an article about the fall of the government in 1994 was covered by qualified privilege.

The article at the center of the long-running row, headed "Good-bye Gombeen Man," was published in the British edition of the newspaper. A substantially different article was printed in the Irish edition.

The House of Lords ruled that the article which accused Reynolds of misleading the Dail about the controversy involving pedophile priest Fr. Brendan Smyth — who has since died in jail — was not in the public interest and could not be protected by the legal defense of qualified privilege.

The row was a central factor in the breakup of the Fianna Fail-Labor coalition at the time.

The former Taoiseach won a libel action against the newspaper in the London High Court in November 1994, but, when awarding damages after the seven-week trial, the London jury decided that his reputation was worth a penny and he therefore lost out on costs.

Last year, Reynolds — who is facing huge legal bills from the first trial — appealed the decision to the Court of Appeal and a retrial was ordered.

After the Lords verdict, Reynolds said he was delighted he had won "in the highest court in the land here."

"From here on in we have to get ready for the retrial. I would be confident, having the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords decisions behind me."

Asked about the risks of being hit for more costs from a retrial, Reynolds said, "I value my integrity. There was no way as Taoiseach na hEireann that I was going to stand by and let a paper call me a liar in front of the world.

"That would be undermining the whole office of taoiseach. I was not prepared to allow that to happen."