Flynn refuses to apologise for failed libel case
Independent Mayo TD Beverley Flynn today refused to apologise over a failed multi-million euro libel case against RTÉ.
It is believed the politician, who was expelled from the Fianna Fail party, has agreed with the station to pay back less than half of the €2.8m legal fees she owes.
She also insisted she would pay off the €1.3m debt from her own personal funds even though friends and family had offered to help.
The daughter of former Government Minister Padraig Flynn has been tipped by the Taoiseach to become a junior office holder during the current administration.
The TD lost her action against RTÉ in the High Court and later in the Supreme Court in 2001. The broadcaster had claimed she assisted clients of National Irish Bank (NIB) to evade tax.
But Ms Flynn said today: “I don’t believe I have (anything to apologise for). I’ve put everything I have personally on the line to defend that position.
“The reality is that thousands and thousands of bank officials throughout the country, we’ve all worked for banks, followed bank policy, we didn’t make the policy.
“Some of them in fact work for RTÉ and are broadcasters, did similar jobs to what I did and sold policies very similar to what I did.
“I seem to have been singled out for attention that other people weren’t singled out for,” she told RTÉ Radio.
The TD said nobody had brought criminal charges against her on the issue and that she was fully tax compliant.
She also claimed she was “scapegoated” by the banking sector and the victim of unfair media coverage.
“I worked for the bank and I feel to be quite honest with you, maybe over the years, that I have been singled out and in some ways scapegoated for what, in effect, was bank policy. I never believed I did anything wrong. I have always believed that I have worked within the law. I fought that case because I 100% believe it and that is the position.”
She added: “There has been a lot written about me over the years that hasn’t been accurate and I don’t believe reflects correctly on me as a person.”
She also said she would foot the bill herself, and did not want her relatives to “shell out”, even though they had offered to do so.
“My entire income over the rest of my life is going to be caught up in paying this.
“The reality is that it is my responsibility and I intend to settle the bill on a personal level from my own resources.”
