Mick Galwey says article calling Senator Paudie Coffey a 'robber' was a 'complete joke'

The court has heard the article arose out of controversy over proposals to extend the Waterford boundary into Kilkenny which Sen Phelan, who is from Waterford, supported but which is strongly opposed by Kilkenny People.

The article quoted verbatim a press release from Sen Coffey's Kilkenny FG colleague, John Paul Phelan TD, who claimed the then Deputy and minister Coffey was trying to rob part of Kilkenny with the support of then Environment Minister Alan Kelly.

Deputy Phelan said an 18th century highwayman who hid in the Comeragh Mountains was known as "Crotty the Robber" and his colleague was now "Coffey the Robber", which was the headline used for the article.

The article was first brought to Sen Coffey's attention by a cousin who received an email from mutual friend Mick Galwey with a picture of the newspaper page and the comment: "Is this the best headline ever in the Kilkenny People this week, class, not even the Bomber will get ye out of this!!!!!!"

Sen Coffey also complained Mr Galwey used the words "here comes Coffey the robber" when the pair met among friends at a Thomond Park rugby match subsequently. It was that incident which finally prompted him to bring legal proceedings.

At the end of day long cross-examination by Rossa Fanning SC, for Iconic, today counsel put to Senator Coffey that Mr Galwey will say "he took it as a complete joke".

Sen Coffey replied: "I did not take it as a joke when my name was called out in a crowded area and my name was being pulled into the muck".

Counsel showed the court a photo of Mr Galwey at that same rugby match with Mr Galwey in the middle and his arms around Sen Coffey and the senator's cousin

When counsel put it to him it didn't look like Mr Galwey didn't want to be associated with him and would say it was "all banter", Sen Coffey replied that it was causing hurt to him.

"I want to suggest all this meant you are taking it all too seriously and taking yourself too seriously," counsel said.

Sen Coffey said he thought that unfair. "You might think its a joke and Mick Galwey might think it a joke.

"The match where that photo was taken was just one of many incidents where people consistently referred to me as a robber as a result of that article and I was highly embarrassed".

Although he "laughed off" the Galwey remark, it was after that weekend he decided to do something about it following a number of similar incidents at other sporting and social events.

He said he was a long time in politics and could take criticism but any reasonable person would see this article was damaging and was continuing to damage him.

He might have got three words wrong in one of his own press releases about a boundary commission set up to look at the Kilkenny/Waterford issue, but that did not mean "for the rest of my life my name is garbage" because of the unprofessional way a newspaper dealt with another politician's opinion.

Becoming emotional he said: "I am putting everything on the line here but I am going to fight for my good name".

Waving his finger towards Mr Fanning, he added: "And you can look me in the eye, barrister, but I will fight for my good name."

Earlier, Sen Coffey accepted that he had "jumped the gun" when he issued a press release in June 2015, seven months before the Kilkenny People story, saying he had worked to establish the boundary commission. He said it was Minister Alan Kelly who set up the commission.

He accepted he may have overstated the matter but he did not intend to deliberately mislead anyone.

He accepted politicians are prone to exaggeration in an attempt to get attention.

He agreed when former minister Kelly recently compared the Government's strategic communications unit to the activities of Hitler's propaganda minister it caused a kerfuffle but he did not see the relevance to this case.

Asked did he know what Mr Kelly's nickname is, he replied he was "not into nicknames" and he was "not going to denigrate him, I know him as Alan Kelly".

Was it news to him that his nickname was AK-47, after a rifle. He replied: "I don't deal in nicknames."

The case continues.