A high Court judge ruled yesterday that RTE journalist Charlie Bird may not see National Irish Bank documents in relation to a forthcoming action in which Fianna Fail TD Ms Beverly Cooper-Flynn is suing RTE and Mr Bird for libel.
The court was told NIB did not wish Mr Bird to have access to confidential files on customers.
Ms Cooper-Flynn, of Manor Village, Westport Road, Castlebar, claims that on six occasions between June and July 1998, words were used in RTE interviews which meant and were understood to mean she advised and induced Mr James Howard, of Acorn Way, Wheaton Hall, Drogheda, Co Louth, to evade paying tax by investing money in a particular way.
Earlier this year the High Court ordered NIB to produce documents for the hearing. The documents relate to any involvement by Ms Cooper-Flynn (who had been an employee of the bank) with customers of NIB in relation to Clerical Medical International (CMI) Personal Portfolio Investments.
Following a dispute with NIB, RTE and Mr Bird yesterday sought further orders about who should see the documents and whether NIB was entitled to mask out names in documents.
Mr John Trainor SC, for RTE and Mr Bird, read an extract from a television newscast of June 19th last year in which the newsreader Brian Dobson was quoted as saying: "A farmer who was brought into the National Irish Bank's controversial offshore investment scheme by Beverly Cooper-Flynn, now a Fianna Fail TD for Mayo, has told RTE news that Ms Cooper-Flynn advised him there was no need to avail of the tax amnesty.
"Other investors have also informed us that Ms Cooper-Flynn told them the taxman would never find out about their money if they put it in the Isle of Man."
In another TV bulletin of June 28th, 1998, Mr Trainor said RTE reporter Eileen Magner was quoted as saying: "Ms Cooper-Flynn has denied ever meeting a man whom she says claims in the newspaper report that she brought him into the NIB offshore investment scheme.
"The Mayo TD says the man made extremely damaging allegations about her personally and professionally and she and her family were deeply hurt. What was said was a tissue of lies and the resulting media exposure she claims portrayed her as a wrongdoer and a source of tension in Government."
Mr Trainor said Mr Bird should be allowed to see the documents, since he was also being sued by Ms Cooper-Flynn. Mr Richard Nesbitt SC, for NIB, said there was a duty imposed on the bank to protect the confidentiality of its customers. Its solicitors had proposed that the docu mentation should only be avail able for inspection to solicitors representing RTE and Mr Bird and their counsel.
NIB believed there was a real risk that Mr Bird could, either deliberately or inadvertently, use the information for a collateral purpose. This was particularly so since he continued to report on the investigations into NIB.
Mr Justice Johnson ordered that the documents be made available to Mr Howard's lawyers. Concerning Mr Bird, there were documents which might not be relevant at the present time for Mr Bird to see. In the event that his legal advisers believed it necessary that Mr Bird see the documents, the matter could come back before the court.
The judge said NIB documents could be shown to other persons for the purposes of obtaining legal advice. He held there was no reasonable grounds for masking the names of NIB employees.