THE journalist, Mr Vincent Browne, has revealed that he sought £200,000 from Mr Ben Dunne when he faced financial difficulties during his time as editor of the Sunday Tribune.
Mr Browne said the former chairman of Dunnes Stores was one of many businessmen with whom he discussed the possibility of an investment in 1992.
Mr Browne, now an Irish Times columnist and RTE radio chat show host, said he initially tried to sell shares in the Sunday Tribune to the supermarket magnate. But Mr Dunne suggested a loan, which would relieve Mr Browne of his financial difficulties.
The former editor said it had not occurred to him that the proposed loan would have allowed the financial arrangement to remain secret.
"It didn't cross my mind at the time," he said. "It wasn't a factor in the considerations."
Mr Browne said Mr Dunne apparently lost interest in the idea, as he never paid the money.
Mr Browne wrote this week in his Irish Times column that Mr John Bruton and Mr Alan Dukes were "debased" by accepting secret payments for Fine Gael from Mr Dunne. Asked if receiving money from Mr Dunne would have been debasing in his case, Mr Browne replied No.
Mr Browne said his paramount concern at the time was relieving the pressure of a bank debt.
He acknowledged that there were dangers when business people invested in newspapers, in that they could have a "disproportionate influence" on editorial policy. But he said that this had not happened during his tenure at the Sunday Tribune.
"In one instance, a director of the Tribune sued me and the paper for libel, and other share-holders threatened me on a number of occasions," he said.
In a statement released yesterday, Mr Browne explained that in 1988 or 1989, a shareholding in the Sunday Tribune was up for sale. Fearing that the shares could be sold to a director of Independent Newspapers, he and the Tribune chairman, Mr Gordon Colleary, secured a loan from Woodchester bank so that they could buy the stake, intending to sell it later.
"We failed to sell on those shares and by 1992 the interest payments on the loan were financially crippling," Mr Browne said. "We were informed indirectly that Ben Dunne might be interested in buying the shares from us and I met him in that connection."
Mr Browne said it was his preference that Mr Dunne buy the shares. Because Tribune was a public company, "that would have been entirely open and transparent".
However, Mr Dunne suggested a £200,000 loan, to be repaid from the proceeds of an anticipated victory for Mr Browne at the European Court of Justice, where he was seeking damages in the Ma gill TV Guide case.
"Ben Dunne asked for no favours or for any other consideration, apart from the commitment to repay the monies on the conclusion of the Ma gill TV Guide case," Mr Browne said. "In the event, no loan was made available to us."
Mr Browne said he was now issuing details of the proposed deal with Mr Dunne in response to questions from a journalist. But he added that he had never made any secret of the discussions, and had mentioned them to many people in the following years.