Before retiring to decide on the amount of damages, the jury yesterday heard closing speeches from both sides.
Eoin McCullough SC, for the Mirror Group, urged the jury to bring in extremely small damages. He asked the jury to reflect on the nature of a mountainside conversation between Denis O'Brien and the then Esat CEO Barry Maloney in 1996 where it was alleged Mr O'Brien had said he had paid £100,000 each to then communications minister Michael Lowry and an unnamed person. Mr O'Brien had denied saying that.
"If you conclude what Denis O'Brien meant was he made an improper payment in connection with the licence, then it is going to be very difficult to conclude he is entitled to damages," Mr McCullough said.
The conversation might have been different if the two people involved were not who they were, and it could not be ignored as a joke, counsel added.
As regards a possible payment to charity from the award, Mr McCullough said the case should not be assessed in that context.
Hugh Mohan SC, for Mr O'Brien, said the Mirror Group had sought to complicate what was a simple case. Mr O'Brien was given the "full treatment" by the Irish Mirror and there had not been one syllable of regret or apology.
Mr O'Brien did not deserve the treatment he got in the form of cross-examination by the Mirror Group, Mr Mohan said. There was no suggestion Mr O'Brien is corrupt or involved in corrupt practices, he stressed.
"He has been a very successful and wealthy man. What he has got in life he has earned. He has not got it through corruption or bribery."