The former Taoiseach, Mr Albert Reynolds, won an important victory in his long-running legal action against the Sunday Times yesterday when the House of Lords ruled by a 3-2 majority that the newspaper could not claim qualified privilege as a defence in any future retrial arising from the original libel case brought against it by Mr Reynolds.
Mr Reynolds emerged from the House of Lords with his daughters, Miriam and Andrea, saying he had "never considered giving up at all" and he looked forward to the retrial, which could be in six to eight months.
"I came here as an optimist. I am still an optimist, and I think my confidence has proved correct up to now . . . I was serious about this from day one. I believed I could win at the end," he said.
Asked if he would accept an offer to settle the case if one were made by the Sunday Times, Mr Reynolds appeared to leave the door open saying: "We'll always talk."
The Sunday Times began its legal challenge after the jury in the original libel case in 1996 found Mr Reynolds was libelled in an article that appeared in the newspaper's English, Scottish and Welsh editions in November 1994.
However, the article that appeared in the Irish edition was published under the title "House of Cards" and differed in a number of significant areas from the British editions.
The Sunday Times argued unsuccessfully in the Court of Appeal last year - ahead of the House of Lords ruling on the same legal issue - that the Irish article was justified on the grounds of qualified privilege. The newspaper claimed that it could publish facts and the public had a right to receive facts provided they were not published with malice or recklessness.
In a statement, the Sunday Times said it was disappointed by the ruling and reserved its right to appeal the decision in the European Court of Human Rights.