Independent Mayo TD Beverley Flynn says she has nothing to apologise for in relation to her failed libel case against RTÉ.
After she had confirmed that she had settled her €2.8 million bill with the State broadcaster for a sum believed to be between €1.2 million and €1.3 million, Ms Flynn said she was a scapegoat for National Irish Bank policy and would be spending the rest of her working life paying back the debt.
"I fought a case and fought it with everything available to me over a 10-year period and everyone knows my position as a member of the bank," she told Seán O'Rourke in an interview yesterday on RTÉ Radio One.
"I worked for the bank and feel to be quite honest I have been singled out and scapegoated for what in effect was bank policy. I never believed I did anything wrong. I always believed I worked within the law." Asked if she had anything to apologise for, she said: "I don't believe I have. I have fought 100 per cent for what I believe in and I have put everything on the line personally to defend that position."
Ms Flynn also defended her decision to take a constitutional challenge to the disqualification of TDs who are declared bankrupt, saying she took the case so she would be able to keep a job and protect her income in order to be in a position to pay off her debt, "even if that took the rest of my life".
Even now, the settlement with RTÉ "will cost me my entire income for the rest of my working life". It was always her intention to do that "even if I had been successful with my constitutional challenge. It didn't in any way deal with the debt issue".
Her costs after she lost her Supreme Court challenge were in the region of €2 million. She immediately offered RTÉ all her assets at that stage and 20 per cent of her salary. It rejected that offer and then the costs went to the High Court which brought it up to €2.2 million. The final figure was €2.8 million, to include €600,000 penalty interest. Ms Flynn said she did not have infinite resources and would be borrowing extensively to pay the debt. "I am 41 years of age and my entire working life, from the day that I was 20 to the day that I retire, will be spent on repaying this amount of money."
Ms Flynn was critical of "a completely unacceptable" court system which meant the costs for one side alone "for defending my name in a civil case in the High Court" was €3 million.
"The reality is that I was the only person who was actually bearing any personal costs when I fought that case. Everyone else was indemnified by RTÉ. I was the only person that stood to lose . . . it's the right of every citizen in this State under the Constitution to defend their name."
Asked if RTÉ had let her off the hook by agreeing a settlement, she said no, that it was a "negotiated settlement" and she was doing everything she could to pay.
It had been "unfairly" suggested that her partner was a wealthy man and could help her with her debt or that she could turn to her parents.
"The reality is for me since I was 20, after the benefit of a good education, I have funded myself entirely from that time and have always been an independent person.
"The difficulty for me now is that for rest of my life, my entire income is going to have to pay for this. People should not be saying people close to me or around me should have to shell out for a debt that is my responsibility. I intend to settle this bill on personal level from my own resources."
She said she found the Taoiseach "extremely fair" in her recent negotiations with him on supporting the Government and there was "no bitterness" between them. She would love to be back in Fianna Fail.
She stressed that no one had ever brought any criminal case against her and she was totally tax compliant. She denied she was putting herself forward as a victim and apologised if that was the interpretation being taken.
"I appreciate there are people out there critical of me, but also people out there who think well of me, and hope I get opportunity to swing people who think negatively of me around."