Armchair's sitting is all too short

It was just after lunch in the High Court when the star witness of what would have been one of Ireland's oddest libel cases was called.

The green Regency armchair looked relaxed, on its first major public appearance since winning The Late, Late Show antique-restoration prize in May 1997.

However, Siubhan Maloney, the woman who took the credit on that occasion, was not in the courtroom to see it, and the return to the spotlight of the celebrity furniture item was to be a short one.

When it first appeared on the Late, Late in February 1997 the chair didn't have a leg to stand on. Yesterday, neither did the defence.

No sooner had Mr Justice Kinlen admired the award-winning upholstery than counsel for Joshua Duffy, the upholsterer who sued Ms Maloney and RTE, was on his feet to announce the matter settled.

Ms Maloney had earlier surprised the judge by indicating she would not be entering a defence; either on the claim of libel arising from comments made on the Today with Pat Kenny radio show, after the controversy over authorship of the restoration work broke, or on the amount of damages.

Mr Justice Kinlen reminded her that RTE was also claiming indemnity against her for any damages it might incur, and urged her to take time out to consider her course of action. When she returned, however, speaking in a calm if barely audible voice, she said she would stick to her original decision.

While ticktacking between lawyers for RTE and the plaintiff continued, three television sets were installed in the courtroom for the possible viewing of the chair's Late, Late appearances. "One for everyone in the audience", exaggerated plaintiff's counsel, Gerry Danaher, who may have been looking forward to saying "Roll it there, Collette", too. But when the case resumed at 2.15 p.m. it was clear the chance wouldn't arise.

A settlement meant no show. Ms Maloney's solicitor read an apology, acknowledging that the upholstery work had been carried out by Mr Duffy and withdrawing comments to the contrary.

Counsel for RTE also apologised for its part in the radio broadcast. Mr Justice Kinlen congratulated the parties on the settlement, regretting only that "it took so long".

The chair was then removed by wheelbarrow, drawing amused glances from the even more expensively upholstered barristers in the corridors, en route to Johnny Fox's pub in the Dublin mountains, its current home.

Nobody said it, but events leading to the case were eerily prescient of subsequent developments in RTE, involving as they did Mr Kenny inheriting a hot seat from Gay Byrne, with uncomfortable consequences.