An appeal by RTE against a £20,000 award for libel to two members of a five-man syndicate which had owned the successful National Hunt racehorse, Redundant Pal, opened in the High Court yesterday.
Mr Sean Boyne, news editor of the Sunday World, of Claremont Crescent, Glasnevin, Dublin, and Mr Gerard Cooke (41), an investment company secretary, of Homefarm Road, Dublin, sued RTE for libel in the Dublin Circuit Court in November 1996.
Mr Garrett Cooney SC, for Mr Boyne and Mr Cooke, told Mr Justice Lavan that during a Budget debate in the Dail in 1990 Mr Brendan McGahon, a Fine Gael deputy, had effectively alleged that Irish racing was dishonest.
Mr Cooney said an example of that dishonesty, according to Mr McGahon, had been the fact that Redundant Pal had run in a twohorse race on December 29th, 1989. It had been 1/5 on and had been beaten.
A fortnight later the horse had won the Ladbroke Handicap Hurdle at Leopardstown. The bookies paid 20/1 and the tote paid 40/1.
Mr McGahon was interviewed on RTE's Pat Kenny radio show along with Mr Caher O'Sullivan, chief executive officer of the Irish Turf Club.
In that broadcast Mr McGahon expanded on his defamatory remarks, counsel said. The words in the programme meant that Mr Boyne and Mr Cooke conspired to perpetrate fraud on bookmakers and the racing public to carry out a betting coup.
Mr Cooney said that was untrue. Both men had been extremely upset and decided to take proceedings. They succeeded in their claim before Judge Alison Lindsay and she awarded £20,000 against RTE.
Mr Cooney said his clients became members of the syndicate in 1987-88. The other members were the broadcaster, Mr Jimmy Magee; the head of RTE television sports broadcasting, Mr Tim O'Connor; and the sports editor of the Sunday World, Mr Peter O'Neill.
Mr Boyne knew very little about horse-racing and would give evidence that he took it up as a hobby. The trainer was Paddy Mullins.
The horse won 13 or 14 races, including the Ladbroke Handicap Hurdle twice. When it won in 1989 the first prize was £30,000. It was then the richest hurdle race in Europe.
Mr Paul O'Higgins SC, for RTE, said his clients would claim that what was involved in the Pat Kenny broadcast was a series of comments that were honestly believed. There was no suggestion of corruption or impropriety, and that case was never made by RTE.
RTE's defence was a denial that the words referred to the two men, and RTE claimed the words spoken were fair comment.
Mr Cooke said the syndicate had kept Redundant Pal up to 1992 and during that time it had 13 wins and either won or was placed in 50 per cent of its 52 races. After the horse was sold the syndicate received a profit. When Redundant Pal had run in the two-horse race the other horse had won easily. The syndicate had not been at all comfortable about running it in the Ladbroke. There was a big field of 27. He had been shocked when he read Mr McGahon's Dail remarks in the newspapers. He got a transcript of the radio programme and believed Mr McGahon had repeated most of what he said in the Dail.
There had been no attempt to hold back Redundant Pal in the two-horse race. The handicap weights for the Ladbroke had been set three weeks before that. Mr Mullins had been one of the top trainers for the last 30 to 40 years and had never been involved in any wrongdoing.
The hearing continues today.