MR PRICE asked Mr Reynolds why he had taken four months to complain about the Sunday Times article.
Mr Reynolds said he had first shown the article to lawyers in Ireland, and then discussed the matter with his wife. She was very reluctant to pass it on to his solicitors in London.
"I left it there for a time while I talked her through it. She said she was very fearful of the stress of litigation and the expense."
"I said perhaps it will not come to that. The Sunday Times will do the decent thing and correct the record. I did that in the expectation that it would correct the record. I was forced into this situation. It was not my choice."
He said he had occasion to ask the Sunday Independent to "correct the record" and it had "done it very fast". "I had good reason to believe the Sunday Times would do the same. They didn't."