Denis O’Brien was among eight men listed in a graphic alongside a front page newspaper article headlined “22 men and €26 billion” because Mr O’Brien is well-known and is, in football terms, “Barcelona”, a High Court jury has been told. He “emphatically” disagreed the word “they” in a front page strapline: “The files they don’t want you to see”, meant the 22 men and thus also meant Mr O’Brien and said “they” meant the government. The articles did “no damage” to Mr O’Brien, “widely acknowledged to be the country’s richest man”, he said. Mr Kehoe said the SBP had not said Mr O’Brien had land and development exposure and had said the 22 had that exposure. In the articles on earlier pages, Mr O’Brien was mentioned just once and that was in the front page graphic, he said.

Source: The Irish Times February 21, 2019 18:11 UTC