Indo chiefs ‘threatened Cabinet with bad press’

FORMER Taoiseach John Bruton has claimed Independent Newspapers threatened in September 1996 to give the Rainbow Coalition bad publicity if the Fine Gael-led Government did not address grievances affecting the group’s interests.

The Moriarty Tribunal heard yesterday that on the day of the general election in June 1997, the Irish Independent newspaper published a front-page editorial, Payback Time, which urged the electorate not to vote for the outgoing Government.

In a statement to the tribunal, businessman Tony O’Reilly, who headed the newspaper group, recalled how senior Independent executives met Mr Bruton’s senior programme manager Sean Donlon on September 4, 1996.