Finlay denies he believed Reynolds was personally ‘irredeemably corrupt’

Fergus Finlay has insisted that he never believed former taoiseach Albert Reynolds was "irredeemably corrupt".

The comments follow newspaper reports suggesting he was prepared to brand the late Mr Reynolds’s actions in such terms if called as a witness in a 1996 defamation case.

Former high-ranking Labour Party official Mr Finlay described the actions Mr Reynolds was prepared to take in order to stay in power in 1994 as “irredeemably corrupt” in a newspaper article.