Beverley Flynn
| Beverley Flynn | |
|---|---|
| Teachta Dála | |
|
In office June 1997 – February 2011 |
|
| Constituency | Mayo |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
9 June 1966 County Mayo, Ireland |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Political party | Fianna Fáil |
| Other political affiliations |
Independent |
| Spouse(s) | John Cooper (divorced) |
| Alma mater | University College Dublin |
Beverley Flynn (Irish: Beverley Ní Fhloinn; born 9 June 1966) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician. She served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Mayo constituency from 1997 to 2011.
She is the daughter of former Fianna Fáil minister, Pádraig Flynn, who once famously described her as a "class act". She first stood for election in the June 1994 Mayo West by-election as the Fianna Fáil candidate, but was not successful. The by-election was caused by the appointment of her father Pádraig Flynn as European Commissioner, and was won by Michael Ring of Fine Gael. She was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1997 general election, as a Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála (TD) for the Mayo constituency. In 2003, given that her marriage to John Cooper had ended sometime previously, she requested that the media refer to her as Beverley Flynn rather than Beverley Cooper-Flynn.
RTÉ journalist Charlie Bird claimed in a report that while an employee of National Irish Bank Flynn had assisted clients of the bank in evading tax by funnelling undeclared income to Clerical Medical schemes based in the Isle of Man. Flynn denied the claims and sued RTÉ, Bird and retired farmer James Howard for libel in the High Court in 2001. The jury found that although RTÉ had not proved its case (it was a different employee that had handled Howard's account), the allegations were found to be substantially true (that RTÉ had proved Flynn had encouraged others to avail of illegal investment schemes). Thus, despite Flynn technically winning the case, she was awarded no damages (as her reputation was not materially damaged), along with costs being awarded against her. Flynn then appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of Ireland, where she lost.
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