Former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has told the High Court he was not the author of an article stating he was an IRA volunteer.
Lawyers for the BBC suggested the article - one of a number known as the Brownie articles published in the early 1970s - was written by Mr Adams and contained the statement "rightly or wrongly I am an IRA volunteer".
Mr Adams said he had not written the article. He said some of the Brownie articles had been written by him but others had been written by a "collective".
Mr Adams was giving evidence during a third day of cross-examination in a defamation case he had taken against the BBC.
He alleges he was defamed in a 2016 Spotlight programme and a subsequent online article, which he says falsely claimed that he sanctioned the killing of former senior Sinn Féin official Denis Donaldson.
Mr Donaldson was shot dead in 2006, months after admitting being an informer for the police and MI5 over two decades.
Senior Counsel Paul Gallagher put to Mr Adams that the reason he had not sued over numerous articles alleging he was in the IRA was because "you were, in fact, a member of the army council and the IRA and remained so until 2005".
After an intervention from the judge, Mr Gallagher said he would alter the question slightly and pointed to articles written under the name "Brownie", which he said Mr Adams had written.
Mr Gallagher suggested that the reason he never sued over multiple allegations of IRA membership was because material such as the Brownie articles would have been used against him
He said one article said "rightly or wrongly I am an IRA volunteer".
Mr Adams denied he had written the article and said some of the so-called Brownie articles had been written by him alone, while other were written by a "collective".
Mr Gallagher put it to him that it was clearly written by him as it makes reference to a wife and son. Mr Adams said the article was written by Richard McAuley. Mr Gallagher said that was not possible because at the time Mr McAuley was not married.
In response, Mr Adams said he was not aware of Mr McAuley's martial status at the time. He repeated that the reason he had never sued - except for one action against the Sunday World - was because he was advised he would not have been given a fair hearing. He said that was his legal advice and his case was the first time he had ever been in a court with a jury "of my peers" which was "new experience" for him.
Mr Gallagher asked if he was seriously suggesting he would not have been given a fair hearing as recently as 2018, when the book "Say Nothing" was published. The book, and a subsequent television series, contained allegations that Mr Adams was in the IRA.
Earlier, Mr Adams was asked about other articles on the BBC website which included his denial of any involvement with Denis Donaldson's murder, and another which said the family of Denis Donaldson did not blame the IRA for his murder.
Mr Adams said he had not read the subsequent articles and the "damage had been done".
It was put to him that a number of subsequent articles updated the public on the investigation into the murder of Denis Donaldson and he replied "the horse had bolted" and the "smear" had already been broadcast in the Spotlight programme.
"We're now speculating that the people who saw the programme may have seen this article after the programme containing the allegation that has us here today," Mr Adams said.
Senior Counsel Paul Gallagher also put it to Mr Adams that the day after the Spotlight programme, he gave an interview to LMFM in which he said he had not bothered to watch the programme and had not even thought about it when asked if his reputation had been damaged.
Mr Adams said when he watched the programme was irrelevant, but he had watched it and had contacted his solicitors.
His cross-examination has now finished.
A solicitor who previously represented the family of Denis Donaldson said he was approached by a Spotlight reporter Jennifer O'Leary in relation to the programme.
He outlined two meetings which had taken place and a series of letters which had been exchanged between him and the BBC and said Gerry Adams "was not mentioned " in any of their discussions about the programme.
Ciarán Shiels, who no longer represents the family, said his main concern at the time was the Donaldson family who were very concerned about their privacy.
He said if he had been asked about the allegations in the programme about Mr Adams, he would have told the reporter "not only was she barking up the wrong tree, she wasn’t even in the right orchard".
He said Mr Adams was held in great esteem by the Donaldson family.
Mr Shiels agreed that he had later given a statement to say the allegations in the programme about Mr Adams did not marry with the lines of inquiry being followed by gardaí.
It was pointed out to him by counsel for the BBC Eoin McCullough that Ms O’Leary had also referred to those lines of inquiry in her programme.
Mr McCullough said the programme set out what their source had said and also what the gardaí were investigating.
Mr Shiels agreed but said it gave prominence to the allegations against Mr Adams, who was a trusted family friend of the Donaldsons.
He said the family would be "streetwise enough to know that the people who the gardaí had identified would have not truck with Gerry Adams and he would have no truck with them."
The case continues tomorrow.
