Day 276 - 09 Jul 96 - Page 32
1 A. If I just make a general point as well that, as far as
2 I can see, everybody who has ever talked about
3 anti-McDonald's literature, who has ever distributed it or
4 anything like that, has always believed in it and I have
5 never ever heard anybody say that they thought it was
6 untrue. If they had, then you know, I would have said
7 something like, "Well, why do you think that?", and if they
8 had a good reason I would say, "Well, we should not
9 distribute it then". Because I am not interested in
10 putting out false information.
11
12 In fact, we have actually had people, since the writs
13 were served, people writing in asking about McDonald's
14 giving money to the IRA, and this is something that crops
15 up. In fact, I have heard police offers saying about money
16 being given to the IRA by McDonald's. And whenever anybody
17 has asked me about it, because of what I have read through
18 when we were doing research for the purposes of this case,
19 for getting into court, I knew that that was not true and I
20 have always said to them, "No, it is not true", it was
21 about video retirement accounts, or something like that,
22 and there was some mistake over it. And if I had been the
23 sort of person who was interested in putting out false
24 information to damage McDonald's, then I would have just
25 said to them, "You get on and distribute that false
26 information". Because there were people who, particularly
27 the police officer that mentioned it to me on a
28 demonstration, who were using that as a reason why they did
29 not go to McDonald's, why they disliked McDonald's.
30
31 Q. Is there anything more you want to say specifically about
32 that document?
33 A. Not about the press release. There are some other ones
34 that I want to come on to.
35
36 Q. Yes, certainly. But for the time being anyway you have
37 finished with that press release?
38 A. Yes.
39
40 Q. Well, we will resume at 10 past 2. Before we do
41 Mr. Morris, if Miss Steel finishes her evidence in chief
42 this afternoon, I am pretty sure you know, but you
43 appreciate that I then give you the opportunity to ask
44 questions before Mr. Rampton?
45
46 MR. MORRIS: Yes.
47
48 (Luncheon adjournment)
49
50 MS. STEEL: Yes, if I go on to the second document. Actually,
51 if I just say about the first document that we have just
52 been going through that is in tab 1, we got this copy from
53 a journalist at The Guardian, I cannot remember who it was,
54 but the document that appears in tab 2, the leaflet which
55 was distributed throughout McDonald's stores, I initially
56 became aware of this leaflet when I was told by somebody
57 who had been giving informal legal assistance to us that
58 they had seen it and got a copy of it in a store, in a
59 McDonald's store in south London. I think it was Brixton,
60 but I am not sure. It was definitely south London anyway,
