Denis O’Brien has begun giving evidence in his defamation action against the Sunday Business Post.

The 60-year-old businessman is suing the newspaper over articles he says portrayed him as one of the ‘developer kings’ who destroyed Ireland and bankrupted its banking system.

The jurors have each been given a copy of this Sunday Business Post edition from 2015 which gives details of a 2008 report by accountants PwC into Ireland’s banks.

In his opening speech, Denis O’Brien’s barrister asked the jurors to consider what the reasonable reader would have taken from these Sunday Business Post articles and what they meant.

The barrister said the articles referred to a so called ‘gang of 22 men’ who had borrowed billions by the time the country burst and lists Mr O’Brien.

Referring to the film The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, the barrister said the article didn’t differentiate between the good, bad and ugly borrowers.

He said there were just 22 words in the articles which said Denis O’Brien had repaid his loans to Anglo and was one of the best customers of Bank of Ireland and AIB.

The barrister said Mr O’Brien became concerned when he read the paper, thinking ‘I repaid my loans, why am I in this?’.

The Sunday Business Post for its part denies the articles were published maliciously or that Denis O’Brien’s reputation was damaged.

Mr O’Brien himself has taken to the stand in the case – so far he has been outlining his work history and will resume giving evidence this afternoon.