Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the delegation from RTE and thank it for its clear and concise presentation. I have a couple of questions on the preparation of the report. I do not want to question the professional integrity of Mr. Steve Carson or Mr. Rob Morrison in any way. There could be a perception - there is in some quarters - that the two gentlemen have RTE connections.

I have a question for Mr. Curran on the investigation team. Did he have a concern that a perception might emanate from the investigation team that it was effectively RTE investigating itself? Mr. Curran stated that he wanted it to be external and independent but it is hard to see how the investigation can be viewed as independent. Let us do a comparison with the Savita Halappanavar case. It led to a lot of discussion and debate in this country and within RTE's current affairs and news department. RTE was correct to pursue the Government from that perspective. As a result, a significant change was made to the make-up of the investigation team into that case. The consultants from Galway were removed from the panel. Again, I am not questioning their integrity but it would have been wholly inappropriate had those people remained on the investigation and cast a shadow over it.
Mr. Curran also said that much of the problem seems to revolve around the fact that there was nobody really in charge on the night. He has been around RTE for a long time and knows how things work. Was he surprised at the dysfunctional chain of command that existed on that programme? Was he aware that there was such a junior team working on it? RTE seems to be using the defence that there was a haphazard approach and dysfunctional operation in place. I shall have another question on bias later. The excuse given was that RTE was all over the place. The weather was also thrown in as an inconsequential factor but it played into the excuse.
With regard to the programme, people ran around in a haphazard and dysfunctional manner without an appropriate management structure in place. I imagine that there should have been a chain of command above that level that should have been aware. Ultimately, Mr. Curran should have been aware of the situation. If he was not, then the line of command between him and further down the tree is not effective. What has he done to address the matter?
I have a question on bias. One of the conclusions states: "The review team did not find evidence of bias or partiality from the presenter or production team, and said the mistakes made in the programme were not the result of bias". I ask Mr. Carson and Mr. Morrison to take us through how the review team reached that conclusion. In doing so, they might address the first question asked by Ms Siobhán Feely on the night. She asked: "lt's for the whole panel. What do they think it says about the country that just after eight months after we ejected Fianna Fáil from office, an ex­Fianna Fáil businessman looks set to be our next President?". Perhaps there is still a defence of a haphazard approach, nobody knew what was going on and researchers were ringing around to get people to ask questions on the day.

I am a Fianna Fáil Deputy but I need help to understand. Please help me to conclude that there was not an effort to set a particular agenda. Let us not forget what the first question was. It was directed at the entire panel and not to one individual candidate. It effectively set the tone against one candidate and allowed each of the other candidates to take a pop at him from the outset. I am not a conspiracy theorist. I generally do not buy into some of the commentary that circulated in my own party that believes that every organ of the media is against it because I have a great respect for the media, and in particular for RTE in the role that it has played as a public broadcaster. Can somebody help me to understand how RTE can conclude that there was no bias in the way the first question was presented? It was the first question, so it set the tone and I think that it points to a bias.