John Whelan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I also thank the RTE team for coming in to address this. We are not here to rerun the presidential debate or the campaign. That horse has bolted and people can make up their own minds. Neither are we here to have a go at RTE; we are trying to draw a line under the saga, which is in everyone's interests, and ensure it does not recur.

I accept the findings of the report that there was no orchestrated or premeditated unfairness or bias but a perfect storm occurred on the evening which ultimately conspired to the programme being biased.

I accept the Director General's point that RTE has on a number of occasions apologised, particularly to Mr. Seán Gallagher, but there is a perception that it was more of a grudging apology rather than a gracious and generous apology. It was not forthcoming until six months after the programme. Most people who saw the programme or who were involved in it accepted, if not on the night then within the week, that there were serious misgivings. RTE did not do itself much credit in not being more forthcoming earlier to address an apology to Mr. Gallagher.

I might have missed something, although I have tried to follow the issue closely. As a practising journalist for more than 30 years, one of the basic rules is fairness and putting the record straight as soon as possible to mitigate any potential damage.

I am still at a loss to understand how the record was not put straight on the game changing tweet, even though the programme had another 30 minutes to run which would allow RTE time to raise in the public domain whether the authenticity of the tweet was questionable. The delay in doing that compounded the damage.

As Deputy Dooley has pointed out, I fully respect the integrity, independence and impartiality of the two authors of the report. I ask Mr. Morrison to clarify whether he, as reported in some newspapers, has initiated defamation proceedings against the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, BAI, on the publishing of the report. That would concern me as I believe the BAI was acting in good faith in the public interest.