Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The Minister will be aware that a special meeting of the RTE Authority has been called for tomorrow following the upholding of a complaint by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland about the unfairness of the final television presidential election debate on RTE last year. Everyone will remember this issue well because between 800,000 and 900,000 people watched the programme live. The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland stated the station had made no apparent effort to verify the source and accuracy of a tweet broadcast during the "The Frontline" programme. The tweet was incorrectly described by the presenter, Mr. Pat Kenny, as having been issued by the official Martin McGuinness campaign. Since the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland's findings were released, RTE's Noel Curran has apologised for the mistake made in the programme, but, importantly, he has refused to countenance an inquiry into the matter. Although he stated, "We have been found against and we have to learn from that," I do not consider this to be sufficient, which is the reason I am raising this matter.

RTE accepts it made two errors. First, the veracity and source of the first tweet, the text of which is well known to many by now, should have been checked. In addition, RTE also accepts that the second tweet, correcting the earlier one, was received approximately 28 minutes before the conclusion of the programme and that it should have been mentioned during it. The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland stated the radio programme broadcast the following morning, coincidentally with the same presenter, Mr. Pat Kenny, had exacerbated the unfairness of the debate on "The Frontline" by failing to clarify the tweet. The RTE compliance committee, chaired by Mr. Chris Morash, has stated it agrees that Mr. Kenny did not take the opportunity to verify the content or provenance of the tweet with Mr. McGuinness during the debate. It has also stated it notes that information was available during the programme that clarified the tweet account at the centre of the complaint was not an official Sinn Féin Twitter account.

To some extent, on the face of it, the RTE compliance committee is dumping on Mr. Pat Kenny. RTE is a public service broadcaster. The board must appoint an independent investigator to establish the facts and the sequence of events that night. Everyone, including the Minister who spoke on the "Morning Ireland" radio programme, accepts that it had an impact on the outcome of the election campaign. I cannot say by how much or by how little, but the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland is not going down that road. While it would be impossible to establish at this point, owing to the privacy of the ballot box, no one disputes that it had an impact on the outcome of the campaign.

The reputational damage to RTE in this instance is extremely serious. In fairness to the staff at the station, particularly Pat Kenny, it is important that corrective action should be taken. It is also important that Mr. Kenny should take the opportunity both to preserve his good name and clarify the position. I am of the view that Mr. Kenny acted in a genuine and above-board way in respect of this matter. He has an extremely good reputation as being one of the best broadcasters in Ireland. It is clear that the tweet in question was received in RTE but the compliance committee of the BAI has stated that Mr. Kenny did not avail of the opportunity to put it to Martin McGuinness, MLA, during the programme. Some people might presume that Mr. Kenny was aware of the information and did not broadcast the fact that there was a second tweet. I do not know what was the position but I suspect Mr. Kenny did not have it. However, it would be in his interests to clarify the position.

RTE must put in place protocols, similar to those which already obtain at the BBC, in respect of social networking. I ask that the board of RTE appoint an independent person to carry out an investigation in respect of what happened on the night in question. I make this request because since the original complaint was lodged with the BAI, the management at RTE vigorously defended its actions right up until the authority issued its report. Those who manage RTE have not been willing to accept that mistakes were made. The RTE Authority must appoint an independent person to carry out an investigation.

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