John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the opportunity to speak on this important issue of national interest, given the number of people who have not only contacted RTE but many Members about it. There is a massive public discourse going on about this particular issue and a momentum has built up. It is important that in this Chamber we get a chance to have some sort of a discussion around this issue.

Citizens must have confidence in RTE to moderate and facilitate robust debate on issues of social concern, particularly at this time on issues around LGBT rights and equality. After “The Saturday Night Show” several weeks ago, RTE’s decision to pay out a reported €85,000 in compensation has severely damaged public confidence in our national broadcaster. We need to get to the bottom of this. We are at a very important time with LGBT issues in Ireland. We have come so far and over the next two years we will debate some important issues that will, please God, bring the same rights to every citizen on this island, rights some do not have at this stage. To do this, we need to have a national broadcaster which allows robust debate and for people to be challenged around their views.

Was there one person in charge or one point of contact from the moment RTE decided to deal with this issue until it paid out this compensation? On what basis did it decide to pay out this compensation? The RTE managing director’s press release stated the legal position was far from clear. If the position was far from clear and RTE had various legal advices over a number of weeks, stating it should not pay to that it should pay, on what basis did it decide to pay this money out? I know the legal advice RTE used to pay out this money is privileged and, accordingly, we are not entitled to it. However, there has to be some political will to find out on what basis this compensation was paid out in the national interest. I believe RTE was wrong to pay out this money on what was essentially an anti-gay prejudice issue on which people were challenged.

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