John Whelan (Labour)

I do not suggest the item I wish to raise is as urgent as the special needs assistants issue, nursing homes or the shortage of junior doctors. Nevertheless, it is important for us to seek clarification. I call on the Leader to use his good offices to write to the director general of RTE to establish who decided, and why, not to broadcast "Oireachtas Report" on Tuesday, 14 June. The Dáil was correctly adjourned as a mark of respect to our late colleague Brian Lenihan but the Seanad had a full sitting, a full Order of Business, two Ministers appeared before the House and a number of important issues raised.

As a public service broadcaster, RTE has done outstanding. Yesterday in New York, RTE Radio received no fewer than 17 awards and was named as best broadcaster of the year. However, the same cannot be said of some of its news programming. The broadcast of "Oireachtas Report" sometime after midnight, when B-movies and shoddy reruns are showing, is unacceptable. The State pays over €200 million in licence fees to the State broadcaster, RTE, to subsidise its public service broadcasting remit.

It is important for us to know who made this decision and why. The programme was scheduled to run but was pulled. It is a grave insult to the business of this House. The Seanad comes in for criticism from time to time, some of which is deserved. Under the new Leader, Senator Maurice Cummins, and the Deputy Leader, Senator Ivana Bacik, we have seen radical reform, improvement and a great deal of progress. A productive schedule of work is being done in the House. I ask the Leader to use his good offices to write to RTE to seek a fair and just explanation of why "Oireachtas Report" was pulled. It is absurd.