The chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Media Niamh Smyth has called on RTÉ to remove a controversial sketch from its media player that portrayed God as having raped Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Ms Smyth, who is also Fianna Fail’s party’s spokeperson for Arts and Culture, described the sketch which has prompted almost 6,000 complaints to RTÉ as “deeply offensive and blasphemous”.

She acknowledged that RTÉ had apologised but she said the apology did not go far enough.

“An apology is meaningless while the clip remains available. I implore the RTÉ Editorial Standards Board who are due to make recommendations this Friday after reviewing the broadcast to remove the offending clip immediately,” she said.