Senator Jim Walsh has accused the national broadcaster RTÉ of an “endemic” pro-abortion policy which “must not be allowed to continue”.
Senator Walsh made his comments in the Seanad following the upholding of a complaint made to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) regarding RTÉ Radio’s Ray D’Arcy show in which the host was ruled to have lacked fairness, objectivity and impartiality in his interview with Amnesty Ireland’s Colm O’Gorman on the issue of abortion.
“The cynicism and cold blooded intent of killing unborn babies was chilling (and) not good enough for a national broadcaster,” Senator Walsh said.
Stating that Irish citizens, through the licence fee, are “funding the overpaid salaries in RTÉ”, Senator Walsh said perhaps the time had come for pro-life supporters “to get together and refuse to pay our RTÉ licence fee. Certainly it would not be my intention that the pro-abortion, pro-killing of unborn babies policy which is endemic in RTÉ would be allowed to continue.”
Senator Walsh’s comments were echoed by Senator Fidelma Healy-Eames who described the Ray D’Arcy broadcast as “a disgrace” and “biased in favour of abortion”.
“RTE is our public broadcaster. We all pay a licence fee. This is not a private broadcaster. What is the sanction against this show?” she asked.
The Broadcasting Authority’s ruling referred to the Ray D’Arcy broadcast of June 9, 2015, which resulted in six complaints in all, based around an apparent agreement between host and guest on the need for abortion in Ireland.
The BAI concurred that the programme had lacked balance and impartiality, finding that listeners would have concluded that Ray D’Arcy “endorsed” the pro-choice views of Colm O’Gorman and that he was articulating a “partisan position”.