merrion street

Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte has announced that the case of Father Kevin Reynolds was considered at today’s Government meeting. It was decided by Cabinet that there should be an independent inquiry to determine the true facts and circumstances which led to the Prime Time programme on Fr Reynolds being broadcast on RTE in May of this year.

The Minister noted that The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) is the independent regulator responsible for the oversight of compliance in relation to broadcast content. It has a Compliance Committee which monitors and enforces compliance by broadcasters with various aspects of the relevant legislation relating to fairness, impartiality and enforcement of standards.

Minister Rabbitte today requested that the BAI Compliance Committee use its powers under section 53 of the Broadcasting Act 2009 and to determine whether RTE has met its statutory responsibilities around objectivity, impartiality and fairness. He has asked that the Committee then report and make any recommendations in respect of this to the Authority.

The decision of Government requests that the Report be concluded within two months.