Fine Gael Dáil deputy Jim Daly has accused RTÉ of promoting civil disobedience, due to their reporting of the water charges protests that have taken place over the past three years.
The Cork South West TD Jim Daly has said that the State broadcaster promoted water protests “like St Patrick’s Day parades”, which led the public to be “civilly disobedient”.
According to the Irish Daily Mail, Jim Daly isn’t the only one that feels this way as some senior ministers have made it clear that they hold the station at least partly responsible for the collapse of the water charging regime.
Speaking on Cork Today on C103 radio yesterday, Jim said, “I think the media – and I would particularly single out RTÉ – really, really went to town at the time… on the water charges issue. When I think of RTÉ’s website putting up all the lists of protests and the times they were happening, as if they were Patrick’s Day parades.”
“These were protests and gatherings for people to be civilly disobedient but they were really being egged on by a very enthusiastic media that I think was bored of a government that had a massive majority and there wasn’t a lot of news at the time. I’m not blaming, I’m just making that as an add-on point.
“I’m certainly not blaming RTÉ for the woes of Irish Water, I began by accepting fully our own faults and our own failings in that regard. It was done too rushed, it was done when the Troika was in town, it was one of their insistences that we introduced water charges.
“There was an over-enthusiastic embracing of it by the minister at the time Phil Hogan and the government at the time. I was not a member of the government but a member of the government party,” he added.
However, RTÉ have since defended their reporting of the issue, saying, “RTÉ is happy that its coverage has been fair and balanced, with equitable representation of the range of views.”
