Éirígí Secures Apology And Wider Settlement From RTE Following Prime Time Defamation
Tonight’s edition of RTE’s flagship current affairs programme, Prime Time, included an apology from the state broadcaster to Éirígí For A New Republic. The apology, which was delivered by Prime Time presenter Louise Byrne, was in response to a false statement that was made by the right-wing commentator John McGuirk on the March 2nd edition of Prime Time.
During the course of that broadcast, McGuirk incorrectly claimed that Éirígí was responsible for the killing of a journalist (a reference to Lyra McKee) and that Éirígí ‘endorses terrorism’.
Lyra McKee - John McGuirk falsely attributed her killing to Éirígí
These claims were completely untrue, as both RTE and McGuirk admitted on the night in question. RTE did so via a clarification delivered by Miriam O’Callaghan towards the end of the March 2nd programme, while McGuirk did so via Twitter later that night.
Tonight’s apology is part of a wider settlement that has now been reached between Éirígí and RTE. The main elements of the settlement include:
The broadcast of tonight’s apology, following on from the clarification previously delivered by O’Callaghan on March 2nd.
The permanent removal from the RTE Player of the defamatory comments that were made by McGuirk.
The uploading of tonight’s episode of Prime Time, including the full apology, to the RTE Player.
The payment by RTE of substantial donations to a number of charities nominated by Éirígí.
The full payment of all legal fees by RTE.
Welcoming the RTE apology and the wider settlement, Cathaoirleach Éirígí, Brian Leeson said, “Following the defamatory comments that were made by John McGuirk on Prime Time we instructed our legal team to engage with RTE for the purpose of securing a settlement which would go some way to undo the damage that was done by his comments.
Two weeks later we have reached a settlement which has seen McGuirk’s false statement corrected for a second time on Prime Time and RTE publicly apologise for the role that it played in facilitating the defamatory comments. McGuirk’s comments will also be permanently removed from the RTE Player.
For Éirígí this was always a matter of principle. We did not set out to gain financial advantage individually or collectively from this situation. But we did feel that it was appropriate for RTE to pay a financial price for the wrong that was done to the party and to our individual members.
We felt this was best done by securing significant donations from RTE for a number of charities, which we have now done. The full details of these donations will become public in the coming days.
RTE have an obligation to ensure that Prime Time, arguably the most important current affairs programme in the country, is not used as a platform for the far-right to make false statements or spread disinformation. Hopefully they will now put in place the necessary measures to prevent a repeat of what happened on March 2nd.
Since 2006, the political establishment and the media have alternated between ignoring and attacking Éirígí. I’ve lost count of the amount of times that outright lies have been published or broadcast about the party and our members — all part of a transparent attempt to stymie our influence and growth.
This is the first time, however, that we have gone down the legal route to counter a media-based attack on Éirígí and our members. In doing so we have secured a public clarification, apology and appropriate financial settlement. The owners and management of other media outlets that have previously carried fake news about Éirígí would do well to take note.”