Category: RTE

RTE blackouts: What's going on?

Without warning, RTE Radio 1 went off the air this morning for about an hour or so. When the station returned an apology was broadcast to listeners in the South saying that the interruption was necessary for essential maintenance.

Later, the station again went off the air and is still off as I write (1610hrs).

Such interruptions for maintenance are, of course, unavoidable if equipment is to be properly maintained, but, I’m puzzled.

Years ago, such interruptions were well flagged, sometimes days in advance, and the maintenance period was invariably timed for low peak listening hours, usually in the middle of the night.

Such maintenance interruptions were also rare, occurring only a few times per year.

In recent times interruptions are frequent, prolonged and occur without notice.

Indeed, RTE Radio 1 has become so unreliable that I’ve now adopted the habit of switching on online in anticipation of unannounced blackouts.

What’s going on?

Copy to:

RTE Radio 1

Ivan Yates: Fine Gael's Bertie Ahern

Retired Fine Gael politician and former Minister Ivan Yates is a man without any moral standards.

He doesn’t believe in restraints or principles, he’s completely indifferent to questions of right or wrong. He is, according to himself, a totally amoral person (The Saturday Night Show).

During his interview with Brendan O’Connor Yates clearly and cynically demonstrated his amorality.

On politics

He left politics because it was too difficult. Funerals, clinics, public meetings – all too much hassle. TDs are nothing more than glorified County Councillors in a system that regularly throws up ill equipped people.

Politics is not about the country, it’s about getting re-elected, I wanted to change the world but I copped myself on, he cynically declared.

On the economy

Adjustments have to be made and we (the peasants, not Yates) have to be disciplined and do what’s necessary.

This should include; getting rid of quangos, reform the civil service, means test or get rid concessions to the elderly such as free travel, free electricity, free TV licence and free telephone.

Pensioners should also be made to pay more because they invariably have their houses paid for and the cost of living has come down.

On his own pensions (To my knowledge this greedy businessman is in receipt of two pensions from the taxpayer)

O’Connor: You get a fairly hefty pension?

Yates: I have a fairly hefty pension; I’ve collected it since the day I left the Dail.

O’Connor: That’s the kind of thing…you’re loaded. (Big cheer from the audience).

Yates: Can I answer that, can I answer that. Whatever the system is, I’m entitled to it.

O’Connor: You shouldn’t be getting a pension at all. By your own rationale would you not say the country is going down the toilet.

You’re a fairly wealthy businessman and we’re still paying you a pension even though you’re not of pensionable age?

Yates: To be honest with you, for me to do something on my own behalf would be a cosmetic stunt but I’m quite happy to reform the system.

This type of cynicism and rank hypocrisy is the predominant attitude within the Irish body politic.

Yates is only unique in so far as, as a self confessed amoralist, he wallows in and actually enjoys milking the system at the expense of pensioners, the elderly and ordinary citizens.

In contrast to the ecstatic welcome afforded to Mary O’Rourke the previous Saturday, Yates was subject to some challenges from the audience, especially with regard to his greedy and arrogant attitude to his pension.

Presenter O’Connor, in line with most RTE journalists, was having none of it.

Constantly apologising to Yates for asking (embarrassing?) questions he also acted as a buffer between the greedy ex politician and the angry audience.

O’Connor scolded one disrespectful peasant who angrily demanded that Yates give up his pension.

It’s not Prime Time and we’re not going to ambush Ivan Yates. I don’t think he’s the worst of them anyway.

The bizarrely ironic aspect surrounding the attitude of this greedy and amoral businessman is that he regularly preaches to the nation about what needs to be done to resolve our problems while remaining totally oblivious to the part he personally has, and continues to play, in the destruction of our democracy.

He is, in effect, Fine Gael’s Bertie Ahern

Copy to:
Ivan Yates
The Saturday Night Show

Finally making the connections

Could it be that, finally, somebody within RTE has woken up to the fact that there’s something rotten in the state of Ireland?

Could it be that that somebody has, finally, begun to make connections between current scandals and the dodgy activities of previous politicians?

On Prime Time last week, in a report on the Callely case, a reporter made the following comment against archive footage of the criminal Haughey.

It’s not hard to imagine where Senator Callely might have learned his political skills.

Against archive footage of the chancer Bertie Ahern the following comment was made.

Senator Callely’s habit of answering questions with a combination of anger and bewilderment as to how the matter could be seen as a serious matter at all may well have been learned at the feet of another master.

RTE News covers Dail protest incident – after the dead bird story

I received a text from Gavin last evening informing me of the trouble outside Dail Eireann. I immediately switched to RTE for an update but apparently the national broadcaster was as much in the dark as I was.

Morning Ireland just about managed to cover the story slotting it in as a low priority piece after a story about a dead bird.

Some of those involved were interviewed on Today with Pat Kenny. Revealingly, Kenny opened with the following advice to listeners.

If you want you can check out the events on utube, there’s TV3 footage available there.

There are unconfirmed reports that the bulk of RTE News staff are still up in Northern Ireland desperately searching for stories like, for example, the breathtaking report of a few days ago that a policeman was slightly injured in a row outside a pub.

Northern Ireland – RTE's only story

WARNING: Reading the following piece may result in dangerous raptures of excitement, please proceed with extreme care.

Rachael English and RTE’s Northern Ireland Editor Tommie Gorman were barely able to contain themselves as they excitedly analysed the various Northern Ireland candidates running in the upcoming UK election (Saturday View).

What’s your sense of the fascinating battle shaping up between candidates in South Antrim Rachel breathlessly asked some guy on the panel?

And what about the absolutely fascinating news from the pivotal constituency of South Belfast and Fermanagh/South Tyrone? There’s a strong possibility that the Unionist vote may be split in this area.

My god, a split in the Fermanagh/South Tyrone Unionist vote? Such a catastrophe would surely be greater than the Haiti earthquake and Iceland volcano combined, the end days must surely be close to hand.

Tommie Gorman then treated listeners to a breathtaking, minute by minute, account of some guy called Campbell running for election in North Antrim.

I was out with him during the week, he was jumping across garden walls, going into farmyard sheds looking to see the man of the house, crossing the road if he saw people engaged in discussion. He was really keen to get involved in the chat because he’s very, very hungry.

(Tommie didn’t say whether he directed the man to the nearest McDonalds outlet).

Tommie also reported on somebody called Lady Sylvia Hermon. According to Tommie she’s had a very lonely time of it at Westminster but so sure is he of her success that he offered the following advice to listeners:

If you want to put your NAMA savings on a candidate in the elections I’d say you could put a few bob on Sylvia Hermon.

No, really, that’s what he said – put your NAMA savings on it – listen to the tape.

And as if all that wasn’t excitement enough listeners were sensationally informed that for the first time in the history of the Cosmos the counting of votes in Northern Ireland would take place overnight.

There are unconfirmed reports that RTE is to ask the RAF to airlift the entire broadcasting complex from Montrose to Belfast in order to provide in-depth analysis and everlasting coverage of this mega, historic, never to happen again event.

For years I’ve been trying to figure out why RTE is obsessed with all things Northern Ireland. Perhaps it’s because the station has invested so much time and resources covering the province, especially during the war years; that to now admit the war actually ended about twenty years ago would mean a loss of funding or even jobs.

I continue to listen to RTEs coverage of Northern Ireland, not because I’m interested in what goes on in that depressing place, but rather to witness the fascinating echo created by RTE journalists as they talk excitedly among each other about a story that all rational people have long forgotten.

Churchill, that great man of history, a man who knew the difference between great events and the absolutely boring got it right when he said the following about Northern Ireland during the House of Commons debate in 1922 on the Irish Free State Bill.

Then came the Great War: every institution, almost, in the world was strained. Great Empires have been overturned. The whole map of Europe has been changed. The position of countries has been violently altered. The modes of thought of men, the whole outlook on affairs, the grouping of parties, all have encountered violent and tremendous changes in the deluge of the world.

But as the deluge subsides and the waters fall short, we see the dreary steeples of Fermanagh and Tyrone emerging once again. The integrity of their quarrel is one of the few institutions that has been unaltered in the cataclysm which has swept the world.

Copy to:
Saturday View

RTE saves minister from nasty union man

Sean (RTE presenter Sean O’Rourke) and Brian (Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan) engaged in a lovely, gentle conversation today on such matters as the economy, the progress of the trades union/government deal and connections between Quinn Insurance and Anglo Irish Bank.

I was very impressed with Sean’s patience as he listened attentively and quietly to Brian as he rambled on wistfully about consumer confidence, turning corners and learning lessons.

From time to time I did hear a number of squeaks in the background as Sean gently tried, without success, to interrupt Brian’s ramblings.

It was clear that Sean and Brian are best friends forever and that RTE is their favourite place in the whole wide world to meet and chat about all kinds of nice things.

The mood was spoiled however when Sean had to change into riot gear (government issued) including baton, shield and helmet to interview a nasty union man – Liam Doran general secretary of the Irish nurses and midwives organisation.

Initially O’Rourke allowed Doran have his say but as we learned later in the attack he, O’Rourke, was carefully timing this nasty union man.

You’ve gone on at some length actually and I allowed you to talk for about three minutes before I asked you a second question so if I could just come back in with another one.

Really, what has become of us when RTE, a government controlled broadcaster, allows a union man to argue his case for three whole minutes without interruption?

I was so worried that Brian was still in the studio and heard all that nasty stuff about fairness and accountability but Sean assured listeners that he had left the premises and so wouldn’t be talking to the nasty union man.

Cowen denies treason

Amazing isn’t it, the country has been destroyed by political and financial corruption and it doesn’t seem to bother Taoiseach Brian Cowen in the least but question his patriotism and he gets all angry and emotional (Six One News, 11.30).

Eamon Gilmore was asking him about the decision to extend the bank guarantee to Anglo Irish Bank:

I believe that that decision was made to save the skins of a number of individuals, some of who are connected to Fianna Fail. If my belief is correct, and I have not been convinced to the contrary, then that decision was an act of economic treason.

Cowen replied:

I will not be accused of seeking to cause treason to my country; I find that beyond the pale and I would never come into this house and accuse another Irishman of what you accused me.

Cowen is actually telling the truth here. In recent history the criminal Haughey and numerous other Fianna Fail politicians such as Ray Burke, Liam Lawlor and Bertie Ahern have all betrayed Ireland and Cowen never opened his mouth.

RTEs David Davin Power, while admitting that Cowen’s time as finance minister made him vulnerable, was nonetheless very supportive of the Taoiseach:

Eamon Gilmore’s barbs evoked a spirited response today and a glimpse of the Brian Cowen his backbenchers would love to see more of.

RTE fails to challenge the moronic politicians

It was with deep, deep anger that I listened to our moronic Taoiseach Brian Cowen on RTEs Nine News (18.26) spewing out garbage speak when asked about his responsibility for the failure of bank regulation.

Before quoting this moronic fool let’s briefly outline the truth of the matter.

Brian Cowen, leader of the most corrupt political party in Ireland, is a traitor to his country. Instead of showing loyalty to the people of Ireland this stupid backwoodsman conspired with bankers and developers to create a property bubble that served only the interests of his party and its rich friends.

He and his predecessors, some of them outright criminals, have destroyed our country by their greed, stupidity and arrogance; they have done more damage to the people of Ireland than their favourite hate figure Oliver Cromwell.

Here’s what the moron had to say when asked about his responsibility:

Well the regulatory system we had worldwide throughout the whole Western world, built up over thirty years, was a system where people believed as Greenspan did that there was no problem to be resolved shows that it simply wasn’t sufficient and that’s acknowledged.

But this is a global crisis, this is a crisis that happened in global capitalism, it’s not something that originated here, or was caused by any individual here.

Now if such a stupid lying statement was made by a politician in any self respecting democracy the immediate response would be contemptuous laughter followed by a deserved public humiliation by the interviewer.

If, for example, Channel 4 news presenter Jon Snow was subjected to such drivel the politician in question would be immediately torn to shreds not just out of respect for the intelligence of the viewers but to ensure that the interviewer himself was not seen as an idiot who was incapable of recognizing horseshit when it was thrown in his face.

But RTEs David Davin Power didn’t bat an eyelid when the horseshit hit him square in the face. He simply moved on to the next question just like Brian Dobson did when that other lying bastard, Bertie Ahern, admitted that he appointed people to state bodies not because of any particular talent but because they were his friends.

This submissive, deferential attitude by RTE towards politicians, especially politicians in power, is deeply disturbing and is in stark contrast to last week’s well orchestrated campaign against low paid civil servants in the passport office and their union when RTE personnel not only adopted a strong anti union attitude but blatantly promoted the Government’s side of the issue.

Copy to:
Fianna Fail
RTE News

Union official ambushed by RTE/Pat Kenny

Pat Kenny was booed at the Civil Public and Services Union (CPSU) conference in Galway last week by delegates who felt they had been unfairly treated on his Frontline programme.

Kenny defended RTE on Today with Pat Kenny (Friday 1.12).saying that at all times each side in any given dispute is treated fairly. He dismissed the negative reaction from the delegates:

When you hear what you like you cheer, when you hear what you don’t like you boo.

Let’s do a quick analysis of that particular Frontline programme.

It began with a clip of a very angry woman outside the passport office giving staff a hard time.

(Government 1 – Workers nil).

Cut to the studio and Kenny is interviewing a woman who had obviously been carefully chosen because of the emotional impact of her story.

Her children had received tickets to Paris Disneyland as a Christmas gift from their grandmother and now they couldn’t go because of the workers/union action.

I would like somebody to tell my children why they can’t go,

the distraught mother demanded, glaring at Eoin Ronayne, deputy general secretary of the CPSU.

Kenny was enthusiastic in leading her on with emotionally charged questions such as: Do you think it was bloody-mindedness on their part (passport office staff) and, have you told the children yet?

(Government 2 – Workers nil).

With the audience (and viewers) suitably emotionalised Kenny proceeded to interview (attack) Eoin Ronayne who was on his own.

No (highly paid) government minister was present to be questioned about the part they played in destroying the country’s economy which sparked the industrial action. No representative from the extremely well paid higher civil servants who enforce government policy within the civil and public service.

(Government 3 – workers nil).

Kenny’s interview stance was angry, confrontational and accusatory. Ronayne was at all times courteous and calm. At one point when Kenny was running out of steam he called in the distraught mother for another dollop of emotionalism.

Maybe you could ring my children tonight, Peter 10, Christine 13 and explain to them why they’re devastated that you will not let them fly on Friday. What are you going to do for me and the other 40,000 people that are in my situation?

What price do you put on the disappointment of children demanded Kenny of Ronayne and later suggested that staff at the passport office had deliberately sabotaged passport machines to make things worse for ordinary people.

(Government 4 – workers nil)

With the exception of one person all comments from the audience were anti worker. The piece finished with the distraught mother being given yet another opportunity to make an emotional attack on Ronayne.

You took away my children’s chance of their Christmas to go and travel. They have no choice; you’ve made us suffer for your cause. I hope you’re happy.

(Government 5 – workers nil) (RTE/Pat Kenny – disgraced)

This disgraceful anti union, anti worker ambush by the national broadcaster was not an isolated incident.

All through the week on Liveline, Today with Pat Kenny and RTE News the trend (policy?) was the same – The general public were the victims of the evil Union/workers, the Government was an innocent party doing its best to help out.

It really is time somebody challenged the politicalisation of RTE.

Copy to:

The Frontline
Today with Pat Kenny

Warning: New RTE comedy show can seriously damage sense of humour

I made a serious mistake last night.

After watching Prime Time I failed to turn off the television or at least change channel with the result that I was subjected to RTEs latest ‘comedy’ show – That’s All We Have Time For.

Ok, ok I didn’t have to watch but as the show progressed I was overcome by a grotesque fascination similar to that experienced by people who are witness to a serious road accident.

The show is an exact copy of the very successful BBC comedy quiz show – Have I Got News For You – but without the comedy.

Ok, RTE has never been good at comedy but surely it’s better to fail with something original rather than fail dismally trying to copy one of the most consistently funny shows in television history?

Kevin Myers, Mario Rosenstock (who?) and guests resembled motorized mannequins mouthing prerecorded scripts based on the mutterings of a bunch of Fianna Fail backbenchers.

The embarrassment level was very high and the credibility of those involved is bound to take a severe hammering.

It’s at times like this that I really miss the genius of Dermot Morgan.

In fact, immediately after the traumatic experience I put on an episode of Fr. Ted to revive my seriously battered sense of humour.