Bogus tweet likely to have played key role in reversal of Gallagher's fortunes

ANALYSIS:Almost 800,000 people watched the live debate days before voting in the presidential election

IT WAS, for most observers, the moment that swung the election. At the start of the final week of campaigning last October, Seán Gallagher was the surprise front runner.

On Monday, October 24th, the day of the last presidential debate on RTÉ 1's The Frontlineprogramme, an Irish Timesopinion poll showed Gallagher on 40 per cent, double his previous tally, and well ahead of Michael D Higgins on 25 per cent.

The momentum built up by the former Dragons’ Den panellist appeared unstoppable – until he walked into a trap laid for him at the debate by Martin McGuinness.

The Sinn Féin candidate claimed Gallagher had called to an unnamed businessman’s house to collect a €5,000 cheque for Fianna Fáil. Gallagher immediately denied the claim.

As the broadcast continued, presenter Pat Kenny read out what turned out to be a bogus tweet claiming the man that Gallagher “took the cheque from” would appear at a press conference the next morning.

Gallagher stumbled and appeared to concede he could have received an “envelope”, to hoots of derision from the studio audience. The die was cast and the image of Gallagher as a putative Fianna Fáil “bag man” was formed.

By the end of the week the votes had been counted and Gallagher came a distant second behind Higgins. Having severed his business links before standing for election, he hasn’t been in the public eye since.

It is impossible to say with certainty whether the false tweet sank Gallagher. He was already on the ropes thanks to McGuinness’s attack, which highlighted an aspect of his Fianna Fáil past he was reluctant to talk about.

He performed badly on the following morning's Today with Pat Kennyradio programme – this broadcast was also criticised in the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) ruling.

However, it is likely that the presidential debate, which was watched by almost 800,000 people, was the turning point of the campaign and that the “tweet that wasn’t” played a crucial role in this reversal of his fortunes.

RTÉ was all apologies yesterday, but it hasn’t always been so self-critical. Contacted last November, a senior executive in current affairs simply could not see the problem surrounding the tweet. Last month, another executive wrote to The Irish Times to make the Jesuitical distinction that the tweet wasn’t bogus – only its provenance was.

While the Gallagher decision is, as one manager admitted, "a huge blow" for the station, worse may yet come. The BAI's decision on the Mission to Preyprogramme on Prime Time Investigates, where RTÉ wrongly accused Fr Kevin Reynolds of fathering a child by a teenager in Kenya, is due shortly.

The case has already cost the station a six-figure libel payment in the courts and led to a number of senior executives stepping aside from their roles while the inquiry is ongoing.

The sole sanction in the Gallagher case is the reading of its decision on air, but in the Reynolds case, RTÉ could face a fine of up to €250,000.

The cumulative effect of the two errors has hit morale hard in Montrose and is likely to force major changes in the way programmes are made.