'Judging Dev' deal sparks war of words between historians

A HISTORIAN has accused RTÉ of engaging in a secret deal to promote a highly successful book about Éamon de Valera that was written by another academic.

Anthony Jordan described as secret and distasteful an arrangement whereby RTÉ shared in the royalties from Judging Devin return for giving it widespread publicity.

Documents obtained by Mr Jordan under the Freedom of Information Act show that the book’s publishers Royal Irish Academy (RIA) agreed with RTÉ that the State broadcaster would promote the book on radio, television and its website in return for an advance of €400 and a 2 per cent royalty payment on sales of more than 15,000. The book, by historian Dr Diarmuid Ferriter, sold over 20,000 hardback copies.

Mr Jordan said: “A lot of commercial publishers wouldn’t get a look-in at something like this, yet here are two State bodies using the taxpayers’ money to promote their own interests.”

He also claimed the examination of de Valera’s legacy was “partisan”. While saying he intended “no criticism” of Dr Ferriter, he claimed the success of the series helped the latter achieve the status of “celebrity historian”.

But Dr Ferriter, who is currently teaching at Boston College in the US, said his book had been widely reviewed as a work of intrinsic merit. He pointed out that he had no involvement in the commercial arrangements and was presenting history programmes on RTÉ long before the series on de Valera.

“This is just good old-fashioned Irish begrudgery and resentment about a successful project.”

The RIA said it deliberately set out to maximise the potential of the book by seeking a tie-in with RTÉ. “There was no secret about it and we approached the station in the same way any other publisher would,” a spokesman said.

The Judging Devproject, which also involved a radio series, website and blog, provoked controversy when then minister for education Mary Hanafin bought 2,000 copies to distribute to schools at a cost of €36,000.

Mr Jordan said he had offered his biography of Cumann na nGaedhael leader William T Cosgrave for free but had been told by the Department of Education that it would not be a “proper use of resources” to distribute this book to schools.

An RTÉ spokeswoman said programme content was editorially independent of inhouse press and publicity activity. “RTÉ does not and cannot commit to securing any level of editorial publicity for a project whether on RTÉ programmes or in other media.”