THE BCC, the Broadcasting Complaints Commission, has partly upheld a complaint by Fine Gael concerning allegations, aired on RTÉ's Livelineradio programme, that party leader Enda Kenny jumped a queue before boarding an aircraft at Gatwick Airport.
Fine Gael's director of communications Ciarán Conlon had submitted a complaint to the commission, on behalf of Mr Kenny, about the show on April 16th. During the production, callers suggested that Mr Kenny skipped a queue while boarding an Aer Lingus flight to Dublin at the expense of other passengers, including children.
In its judgment, the commission noted that Mr Kenny was invited to take part in the discussion, but he declined to do so.
Mr Conlon said the accusation against Mr Kenny was untrue and constituted a serious attack on his dignity, honour and reputation.
He contended that the factual position was set out in a statement which Fine Gael supplied to Livelinebefore broadcast. Aer Lingus had also indicated there was no substance to the allegation.
Passengers with children were accommodated first and the fact that Mr Kenny had an 8pm meeting with European political leaders in Dublin that evening was relayed to an Aer Lingus local staff member, added Mr Conlon.
In addition to constituting an unfounded attack on the honour and reputation of Mr Kenny, the programme also showed a lack of fairness while the item was being discussed, Mr Conlon noted.
In response, RTÉ said the programme was not unfair to Mr Kenny and that what was broadcast was accurate and true.
The station countered that passengers queuing at Gatwick to board the flight to Dublin believed that Mr Kenny had jumped the queue or that preferential treatment had been given to him.
However, the BCC deemed the programme's portrayal of the incident as being unfair to Mr Kenny, through both individual statements and through the cumulative effect of the programme as a whole. The complaint was upheld with regard to BCC standards of fairness, objectivity and impartiality, but the commission rejected assertions that the recording constituted an attack on Mr Kenny's reputation or honour.
Separately, the commission rejected a complaint by Hazel Lawlor, widow of Fianna Fáil TD Liam Lawlor, regarding what she categorised as a purely sensationalist RTÉ television documentary screened last February.
Ms Lawlor's complaint referred to an edition of Scannal, which she believed included a series of factual inaccuracies, unsubstantiated allegations and re-enactments which caused deep offence and hurt to her and her family.
RTÉ said that a corruption reference to Mr Lawlor by Irish Timesjournalist Harry McGee constituted fair comment and that overall, the programme was impartial, objective and fair.
The commission ruled that RTÉ did present the subject matter in an impartial and objective manner, but acknowledged it could have been distressful for the complainant and her family.