Reporter's role could be investigated

The chairman of the Barr tribunal has ruled that an investigation of the conduct and motivation of RTÉ reporter Niall O'Flynn, who broadcast Mr John Carthy's name during the Abbeylara siege, is within the remit of the tribunal.

However, Mr Justice Barr stopped short of directing that Niall O'Flynn's ethics be investigated.

The chairman was responding yesterday to an application made by lawyers for RTÉ last month that inquiries into the "ethical propriety" of the national broadcaster and its staff was outside the tribunal's terms of reference.

Mr Patrick Hanratty, counsel for RTÉ, made the submission in objection to the line of questioning taken by Garda representatives with Niall O'Flynn.

Mr Diarmuid McGuinness, counsel for the Garda commissioner, asked questions relating to the propriety of interviews conducted by O'Flynn and whether the reporter had breached the Broadcasting Act and RTÉ's own guidelines in naming and revealing personal details about Mr Carthy on air.

Issues of ethical propriety and adherence to broadcasting guidelines were not relevant to the Garda commissioner, and were outside the remit of the tribunal, Mr Hanratty said. He asked that the chairman make a ruling to clarify the terms of reference on the matter.

Mr Justice Barr ruled that the RTÉ obligations under the Broadcasting Act and the internal rules of staff conduct did not come within the tribunal's terms of reference.

However he said questions still had to be answered about the broadcast and, most particularly, O'Flynn's conduct and motivation at the scene. ". . . the net issue being whether Mr O'Flynn's conduct in orchestrating the Five Seven Live broadcast in the form in which it was made was reasonable and appropriate in all the circumstances."

It was not clear when Niall O'Flynn became aware of the Garda request not to reveal Mr Carthy's name and personal details, Mr Justice Barr said. If the Garda Press Officer, Supt John Farrelly, had asked O'Flynn not to play the personal interviews, should he have acquiesced in light of the circumstances?

"What objective did Mr O'Flynn have in including the vox pops in the Abbeylara item?" Was he "genuinely hopeful" of getting a message to Mr Carthy? "Alternatively, was Mr O'Flynn's primary objective to inject personal drama and interest into the Abbeylara story for the benefit of the listening public at large?"

Should Niall O'Flynn have asked his colleague, RTÉ crime correspondent Paul Reynolds, for the Garda view on naming Mr Carthy?

Mr Carthy probably did not listen to the broadcast, Mr Justice Barr said. However, he added: "On the basis of information which Mr O'Flynn had or ought to have known, did the Five Seven Live broadcast constitute a significant risk of aggravating John Carthy's mental distress if he had heard the broadcast, and/or of undermining Garda negotiations with the deceased?"