RTÉ gives Rabbitte report on reforms after libel

RTÉ HAS sent a report to Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte indicating how and when it plans to introduce reforms on foot of a critical account of the libelling of Fr Kevin Reynolds in a Prime Time Investigates programme.

A spokesman for the Minister last night confirmed the report had been received inside the one-week deadline set by the Minister when he met the RTÉ board last week. The State broadcaster has already indicated that it plans to implement all the recommendations made in a Broadcasting Authority of Ireland report which found that the Mission to Prey programme broadcast in May 2011 had been grossly unfair to Fr Reynolds and had breached his privacy.

These include changes to staff guidelines, new curbs on surreptitious filming and doorstep interviews and increased monitoring of “high-risk” programmes before they are broadcast. The report also recommended earlier involvement of legal advisers in programme planning and an examination of scheduling pressures where these exist.

The report sent to the Minister yesterday details the remedial actions to be taken by the broadcaster, as well their objectives and expected completion dates. RTÉ has also undertaken to review the cultural and working environment in which editorial and creative decision-making takes place in Montrose.

RTÉ chairman Tom Savage and director general Noel Curran are expected to face intense questioning from TDs when they appear before the joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications today. Although some deputies are expected to be critical of RTÉ’s failings in respect of the programme, committee chairman Andrew Doyle promised yesterday that members would engage with Mr Savage and Mr Curran in a “clear-headed, comprehensive and balanced manner”.

“The committee will wish to explore with Mr Curran and Mr Savage what procedures would be introduced in general policy at RTÉ to . . . ensure a scandal such as this will never be repeated,” he said.

As well as the Fr Reynolds case, some TDs are likely to take issue with the findings in the programme about Br Gerard Dillon. A Christian Brother who taught in South Africa, he was named in the programme as an abuser by a former pupil.

The family of Br Dillon, who was originally from Clarecastle, Co Clare, and died in December 2005, have demanded that RTÉ produce its research into the allegations.

At his meeting with the RTÉ board last week, Mr Rabbitte also instructed the State broadcaster to deliver quarterly progress reports on its implementation of the reforms recommended in the authority’s report.

Written by former BBC executive Anna Carragher, the report found “significant failure of editorial and managerial controls” within RTÉ which led to serious, damaging and untrue allegations being broadcast about Fr Reynolds. The authority has fined the broadcaster €200,000 and RTÉ has also had to pay out an estimated €1 million libel settlement to Fr Reynolds in a case taken by the priest last year.

Journalists involved in the making of the programme, including presenter Aoife Kavanagh, have criticised the procedures followed by the authority to investigate the matter and aspects of Ms Carragher’s report.

Michael O’Keeffe, chief executive of the broadcasting authority, has also been called to appear before the committee.