Sinn Féin and national broadcaster RTÉ find themselves entangled in a dispute after the party’s leader, Mary Lou McDonald, levelled accusations of “electoral interference” at the broadcaster. The controversy arose from a satirical comment aired on the Late Late Show.
The disagreement is focused on the Friday night monologue of the show’s presenter Patrick Kielty. He made a jest about a potential Irish version of the popular reality TV show, Traitors, with a reference to “the Sinn Féin traitors,” a show he claimed everyone would want to watch.
Sinn Féin’s stance is that this jest carried undertones of “far-right tropes” against their party, highlighting that Ms McDonald has received death threats. In response, RTÉ suggested the satirical intent was clear through the comment’s tone and delivery. The controversial comment was still available for view on RTÉ’s online player by Sunday.
The controversial reference came from Kielty while he displayed onscreen images of Ms McDonald and former party TD Brian Stanley.
Mr Stanley parted ways with the party after he likened an internal investigation into a complaint raised against him to a kangaroo court. Following his resignation, Sinn Féin turned the issue over to the gardaí only a week later, drawing scrutiny from its political adversaries who questioned the delay in their action.
On the day following the broadcast, Sinn Féin released a statement that they had brought Kielty’s remark to the attention of RTÉ’s director-general Kevin Bakhurst.
Sinn Féin released a statement saying, “Mary Lou McDonald, who has been the recipient of death threats where ‘traitor’ has been the term employed, has been erroneously portrayed with far-right tropes on the Late Late Show. This, especially being only weeks away from a general election, can only be seen as electoral interference. We demand RTÉ to issue an immediate apology.”
Sinn Féin has responded to queries on whether they plan to take a complaint to Coimisiún na Meán, the media regulator, or the Electoral Commission, stating that their first point of action would be to communicate with RTÉ. The national broadcaster, in its response, indicated that the usual procedure for grievances about a programme is, in the first instance, to be dealt with by them. According to RTÉ, while Sinn Féin has penned a letter to them, no formal broadcast complaint has been made. The process following RTÉ’s response can, if the party is not satisfied, be escalated to Coimisiún na Meán. The recent legislation allows for direct addressing of complaints to Coimisiún na Meán, who will usually refer the case back to the broadcaster.
On Saturday, a letter was addressed to Mr Bakhurst from Sinn Féin’s communications head, Robbie Smyth. He insisted the situation be treated as an official complaint from Ms McDonald and demanded an on-air apology from Kielty, alongside a removal of the debated segment from the broadcasting platform. Smyth highlighted that phrases such as “Sinn Féin traitors” have been common among anti-immigration activists at protests outside the Dáil and asylum centres. He took issue with its light-hearted inclusion in the program, while it’s remained a source of intimidation and personal threat for party members in their day-to-day endeavours.
RTÉ underscored that satire is fundamental to freedom of speech and typically targets public figures, entities and the like that feature in the news cycle. They said that since Kielty assumed control, The Late Late Show has adopted a more satirical tone which the audience now expects. In the case in question, they reiterated that the presenter made a satirical comment about recruitment for a new TV series “Traitors,” basing it on the recent controversies surrounding Sinn Féin.