A senior RTÉ executive has criticised the lack of spending by Sky on television content in Ireland given the large revenues the Rupert Murdoch-owned media group takes from Irish customers.

There is a certain irony in the fact that in the very week that Margaret Thatcher died, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland announced it is to ask the Government to legislate to make a register of financial interests for radio or television presenters mandatory so any conflict of interest might be avoided.

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) is to ask the Government to bring in legislation to facilitate the establishment of a register of the financial interests of TV and radio presenters.

Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte has fired a shot across the bows of some of his Fine Gael colleagues in relation to reform of our privacy laws. Fine Gael ministers have been pushing the idea of statutory regulation of the media in recent months.

The proliferation of media, the fact that communication has never been easier raises a multitude of issues on a multitude of fronts.

Four stories came together in recent weeks and highlighted the disastrous consequences of silence in the face of blatant public dishonesty and immorality.

RTÉ has blamed measures introduced by the Government in the 2010 budget for its deteriorating financial position after the state broadcaster reported a net deficit of almost €16.8m last year.

RTÉ senior management has warned that the broadcaster faces continuing financial challenges in the coming years as it struggles to grow revenue from advertising and licence fees.

ON May 23, I was told by an impeccable source it was their understanding that Tom Savage and the Communications Clinic had represented Fr Kevin Reynolds in the run up to the broadcast of the RTÉ Prime Time Investigates programme, ‘Mission to Prey’.

RTE chair Tom Savage needs to “set the record straight” about his PR company’s clients, a Labour senator has said, as the fallout from the Mission to Prey programme continues.

A public relations company run by RTÉ chairman Tom Savage said he had no knowledge of the work it did for the Irish Missionary Union in advance of the infamous Prime Time Investigates programme.

SINCE we’re all going to vote on Thursday (I hope), this is my last chance to write about the referendum. Before I do, I can’t resist saying something about the Tom Savage conspiracy.

Further calls have been made on RTÉ chairman Tom Savage and director general Noel Curran to resign as a result of the Prime Time Investigates programme which defamed Fr Kevin Reynolds.

RTÉ chairman Tom Savage has insisted only Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte can force him to step down over the 'Prime Time Investigates' scandal.

RTE’s director general has insisted there will be no repeat of the defamation scandal surrounding Father Kevin Reynolds.

RTÉ bosses faced a sustained attack from TDs and senators of all political parties yesterday amid the continuing fallout of the Prime Time Investigates programme which seriously libelled Fr Kevin Reynolds.

The chairman of RTÉ has said he still finds it inexplicable that the hugely damaging 'Mission to Prey' programme in which Father Kevin Reynolds was defamed was allowed to air.

An Oireachtas Committee has been hearing from Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) chiefs about its findings against RTÉ.

The head of the Oireachtas Communications Committee says he has concerns about the role of the board of RTÉ in the Fr Kevin Reynolds libel case.

Pat Kenny has hit back at criticism from Sean Gallagher by accusing him of “seeking solace” for his failed presidential bid through a tweet read out during The Frontline debate.

Former presidential candidate Sean Gallagher has compared his treatment by RTÉ to that of defamed priest Father Kevin Reynolds after he complained about the broadcast of a bogus tweet.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore would not comment on whether Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte should apologise to RTÉ licence-fee payers after the broadcaster reached a settlement out of court for comments he made on air.

THE botched handling of Prime Time Investigates programme which libelled Fr Kevin Reynolds could provide the ingredients for a Shakespearean tragi-comedy were its fallout not so serious.

A HEAVY price has been paid by Aoife Kavanagh.

Following the meeting of the board of RTÉ with Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte on the libelling of Father Kevin Reynolds in the Mission to Prey programme, it has emerged that no resignations from the board were sought or offered.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny wants a cross-party Oireachtas committee established to monitor RTÉ.

A new cross-party watchdog should be set up to hold RTE to account, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said.

Chairman of the RTÉ board Tom Savage has said that the board first discussed the programme which resulted in the libelling of Fr Kevin Reynolds in September of last year.

The board of RTÉ has been given one week to file a report on all steps it is taking to prevent a repeat of the defamatory 'Mission to Prey' programme.

The Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte has said he is satisfied that the board of RTE fully appreciates the seriousness of the libeling of Fr Kevin Reynolds.

The RTÉ board is expected to reject criticism by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland that it failed to waive legal privilege for an inquiry into the Prime Time Investigates programme at a special meeting with Pat Rabbitte, the communications minister, today.

Heads could roll as Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte confronts the board of the RTÉ Authority tomorrow over the Prime Time Investigates programme Mission To Prey.

The solicitor for Fr Kevin Reynolds has said the chairman of RTE is ultimately responsible for the errors in the 'Mission to Prey' programme which libelled the priest.

The National Union of Journalists has said that it is not satisfied with aspects of an investigation by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland into an RTÉ 'Prime Time Investigates' programme.

The National Union of Journalists said yesterday it was not satisfied with aspects of the investigation process and did not accept many of the conclusions reached by investigator Anna Carragher in respect of its members, Aoife Kavanagh and Ken O’Shea.

The board of RTÉ and its director general have formally accepted the findings of the BAI Inquiry into the Prime Time Investigates programme, A Mission to Prey.

THERE is some irony in the fact the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has published its report into RTÉ’s Mission to Prey fiasco the very week the BBC is being applauded for its exposé into Cardinal Seán Brady’s handling of sex abuse allegations.

On May 23 last year Fr Kevin Reynolds had his life and reputation torn apart when a high profile television investigation branded him a child rapist.

Misjudgments by individuals combined with systemic failures led to RTÉ’s grave error to wrongly accuse a priest of fathering the child of a teenage girl he was accused of raping.

There is a clear public outcry for the resignation of Cardinal Seán Brady, but it may be in the public interest that he has not resigned already, because there are issues involved that should be examined seriously.

An RTÉ reporter, who worked on the programme that was found to have libeled Fr. Kevin Reynolds, has resigned from her position at the broadcaster this evening.

Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte has criticised RTÉ's 'Mission to Prey' programme today, calling it a "shoddy, unprofessional, cavalier, damaging piece of work".

YESTERDAY marked the centenary of the introduction of the Third Home Rule Bill in the House of Commons at Westminster. We are beginning a decade of commemoration lasting until the centenary of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 2022.

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) has expressed its "dismay and disappointment" that information regarding the ongoing investigation into RTÉ has entered the public domain.