Radio station rapped over ‘stab city’ phrase

A DUBLIN radio station has been reprimanded for constantly referring to Limerick as stab city.

The Broadcasting Complaints Commission (BCC) said Spin FM’s use of the term was “inappropriate and offensive”. In its complaints bulletin yesterday, the BCC said there was no context to justify the use of Stab City.

Spin FM said it made no apology for using the term stab city in any of its news stories. It said stab city was a well-known nickname for Limerick.

The BCC also received a strongly-worded complaint by the Garda Representative Association (GRA) about an RTÉ documentary on the gardaí. The GRA claimed Primetime contained a “strong bias” against the force. RTÉ denied the accusations of bias.

The BCC said the Primetime program had been hard-hitting but not unfair. It rejected the complaint.

Former Justice Minister Patrick Cooney complained about an RTÉ news bulletin on the Barron Report on the Dublin/Monaghan bombings.

The BCC said RTÉ had simply stated a fact and rejected his complaint.