RTÉ chief stands over High Society cocaine claims

RTÉ’s director general yesterday said he stood over the contentious allegation made by the High Society documentary that a politician admitted snorting cocaine.

Cathal Goan told the Oireachtas Communications Committee that senior management at RTÉ believe the claims made by author Justine Delaney-Wilson — including admissions by a politician and an airline pilot that they regularly used cocaine.

But Mr Goan, the managing director of television in RTÉ, Noel Curran, and the director of current affairs, Ed Mulhall, said they did not know the identity of the politician.

They also disclosed that the only person who actually listened to the recording (later destroyed) of the politician was Ms Delaney-Wilson.

When Mr Goan was asked by Fine Gael TD Simon Coveney to stand over the credibility of the journalist, he said it would not be appropriate to single out an individual but added: “What I will say is... RTÉ stands over the programmes broadcast.”

Similarly Mr Curran, when asked did he stand over the programme’s claim that all testimonies were true, said yes.

Labour’s Liz McManus, who put the question, said she did not believe they were all true and said High Society lacked the hard evidence that the public had come to expect of RTÉ.

Mr Goan and Mr Curran both accepted shortcomings in the editorial process. “We relied overly on assurances given by third parties,” said Mr Goan.

Mr Curran also expressed unease with the heavy reliance on dramatisation.

Mr Curran revealed he interviewed Ms Delaney-Wilson twice in the presence of her lawyer while conducting his inquiry into RTÉ’s editorial processes for the series.

About 65% of the interviews were recorded with 35% based on written notes. Those based on written notes included the interviews with the politician, the airline pilot and a teacher.

However, Mr Curran did say that in one of the tapes, a participant in a Narcotics Anonymous group spoke about a pilot being part of that group.