Cuffe: FF call for Goan to quit over furore is dangerous

A GREEN Party TD has criticised Fianna Fáil for calling on RTÉ director-general Cathal Goan to consider resigning after the Brian Cowen portrait controversy.

Ciarán Cuffe said such a call by the Greens’ partners in Government was entering “dangerous territory”.

He also suggested that RTÉ’s comprehensive apology to Mr Cowen had not been warranted.

The call for Mr Goan to consider his position was made in a press release issued by the Fianna Fáil press office and attributed to the party’s Dublin North TD Michael Kennedy.

It came after RTÉ had aired a report on its 9pm news bulletin telling how nude portraits of the Taoiseach had been hung as a prank in two Dublin galleries.

The Government press secretary rang Mr Goan personally to complain that same night. The following day, Mr Kennedy claimed the report had been tasteless and argued Mr Goan should “consider his position”.

“The item represented a gross insult to the position of An Taoiseach, not to mention a personal affront to the dignity of the man himself,” Mr Kennedy said.

“Regardless of who the incumbent is, the position of An Taoiseach deserves respect, especially from our national public service broadcaster.”

RTÉ apologised for the report in its 9pm bulletin that night. The next day, gardaí sought contact details for the artist from staff at Today FM radio station, who had been in contact with him.

But Mr Cuffe, who is the Green Party whip, argued on his blog that RTÉ should not have apologised so comprehensively and that sending in the gardaí was a mistake.

“Sure, we can argue the pros and cons of whether RTÉ should have run with the prank in the first place, and indeed how they handled the story,” he said.

“Personally I don’t think it should have involved a full apology the following evening, but this whole sending in the guards business brings it into the realm of high farce. I can only imagine that the gardaí investigating whether the display of the paintings involved offences such as indecency, incitement to hatred or criminal damage have much better things to be doing with their time, and that’s what I feel they should be doing.

“I feel we’re slipping into dangerous territory when a member of the Oireachtas is calling for the director-general of RTÉ Cathal Goan to consider his position.”

A spokesman for the Greens in Government said Mr Cuffe had been speaking “in a personal capacity”.