RTÉ protester ordered to pay €300 or face jail

A political activist arrested for trespassing at the grounds of RTÉ studios has avoided a jail sentence but was fined €300 yesterday.

About 50 protesters from various groups had turned up at the gates of the national broadcaster in Donnybrook, Dublin, to protest about alleged “media bias”. Gardaí believed some of them intended to disrupt broadcasting of the Nine O’Clock News or the Late Late Show, Dublin District Court heard.

Stephen Bennett, aged 42, of Pearse Green, Sallynoggin, Co Dublin, was found guilty yesterday of trespassing with intent to commit an offence, on the night of January 31 last. He had denied the charge claiming he was engaging in a peaceful protest at RTÉ.