The North has slipped off media agenda says Micheal Martin

Northern Ireland has slipped off the agenda of the media, and that has caused "real damage" according to Michéal Martin TD.

The Fianna Fail leader was speaking yesterday as part of the ‘Bias in the Media’ panel at UCC’s annual Journalism Conference.

Northern Ireland has slipped off the agenda, except for in times of conflict. - @MichealMartinTD #UCCJournoConf

— Greg Murphy 🤓 (@TheGregMurphy) February 12, 2015

“There are Northern correspondents who work hard and file important stories but there is an obvious editorial disinterest which I believe enabled a governmental disinterest which has caused real damage.”

@MichealMartinTD speaks at the bias in the media panel at #UCCJournoConf @UCC @UCCJournoSoc @societiesguild pic.twitter.com/MeYaVF2tJg

— Emmet Curtin 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ (@emmetcurtin) February 12, 2015

Mr. Martin also stated an example of such “damage” being Sinn Fein currently offering Irish citizens a "radical alternative” in the Republic despite it’s current actions in Northern Ireland.

“The same party is in government in the North and this week has implemented an austerity package the like of which they would be organising demonstrations against if it was tried in Dublin.

“If we don’t give time and space to covering the North we only risk damaging breakdowns and we’ll fail to hold accountable a significant political party.”

He went on to say that there was a growing disinterest in “hard policy initiative” in previous governments, which on launch day would be dominated by current issues and important policies would be condensed to a few minutes.

These policies, he claims, could have helped avoid the crash if they were put on political agendas.

.@MichealMartinTD commenting during speech at UCC conference on media bias. Full speech here: http://t.co/Asgsc8ORJD pic.twitter.com/yf8uR9lQsh

— Fianna Fáil (@fiannafailparty) February 12, 2015

“Dáil Éireann spent more time debating greyhound doping than the regulation of banks. There was no motion calling for less spending or higher taxes

The policies which would have prevented the crash were never on the agenda @MichealMartinTD #UCCJournoConf

— Denise O'Donoghue (@deniseodonoghue) February 12, 2015

“So we are far from what the Taoiseach called the 'Democratic Revolution of 2011’ as things are actually worse, with the agenda more tightly controlled than ever by government."

Other speakers at the "Bias in the Media" panel were Irish Examiner columnist Michael Clifford, Kevin Doyle, News editor for the Irish Independent, Hugh O'Connell, political editor for theJournal.ie and Louis Cashell from the Cork Independent.