Nine complaints to RTÉ over Liveline trans discussions

Following the programmes, the Dublin Pride organisation severed its media partnership with RTÉ in protest at the broadcasts. Despite that, RTÉ did not receive any official complaint from Dublin Pride. Picture: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie

Just nine official complaints were made to RTÉ over a series of Liveline programmes on gender identity, after which Dublin Pride pulled out of a partnership deal with the broadcaster. 

None of the complaints were upheld and none were appealed to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. The broadcaster received 110 other communications about the programmes by email or phone, of which about two-thirds were positive and one-third negative, according to correspondence sent to the Oireachtas culture and media committee. 

Following the programmes, the Dublin Pride organisation severed its media partnership with RTÉ in protest at the broadcasts. Despite that, RTÉ did not receive any official complaint from Dublin Pride.

A major controversy was generated following the decision by Dublin Pride. The LGBTQ support organisation issued a statement saying the discussions hosted by Joe Duffy on the programme “breaches trust with our community and causes untold hurt”. It went on to accuse RTÉ of stoking “the flames of anti-trans rhetoric”.

The reaction from Dublin Pride generated huge controversy online and in politics. Both the Taoiseach and Tánaiste commented on the affair and the Oireachtas committee on culture and media invited RTÉ executives in to explain themselves on the issue. 

RTÉ declined the invitation, stating it would first conduct its own inquiry. This week, the broadcaster wrote to the committee outlining the responses it had received from the public over the series of programmes.

Other bodies, such as the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and the National Women’s Council of Ireland, also signalled their disapproval of the broadcasts.

At the time, the 'people-powered campaign' website Uplift initiated a drive to complain about the programmes by appealing to its 336,000 members to directly contact the national broadcaster. 

An email was issued to some members claiming “this week Liveline has made it easier for those in our society who want to stoke hate and fear towards trans people”.

The email included a sample text that could be sent to RTÉ and added “the show was a gift to extremists who are trying to pull in more people to their groups on and offline.” 

In its letter to the Oireachtas committee, the broadcaster states that “RTÉ did not receive a single complaint from Uplift or from any person who said they were a member or supporter of that body.” 

The chairperson of the committee Fianna Fail TD Niamh Smyth said that she doesn’t envisage RTÉ being asked in to give evidence.

“The committee is satisfied from the letter that RTÉ have dealt with the matter and any queries about it," she said.

However, Uplift’s chief executive Siobhan O’Donoghue said RTÉ’s statistics in terms of complaints was not reflective of Uplift’s data. She said more than 1,000 emails were sent to RTÉ as a result of the Uplift campaign. 

“I’d be happy to look into it in more detail and happy to talk to RTÉ about it,” she said. 

“A number of people in Uplift were deeply unhappy at the way Liveline dealt with the trans community.”