Lee the journalist was not a biased referee

THE minute George Lee announced he was to seek a nomination to run for Fine Gael in the Dublin South by-election, questions began to be asked about his impartiality in the past when reporting for RTÉ, with Fianna Fáil TD Timmy Dooley even comparing it to a referee taking off his jersey and showing his true colours.

First of all, almost every broadcaster or journalist has some political leaning, but they are able to give coverage in an unbiased manner, and the barometer of Lee’s success at this can be measured by how often his neutrality was questioned before he decided to run – which was never.

Secondly, comparing him to a referee is not valid – he was a commentator and reporter and his job wa not to keep order between politicians. That role belongs to the Ceann Comhairle, and we’ve never seen his objectivity questioned now, have we?