RTÉ has “unreservedly” apologised to writer and broadcaster Kevin Myers after the station wrongly accused him of being a Holocaust denier.
The false claim was aired in 2017 after Mr Myers was dismissed as a columnist with the Sunday Times newspaper after an online campaign accusing him of anti-Semitism – despite the fact that he has been one of the most prominent voices against anti-Semitism for decades.
At the time, the chair of the Jewish Representative Council in Ireland Maurice Cohen defended Mr Myers insisting that “branding Kevin Myers as either an anti-Semite or a Holocaust denies is an absolute distortion of the facts”.
In a statement read out on air late last week, RTÉ admitted it had been wrong. “On July 31, 2017, Morning Ireland introduced an item that suggested that Kevin Myers was a Holocaust denier. This was untrue, and defamatory of Mr Myers’ character”.
Scale
The statement added that: “Morning Ireland acknowledges that Mr Myers has, for over three decades, repeatedly testified to the scale and wickedness of Hitler’s ‘final solution’.
“Morning Ireland acknowledges the damage done to Mr Myers reputation. We regret this, and unreservedly apologise”.
The Irish Catholic understands that Mr Myers has received substantial damages from the national broadcaster.