RTÉ bias on abortion on full show

So many important matters were teased out in the media last week – it’s challenging to have a life and keep on top of it all!

There was a telling interview on Drivetime (RTÉ Radio 1, Friday). Cormac Ó hEadhra interviewed the Iranian Ambassador and pressed him hard on Iranian support for Hamas.

The surprising thing was that the ambassador said he had attended the recent Fine Gael Ard Fheis and was due to attend the Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis of last weekend. The Israeli Ambassador had not been invited to either gathering.

The presenter asked him if Iranian human rights abuses had been raised with him at the FG Ard-Fheis – he said they hadn’t. It seemed like a bizarre case of double standards.

Of course, this was before the dramatic events of last Saturday night when Iran launched a few hundred missiles and drones directly at Israel – I was glued to the news channels in trepidation, but fortunately defences worked well and no one was killed.

Last week the Cass Report into the treatment of children with gender dysphoria was published. It got extensive coverage in the UK, but not so much here, even though it is particularly relevant as Irish children have been sent to the controversial Tavistock gender clinic in the UK, and because the report will influence future directions in Ireland.

The quiet reaction here might have something to do with how critical report was of how children were not well served by the approach of gender services. That approach seems to have been guided by ideology rather than science, with activists getting a disproportionate role in setting the direction of strategy.

It did get an airing on Drivetime (RTÉ Radio 1, Wednesday). There was an interview with Prof. Donal O’Shea who treats transgender people at St Columcille’s Hospital in Loughlinstown. For him the report was “welcome” and “comprehensive” and he seemed a moderate voice working in this area of medicine.

Dr Chris Noone lecturer in psychology in University of Galway and also on the board of the National LGBT Federation was critical of some of the report’s methods for collating. There was no voice even daring to suggest that ideology, delusion or hysteria might be playing a role in this modern phenomenon.

Another story that got some small amount of coverage was the re-organisation of Catholic dioceses in the West of Ireland. Newstalk Breakfast (Thursday) discussed the issue with Fr David Vard, at age 32 one of the youngest priests in Ireland. He agreed it was a significant change, the first of its kind in 900 years, but he thought it was good news, a chance for small diocese to join forces and resources.

While declining numbers of church goers and vocations was part of the reason, he thought in general Irish dioceses were too small – in fact some parishes in the East were bigger than some dioceses in the West (population-wise I presume).

The same issue was explored on This Week (RTÉ Radio 1, Sunday) when reporter Gavin O’Callaghan travelled in the West of Ireland with Fr John Kenny. There was quite a geographical spread and where there were once five priests now there was just himself, with help from an Indian priest in the neighbourhood and a local priest retiring. “You can’t cover the ground,” he said. While living alone, he said he had a good support network among his colleagues, always “someone at the end of the phone for me”.

RTÉ’s bias on the abortion issue, in News and Current Affairs, is sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant – last Monday’s Morning Ireland (RTÉ Radio 1) was an egregious example of the latter. It was a promo for last Monday night’s RTÉ Investigates programme on abortion services in Ireland, and wouldn’t you know, amounted to a big push for liberalisation of the law – an attempt to undermine the three-day waiting period, the 12-week limit and the measures to on foetal abnormality.

The strategy is always the same – point out the alleged deficiencies of the law, have personal stories from one side only, and have experts presented as if they were neutral.

When will there be an ‘RTÉ Investigates’ report on the more than doubling of abortion figures since repeal, or the suffering of these living babies, or the inherent discrimination against the disabled, or the millions spent on this destruction, or the pressures on doctors to get involved if they want to be employed?

PICK OF THE WEEK

SONGS OF PRAISE
BBC One Sunday, April 21, 1.25pm

Rev. Kate Bottley is in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, meeting Christians who are contributing to their communities through their acts of service and selflessness.

HOPE – OUR LADY OF KNOCK
EWTN Sunday, April 21, 9pm

A historical docudrama that covers the events leading up to and following the apparition of the Blessed Mother, St Joseph, St John, and the Eucharistic miracle that occurred in Knock, Ireland in 1897.

FILM: A HIDDEN LIFE
Channel 4 Sunday (night) April 21, 12.50am

(2019) Epic, critically acclaimed World War II drama, written and directed by Terrence Malick, set in rural Austria and following the life story of Franz Jägerstätter (August Diehl), a conscientious objector. Recommended.