RAY D’ARCY HAS apologised to RTÉ News reporter Joe Mag Raollaigh after claiming live on air that the reporter sounded like he’d “had a few jars”.
D’Arcy took time out of his show on Radio One this morning to apologise to the experienced journalist about what he had said.
Mag Raollaigh had been up for 28-hours-straight reporting on the Dublin Bus strikes.
D’Arcy apologised and said he didn’t mean to suggest the reporter had been drinking on the job.
D’Arcy told his listeners: “Now on the show about two weeks ago, I’d been listening to RTÉ News reporter Joe Mag Raollaigh on the News at One.
“Joe had been reporting on overnight talks to settle the bus dispute and he hadn’t had any sleep.
Then I said Joe sounded like he had had a few jars.
“Obviously he hadn’t had a few jars and I’m sorry for saying he had. Joe had been up for 28 hours non-stop-reporting on the talks in the most professional manner as he always does.”
D’Arcy claimed he said what he did because he had been talking about sleep deprivation and its effects on the human body.
He added: “What we were doing that day on the programme was to point out that there’s a lot of research out there saying being deprived of sleep for 24 hours has the same effect as having six glasses of wine in an hour.
“There was never any suggestion on my part that Joe had been drinking alcohol.”
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