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Jerrie Anne Sullivan Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland

RTÉ to make on-air clarification over Corrib Garda 'rape tape' coverage

The clarification comes after the BAI upheld a complaint by Jerrie Anne Sullivan that RTÉ coverage of the case on July of this year caused her “undue distress and harm”.

Updated 4.25pm

RTÉ IS TO make a statement about its coverage of part of the Corrib ‘rape tape’ claims.

It follows a complaint to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) by Jerrie Ann Sullivan, one of the women whose arrest led to a senior Garda and his colleagues recording themselves talking about the women who were in their custody.

The BAI said that RTÉ’s coverage of the deletion of files on the camcorder that recorded the controversial audio caused Sullivan “undue distress and harm”.

Shell-To-Sea said the correction will be broadcast before the 6.01 News and Nine O’Clock News this Wednesday, 7 December.

The complaints were made by Sullivan under the Broadcasting Act 2009 section 48(1)(a)(fairness, objectivity and impartiality in current affairs) and section 48(1)(b)(harm and offence – Code of Programme Standards: section 3.5.2 factual programming).

She stated that the news report about the outcomes of the investigation by the Garda Siochána Ombudsman Commission into sexually threatening remarks allegedly made by members of the Gardaí broadcast on the Six One news programme was incorrect.

Her complaint centred on the headline ‘Ombudsman says Mayo arrest tape was altered’, which she said was factually incorrect.

She also stated that RTÉ broadcast the line that “part of the recording of the arrest of two women about whom Gardaí were alleged to have made sexually threatening remarks was deleted and overwritten”, which she said was false.

Sullivan said that part of the recording of the arrests was not deleted, and that instead an unrelated file on the camera was deleted and overwritten.

She said the GSOC is aware of that and it did not state that part of the recording was deleted.

The GSOC report states that “footage of the original incident giving rise to the GSOC investigation was recovered from the device along with a number other files that had been deleted and overwritten”.

Sullivan said that RTÉ misinterpreted the GSOC report and broadcast false information that was offensive and harmful to her, and that it damaged her credibility as well as causing offence to the wider community in Kilcommon, Erris Co Mayo.

The report was broadcast during the course of the 6.01pm and 9 O’Clock news.

RTÉ said it believed the studio introduction and report were fully accurate and there was no breach of impartiality or objectivity.

The BAI said that the findings of the GSOC report as summarised in the introduction to the news report are not supported by the GSOC and the report was inaccurate.

It said the “phraseology” used in the report didn’t sufficiently distinguish between the recording that was being investigated and other files on the camcorder; and that this phraseology and inaccuracy in the introduction would have reasonably resulted in a view inferring that the recording being investigated had been tampered with.

The BAI committee was of the view that the report would raise unfounded questions for viewers about the integrity of Sullivan, so it was in breach of section 48(1) of the 2009 Act, and that the report casued undue distress and harm to Sullivan.

It did not agree that the report would have caused undue stress to the community of Kilcommon, Erris.

Sullivan said:

I am relieved that at least one aspect of the misinformation put out by state bodies about this incident has now been corrected.
In correspondence with me prior to the BAI decision, RTE attempted to vigorously defend their inaccurate reporting, citing Minister Alan Shatter’s also misleading comments as a basis for the news.

Dublin Shell to Sea spokesperson Caoimhe Kerins alleged that the situation with the digital camera was explained by telephone to RTÉ, but they ignored this information.

Communications minister Pat Rabbitte, meanwhile, has ruled out the prospect of amending the Broadcasting Acts in the wake of the settlement reached between RTÉ and Kevin Reynolds.

Rabbitte said he would not consider a change in the law requiring RTÉ to publicly declare the extent of its out-of-court settlements, in response to aparliamentary question from Fine Gael backbencher Bernard Durkan.

Read: Gardaí claim Corrib protestors discussed rape prior to taped remarks>

Read: Corrib ‘rape tape’ gardaí will not face criminal charges>

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29 Comments
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    Mute Jams O' Donnell
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    May 12th 2019, 5:09 PM

    I always thought with communism when the shop’s were empty, nothing but Soviet B.S. on the state run telly, There was nothing to do but screw.! ( At least it was free).!

    84
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    Mute Del Teeling
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    May 12th 2019, 5:14 PM

    @Jams O’ Donnell: How crass

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    Mute Gav Brosnan
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    May 12th 2019, 5:38 PM

    @Del Teeling: back to Russia with you.

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    Mute Tony Donoghue
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    May 12th 2019, 6:07 PM

    @Jams O’ Donnell: nothing but babe station u say, there’s a lot to be said for communism perhaps

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    Mute Red Pirate 71
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    May 13th 2019, 1:39 AM

    @Jams O’ Donnell: wage equality, abortion. Divorce. Free access to education. Free housing. Free healthcare. Free holidays. Sounds space age? No. That’s the Soviet Union. Certainly not modern Ireland.

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    Mute Pamela K Sztyblewski
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    Jul 28th 2019, 10:49 AM

    @Jams O’ Donnell: Well that would account for a higher birth rate than they have. Then again, no place has a birth rate like the Irish. (My father had 15 brothers and sisters….)

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    Mute Pamela K Sztyblewski
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    Jul 28th 2019, 10:54 AM

    @Red Pirate 71: Irish people get that stuff in England.

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    Mute Tony Donoghue
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    May 12th 2019, 6:04 PM

    Russian ladies, the sweetest taboo

    44
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    Mute John Mulligan
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    May 12th 2019, 6:27 PM

    Take that story with a grain of siberian salt.
    A Russian colleague once summed up her country’s attitude to sex as follows: ‘in Russia we have no God, no hell or heaven and no concept of sin. If we have an itch, we scratch it.’

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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    May 12th 2019, 9:56 PM

    There again, anyone who hoped to escape probably wouldn’t want to risk leaving hostages behind. I’m fairly sure that no one was allowed to travel abroad in the past, unless their husband, wife or children stayed behind.

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    Mute Red Pirate 71
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    May 13th 2019, 1:40 AM

    @Fiona Fitzgerald: totally incorrect. Along with most American generated propaganda about Russia.

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    Mute Maggie O'Connor
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    May 12th 2019, 7:22 PM

    I don’t think its too far removed from the old Irish Catholic view about sex.. it was deemed inappropriate and shameful even to talk about it. Thankfully that has changed but, i still won’t covet my neighbour’s wife.

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    Mute Shawn O'Ceallaghan
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    May 12th 2019, 7:32 PM

    @Maggie O’Connor: unless for

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    Mute rusty
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    May 12th 2019, 9:29 PM

    @Maggie O’Connor: why not ?

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    Mute Jumperoo
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    May 12th 2019, 11:05 PM

    @rusty: I don’t covet my neighbour’s wife either. She’s puck ugly, and painful to listen to.

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    Mute Aine O Connor
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    May 13th 2019, 8:04 AM

    @Jumperoo: who says she would be bothered with you either.

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    Mute Aine O Connor
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    May 13th 2019, 8:11 AM

    @Maggie O’Connor:
    The Irish did not talk much about sex but had plenty of it judging by the numbers of unmarried Mothers, Shotgun marraiges and very large families. Follow the evidence.Sex is like most activities, the more you practice the more you learn and the more you learn the better it gets.

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    Mute Joey Roche
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    May 12th 2019, 5:48 PM

    Russian man found with three testicles, Whodyanickthebollockoff.

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    Mute Me_a_monkey
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    May 13th 2019, 7:13 PM

    @Joey Roche: in soviet Russia, sex has you….

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    Mute Jonny
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    May 12th 2019, 6:40 PM

    We like beans, we like sauce, we like sexual intercourse

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    Mute anthony o cathain
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    May 13th 2019, 12:07 AM

    @Jonny: haha hahaha hahaha. Spastic

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    Mute anthony o cathain
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    May 13th 2019, 12:08 AM

    A scary society

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    Mute The decline of Manchester United
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    May 13th 2019, 6:20 AM

    Horrible small minded Government, even today Putin would have a new Soviet Empire all the way across Europe but he knows the Americans would wipe them off the map if he tried

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    Mute Pamela K Sztyblewski
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    Jul 28th 2019, 10:55 AM

    @The decline of Manchester United: How, Russians aren’t allowed outside Russia without Visas even in Europe, while Americans are allowed everywhere visa-free “for 90 days”

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    Mute Guilherme Taffarel Bergamin
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    May 14th 2019, 2:20 PM

    Might be true for older people (40+), but I’m pretty sure that’s not the case with the young. I know a few Russians and I’d say they are pretty open about the subject. Homossexuality though I think it is still a taboo like it was in my country (Brazil) 20 – 15 years ago

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