RTÉ DIRECTOR general Noel Curran has said he is not ruling out the possibility that those involved in making the programme that libelled Fr Kevin Reynolds will be sacked.
In his first public comments since the out-of-court libel settlement last week, Mr Curran said he would rule nothing out in the recommendations that he will make to the RTÉ board arising out of the programme. The board is due to meet on December 15th.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Six-One , Mr Curran was asked by presenter Bryan Dobson if it was still RTÉ’s policy that “no heads should roll” over the Prime Time Investigates broadcast which wrongly suggested that Fr Reynolds had raped a minor while working in Africa and fathered a child by her.
The next series of Prime Time Investigates , which was due to be shown in December, has been suspended pending the outcome of RTÉ’s internal inquiry.
Dobson suggested to Mr Curran that the Government’s decision to hold an independent inquiry showed it did not have confidence in RTÉ’s internal investigation.
Mr Curran replied that anything that “restores the trust in RTÉ’s current affairs output in particular is a positive step”.
He admitted RTÉ was taken by surprise by the decision which was announced following a Cabinet meeting yesterday afternoon, but they intended to co-operate fully.
Mr Curran admitted the programme-makers committed one of the “gravest editorial mistakes that has ever happened in RTÉ”.
He said he was not directly involved in the decision-making that led to the programme going to air though he is RTÉ’s editor-in-chief and will not be standing down temporarily from his position while the investigation is being carried out.
Fianna Fáil communications spokesman Éamon Ó Cuív repeated his assertion yesterday that the public must be given some indication of how much the settlement cost RTÉ even if a confidentiality agreement existed.
Speaking to The Irish Times yesterday, Fr Reynolds said he had left any discusion of money and the confidentiality agreement to his solicitor Robert Dore. “I think in time I wouldn’t have difficulty talking about the money, but the thought hasn’t crossed my mind as I’m focused on other things,” he said.
He said the fact that the High Court had sanctioned the apology was more important than the original apology offered by RTÉ.
In his only broadcast interview, on Shannonside FM, yesterday Fr Reynolds said when the programme was broadcast everything he had worked for “went down the swanney”.
He told the Joe Finnegan Show that he was “not out for revenge or for any heads rolling” in RTÉ, but that those responsible had to face the consequences.
He maintained he had a Christian duty to forgive those involved in the programme who defamed him.
“I have no difficulty in saying openly and honestly that I forgive whoever inflicted such distress on me. That’s what we have been taught to do.”