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	RtÉ Must Now Face the Truth It Demands of Others Irish Times November 22, 2011 http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2011/1122/1224307948029.html JUSTICE REQUIRES that Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte sets up an independent inquiry into why the RTÉ programme Mission to Prey was broadcast last May in its then form. Such an inquiry might also look into the choice of title for the programme. And, in the face of widespread public concern, such an inquiry should examine how RTÉ has dealt with fallout from that programme – up to, including and since its settlement in the High Court last Wednesday. In an era when the media have rightly been demanding openness, transparency and accountability of all of our institutions, this is not just a case of being seen to be even-handed. RTÉ's handling of this case at almost every step has been disturbing, even to the point where its director general Noel Curran refused to appear on RTÉ Radio 1's This Week programme last Sunday to answer questions on the case. He did so, listeners were told, due to "current and continuing" reviews at the broadcaster on editorial processes in the station, and would not be available to comment until those reviews were complete. On Monday of last week, two days prior to the High Court settlement with Fr Kevin Reynolds, it was announced that Curran himself had set in train such a review under Press Ombusdman John Horgan. However, it was reported the next day that Horgan would not be making recommendations on disciplinary proceedings which might arise from his findings. On Thursday, a statement from RTÉ said there would be "a full internal review of the origination, preparation and broadcast of the programme at issue here. Where RTÉ's general editorial processes are concerned, external independent advice has been sought through the engagement of Prof John Horgan to examine the steps through which editorial oversight is applied to programmes in advance of broadcast." Horgan's brief is with making recommendations to correct possible defects he may find in current editorial processes at RTÉ rather than establishing why RTÉ defamed Fr Reynolds last May. This is not nearly adequate as a response by RTÉ to the very serious questions it faces. An independent inquiry could be along the lines of that set up last April to review the deaths in 1989 of three Irish soldiers in Lebanon. Conducted by Frank Callinan SC, its findings were published in September. Arguably, in what may be a less complex case, an inquiry into Mission to Prey would require weeks rather than months. It would not be unreasonable to observe that these days most people, given a choice, would prefer to be accused of murder than child sex abuse. Such has been the impact of the four statutory reports published since 2005 into clerical child sex abuse in Ireland and of the horrific stories from dysfunctional families here in Ireland, as elsewhere. The pain caused by such a false allegation to one so accused is barely imaginable. When it involves an innocent priest, branded in the livingrooms of hundreds of thousands of people, and who as a result has to leave his home and parish, there are hardly words to describe what he must be going through. That Fr Reynolds has been so forcefully vindicated, his innocence so vigorously asserted, ought to be of some consolation to him. His Christian impulse to forgive, related in a Sunday Independent interview last weekend, should also help his recovery. Such generosity on his part is to be lauded as a fine example of what is best in the majority of our Catholic priests, for whom recent times have been an ongoing agony not of their making. But there are other casualties of this programme whose recovery may be more problematic. To watch the programme last May was to experience something of the journalistic equivalent of terror for two reasons. There was Fr Reynolds's vehement and utterly convincing sincerity – only a great actor could fake it. And then the voice-over narrative that said he had agreed to a paternity test. It begged a simple question – why did the programme makers not wait until the results of such a test came through? The question remains unanswered. Investigative journalism has been that other innocent victim of Mission to Prey . This is a tragedy, not least for Prime Time . In the area of child abuse alone, no other team of journalists has contributed so much to uncovering that great scandal at the heart of Irish society as those at Prime Time . It was Prime Time 's 1999 three-part States of Fear series into the abuse of children in orphanages, industrial schools and reformatories which led then-taoiseach Bertie Ahern to apologise on behalf of this State to all who had been in such institutions as children. It led to his setting up of the redress board and what became the Ryan commission, which published its report in May 2009. It also led to his setting up a confidential forum where people who had been in such institutions could tell their stories in private. Then in October 2002 Prime Time broadcast Cardinal Secrets , which investigated the abuse of children by priests in Dublin's Catholic archdiocese. That led, initially, to the Commissions of Investigations Act 2004, which allowed for more efficient, cost-effective inquiries to be conducted by this State. It led directly to the Murphy commission, which investigated the handling of clerical child sex abuse allegations in Dublin's Catholic archdiocese. It published its report two years ago in November 2009. That commission's remit was extended to include a similar investigation of Cloyne diocese and published its report on July 13th last. Those were Prime Time 's achievements in investigating just one dark area of Irish life. Our society owes more, much more to Prime Time . That its hard-earned, well-deserved reputation should have been put at such risk of itself demands explanation. Over to you, Minister.
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