The country's commercial radio stations were forced yesterday to drop news coverage of SIPTU's opposition to the Government's decentralisation plans following complaints from Fianna Fáil. The independent Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) ordered Today FM, FM104 and Independent Network News (INN) to stop broadcasting the reports because they breached a State ban on election coverage on the day before polling, Mark Hennessy, Political Correspondent
However, the commercial radio stations reacted furiously to the intervention by the Fianna Fáil press director, Ms Olivia Buckley, while the Opposition accused the regulator of bowing to Fianna Fáil pressure.
Meanwhile, the BCI is also investigating the stations' coverage of a major reform plan for the Garda Síochána, although it has not yet ruled that these reports contravened the 1988 Radio and Television Act.
This requires stations to ensure that they do not broadcast any material "which might be reasonably considered to have the potential to influence the outcome of the poll" in the 24 hours before polling and during polling.
RTÉ is not bound by the 1988 Act, although it does obey a voluntary 24-hour moratorium on election coverage. However it defines this to mean coverage of candidates or of the campaign itself.
The national broadcaster, which is not regulated by the BCI, broadcast reports throughout the day about the Garda reform plan and SIPTU's plans to escalate its opposition to decentralisation.
An RTÉ executive, Mr Peter Feeney, said he had been asked by Fianna Fáil if the station was bound by the 1988 Act. "I said we weren't, but I would have regarded it as an inquiry, rather than a complaint, to be honest," he said.
Questioned last night, the BCI said it had to investigate all complaints. "We would have had to do so whether they were made by Fianna Fáil or a member of the public," said a spokesman.
Following an examination of the stations' scripts, he said, "the entire executive of the BCI" had decided that the decentralisation reports could have influenced voters' election choices today.
However, Mr Richie McMullen, head of news for INN, which supplies news bulletins and reports to the country's commercial stations, said: "SIPTU is made up of people of all political persuasions."
Fianna Fáil said the decision to veto the reports had been taken by the BCI, and not by the party.
However, Fine Gael's European director of elections, Mr Phil Hogan, said Fianna Fáil's complaints about the reporting of "straightforward current affairs stories" were "desperate and sinister".
And the leader of the Labour Party, Mr Pat Rabbitte, accused the BCI of operating a "ridiculously rigid and inflexible" interpretation of the 24-hour moratorium rule.
The National Union of Journalists has demanded an immediate explanation from the broadcasting commission.