A legal challenge over RTÉ's refusal to add Green Party leader Eamon Ryan to tonight's televised party leaders' debate has been dismissed by a High Court judge.

The RTÉ debate features seven party leaders from Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour, Sinn Féin, People Before Profit, the Social Democrats and Renua.

In judicial review proceedings by Green Party trustee Tom Kivlehan, it was argued RTÉ’s criterion that only parties with three TDs in the outgoing Dail could be invited to participate was unfair, undemocratic and unconstitutional.

In denying those claims, RTÉ said its critiera are objective, fair, transparent and applicable to all parties. The Greens were effectively seeking to have the broadcaster apply “subjective” criteria for televised party leaders’ debates that would favour the Greens over other parties, it also argued.

In her judgment today, Ms Justice Marie Baker agreed with RTÉ’s arguments. Her primary difficulty with the arguments advanced by Mr Kivlehan was that many of the considerations that the Greens urged should be taken into account by RTÉ would favour the party over other possible participants in the TV debate.

It was claimed that the refusal to invite Mr Ryan marked a failure to consider the strength and historical and international importance of Green Party policies. But those factors were “overly subjective” and could lead to arguments of partiality and subjectivity, Ms Justice Baker said.

In this case, the criterion adopted by RTÉ have been made known to all relevant parties, she said. They were developed for the 2016 general election by an expert group which specifically had regard to the current political reality and plurality of parties.

The judge noted Mr Kivlehan and the Green party leader had suggested different criteria be used by RTÉ in fixing threshold criteria for inclusion in the leaders’ debate.

She did not consider it was the role of the High Court to identify in detail the criteria that must be applied by any broadcaster establishing threshold criteria of this type.

The requirement that broadcasters act fairly and impartially cannot involve the broadcaster in considering the value, whether national or international, of the particular policy any party espouses, she added. Mr Ryan was in court today.

Costs issues will be decided later. RTÉ said it will be seeking its costs.