TYRONE MANAGER Mickey Harte’s row with RTÉ escalated yesterday with the issuing of a statement accusing the broadcaster of insulting the memory of his murdered daughter, Michaela.
Harte and the Tyrone players confirmed that they will continue to boycott RTÉ this evening when they play Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter-final in Croke Park.
In a statement issued yesterday by the Tyrone management and players, they also accused RTÉ of leaking the letter sent by Harte asking for GAA commentator Brian Carthy to be given a more prominent role.
The statement went on to accuse an RTÉ presenter of a “complete lack of sensitivity” in relation to a sketch which was broadcast shortly after the letter was made public. They did not name him, but the presenter in question was John Murray who did a skit on his RTÉ Radio 1 programme satirising Harte’s demands.
In it he asks the Tyrone manager’s permission to broadcast certain items. He also makes reference to Harte’s visit in April to Limerick to see the Dalai Lama.
The sketch finished with a short extract from the song Pretty Little Girl from Omagh.
It was broadcast on June 9th. It has since been removed from the RTÉ archive and was blocked yesterday on YouTube.
Harte went to the Limerick event with his daughter’s husband John McAreavey to hear the Dalai Lama speak on the theme of forgiveness after the murder of Michaela while on honeymoon in Mauritius. Though Tyrone have boycotted RTÉ this summer, it was generally assumed that it was over the Brian Carthy standoff, with the braodcaster reiterating its rights to have the sole control over who broadcasts matches.
An RTÉ source said the statement came “out of the blue” as head of radio Clare Duignan and Murray had apologised for the incident as soon as it was made known to them that Harte had taken offence and they believed it was the end of the matter.
Murray said he apologised during a lengthy conversation with the Tyrone manager three days after the sketch was broadcast and that Harte had accepted the use of the song was inadvertent and not intended to cause offence. Tyrone GAA spokesman Damian Harvey said their decision to release the statement in advance of the match and not any time in the last two months was to clarify that the boycott was not just about Brian Carthy. “It’s much broader than this.”
Mr Harvey said Tyrone people found it “incredible” that RTÉ was continuing to deny being the source of the Brian Carthy leak.
When asked if the real reason for the issuing of the statement was to create a siege mentality in advance of today’s game, he responded: “We don’t need any motivation when a place in the All-Ireland semi-final is at stake.”
An RTÉ spokesman reiterated that nobody within the organisation had leaked the letter. “Why would it be in our interest to do so?” he asked.
The broadcaster maintains that seven managers signed their name to the letter and therefore it would have been widely known about in certain circles within the GAA.
A spokesman for the GAA said there was no obligation on players or managers to agree to be interviewed. He said the issue was one between RTÉ and Mickey Harte.
