RTÉ’s Miriam attacked by Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin leader’s tirade in new book on McGuinness
RTÉ presenter Miriam O’Callaghan is being targeted by Sinn Féin for putting tough questions to the late Martin McGuinness about his links to Provisional IRA killings.
The ‘Prime Time’ broadcaster’s probing during a presidential election debate has been described as “utterly repulsive” by the party leader Mary Lou McDonald.
When contacted by the Irish Independent yesterday, Ms O’Callaghan declined to respond. But an RTÉ spokesperson said: “RTÉ covered Martin McGuinness’s 2011 presidential candidacy in a fair, objective and impartial manner.”
Both Ms McDonald and her predecessor Gerry Adams question Ms O’Callaghan’s professionalism in contributions to a new book. They are intensely critical of Mr McGuiness’s treatment “by the media in the south” during the 2011 presidential election campaign.
In particular the pair single out Ms O’Callaghan, who is tipped as a potential candidate if there is a competition to replace President Michael D Higgins later this year.
Ms McDonald writes: “I thought his treatment by the media in the south during the presidential election was utterly repulsive.
“I’m thinking of Miriam O’Callaghan and RTÉ with their ‘How do you sleep at night?’. I’m thinking of the nonsense of Vincent Browne (though he is a person I personally like).
“You would swear listening to these people that Martin McGuinness was the trigger that caused the northern Troubles. The utter hypocrisy of it.”
She adds that the coverage was “absolutely obnoxious” and claims RTÉ breached their public service remit.
This is despite 10 complaints about Ms O’Callaghan’s handling of the TV debate being rejected by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.
During the debate in October 2011, Ms O’Callaghan asked candidates about their religious beliefs and then turned to Mr McGuinness and, noting his Provisional IRA past, said: “How do you square, Martin McGuinness, with your God, the fact that you were involved in the murder of so many people?” The book by Jude Collins called ‘Martin McGuinness – The Man I Knew’ also includes a chapter from Mr Adams in which he reveals it was Ms McDonald who convinced Mr McGuinness to run for Áras an Uachtaráin. He too goes on the attack, saying McGuinness was “a wee bit shocked by the southern media”.
Mr Adams points to a moment during the debate when Ms O’Callaghan asked him: “When were you last at Confession?”
“We were well used to being treated as hostile witnesses by the media, but to take the moral high ground?
“He did have words with Miriam O’Callaghan afterwards. But that wouldn’t be unusual – that would happen quite a lot. I’ve done it myself a few times,” Mr Adams writes.
It was widely reported at the time the mother-of-eight was
left “badly shaken” after being confronted off-air by Mr McGuinness before he left the studios.
Eyewitnesses described how an irate entourage from Sinn Féin hung around the room allocated for guests. Eventually the presenter and candidate had a face-to-face discussion in a private room.
In another piece, a long-term friend of Mr McGuinness, Joe McVeigh, also complains about the confession question.
“Miriam was, of course, primed to make life as difficult as possible for him in that interview. That was during the presidential election and they were trying to paint Martin as this guy who was responsible for all these deaths and killings,” he writes.
The attack on Ms O’Callaghan comes at a time when she is refusing to rule herself out of the next Áras race.
Ms McDonald, who took over as Sinn Féin leader in February, has previously indicated her preference would be for the party to contest an election.
Mr Higgins has yet to formally declare if he will seek a second term, but there is a growing expectation that he will.
The attack on the “southern media” comes amid allegations in Northern Ireland, which Sinn Féin denies, that it is trying to censor the media.