GRA TO RTE: YOUR BIAS HAS MADE A MOCKERY OF GARDAI

TV interview sparks complaint and threat of legal action

RTÉ crime correspondent Paul Reynolds has been accused of ‘laughing hysterically’ at the Garda Representative Association prior to a TV interview broadcast with a Garda union spokesman this week.

Veteran journalist Reynolds is alleged to have described a statement by the organisation responding to the 1.4 million false breathalyser scandal as ‘Alice in Wonderland stuff’.

The charges are made in an official complaint made to RTÉ by the GRA – which represents rank and file gardaí – following the broadcast on Six One News of the unedited interview by the association’s spokesman, John O’Keeffe.

Mr O’Keeffe repeatedly claimed in the interview that GRA members did not falsify

the breathalyser results, but provided elevated numbers under pressure from Garda management.

It was shown in full on the Six One News and subsequently across RTÉ platforms, and went viral on social media.

The interview has drawn humorous comparison to Comical Ali, a spokesman for deceased dictator Saddam Hussein. During the second Iraq War in the early Noughties, he famously insisted that Baghdad was not being over-run by the American-led coalition, while troops were taking control of large swathes of the city.

But the official complaint says the interview about the breath test fiasco ‘makes a mockery’ of the GRA’s position. It also alleges bias and partiality by the station and the reporter.

Informed sources say the GRA is not just relying on witness testimony but believe they have proof of its claims, having made its own tape of the interview.

Such a recording would make a key piece of evidence, should the matter result in a legal case, which would be embarrassing for both sides.

The GRA lodged the complaint to the national broadcaster on Friday, a day after Reynolds’s interview with Mr O’Keeffe.

The GRA spokesman has, separately, threatened to sue RTÉ over the interview, saying there was an understanding his answers would be edited or deleted before broadcast. He claims RTÉ released the interview in full because it is biased against the GRA and is trying to push its own agenda.

The official GRA letter of complaint, signed off by the association’s general secretary Pat Ennis, states that the interview was designed to ridicule.

The extraordinary interview was a follow-up to a GRA statement that said it would not be scapegoated for the scandal surrounding 1.4 million fake breath tests, and instead pointed the finger at Garda management.

In it, Mr O’Keeffe repeatedly stated that rank-and-file gardaí did not falsify figures and were told to elevate them by middle and senior management.

The GRA’s letter of complaint is directed at Reynolds and the news editor of Six One News and related platforms.

It states: ‘Mr Reynolds arrived at our offices and revealed his clear bias to our announcement. He called it “Alice In Wonderland stuff” and was buoyantly laughing, almost hysterically, throughout.

‘Several members of staff commented on his excitable demeanour and subsequent adversarial and opinionated comment.

‘As he departed our building, he said: “That’s the funniest interview I have ever recorded. Seriously.”’

This is not the first time the GRA and Reynolds have clashed. In 2007, the journalist was awarded €60,000 in a libel action against then-GRA chief PJ Stone over an editorial he wrote for the Garda Review magazine that criticised one of Reynolds’s RTÉ reports.

The GRA letter points out that the primary content of the press statement on the breath test scandal was that its members had been under duress from management to manipulate breath test figures.

It states that this too is the view of Garda management and referenced page 97 of the Mandatory Alcohol Testing Checkpoint Examination Report which notes: ‘By failing to review the capacity to carry out the number of checkpoints which were being set down for frontline members, management have intentionally or inadvertently applied pressure and that this was a contributory cause which led to the discrepancy between Pulse and breath test figures.’

The letter ends: ‘I seek a response outlining any reasons why RTÉ might feel justified that the resultant streamed report was accurate, impartial, fair and objective and not making a mockery of a serious viewpoint held by the guardians of the peace in Ireland.’

A source said: ‘The RTÉ interview isn’t the only recording of this. Personnel from the GRA made a recording too, for their own records. Reynolds can be heard laughing and making the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ comment. They will provide RTÉ with all the evidence to back up their correspondence.’

An RTÉ spokesman said: ‘I can confirm we have received correspondence from the GRA and are currently clarifying it with them.

‘RTÉ stands by the interview and its subsequent broadcast on air and online. There are no plans to remove the interview.’ news@mailonsunday.ie

GRA made its own tape of the interview ‘Funniest interview I’ve ever recorded’