On Sunday last (21/10/10) the Irish government announced the IMF / ECB bailout plans. This was already the word on the street for the previous week and the Taoiseach, Brian Cowen had, on more than one occasion, vehemently denied any plans for an IMF bailout. Yet again, more lies. The IMF brigade were apparently just here on a friendly visit over the previous days and were shacked up in the swanky Merrion Hotel, conveniently located a spitting distance from the back door of government buildings. But the charade couldn’t be kept up for too long.

I was watching the news develop online via Twitter when it was announced a press conference would take place after 8pm with some news from the government. It’s unusual of course for our politicians to work on a Sunday, so this it would seem was the admission of what the IMF were really here for (as if we didn’t know).

I switched on the television and flicked around to see what was being said. BBC and Sky News were covering the story for an hour previous and people wondered on Twitter if RTÉ was going to announce that they would be covering it.

RTÉ broadcast the government’s press conference at 8.30pm after Fair City. The News Flash cut the live broadcast at 8.50pm before it was over when the journalist Vincent Browne dealt some tough questions to An Taoiseach and went back to the studio for some “analysis”. I had to switch to the BBC to catch the remainder of the conference.

License fee; €160
Remit; public service broadcasting

I, like many, complained. What I got from RTÉ was a stock response.. My email correspondence with them is attached below in full (pdf format)

complaint to RTÉ – November 2010

…. I’m still waiting for a reply but won’t be holding my breath.

On Monday night I made a little remix garnered from some of the material I harvested over the previous 48 hours.
Et voila…

Mercy buckets RTÉ

ps: as you won’t find an archive of this conference on the RTÉ website, I’ve linked it below from some puclic service minded Youtuber

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHcw5xYSaAE