SINN Féin Councillor Mickey Cooper has said RTÉ’s latest competition offering a prize to viewers ‘anywhere in the country’ exposes the irony of the ridiculous decision to exclude northern viewers from entering.
He said: “Saturday night’s competition on RTÉ’s ‘Up for the Match’ offers all-Ireland final tickets and a chauffeur driven car to the game from ‘anywhere in the country’.
“Due to the the unnecessary decision to exclude viewers in the Six Counties from entering RTÉ competitions, this automatically rules out citizens in the northern part of the country from ever winning.
“RTÉ have a duty to reflect audiences right across Ireland, but time and time again they have proven themselves to be out of step with the north.
“This could be easily fixed. But it’s becoming increasingly apparent that RTÉ are unwilling to make even modest attempts to resolve a matter which has caused great upset and anger for many people.
“The broadcaster often cites legislation in the north as its rationale – but the question remains, why was this not a problem for them in the past given that the block on northern audiences only came into effect recently?
“Senator Niall Ó Donnghaile will be again writing to RTÉ urging them to reflect on the absurdity of this policy and to reflect on their numerous snubs of northern viewers, which runs contrary to their own charter of ethics.”
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