Irish Aid funds RTÉ programmes

Two RTÉ series reporting on Irish development aid are part-funded by Irish Aid – RTÉ perceives no conflict of interest. By Colin Murphy

The first episode of Far Away Up Close, on RTÉ One on 13 April, features Aoife Kavanagh reporting on projects in South Africa which have been funded by Irish Aid, the aid division of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The series has been funded by Irish Aid to the tune of €159,802.

A spokesperson for RTÉ said there was "no question" of the editorial independence of the programme, or of others similarly funded, being compromised.

Worlds Apart, a long-running series on Radio One which also visits projects funded by Irish Aid in poor countries, is also funded by Irish Aid, to a total of €70,000 this year.

Rodney Rice, the producer and presenter of the programme, said its focus was on broader development issues and that it did not focus exclusively on Irish Aid projects. He said Irish Aid had no "pre-approval" or "editorial control" over the series.

A spokesperson for Irish Aid said both series were funded as part of the agency's remit for "development education". He said there was no attempt by Irish Aid to interfere with the content of programmes or to focus the programmes explicitly on projects funded by Irish Aid. He said the objective of the funding was to raise awareness of the challenges faced in developing countries generally and to give a "sense of how Irish taxpayers' money is being spent" in aid.

The editor of current affairs in Radio One, John McMahon, said the independence of Worlds Apart was "absolutely not" compromised. He said the funding allowed RTÉ "to cover stories in a more in depth way than we would otherwise be able to".

RTÉ also receives funding from the European Parliament – for a programme reporting on the European Parliament. Euro Report covers the parliament's monthly sessions in Strasbourg. The parliament pays for a return economy flight and three days' expenses (at €100/day) for a RTÉ journalist to attend the parliament, and provides free production facilities in Strasbourg. RTÉ's spokesperson for news and current affairs, Carolyn Fisher, said the station did not receive funding for programmes from any other government or international institution, apart from State funding through the licence fee.

At the end of each Worlds Apart programme, an announcer says the programme was made with the financial assistance of the Department of Foreign Affairs. There is no mention of this funding on the Worlds Apart page on the RTÉ website, (www.rte.ie/radio1/worldsapart).

The funding for Far Away Up Close covers approximately half of the programme costs, according to the spokesman for Irish Aid. The first series of Far Away Up Close, last year, was commissioned and fully funded by Irish Aid.

A credit at the end of each programme says it is supported by Irish Aid. A press release on the RTÉ website says the series "provides a glimpse into some of the fundamental challenges that these countries face and the role of Irish tax money in their development". It does not mention funding from Irish Aid.