Updated 5.29pm

SENATOR JIM WALSH has been criticised for remarks made in the Seanad earlier where he made reference to “the abortion holocaust”.

Walsh also said the time may have come to “dismantle” RTÉ as he hit out at the national broadcaster’s “pro-abortion, pro-killing of unborn babies policy”.

Labour Senator Mairia Cahill criticised the language Walsh used saying she was disturbed and found the comments insulting.

“I find phrases like ‘abortion holocaust’ absolutely horrific. I think if people would like the respect of the Seanad they probably should behave in an adult and mature fashion which commands the respect of this house,” the recently-elected senator said in a statement this evening.

Walsh, a Fianna Fáil member who resigned from its parliamentary party last year, was speaking in the Seanad earlier today when he noted it is the 67th anniversary of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

He said there had never been a time when there have been so many breaches of human rights globally.

Citing the conflict in the Middle East and the atrocities of Daesh, Walsh then referenced “the abortion holocaust”, and said:

Among those obviously, of course, is the abortion holocaust and it’s very sad that the UN itself, and indeed organisations like Amnesty and ICCL, which receive millions of foreign monies, actually spend their energies promoting the breach of the most fundamental human right of all, which is the right to life, and in particular the right I am specifically mentioning, the right to life of the unborn.

Walsh, who is well-known in political circles for his deeply conservatives views, called for a debate on the issue. The Wexford-based senator then referenced yesterday’s ruling by the BAI that an item on abortion on The Ray D’Arcy Show earlier this year had breached fairness and impartiality guidelines.

He described D’Arcy’s interview with Amnesty chief executive director as “chilling” and called for a boycott of the licence fee by people who are pro-life.

“I would ask those maybe who are of a pro-life disposition that perhaps it’s time for us to get together and refuse to pay our RTÉ licence fee,” he said.

Certainly it would not be my intention that the pro-abortion, pro-killing of unborn babies policy, which is endemic in RTÉ, be allowed continue and particularly [when] we’re funding the overpaid salaries.

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“You’re talking about people who are on €400,000 and €500,000 a year for jobs which really don’t require a great deal of qualifications.”

He called for a debate on RTÉ’s “lack of fairness and impartially” and added that it may be time to abolish the national broadcaster altogether:

Maybe [the] time [has] come to dismantle the national broadcaster. We don’t need the range of radio and television stations that they are actually promoting at present at significant cost to the taxpayers who are supporting them.

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