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THE PRESS OMBUDSMAN has said her office is receiving “a lot of complaints” related to protests and demonstrations that are taking place.
The Office of the Press Ombudsman receives complaints from members of the public in relation to member publications of the Press Council of Ireland and seeks to resolve them by conciliation or mediation.
Where conciliation or mediation is not possible, the Press Ombudsman will make a decision on the complaint based on the Code of Practice.
Appearing before the Oireachtas Committee on Public Petitions today, Susan McKay, who was appointed to the role five months ago, said while the number of decisions from her office is relatively small – 31 decided upon in the 2021 report – the number is constantly growing. In total 527 complaints were made for that period.
“There seem to be a lot of complaints coming in at the moment… which are related to protests and demonstrations at the moment,” she said.
One thing McKay said she wanted to make clear is that although a person must demonstrate that they have been personally affected by an article that has been published in order to make a complaint, it is possible for organisations to make a complaint on behalf of those they represent.
“So for example, say a civil society organisation that represents travellers or women or whoever, would be able to make a complaint on behalf of those who they represent. So it’s not just a matter for individual complaints,” she said.
“I think it’s interesting that quite a lot of complaints are made about prejudice. You know, I think that’s really, really important that we should highlight that function is there,” added McKay.
Distinguishing fact and comment is an area where her office is also receiving a lot of complaints, she said.
“It’s an area of confusion for people, because Irish law allows for some pretty strong commentary to be made. And I think that people who are offended by that often complain to us, without realising that actually, you know, people are allowed to express strong opinions,” said McKay.
The problem arises where the person is reading the comment piece as if it was fact, she said.
“It is very important that that people distinguish these two things. You can’t make wild claims, for example, about the number of migrants who are coming into this country without stating that it’s simply your opinion that is the case, and that you don’t actually know what the number is, you know, there is a degree of accuracy still required within commentaries,” said McKay.
She said some complaints are being made to her office about publications that are simply reporting a comment or statement that has been made by someone, often times in a privileged setting.
The newspaper or online publication “is simply reflecting what was said often in a privileged setting”.
“Obviously things will be said which are going to cause offence and are going to cause people to be angry and are going to cause people to say ‘that’s not true’. But it’s not the press’s fault that the statement, which they believe, to be not true has been made.
“So clarifying those kinds of things, I think would would stop a lot of complaints that aren’t going to be able to proceed because obviously we don’t want to be adding to people’s frustration. We want to be helping them,” she said.
Speaking about press freedom and the threat to it in some countries, McKay said Ireland has a lot to safeguard.
A functioning press is important to the proper functioning of our democracy, she said.
“There is a lot of very, very dangerous stuff circulating on social media now, which is being believed by people who are not reading credible material which has gone through an editorial process,” she added.
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Shows what he knows. The reason we have too many cars on Irish roads is because the public transport systems aw not fit for purpose
@Joe x: fewer cars = more room for public transport/active transport = better public transport/active travel. Sometimes the stick must come before the carrot.
@Name not provided: but then what happens if more and more ppl get out of their cars and use public transport and get rid of the car (many of course will still keep them) but revenue for Car Tax and petrol will decrease. Our carbon credit purchase will decline yes but you can be damn sure they will increase/tax something to bring it in somewhere else!
More like empty buses tailgating each other and preventing flow of other traffic.
@Mike 100: ah right, it’s too many busses that are the problem. Not all the queues single-occupancy vehicles I see every day on my commute.
Sure in Galway the traffic is stymied with hundreds of traffic lights strategically placed to prevent the flow of all traffic in the name of cyclists .. thanks green party … wasters of the hard working taxes
@Jimmy Wallace: try commuting to WORK sometime in Galway. I don’t have all day like some to make stories up Jimmy .
@Jimmy Wallace: they love an auld conspiracy on this forum Jimmy.
Cars have become a great litmus test for determining if a public figure is a bluffer or not. Anyone who says cars are the problem clearly doesn’t know what they are talking about. Its like saying the problem with hospitals is too many sick people. Why don’t they stay at home and google home remedies.
@Keyser Söze: Perhaps a better analogy would be that 50% of car journeys are like people overloading an A&E with minor sniffles and small bruises.
Definitely true, but we need GOOD public transit in order to fix the issue. We also need AFFORDABLE housing along public transit routes. Paying 1/2 million euro for a 1-bed hovel or 2,000/month for a glorified bedsit and absolutely having to bear the extra expenses of a car and parking in Dublin during the work day is insane. We need a revolution in public transit and a paradigm shift in housing.
@Todd Hebert: Nothing will be done, because nothing is what we do best.
Almost all the hospitals are city centric,do they think all patients are capable of walking or cycling in and out .. TOTAL CRASS Thinking
@Michael James Brennan: They don’t think that, that’s why you won’t hear anyone saying that cars should be banned from accessing hospitals (feel free to tell me who does). The reality is, that many if not most people visiting a hospital can do so using public transport, walking or cycling. I visit a hospital twice a year. I do so by cycling or taking the bus to it.
Decent public transport would help….
@Tom Newell: which requires fewer cars on the road.
Wasn’t bus connects supposed to sort out a lot of this? I know that it isn’t fully implemented yet. We have no metro and not much light rail. Alternatives are few and far between. Long stretches of little investment are coming home to roost.
Improve the public transport throughout Ireland, then there might be less cars. Start with the pricing structure.
He is right,there is way to many cars on roads
Maybe if your buses were punctual and reliable, people wouldn’t need their cars
Public transport where I live us fantastic, world class
That crash on the M50, I hope no-one was injured, took 7 of them off the road.
There’s been several very progressive and smart proposals put to Government over the last decade alone that would more than help resolve this issue. Proposals such as reliable park and ride facilities based on all the main arteries leading into the city, each dotted 10km or so outside the city centre is one that would easily work if operated properly.
Others such as ways to arange and incentivise car pooling in a monetary way could also work as part of an overall strategy. But it’s obvious to see even with the Greens in and these solutions being also pro – green, there’s no appetite from Government to do anything to implement and change the situation
Just to clarify and add to my comment.. Its the amount of single passenger cars
Is that the reason they Scrapped the X21 SERVICE GALWAY DUBLIN
have your say