Minister of State Aodhan O’Riordan was interviewed on RTE’s Saturday Night Show tonight.
The interview got underway and whether the host, Brendan O’Connor, or the producer in his ear, spotted it – O’Connor abruptly interrupted O’Riordan and told him to remove that badge – pointing to his lapel.
O’Riordan was somewhat embarrassed and promptly removed the badge, which he said was a ‘Yes’ badge.
O’Connor quickly realised the possibility of RTE showing bias and duly said “No for balance”.
RTE is State funded and cannot be shown to promote a Yes or No vote via a guest as taxpayers money helps fund the broadcaster and it will inevitably offend one side or the other.