The Minister for Defence, Mr O'Dea is to complain to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission following an RTÉ Prime Timespecial on Limerick, which he claims was "sensationalist" and "grossly misleading".
Entitled a Tale of Two Cities, the programme shown last night was, according to Mr O'Dea "grossly misleading in its title and content and failed to represent the so-called 'Two Cities' within Limerick at all."
He said he would be making an "immediate complaint" to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission in relation to this matter.
Minister for Defence, Mr O'Dea
"The programme chose to focus exclusively on the negative side of one small aspect of the city. Using alarmist language and murky reconstructions of violence the programme makers made a decision to exclusively highlight only the negative side Limerick and disturbingly failed to address the many positives which Limerick and its people have to offer," added the Minister.
Mr O'Dea said that statistically Limerick has one of the lowest crime rates of a city its size and this fact was never mentioned in the programme.
"While I accept Limerick has a problem with violence instigated by family feuding, the city is not unique in this respect and the Gardaí are doing an excellent job in dealing with this situation but other cities face similar problems.
"The ordinary decent people of Limerick were almost entirely excluded in last night's broadcast and were made to look like mere 'extras' in an Angela Ashes'movie when RTE showed them," he added.
He said RTÉ is a public service broadcaster and has a duty to portray a fair and balanced view of a particular story.
"The programme was sensationalist and one-sided and I believe the ordinary decent people of Limerick deserved better treatment. When a programme is entitled a Tale of Two Citiesthen two sides of a story must be told. This is basic broadcasting ethics which were quite blatantly breached by Prime Time,concluded Mr O'Dea.