A DECISION by the Independent Radio and Television Commission (IRTC) to terminate the licence of Radio Limerick One will come into effect following a Supreme Court ruling yesterday.
Three Supreme Court judges rejected an appeal by Radio Limerick One against a High Court ruling, dismissing its challenge to a decision by the IRTC to terminate its licence.
The IRTC decided to terminate the licence last October 14th. Notice of the termination was served by the IRTC last February. The Commission claimed there had been a number of breaches of the station's contract under the Radio and Television Act, 1988.
In the High Court, Mr Justice Smyth said the IRTC had an abundance of evidence upon which to form the opinion that", the station's contract should be terminated.
Last December, the IRTC gave an undertaking in the Supreme Court that the station would continue to broadcast until the court gave its decision.
Yesterday, Mr Justice Keane, giving judgment, said the decision to withdraw the station's licence because of serious breaches was, appropriate. He dismissed claims that the IRTC was biased against the station.
Dismissing the appeal, he said he was satisfied that the IRTC's decision was not invalidated by considerations founded on an erroneous view of the law or extraneous or irrelevant in their nature. The Chief Justice and Mr Justice' Barring ton agreed.