RTE said yesterday the station received about 50 calls from viewers following the broadcast of an interview by Pat Kenny with a convicted paedophile and his daughter on the Late Late Show on Friday night.
A spokeswoman for RTE said the callers all expressed "strong feelings" about the interview, some of whom said they had direct experience themselves of child sexual abuse, and that the interview had brought back bad memories.
The paedophile, who was convicted of abusing his two daughters, was accompanied on the show by one of the abused daughters. The interview was conducted in dark studio shadow to protect their identities.
The spokeswoman said the producers of the show wanted to address the subject of paedophilia from the abusers' and the victims' points of view. They felt it was important to throw more light on the subject, particularly as there was a "temptation to turn a blind eye" to it. For example, she said the interview served to highlight some of the "tell-tale" signs of paedophilia.
Ms Olive Braiden of the Rape Crisis Centre said the centre had been invited to appear but, unfortunately, no one was able to attend. She added that she had not seen the programme but that some of her colleagues felt "the dynamic of the victim/abuser relationship was not fully explored in the interview".