The Broadcasting Complaints Commission has found that a recent appearance by comedian Tommy Tiernan on The Late Late Show was "unacceptable" and that the host, Pat Kenny, did not attempt to curb the "repetitive and gratuitous" bad language by the comedian.
The BCC upheld eight complaints against the item broadcast on October 22nd last.
RTÉ received more than 300 complaints from the public after Tiernan's interview and issued a letter of regret over the offence caused. Viewers took offence at the comedian's use of expletives and his comments about the Catholic Church.
Yesterday, an RTÉ spokeswoman said Tommy Tiernan had not been banned from the Friday night talk show. "At the moment, he's not scheduled to appear in the next number of programmes but that's not unusual because he was on in October".
In its decision, the BCC said it accepted that humour and satire could be irreverent and that freedom of speech was of paramount importance. However, "the tone and manner of this section of the programme went beyond acceptable standards.
"Firstly, the repetitive and gratuitous use of bad language was unacceptable.
"Secondly, the language used to describe a particular group of people was crass (for example, in relation to priests, they "are mainly white and mainly sh**e").
"Furthermore, this language and the descriptions used denigrated and attacked unfairly a section of the community."
The BCC said it was unacceptable to treat any section of the community in this way.
"The host, Mr Pat Kenny, did not attempt at any stage to challenge the statements made by Mr Tommy Tiernan nor did he attempt to curb his use of strong language.
"On this basis, the commission was of the opinion that the presentation and content of this interview was unfair and was likely to cause widespread offence."
All guests on The Late Late Show will be reminded of RTÉ's guidelines on taste and decency, to try to avoid a similar situation arising. An RTÉ spokeswoman said measures had been taken to avoid any repetition of excessive use of unacceptable language in future editions of the programme.
As the programme was live, however, it was difficult to guarantee that this would not happen, she said.
The eight complainants variously described the performance as "grossly offensive", "a vile attack on all Catholic priests", "foul" and " bigoted". One complainant said he was "appalled" that Mr Kenny ended the interview by saying "Tommy, you are always a tonic" or words to that effect.
Neither Pat Kenny nor Tommy Tiernan commented on the BCC's findings yesterday.
After the criticism that followed his October appearance, however, Mr Tiernan said the controversy was a "ball bearing in a barrel". During a Today FM interview, he said RTÉ management should be "put in charge of an abandoned farm in Leitrim".
This was his second time to cause controversy on The Late Late Show. In 1997, the comedian offended viewers by doing a parody of a priest's sermon on the crucifixion.
RTÉ said it would broadcast the BCC findings within the next month.
The wording of the broadcast will be agreed with the BCC and it will be shown before The Late Late Show.
