The party that sues media wants to become the party that funds media – Ward

Sinn Féin, whose members have sued or are currently taking legal actions against journalists and media outlets, claim they want to fund the national broadcaster and other media organisations.

Senator Barry Ward, Fine Gael General Election candidate for Dún Laoghaire, said it was pretty astonishing and ironic that the party which is engaging in a widescale strategy to sue media publishers and broadcasters now want to decide how much RTÉ and other outlets should receive in future funding.

“In their alternative Budget today, Sinn Féin propose abolishing the TV licence fee and put in place a new public funding model for the national broadcaster and other public service media from exchequer funding.

“This is astonishing.

“On one hand, we have Sinn Féin representatives trying to quell scrutiny and bully journalists by issuing legal threats against them or their employers.

“And on the other hand, they say they want to decide how much RTÉ and other outlets should get.

“Fine Gael believes an independent and free media scrutinising all issues of Irish life, without fear or favour, is a strong cornerstone of our democracy. No political party should be able to control the media purse strings and be able to use them as leverage

“Any attempts by political parties or Sinn Féin politicians to attempt to bully, intimidate and sue journalists and media outlets is wrong and should be fully opposed.

“And any bid by Sinn Féin to directly decide how much our national broadcaster and other media organisations should receive has to be strongly opposed as they are not sincere whatsoever ensuring we have a free and strong media,” Senator Ward said.