RTÉ has agreed to pay €20,000 to three charities after an Irish republican socialist group were falsely accused of murder on air. Political commentator John McGuirk mistakenly stated Éirígí was responsible for the murder of journalist Lyra McKee on a March 2 episode of Prime Time. Dissident republican group the New IRA claimed responsibility for the murder in Creggan, Derry, shortly after the April 2019 killing. RTÉ agreed to make another apology, to remove from the RTÉ Player the defamatory comments, and to upload the full apology to the player, while it also agreed to pay Éirígí’s legal fees. On its website the group says it was formed in 2006 in response to a “deeply undemocratic, unequal and unfair country”.

Source: Irish Independent March 18, 2021 20:30 UTC