Kells jokester gives RTE a broadside over comment

Meath comedian Noel V Ginnity has fired a salvo at RTE over a programme slot which portrayed the Dublin Burlington Hotel's former Traditional Irish Cabaret as "old-fashioned". Ginnity, from Loyd, Kells, starred in the show for years alongside that other famous Irish comedian, Hal Roche, for many years. The show was regarded as one of the 'big guns' in Bord Failte's tourism promotion arsenal. However, when he tuned into RTE Radio 1's Mooney Show recently, the veteran entertainer felt the hotel show was being torn to shreds. The veteran jokester said: "I couldn't believe my ears when I heard it. The cabaret at the Burlington was being portrayed as old-fashioned and entertainers like me and Hal Roche were being disrespected." He added: "They were basically plugging the new show in the Burlington, which is called Celtic Rising, and they were all saying the new show was not like the old-fashioned stuff in the Burlington that we did. You would think there was a smell off us. I mean, professionally." The veteran funnyman went on: "Hal Roche was a pain in my side. He was the competition but he was brilliant at what he did. He got more people to Ireland than Bord Failte." In the RTE show, Derek Mooney admitted that he did not like Irish traditional cabaret which he described as "a bit twee", though he did say that Hal Roche was "excellent". An RTE spokesman said that Derek Mooney had not at any stage made reference to Mr Ginnity. "The only reference to Mr Ginnity in the programme was made by a representative of the tourism sector, where Mr Ginnity's current show was mentioned as being of potential interest to tourists. This was, in effect, a positive plug for Mr Ginnity's show."