Complaint against Blathnaid"s 'English accent" remark rejected

The Broadcasting Complaints Commission has rejected a complaint made against RTE presenter Blathnaid NI Chofaigh from Rath Cairn, for remarks she made on the 'All-Ireland Talent Show". A Mr J Bolger complained that racist comments were made by Ms Ní Chofaigh with reference to Irish people finding the English accent irritating. In response, RTE stated that one of the contestants was a female student from Drogheda. This young student writes her own poetry and then performs it with various accents. Her performance in the show involved using an English accent. When the judges commented on her performance, one of them, Blathnaid Ní Chofaigh, gave as her opinion Irish people find English accents irritating. RTE said the remark, which was a casually made personal opinion of Ms Ní Chofaigh"s, does not discriminate against anyone. The student who recited her poetry was unanimously selected by the three judges to proceed to the next stage of the contest. On a more general view, it is impossible to sustain an argument that the remark discriminated against English people as a whole. This is simply the personal view of one person. Many people dislike particular accents. One can dislike an accent without discriminating against the person who has that accent. If anything, RTE suggests, if the remark is to be taken at full value, Ms Ní Chofaigh is guilty of stereotyping Irish people by suggesting that most Irish people find English accents irritating. But this would be to confer far too much significance to an off-the-cuff remark. The Commission noted that the remark was an off-the-cuff remark in the context of a response to a performance. The tone was good-humoured and moderate. On hearing the piece, the Commission was of the view that the judge"s comment was not intended to be discriminatory. It was a judge making a comment about the accent assumed by one of the contestants and noted that she was disappointed she had not used her own accent. Viewers and contestants expect banter and critical comment to be part of the programme. The Commission acknowledged that the comment was inappropriate. However, given the context of the content, and the tone of the broadcast, there was no evidence of any intent to condone or support discrimination. The Commission also rejected a complaint made against Navan comedian Tommy Tiernan in an edited recording of a live performance by Tommy Tiernan on stage in Chicago.