To the Head of Complaints Recently, as most of us are aware, RTE made the decision to remove (and effectively censor)

a portion of The Saturday Night Show on which Rory O'Neill said there were a few journalists and organizations that were homophobic. The host asked for names, which he duly gave, notably the Iona Institute. RTE removed the interview from its player and also issued an apology at the beginning of the following weeks show to said institute and journalists. RTE you are absolutely spineless!! As a national broadcaster you have suffered a catastrophic failure and given a disservice to the fee-paying people of this country. You try and bill yourselves as cutting edge, current and with the times but yet completely buckle in the face of possible legal action. Not only that, you felt the need to pay damages to the institute before the matter had even reached the point where it went to court, you plead your case against theirs, possibly failed (doubt it!) and were instructed to do so. No! Screw that said you. Just pay them!! Journalism and freedom of expression is clearly dead and buried here. At least when Sean Gallagher filed a complaint to the Broadcasting Authority after the election fiasco, you waited for their report before then issuing an apology and are entering the legal process in regards to this. Now why wasn't this stance extended to the Iona Institute?? Ineptitude and fear I'm guessing. So, do you feel you have served the gay community of this country well in censoring and removing this interview? And don't try and say you've put it back on the RTE player. It's edited. And you've only gone and removed the part that highlights one of the many struggles gay people face today and that is homophobia. On that front you have only served to promote homophobia as you bow down to the wants of the Iona Institute. As a small suggestion, on your website you list the Saturday Night Show as "bringing you a diverse mix of guests". Please remove this statement as it is clearly completely false when your diverse guests who will clearly therefore have diverse opinions, are not allowed to express them. You have been an embarrassment for quite some time but on this point I do congratulate you as you have truly excelled yourselves at the art of cowardice. I mean I am properly impressed. Pat yourselves on the back because at least you got that right. I neither want nor indeed expect a response to this as I'm sure it will just be some generic mail defending this dereliction of duty you carried out so professionally (again, well done on that). Best of luck on your future attempts at being national broadcaster. Forgive me if I lack confidence in your ability to do so. Regards, Donal Delaney P.S. Before you go thinking, "Ah look, another gay complaining about the show", I'm straight. I've an abundance of gay friends. You just simply and rightfully deserved to be called up on this