RTÉ has apologised for falsely claiming that the father of French National Rally leader, Marine Le Pen, was a member of the Nazi SS Waffen.
It was claimed that Jean-Marie Le Pen, who was the founder of the French right wing party National Front, was a Nazi.
The false claim was made during an episode of Morning Ireland aired yesterday in which Prof. John O’Brennan, Jean Monnet, Chair in European Integration and Director of the Maynooth Centre for European and Eurasian Studies featured.
RTÉ has since removed the episode of Morning Ireland from its player issuing an apology for the false claim on this morning’s episode of the radio program.
In a separate news report RTÉ made a direct comparison between Le Pen potentially winning the upcoming elections in France and the Nazi occupation of the country.
“With Russia’s war against Ukraine in its third year and energy and food prices much higher, support for the anti-immigration and eurosceptic party has surged despite Mr Macron’s pledges to prevent its ascent.
The two-round vote could put the far-right in power in France for the first time since the Nazi occupation in World War II.” it said.