Fianna Fáil Senator Niall Blaney said “the lack of reporting with regard to what is happening in Derry is extraordinary.”
A Donegal senator has condemned the lack of coverage by media outlets of politicians “being stood down by a political party.”
Blaney claimed there are “all kinds of rumours in Derry of community monies not being properly spent” and that there “are also rumours of drugs being involved.”
“It is extraordinary that, for the last six weeks, the media in this country would not touch the matter. What is wrong with our media? Have they been infiltrated? Are they afraid? Why will they not investigate these things?,” he asked the Seanad.
Gript understands that Senator Blaney’s comments relate to the recent decision of former MEP and current MLA Martina Anderson to announce that she would not be seeking re-election.
Mr. Blaney’s comments were made under parliamentary privilege, meaning that he cannot be sued for defamation.
Gript is reporting the comments because they are newsworthy, but we must also note that Senator Blaney has presented no evidence to substantiate them
He continued by saying Ireland’s democracy was “under attack” and, referring to Sinn Féin’s electoral database, that the problem was “much wider than just the Abú website”.
“Sinn Féin is spending tens of thousands of euro week in, week out on newspapers, media and independent journalists across the country and they can attack anybody on social media with the drop of an email,” he said.
“Our democracy is under attack at the moment. We are talking about cyberattacks. This attack needs to be investigated and it is much wider than just the Abú website.
“Gerry Adams’s brother was placed in a Donegal house for three years. He had charges of paedophilia made against him. No media would ever touch that story.
“Everyone knew about it in Donegal but nobody would touch it. Our democracy is under attack. It is time our media spoke up and woke up and we got independence for all parties in this State.”
Referring to the media’s alleged silence on such matters, Seanad leader Regina Doherty said “any journalists or editors you speak to will say the root of the difficulties lies in our defamation laws”.
“Maybe we should be having a debate on the defamation laws as opposed to maybe questioning why some of our Irish media do not do what we would so wish them to do,” Doherty advised.
The standing down of the Martin McGuinness machine in Derry has raised serious questions about the credibility of reporting on issues by our media. This event and many other incidents are clouded in secrecy. I have called for an appropriate response from all media across the isle pic.twitter.com/GWtCK5BQYQ
— Senator Niall Blaney (@niall_blaney) May 17, 2021