Prime Time (Irish TV programme)

Prime Time in its original format began on Thursday 17 September 1992, replacing Today Tonight— similar in format, which had aired since 1980. At the outset the programme had two presenters, Olivia O'Leary and Brian Farrell, and three reporters, Áine Lawlor, Mike Milotte, and Brendan O'Brien. The introduction of the new programme was part of a wider change in current affairs broadcasting by RTÉ. Today Tonight, which had been broadcast from Monday to Thursday, would now be replaced by five very different and distinct types of current affairs programmes which would be broadcast from Sunday to Thursday. These included Farrell on Sunday, a series where Brian Farrell would conduct a series of one-to-one interviews with public figures. Questions and Answers would fill the Monday current affairs slot and would continue with its usual format of a panel of public figures answering questions from the audience. Tuesday File would contain a weekly filmed report. Marketplace, which was previously broadcast on Network 2, would occupy the Wednesday slot and would deal with financial matters, industrial relations, public affairs and business. Prime Time would round off the week's current affairs programming on Thursday evenings.

Mary Raftery's Prime Time special "Cardinal Secrets" broadcast of 2002 led to the Murphy Commission of Investigation into clerical abuse in the Dublin Archdiocese being set up; the Murphy Report was published in 2009.[2]

A spin-off series, Prime Time Investigates, used to be shown on Monday nights in short seasons of four to six episodes, featuring investigative journalism and undercover reporting. The series suspended in 2011 after RTÉ's Aoife Kavanagh defamed Fr. Kevin Reynolds in an episode aired on RTÉ One with the title, "Mission to Prey", during which Kavanagh falsely accused Fr. Kevin Reynolds of raping a woman and fathering a child in Kenya.[3][4][5] Director-General of RTÉ Noel Curran admitted the broadcasting of "Mission to Prey" was "one of the gravest editorial mistakes ever made" at RTÉ.[6]

PTI was officially cancelled by RTÉ director-general Noel Curran on 4 April 2012.[7] RTÉ was fined €200,000 by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) as a result of the defamation of Fr Kevin Reynolds following what the BAI said were serious breaches of the Broadcasting Act 2009.[8][9] Its report found that "Second-hand repetition of gossip appears to have been treated as corroboration, as Ms Kavanagh did not appear to have met or questioned colleagues who according to the primary source, were aware of the allegations".[10] Aoife Kavanagh resigned from RTÉ on 4 May 2012.[11]

On 25 March 2013, a Prime Time television debate held ahead of the 2013 Meath East by-election featured the candidates from the four parties RTÉ perceived to be the front-runners: Fine Gael, Labour, Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin. Excluded were all other candidates, including the Green Party and Workers' Party candidates, as well as Direct Democracy Ireland's Ben Gilroy, who would finish fourth, ahead of Labour.

Workers' Party candidate Seamus McDonagh said the Prime Time editor had no "consistent criteria" for this decision, and criticised the lack of an invitation to even sit in the audience despite having, he said, the support of several TDs including Richard Boyd Barrett, John Halligan, Finian McGrath and Thomas Pringle. DDI's Ben Gilroy said RTÉ "just basically ignored us completely."[12]

Taoiseach Enda Kenny used Prime Time to submit to a rare live television interview on 19 February 2015.[13] RTÉ delayed the much anticipated interview for an episode of British soap opera EastEnders that was broadcasting scenes live to celebrate 30 years on air. RTE had planned to show the episode before the following days episode as an hour long episode. However, the BBC had not made international broadcasters aware of the significance of the episode in the Who Killed Lucy? storyline. RTE decided to broadcast the episode and Prime Time followed the programme.[14]