'Late Late' accused of gagging bin-tax campaigners

The producers of this coming Friday's Late Late Show on RTÉ have been accused of "sidelining and gagging" anti-bin tax campaigners…

The producers of this coming Friday's Late Late Showon RTÉ have been accused of "sidelining and gagging" anti-bin tax campaigners in an item on the waste charges.

According to the anti-bin tax campaign, presenter, Pat Kenny, will interview the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, while those opposing the bin tax will be consigned to the audience.

The campaigners say this is an unfair and unevenly balanced contest.

"We can challenge the minister's arguments of the last week if we are given the same time and platform he is. This is not possible with a roving microphone picking up sound bites from the audience," a statement from the campaign said today.

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RTE rejected the accusation saying that "both sides of the debate will be well represented and given ample time to air their views".

" The Late Late Showhas a long tradition of running topical debates and are always fair and balanced and tomorrow will be no exception," the programme makers said in a statement.

RTE also rejected campaigners uggestion to have a head-to-head debate between Mr Cullen and the Socialist Party TD Mr Joe Higgins on Friday week.

Mr Higgins, who was jailed with party colleague Ms Clare Daly for his part in anti-bin tax protests will be released on Saturday.