The brief appearance of a naked woman on Sunday afternoon television so shocked one viewer that they lodged a strident complaint with the broadcasting regulator.
However, in what might be a reflection of Ireland’s transformation since the mere mention of bishops and nighties in the same sentence on The Late Late Show scandalised the nation, the objection was dismissed.
Details of the complaint in which a person said “parents should be able to turn on the television on a Sunday afternoon without encountering adult material, particularly when trying to protect children from offensive content” were contained in Coimisiún na Meán’s first complaints insights report.
The commission said the unidentified film was “well-known and included a ‘parental supervision’ rating on screen, setting the audience expectation for the film and indicating that parents might wish to restrict their children’s viewing”.
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It also pointed out its decision was based on its consideration of the contextual factors and complaints regarding the depiction of non-sexual nudity during pre-watershed programming “should be carefully considered on a case-by-case basis”.
A separate complaint was made about a presenter who appeared to make light of stolen bottles of urine, speculating about how said bottles might have been filled and what might happen if the thief took a swig believing the contents to be more palatable.
Although the person complaining may have found the material to be offensive, the commission said, it did “not appear to have caused widespread undue offence”.
The commission added that although the “broadcaster shares responsibility with parents for the protection of children”, the unidentified programme “was not a children’s radio programme and there is a well-established audience expectation regarding the nature and tone of the content featured”.
It added that the exchange “was lighthearted and not one in which children listening would reasonably have been adversely affected”.
The report highlights how RTÉ radio and television were the most complained about media platforms over a period between March 2023 and December 2025. Liveline and Morning Ireland attracted the most radio complaints, while RTÉ’s Nine O’Clock news and an RTÉ Investigates programme focusing on abortion services in Ireland were the most complained about television programmes.
The high level of complaints about the national broadcaster “may indicate that public service broadcasting is of great importance to audiences and that they hold them to a higher standard across all types of content but particularly in relation to news and current affairs programming”.
