Madam, - I find the Irish Broadcasting Commission's banning of an innocuous Veritas radio advert not only wholly ludicrous, but also somewhat menacing.
It seems to signal an eruption of Secularist Taliban Tendency (STT) within the commission. Given such a tendency, shouldn't consistency actually require a ban on the use of the word "Christmas" itself?
Surely the commission's constabulary can spot the blatantly religious reference cunningly implanted therein? - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL COADY,
Carrick on Suir,
Co Waterford.
Madam, - I have to agree with Fr Enda McDonagh over the absurdity of the banning of the Veritas advertisement.
It does indeed make it look as if media regulators are operating from a dogmatic secular position. The dangers of just such a happening were pointed out in submissions to those reviewing the remit of the Broadcasting Commission. The irony of this situation is that our regulators are straining at such a gnat as the Veritas ad and yet RTÉ happily swallows the camel of total imbalance in its religious programming.
Repeated representations to RTÉ for its religious programming to reflect the ethical composition of Irish society have had no effect on what is broadcast.
The largest minority by far in the State, the non-religious community of some 250,000 citizens (see last census) and the humanist perspective are consistently overlooked by our public broadcasters.
I have great sympathy as a result with Fr McDonagh's protest. I know him for many years as a progressive individual.
I hope he will in turn support the reform of religious broadcasting by RTÉ? - Yours, etc,
DICK SPICER,
Sugarloaf Crescent,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.