The Labour Party has accused RTÉ of excluding its Galway West byelection candidate, Cllr Helen Ogbu, from a televised debate on Friday.
Six candidates have been chosen for the public debate on RTÉ’s Six-One programme.
Those who will participate are: Séan Kyne for Fine Gael; Cillian Keane for Fianna Fáil; Mark Lohan for Sinn Féin; Noel Thomas of Independent Ireland; Independent candidate Mike Cubbard; and Míde Nic Fhionnlaoich of the Social Democrats.
Obgu was not included because the criteria for inclusion was the party’s level of first-preference votes in the last general election, where Labour polled 3.3 per cent. The Social Democrats polled 3.6 per cent in the same constituency.
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Labour has now called for the inclusion of Ogbu following an Irish Times/TG4 opinion poll which shows her in third place with 12 per cent of the constituency’s electorate, behind Seán Kyne (17 per cent) and Noel Thomas on 16 per cent. Nic Fhionnlaoich is fourth on 9 per cent.
Labour’s director of elections, George Lawlor, has written to RTÉ’s director general Kevin Bakhurst asking for Ogbu to be included in both the RTÉ Six One programme on Friday night and on Sunday’s The Week in Politics programme.
The byelection to fill the seat vacated by President Catherine Connolly takes place on May 22nd.
Lawlor said that Ogbu’s strong polling showed her leading the left-leaning candidates. Furthermore, he said in the correspondence, she is already an elected representative having taken her seat on Galway City Council following the local elections of June 2024. Nigerian-born Ogbu became the first African woman to be elected to the council.
Lawlor also cited Labour’s showing in those local elections in Galway, which were ahead of both Sinn Féin and the Social Democrats.
“Taken together with the aforementioned polling, we believe there is a strong case that excluding Cllr Ogbu from forthcoming debates would not accurately reflect the breadth of voter support and political opinion in Galway West,” he wrote.
“As previously communicated to RTÉ, we also note that similar inclusion criteria based on the previous general election were applied during the Dublin Bay South byelections in 2021.
“However, The Week in Politics debate for that contest featured seven participants. We understand that the debate for Galway West on The Week in Politics this Sunday will feature only four candidates.”
It asked RTÉ to reconsider its approach in light of those factors.
Earlier this week, People Before Profit (PBP) indicated it had taken legal advice and complained to RTÉ over the absence of its Dublin Central candidate Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin from the broadcaster’s debates.
PBP TD Paul Murphy said the party had yet to decide on whether it would take a High Court challenge – but that it hoped RTÉ would change its decision and allow its candidate into the debates.
RTÉ has been approached for a comment.
