Green Party granted leave for judicial review against RTÉ

The Green Party has been granted leave to bring a judicial review against public broadcaster RTÉ over its exclusion from televised general election debates.

A trustee for the Green Party, Mr Tom Kivlehan, made the application in the High Court.

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said: “RTÉ is narrowing the options that are being presented to the people when it is clear that voters want to consider a variety of alternatives in this election. The leaders’ debates are always key moments in any campaign. By excluding parties such as our own, RTÉ can affect the outcome in a way that is not fair.”

He added: “There is no legal reason why RTÉ should only include parties with three deputies in the last Dáil. A number of the parties that are being invited to take part on the 15th of February debate were not even in existence when the last election took place.

“RTÉ already apply wider criteria, such as how parties are doing in the polls, the number of candidates they are running and the results of the recent local and European elections as criteria when they are measuring overall election coverage. If such criteria were applied to the leaders’ debate, it is clear that the Green Party would be included.”