"RTE Must Apologise To Irish-Polish Community Over Last Night's Choice of Words" - Tóibín
The Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín TD has called on RTE News to issue an apology to the Polish community in Ireland over a report which featured on last night's Six One News.
Deputy Tóibín said: "Last night RTE News featured a report regarding Irmgard Furchner, a 96-year-old woman who was due before a court near Hamburg in relation to charges of complicity in the murders of more than 10,000 people dating back to when she was secretary at a nazi concentration camp. Ms Furchner had failed to turn up to the hearing. During the course of the news report by RTE, a series of remarks were made which caused great upset to the Polish community, specifically that the concentration camp in question - Stuttof - was a "Polish concentration camp". This is inaccurate information, as the concentration camp being discussed was a German nazi concentration camp, operated in Poland at a time when Poland was occupied by nazi Germany".
Deputy Tóibín continued: "This was an incredible mistake for RTE to make, and has caused huge distress to Polish people living in Ireland and in Poland. Following this incident, the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to Ireland, Anna Sochanska, has written Jon Williams, the managing director of RTE news seeking an 'urgent correction' to the report. In a passionate letter, Ms Sochanska writes "my country was ravaged by World War II and almost everyone had lost a loved one in the war fighting on the side of the Allies. Indeed many of them perished in Nazi Germany death camps". On behalf of my politican party Aontú, I wish to join with the Polish ambassador and with Ireland's Polish population in seeking an immediate redaction and apology for the offensive remarks from RTE News. The diplomatic insensitivity here is very troubling, and cannot simply be brushed beneath the carpet", concluded Deputy Toibin.
