Gender equality off-air in Ireland

"The babies you are hearing have been born with something that affects more people than malaria, cancer, or even HIV and AIDS. Because of it, many of them will be denied an education and condemned to a life of poverty. Thousands of them will be killed. Millions more will be victimised and abused. Because all these babies have one thing in common--they’re female. Support Trocaire’s Lenten campaign to help end gender inequality. To donate or to get your Trocaire box, Callsave 1850 408 408. Or visit TROCAIRE.org."

Damian O’Broin from the Irish Marketing and Fundraising agency Ask Direct pointed me to this shocking news just before International Women’s Day. Trócaire is the official overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in Ireland. They are running the campaign which is shown here.
The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI), after receiving concerns from Today FM, ordered radio and TV stations to take the 30-second commercial off-air. It has now been pulled from more than 20 radio stations and a number of TV stations. Trócaire suspects that the real offence was in a petition on its website lobbying the Government to implement UN equality initiatives.
BCI decides that this makes the ad ‘political’ under the Radio and Television Act 1988 (“No advertisement shall be broadcast which is directed towards any religious or political end or which has any relation to an industrial dispute.”) and proceed to ban the ad.
Even though the ad doesn’t mention the petition or send people directly to it (it takes at least 3 clicks from Trócaire’s homepage to get to the petition) Trócaire (rightly) claim that the web address is on the ad so that people can make a donation.
According to Damian O’Broin it is an outrageous decision and - if unchallenged - has huge implications for all nonprofits in Ireland.

It makes me curious if other countries have the same kind of Radio and Television Act.

If you would like to make your views known you can contact the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland here.
You can donate to Trócaire’s Lenten campaign here.


The banned radio ad:

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