Councillor criticises RTE radio report on county Tipperary village

A Clogheen councillor has taken issue with an RTÉ news report broadcast on Sunday that she believes negatively and incorrectly portrayed her home village as being full of dereliction.

Cllr Marie Murphy has criticised the report from Clogheen featured on the This Week Radio 1 show about the challenges of rural decline and doing business during a cost of living crisis.

She described the report as “unbalanced” and reported that she has received a lot of reaction from constituents who are upset with the way the village was portrayed.

“Clogheen is a bustling town, but like anywhere is showing signs of where things could be better. It’s not full of dereliction as suggested in the report,” complained the Fine Gael councillor. She said Clogheen was in a beautiful area but unfortunately this report did nothing to describe that.

She pointed out that as the local councillor she was not contacted by RTÉ for comment for the report.

Cllr Murphy said Clogheen was a great place to live and listed the huge amount the village has to offer from its community hospital, GP surgery and Day Care Centre to its thriving supermarket, hair salon, hardware shop, fruit and veg shop, three pubs and the award-winning Old Convent restaurant.

Cllr Murphy also listed the village’s many community facilities including St Paul’s Community Centre that is used for a wide range of social and community activities; the playground, Fr Sheehy’s GAA Club and Vee Rovers Soccer Club.

She said there are three way marked national walking trails starting in Clogheen with more walks in Kilbally Wood.

Apart from the GAA and Vee Rovers, the village is home to a Siul Eile walking group, Men’s Shed and drama group, a gun club, South Tipperary Cycling Club, a Tidy Towns group and the Rhododendron Walking Festival Committee.

Cllr Murphy also said the village had a Bus Éireann service to both Clonmel and Cork and a Ring-a-Link bus service.

RTÉ has defended the This Week report on Clogheen and insisted it featured a “balance of opinions”.
“RTÉ News spoke first-hand to local people in the town about the challenges of rural decline and doing business during a cost of living crisis,” said a spokesperson for RTÉ.

She said the report “highlighted Clogheen’s idyllic and picturesque setting and gave voice to those who have invested in the town’s future and are keen to see their businesses succeed”.

“RTÉ News is keenly aware of providing fair, impartial and accurate coverage, and is committed to highlighting concerns from local communities where they express them,” the RTÉ spokesperson added in a statement to The Nationalist.