RTÉ has received a letter of complaint from a group including academics, doctors and public representatives over what they described as the "omission of climate, sustainability and environmental issues" from debates held during the Presidential Election campaign.
More than 125 signatories sent the letter, which highlighted the group's "concerns" over RTÉ’s "failure to include any substantive questions or discussion relating to climate change, sustainability, or broader environmental issues" during the debates.
Over the course of the campaign, RTÉ held several debates across radio and television involving Independent candidate Catherine Connolly and Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys, as well as Fianna Fáil candidate Jim Gavin, before he withdrew from the campaign.
Dr Cara Augustenborg, an Assistant Professor of Environmental Policy at UCD and a member of President Michael D Higgins’ Council of State, was the lead signatory to the letter, which was sent last Friday.
The letter claimed that across all of the debates "moderators repeated the same limited set of questions, focused almost entirely on candidates’ personal histories and controversies rather than issues of national or global importance, including the climate and biodiversity crisis".
It said that no candidate was "invited to articulate views or priorities on climate action, biodiversity, or environmental leadership".
In a statement, RTÉ said elections are dynamic events, and that the broadcaster’s election steering group does not make decisions to exclude any issues during any campaigns.
It said campaigns are run by those contesting the election, who decide their own themes, approaches and campaign schedules, and that the issue of climate and environment were not central to the 2025 Presidential Election campaign.
RTÉ highlighted that, constitutionally, the president has no role in the formation policy in respect of climate and the environment, with these matters solely for the government and the Oireachtas.
It added that over the course of the campaign, the clear separation of powers between the Executive, the Presidency and the courts was acknowledged by the candidates a number of times.
