The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) has rejected two complaints made against Newstalk programmes.

The first related to the intro to 'Off the Ball', where a short clip of voices is played.

The complainant took issue with the inclusion of a clip in which the speaker said: "I knew I was going to strike Ollie Baker and I knew where I was going to hit him, and I did, and I opened him".

The complainant claimed this was offensive, ill-judged and an incitement to crime.

Newstalk said it categorically rejected any claim that the programme infringed the Code of Programme Standards, and that 'Off the Ball' is a show which is aimed at an adult audience and presented in an irreverent style.

It said that the language which was the subject of the complaint was not used in a gratuitous way.

It added that the quote is used in the opening segment to provide context and to set the tone and style of the programme to follow.

The BAI Executive Complaints Forum rejected the complaint - arguing that in order for broadcasters to provide a diverse range of programmes that caters for a diverse audience, programming may cause offence to some members of the audience.

It also found that the piece was used to attract the listeners' attention at the introduction to the programme - and that it was unlikely to cause widespread offence or incite to crime.

Lunchtime Live

A second rejected complaint related to 'Lunchtime Live' in September last year.

It concerned an interview with a financial advisor at AskPaul.ie, discussing the issue of income tax and taxation in the context of an Irish Tax Institute report ahead of the Budget.

The complainant claimed that the interviewee "failed to differentiate between tax and income tax and listeners were given a one-sided perspective on taxation."

In response, Newstalk said this segment was a review of a report by the Irish Tax Institute and outlined the rate of personal tax paid by workers, and the topic of personal tax was "clearly outlined by the presenter" at the outset of the interview.

"The guest was interviewed in his capacity as financial advisor and he presented the facts of the ITI report in a fair and balanced way", it said.

Rejecting the complaint, the BAI's Executive Complaints Forum found that the presenter introduced the item by referring to a pre-budget report by the Irish Taxation Institute, which established that "workers across all and every income level were paying more personal tax, which is income tax, the universal social charge and the PRSI combination, despite a reduction over the past seven years".

It said it was clear from this introduction that the topic under discussion related to income tax and the differences paid by those on higher or lower wages, as well as middle-income earners.

TV3 and RTÉ

Complaints were also rejected by the BAI Compliance Committee against RTÉ One's programme 'A Wild Irish Year' - as well as TV3 broadcasts 'The Pat Kenny Show' and 'The Tonight Show'.

'The Pat Kenny Show' complaint related to a programme from May 2018 focused on the Eight Amendment.

The complaint concerned a panel debate on the issue which featured four guests: two on the 'Yes' side of the debate and two on the 'No' side.

The complainant claimed the programme lacked fairness, objectivity and impartiality.

They believed this was due to the presenter's treatment of the panellists who represented the 'No' vote.

The complainant believed the presenter was rude to the panellists who favoured a 'No' vote, and that he challenged them in a more robust manner.

Read the full BAI report here