RTÉ should 'think twice' about 'laundering the reputation of the British monarchy' by broadcasting this weekend's coronation.
That’s according to People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy, who was speaking as RTÉ prepares to broadcast the event from 10am this Saturday.
Deputy Murphy told Newstalk Breakfast people are being asked to swear allegiance through their TVs.
"The British monarchy is not some benign tourist attraction," he said.
"It is built on racism, on slavery, on empire.
"People are going to be asked on Saturday, through their TV screens, to swear allegiance to Charles.
"A man who nobody has cast a single vote for, a man who was titular head of the parachute regiment responsible for Bloody Sunday, a man who received suitcases full of cash from the Qatari prime minister.
"The idea that RTÉ - a public service broadcaster in a republic, which was colonised by the British empire - should be showing this as some major item, as opposed to featuring it for a couple of minutes in a news piece, seems to me to be quite inappropriate."
'Reputation of the monarchy'
Deputy Murphy said he was not trying to police public broadcasting - but accused RTÉ of glossing over the British monarchy.
"I am suggesting, as a member of the public, that RTÉ should think twice about participating in what is a very expensive attempt to launder the reputation of the monarchy," he said.
"They're going to spend something like £250m, they're going to give an additional £400m to do a full renovation of the palaces.
"Even in Britain 70% of the public so they don't care very much, or they don't care at all, about the coronation.
"In Ireland, I suspect the numbers who care are going to be substantially less".
Britain's King Charles III. Picture via @RoyalFamily on TwitterDeputy Murphy said this is not like other international events.
"It's not like the Eurovision or the World Cup, which are cultural events that people watch," he said.
"This is the head of the British state that people are being asked to pledge their allegiance to.
"In Britain this is manufactured consent from the top-down to try and rehabilitate the monarchy, which is increasingly despised by a minority of the population in Britain - and seen as irrelevant by possibly a majority," he added.
