I think the statement issued by the Government Information Bureau adequately explained what happened in regard to this matter. Since some Deputies are prepared to take the view of the sensational English Sunday newspapers I want to explain what happened in somewhat more detail in the short time at my disposal.
Some time ago, my Department were approached by Mr. Mac Aonghusa with the request that they should co-operate with him in the production of a radio feature on Civil Defence. He explained that he is a person who is engaged in the business of producing radio programmes and selling them to Radio Éireann. Naturally, since my Department is charged by the Government with the organisation of Civil Defence, they wanted to know some more details in regard to the nature of the proposed programme and, as Deputy Larkin has said, the producer presented the Director of Civil Defence with an outline of the proposed programme. I have that outline here but I do not think it is necessary to read it. I think, however, it is clear from it that what the producer had in mind was that a number of items would be supplied by my Department or arranged by the Department of Defence and that they would be linked together by him and presented to Radio Éireann.
Following the friendly conversation they had with the producer, my Department believed in his bona fides; that he was genuine and that this was what he intended to do; but before agreeing to co-operate, the Department insisted on the condition that the final programme to be presented would be submitted to the Department in the first instance and that there should be mutual agreement on its content before it was submitted to Radio Éireann.
I might as well say that there was no question of censorship. It was a question of the producer and the civil defence section of my Department co-operating in the production of a programme and this condition was accepted from the outset by the producer. Not alone that, but in the period during which the programme was being prepared he was reminded of this agreement on a number of occasions by the officers of my Department and on each occasion the excuse he gave for not bringing it in was that the programme was not ready. There was no suggestion that he intended to dishonour his undertaking but, from statements he made subsequently, it is quite clear that that is what he intended to do from the very start.
In regard to the circumstances in which the effort made to circumvent the arrangement to submit it to my Department for agreement before submitting it to Radio Éireann was forestalled, it is quite clear that there was no question of censorship or banning of any programme of Radio Éireann by me or any other Minister. What happened was that having eventually heard the programme in Radio Éireann, not having heard it in my own office as had been promised, but having succeeded in hearing it in Radio Éireann, I pointed out to the Radio Éireann authorities who were present, the obvious fact that 90 per cent. of the programme had been supplied by the Department of Defence and this had been done on the undertaking that there would be mutual agreement on the content of the completed programme before it was submitted to Radio Éireann.
I also pointed out that this undertaking, which had been freely given by the producer, had not been carried out and that now when, in fact, we had succeeded in hearing the programme, we found we could not agree to it for a number of reasons—in the first place, the fact that these allegations against the justification for and the sincerity of Civil Defence which were to be made at the outset of the programme had been concealed from the officers of my Department.