MEDIA MINISTER PATRICK O’Donovan has said he “made a hames” of expressing himself when saying he planned to “review” RTÉ’s coverage of the recent fuel price protests.

O’Donovan said on Monday that media coverage had been “lopsided” in favour of the fuel protesters, a comment that was heavily criticised by the National Union of Journalists, who called it “sinister and deeply disturbing”.

The next day, Tánaiste Simon Harris slapped down any suggesiton of a formal review and it later emerged that O’Donovan was not pursuing a formal review.   

Opposition politicians also pounced on O’Donovan’s comments, with Labour Leader Ivana Bacik likening him to Hungary’s outgoing prime minister, who stifled independent media during his time in power. 

“Goodbye Viktor Orbán, hello Patrick O’Donovan,” Bacik said.

Speaking to RTÉ today, O’Donovan conceded he definitely could have used “a better formula of words”.

O’Donovan insisted he “didn’t overstep the mark, but what I think I did do is I probably made a hames of what I was trying to say”.

“In hindsight, I should have used the word engage, chat to, talk to, which is exactly what I did on Tuesday,” when he met with Coimisiún na Meán.

He said he has a “very good relationship” with the media regulator. 

“They told me that they have upwards of 200 different complaints with regard to media coverage,” he said. 

O’Donovan also said he would be bringing a bill related to media independence to the Oireachtas soon and defended his record as minister. 

“When it comes to legislation in this space, I’m bringing forward a bill in the not too distant future around media independence and the importance of making sure that we have a strong robust media,” he said.

“I’ve done that with a variety of different schemes whether it’s in relation to local democracy, courts reporting, and direct supports to Coimisiún na Meán to make it the organisation that it is today.”

“They’re not the actions, I think, of somebody who wants to interfere.”