Rip-Off Republic

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Rip-Off Republic was an RTÉ television show highlighting the cost of living and working in Ireland. It was presented by Eddie Hobbs and was broadcast on Mondays at 21:30 on RTÉ One during late August and early September 2005.

The show was filmed in front of a live audience at The Helix in Dublin City University. It was presented in the format of a stand-up monologue by Eddie Hobbs, with occasional inserts filmed on location. According to RTÉ ^[1], the programme attracted record viewing figures, with 667,000 people (51% audience share) watching the second programme in the series.

Episodes

Four programmes were aired in the series, each targeting a different area of the Irish economy:

1. Groceries
2. Alcohol
3. Transport
4. Taxation

Reaction

In August 2005, Stephen O'Byrnes, a former official of the Progressive Democrats political party, and a current member of the RTÉ Authority, made a complaint to RTÉ management, alleging that the programme was biased and lacked balance. In addition, various Fianna Fáil backbenchers were also known to be unhappy with the programme; TD for Westmeath, Donnie Cassidy, threatened to call Hobbs and RTÉ management before a committee to explain their behaviour.

On September 6, 2005, Hobbs told the Last Word programme on Today FM that he was pulling out of a planned appearance on The Late Late Show on RTÉ the following Friday, after RTÉ promoted the appearance prior to the final Rip-Off Republic programme.

It was reported in several national newspapers that RTÉ sources described the programme as a "once-off" and not likely to return. ^[2]

References

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