Republican News · Thursday 03 August 2000

No play for H-Block record

SALES of Christy Moore's H-Block song Ninety Miles from Dublin Town are now approaching 5,000 - which for an Irish single, puts it among the top-selling records. But RTE have yet to play the song on Radios 1 or 2 and requests for it have been ignored.

On the few occasions that the record has been mentioned, then the B side of the record - an instrumental titled The Rights of Man/Repeal of the Union - has been played.

On Tuesday last, an An Phoblacht reporter attempted to obtain an explanation for this obvious censorship from RTE and was referred to one Louis Hogan, who was first of all ``in a meeting'' then ``gone to lunch'' then ``definitely back in an hour'' and finally ``off for the afternoon''. At this stage, our reporter got to speak to another of Radio 2's producers, albeit one connected with children's programmes and who can therefore, in fairness, remain anonymous. He promised to make some enquiries and ring back, which he did, in five minutes.

He said that he asked some of the programme producers involved and they had told him that the record was political and therefore they had only plyed the B side. This action, he insisted, was taken of their own accord and not because of any instruction from above. He agreed, however, that the fact that programme producers are apparently making political decisions off their own bat is definitely extraordinary behaviour.

Phoblacht, Thursday 10 August 1980