Jerome Ousted?

[BarryBreensBandage]

Having said that there is undoubtedly a culture of rugby, local soccer, hockey, gaa in that order.

Hockey? Where? How many hockey matches have been broadcast and when? And they're showing the Magners league this year, but before this, how much rugby did the BBC broadcast? And local soccer - is it one or two live matches a year?
The only place there might be some imbalance is the coverage on Newsline, but if you look across BBC NI, the GAA doesn't fare too bad at all.

+1
Newsline seems to be more easily manipulated by those with an agenda and there is a tabloid tendency.  You would be surprised to know who is behind the reporting of negative GAA stories in Newsline with Mr Watson merely a frontman to deliver.  Last March, it was used by some to attempt to embarass me instead of highlighting the biggest day in the school sporting calendar not only for the lads in the MacRory Cup final on 17th March but the lads in the major rugby and soccer competitions.  How much more positive and interesting it would have been to preview their games and achievements.

I would be critical of production values and amateurish, colloquial and patronising reporting/delivery by individuals on the BBC. The local service is miles behind the UK service in broadcasting sport.  Even UK BBC is beginning to fall behind the satellite broadcasters.

It would be interesting to measure the amount of sport on the Irish broadcasting channels in terms of Gaelic games v Other (foreign games) sport.  It certainly would be interesting to look at the number of hours on TG4.  Despite its high output of Gaelic games, it shows huge number of hours of rugby, soccer, tennis, rugby, AFL, etc.  In my opinion, there is no harm in it but I think the BBC shouldn't carry the can for so many complaints about broadcasting time for Gaelic games.  We should be complaining that so much of the money in BBC broadcasting of Gaelic games is wasted on poor delivery in every aspect from commentary to punditry.

Would completely agree with this.... I think the BBC actually do cover GAA considerably; relatives in England were able to watch the match on Sunday through BBC NI - they couldn't pick up RTE.

However, generally, the standard of commentator, analyst and reporter are poor. If they are going to cover matches, they should go the whole hog and make it a spectacle - if it was advertised properly in England, Scotland, Wales, it would be some boost to their ratings, as plenty of people would be interested.

Could they look at covering National League next year, or have TG4 got the rights?

[johnneycool]

my problem is that on any saturday evening I can see the results on the news and even a wee snippet of Lisnagarvey playing Banbridge with one man and his dog watching, yet on the sunday evening i won't have a fuckin clue about any club championship games going on all over the north, hurling and football with thousands at them.

I might get a bit of coverage on a monday night if the Derry lads are pucking the heads off each other the previous day, but not too much if all was quiet on the melee front.

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

WTF? It was in the paper last week that Jerome is now seeking a judicial review of the original verdict??? I presume that the BBC would have insurance to cover the legal costs associated with cases like this and its not a case of licence fee money being squandered?

Having been in a witness box myself defending my employers in the past, I have always thought that it is far to easy in the North of Ireland for disgruntled employees to raise a false grievance, and take a case, in the hope of getting a handy few bob in an out of court settlement, or alternatively dragging their employers through the mud, as trhey know full well that even if they haven't a hope in hell of winning, some if not all of the mud they throw will stick in the public's mind.

Well any Judicial Review would like be against the Employment Tribunal rather than directly against the BBC.

[Maguire01]

my problem is that on any saturday evening I can see the results on the news and even a wee snippet of Lisnagarvey playing Banbridge with one man and his dog watching, yet on the sunday evening i won't have a fuckin clue about any club championship games going on all over the north, hurling and football with thousands at them.

I might get a bit of coverage on a monday night if the Derry lads are pucking the heads off each other the previous day, but not too much if all was quiet on the melee front.

Who supplies the soccer coverage? I don't think the BBC have cameras at all of those local games.
Does the GAA provide coverage to the BBC? Should they?
Should the BBC be covering club championship games? Where do you stop?

[Maguire01]

WTF? It was in the paper last week that Jerome is now seeking a judicial review of the original verdict??? I presume that the BBC would have insurance to cover the legal costs associated with cases like this and its not a case of licence fee money being squandered?

Having been in a witness box myself defending my employers in the past, I have always thought that it is far to easy in the North of Ireland for disgruntled employees to raise a false grievance, and take a case, in the hope of getting a handy few bob in an out of court settlement, or alternatively dragging their employers through the mud, as trhey know full well that even if they haven't a hope in hell of winning, some if not all of the mud they throw will stick in the public's mind.

Well any Judicial Review would like be against the Employment Tribunal rather than directly against the BBC.

So there's a chance he could be properly out of pocket then?

[Maguire01]

While the judicial review will be against the decision by the Tribunal, it may also cite the BBC who would have to appear in court to defend its position.  The first stage in seeking a judicial review is to convince the judge that you have an "arguable" case which is a low threshold.  It will cost because you must have a solicitor and at least one barrister but legal aid is available.  However, if you are defending a case against someone with legal aid then you cannot have costs awarded to you if you win.

Would he be entitled to legal aid?

[ardmhachaabu]

While the judicial review will be against the decision by the Tribunal, it may also cite the BBC who would have to appear in court to defend its position.  The first stage in seeking a judicial review is to convince the judge that you have an "arguable" case which is a low threshold.  It will cost because you must have a solicitor and at least one barrister but legal aid is available.  However, if you are defending a case against someone with legal aid then you cannot have costs awarded to you if you win.

Would he be entitled to legal aid?

I hope not.  This farce has went on long enough.

He broke the terms and conditions of his employment, he got fired and took the BBC to a tribunal claiming all sorts of discrimination against him.  In fact, none existed and the BBC were able to prove that.  If you or I were to do what he did on a work pc we would be fired and rightly so.

[T Fearon]

Without wishing to sound like Joe Brolly,I thought there was provision albeit in extreme cases, where the tribunal can be asked to consider if the complainant's case was completely spurious and without any foundation, and the defendant if he or she can convince the Tribunal that this was so, could then pursue the complainant for recovery of costs?

I myself have as part of my car insurance got cover for legal costs in the event of industrial disputes initiated by me, but I assume I would need to convince the insurers of the merits of my case beforehand, before submitting any insurance claims in this regard.

But as I said before abyone can raise a grievance against an employer and decide to do so without any legal representation, thus incurring no costs, and availing of a free opportunity to drag an employer's name through the Courts with all the attendant bad publicity etc 

[T Fearon]

I am pretty sure legal aid is not available to those taking industrial disputes to Tribunals

[red hander]

If the case of an individual/group of individuals has got as far as an industrial tribunal then I'd say in most cases it's being funded by the union these individuals are members of.  The union's lawyers only give the go-ahead if they think it has a good chance of success, if not a union wouldn't fund it and the individuals would have to fund it themselves if they went against union legal advice

[Maguire01]

Who would pump money into this?

[T Fearon]

Surely any individual can bring a case and choose to represent him or herself (as I believe was the situation here) without any professional legal assistance and without therefore incurring any legal fees. Its a no lose situation, one of the following three scenarios has to emerge.

1. You get an out of court settlement
2. You actually win the case and get a monetary award
3. You lose the case but the mud you throw at your erstwhile employers sticks in the public mind, and you also create turmoil for your erstwhile employers

[Maguire01]

Are there not costs in bring the case before the courts - court costs?

[T Fearon]

No, the only costs associated are for hiring solicitors/barristers. So if you represent yourself you don't incur a penny

[red hander]

Yeah, but you have to present your case in a legal basis on paper before the tribunal will even let you open your gob in the formal process, and that can only be done if you have legal knowledge to competently do so, or you hire a barrister, which costs big bucks, but which will be covered by the union if their advice is that the case is winnable (i.e the loser ends up paying damages to the individual AND the union's costs)