RTE’s Prime Time appeared to suffer a technical difficulty this evening during an interview with the Russian ambassador to Ireland.

Maxim Peshkov's sound bite was stuck on a repeated loop on the show for approximately 15 minutes: ‘Irish Ukrainians, not Russians.’

Viewers have turned to Twitter in confusion and some of the Twitterati have joked the RTE set had been invaded.

"'Irish Ukrainians not Russians' The Shining has invaded RTE #rtept" tweeted Niall McCarthy.

Many wondered why the embarrassing error was allowed to run on for so long.

"Just like some of its other shows, RTÉ doesn't see what the rest of us see when we watch. Hilarious," tweeted Mark O'Mahony.

While Mark Lacomber attempted to let the studio producers know: "@rte sooo you know that primetime has been stuck on a loop for a few minutes now..." he posted.

Some have even suggested that the sound bite loop might sound well coupled with a music beat.

Irish weather presenter Deric O h'Artagain posted: "#irishukraniansnotrussians wtf!? where's the remix?"

RTE have reportedly experienced a flood of calls to inform them of the gaffe.

Managing Director, RTÉ News and Current Affairs Kevin Bakhurst later tweeted: "Many apologies to those watching RTEOne and #rtept - the engineers were aware and trying to sort. Not acceptable fault. Infuriating."

The latest RTE mishap follows a glitch on Friday night with the Eurosong scoreboard as it seemingly couldn't reach the three digit mark.

#irishukrainiansnotrussians is now trending in Ireland.

Louise Kelly

Online Editors