RTÉ is being accused of blatant bias after its news broadcasts claimed a vague response from the European Commission to Dublin MEP Lynn Boylan on the issue of water charges “confirmed” that “Ireland does not enjoy an exemption from the obligation under European law for a system of water charges”.

Responding to the claims on RTÉ's Drivetime radio programme, Sinn Féin's Lynn Boylan MEP (pictured) said RTÉ's interpretation of the response was “nonsensical” and “bizarre”, adding that the reports by the national broadcaster were entirely unbalanced.

The Right2Water campaign also weighed into the debate describing RTÉ's reporting as “absolutely disgraceful”.

The Dublin MEP hit out at RTÉ's Brussels correspondent, saying:

“Either their informant is leading them up the garden path or our state broadcaster is attempting to influence the debate with deliberately ambiguous information which could have come straight from the press office of Irish Water.”

The Right2Water campaign described RTÉ's reporting as “a new low, even for them” and accused the broadcaster of trying to “set up” the Dublin MEP but added “Lynn Boylan as ever was on her mettle”:

“The Commission response does nothing to support the super quango that is Irish Water yet RTÉ, absolutely disgracefully, tried a 'gotcha' on MEP Lynn Boylan today and attempted to utterly misrepresent the Commissions position to spin the story to suit their agenda,” Right2Water said.

Lynn Boylan's question to the Commission attempted to establish whether a derogation previously enjoyed by the state under the Water Framework Directive, which meant there would be no water charges regime, was still available.

The Commission's response said that if the established practice of a state is to have water charges, then the derogation does not apply.

Lynn Boylan says that as Ireland's established practice has been to recover costs through general taxation, water charges can be scrapped:

“Irish Water and its water charges have been in place for little over a year and moreover, entirely fail to cover any costs apart from billing! RTÉ's claims that Irish Water is now our country's ‘established practice’ are laughable.”