Life

Final Questions & Answers broadcast

30.06.2009
The final programme of the RTE current affairs programme Questions & Answers (Q&A) was broadcast on RTE 1 last night.

RTE decided in March, with the agreement of the programme’s presenter of 21 years John Bowman, to end Q&A.

For the final show, three sets of panels debated past events in Irish politics and life, which the programme had covered.

The programme also featured an interview with the Taoiseach, Brian Cowen TD, in which he hailed Q&A's contribution to Irish politics.

The show's first panel included Labour spokesman for Justice, Pat Rabitte; Senator David Norris; Minister of Health, Mary Harney; Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny; and tax lawyer Suzanne Kelly.

Liz O'Donnell, former Progressive Democrat minister, Mary Lou MacDonald, vice-president of Sinn Féin; Fergus Finlay, former chef-de-cabinet of the Irish Labour Party;Catherine Ghent, solicitor; and John Waters, Irish Times columnist featured in the second panel.

The third panel featured the leader of the Green Party and Minister for the Environment, John Gormley; MEP Mairéad McGuinness; Ger Colleran, editor of the Irish Daily Star; Eddie Hobbs; Noel Whelan, barrister and political commentator.

Topics included a verdict onCharlie Haughey’s impact on Irish politics, the Northern Irish Peace Process, the green movement and, of course, the current economic crisis.

Debates were interspersed with highlights from the show’s 23-year history, covering the Bishop Eamon Casey scandal, events in the North during the Troubles, and the implosion, on Q&A, of the late Fianna Fáil politician Brian Lenihan’s hopes of securing the Irish Presidency in 1990.

Bowman announced in March that he had been contracted by RTÉ to write a history of television on the station to mark the 50th anniversary of the opening of Telefis Eireann in December 1961.

He is also due to present a series of documentaries on television’s impact on modern Ireland, and act as consulting editor in other initiatives being considered to mark this anniversary.