Lenihan Tape Affair: 1990

The programme has occasionally set the national news agenda. During a broadcast in 1990 the then Tánaiste and expected next President of Ireland, Brian Lenihan, badly damaged his chances of being elected. He denied involvement in an effort eight years earlier in January 1982 to pressurise the then President to refuse a parliamentary dissolution – contradicting previous statement he had made.

Lenihan had actually confirmed his involvement in the effort some months earlier in an on-the-record interview with a journalist Jim Duffy, as he had to numerous political colleagues privately over eight years. During the presidential election campaign he changed his story, first in an Irish Press interview, and then on Questions and Answers. Some journalists had been told by Lenihan previously of his role in pressurising Hillery, but had been told it in an 'off the record' conversation and so could not reveal it (though one did hint it in an unsigned editorial in the Irish Independent during the crisis following the programme).

However following the programme, Duffy, in a backlash to pressure from Lenihan's Fianna Fáil not to reveal the information, did reveal that Lenihan's account on the programme conflicted with his pre-campaign version. The minor party in Charles Haughey's government, the Progressive Democrats, threatened to quit government and cause a general election unless either Lenihan was sacked from cabinet or an inquiry was ordered into the events of January 1982. When Lenihan refused to resign, Haughey, instead of ordering an inquiry into who had made the calls in 1982, sacked him.

The "ill-fated appearance" was remembered in the final episode of Questions and Answers in 2009.^[5]

Doherty on McCabe death: 1996

Sinn Féin's Pat Doherty also used the show in 1996 to deny the involvement of the Provisional IRA in the death of Jerry McCabe. Members of that group were later convicted of manslaughter and Sinn Féin have campaigned for their early release in conjunction with the Belfast Agreement.

Doherty's refusal to condemn the murder was remembered in the final episode of Questions and Answers in 2009.^[5]

McLaughlin and Michael McDowell on Jean McConville killing: 2005

In 2005, Sinn Féin chairman Mitchel McLaughlin told viewers that though it had been wrong for the Provisional IRA to kill Jean McConville, a widowed mother of ten young children kidnapped, shot and secretly buried, the action was not a "crime". In the aftermath of his comments, he was subjected to extreme criticism from within the Irish government, from all the main parties in Dáil Éireann, the media and by the public on radio shows.

Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte, in a press release immediately afterwards commented that "Any civilised society must consider the abduction and murder of a mother of 10 children to be a crime of considerable barbarism" while Mrs McConville's son Michael said that McLaughlin, along with Sinn Féin TD Arthur Morgan, who had made similar comments elsewhere, "should be holding their heads in shame".

McLaughlin's refusal to call the murder a crime was remembered in the final episode of Questions and Answers in 2009.^[5]

O'Dea and the abuser: 2008

On 20 October 2008, Defence Minister Willie O'Dea was invited onto the show to discuss the fallout of the government budget. Paul Doran, a member of the audience, threw paper at O'Dea. Doran was afterwards given VIP status, as was all who appeared on the show, in the station's Green Room with host John Bowman. Bowman gave Doran a signed copy of his book on his late son, Jonathan Philbin Bowman; Doran had offered him sympathies to the host of the show saying how much he admired Jonathan. It later emerged that it was RTÉ who approached Doran to appear on the show, as is the practice with all guests, sparking questions about the show's apparently impartial production values. He had allegedly been repeatedly invited prior to this but had declined until a phone call arrived from RTÉ at 18:20 on the evening of the show.^[6]

Michael O'Brien vs. Noel Dempsey: 2009

In one of the last episodes, former Mayor of Clonmel and Fianna Fáil member, Michael O'Brien confronted Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey about the way the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse had treated survivors of the industrial schools, pointing out that the allegedly non-adversarial process had involved him being accused of lying.^[7] He said the government should change the constitution so that the assets of the religious orders who ran the industrial schools could be frozen.^[7] He also spoke of how he still suffered nightmares about the abuse he suffered in Ferryhouse and how his experience of the questioning had led him to contemplate suicide but his wife had persuaded him not to do it. He ended his remarks by saying "You know me minister" to Noel Dempsey to which Dempsey nodded in silence.^[8] Presenter John Bowman in the final show just weeks later said that interruption was "by far the most memorable moment" in the history of Questions and Answers.^[5]

Demise

The final Questions and Answers aired on 29 June 2009. The decision was taken when the presenter, John Bowman stepped aside.^[3] It would be replaced by a similar programme, The Frontline said to involve public participation and to run in the same time slot on a Monday night.^[3] Some politicians were said to have welcomed the show's demise, saying it was "well past its sell-by date".^[3] One government Minister told the Evening Herald newspaper: "Government and opposition parties were finding it more and more difficult to get people to go on a show that was late at night and at the start of the week to debate topics which had been trashed to death on every other show over the weekend."^[3] Prime Time presenter Miriam O'Callaghan was speculated upon as a replacement but insisted she knew nothing of the show's departure until she read about it on the RTÉ website.^[3]