Duffy claims he thought about resigning from RTÉ in 2007 after the broadcaster forced him to give Justice Minister Michael McDowell a platform on Liveline to make a "party political broadcast". Duffy considered it "direct party-political interference" in Liveline. However, he went ahead with the broadcast and did not resign or make any protest on air.
In October 2008 he was proactive as a supporter of Irish pensioners who marched on Leinster House (home of the Oireachtas) to protest at the proposed means testing of their medical cards in the Government Budget. However, earlier that month, he was reportedly censored by the government when he attempted to continually discuss the effects of the global financial crisis on Ireland. This followed on from the outrage caused when Duffy was held responsible by Finance Minister, Brian Lenihan, for inciting widespread public fear that Irish citizens were on the verge of losing their savings. Several callers freely spoke of their lack of confidence in the banking system, of how they had withdrawn their money from banks, some of which were identified, and were either carrying it around on their person, or considering keeping it "under the mattress", or burying it in their garden. Lenihan personally rang Cathal Goan, the Director-General of RTÉ, on 18 September 2008 (the date of the show) to express his outrage at the sudden increase in potentially disastrous speculation following the show.
The extent of the Finance Minister's concern first publicly emerged the following morning when he was interviewed by RTÉ's economics editor George Lee. In that interview, Lenihan insisted that deposits were not in any danger and said that people should not be going to banks to shift their deposit accounts "on the basis of unfounded allegations made on radio programmes".
Rival broadcaster TV3 accused Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) and Joe Duffy of waging a "dirty tricks" war against them after a late-night game show run by TV3 was berated by callers to Liveline and saying several times on air that he had been unable to get a representative from the station to reply to callers' concerns. TV3 said a lengthy statement was sent to the Liveline office almost two hours before the September 2009 show went on air was ignored, despite the fact that it clarified some of the issues. The Play TV service was discontinued by TV3 in March 2010 after 29 complaints to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), though TV3 said it was because of a decline in viewership.
Journalist Kevin Myers wrote in October 2009, "Throw in some mob-oratory from the national broadcaster's disgraceful 'Liveline', and almost no state institution and no politician is safe from the vengeful, idiot wrath of Madame La Guillotine, or Les Heureuses Tricoteuses."
A common occurrence is a "Funny Friday" version of Liveline, which takes place on Fridays, where Duffy is joined by comedians such as Clint Velour, Brendan Savage, Brush Shiels and Syl Fox. It is very unpopular among regular Liveline listeners
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