RTE has been accused of anti Limerick bias by former mayor of Limerick, Cllr Diarmuid Scully.

Referring to the nine o'clock news on Monday, November 20, during which the contract killing of a woman in Dublin was covered, the councillor said:

"Reporting on this news item the RTE reporter made reference to "a case going on in Limerick where a man had allegedly solicited an undercover garda to kill his wife".

Pointing out that the incident in question occurred in Tipperary, not Limerick, Cllr Scully said that while this inaccuracy might not mean much to RTE, "it is extraordinary that once again a report on a callous and brutal murder in Dublin has somehow managed to traduce Limerick's reputation.

"This lazy anti Limerick bias in the national media has hit once again," he said.

The mayor's comments come hot on the heels of condemnation this week from a University of Limerick academic, of over-reporting by the national media of Limerick's crime profile.

Professor Stephen O'Brien of UL's applied mathematics faculty, who has researched the crime statistics for last year, claims that the national media are responsible for the unfair projection of Limerick as a city with a crime problem that is out of kilter with other cities, except Dublin.

Professor O'Brien claimed that some crimes which go unreported in Dublin would merit national headlines if they happened in Limerick