 The payment caused a controversy, with the Minister for Communications, Pat Rabbitte, and Senators David Norris and Ivana Bacik demanding the reasoning for the payment and in the region of 2000 people attended a protest at the payment.Senator Averil Power said seeking "to completely censor somebody else’s viewpoint by resorting to solicitors’ letters is ridiculous".MEP Paul Murphy said RTÉ's actions were censorship, and further described it as a "real attack on the freedom of speech".