Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Exactly 20 years ago journalists in the public service broadcaster, RTE, and in the independent stations were, for the first time since 1972, interviewing members of Sinn Féin. The broadcasting ban on Sinn Féin under section 31 of the Broadcasting Act 1960 was lifted by the party colleague of the Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, the then Aire Ealaíon, Cultúir agus Gaeltachta, Uachtarán na hÉireann, Michael D. Higgins, in January 1994. Prior to that, I fought seven elections at local, European and Dáil levels while I and other Sinn Féin candidates and elected representatives were barred from the airwaves. One can only imagine how difficult that must have been.

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