Ms Deirdre McCarthy:

Let me add that sometimes there may be other stories. For example, Deputy Micheál Martin's clip from the Dáil yesterday was used in another story. It depends on the story. Other parties could be used. The "Nine O'clock News" is a shorter bulletin so if there was a Dáil package or a leader's package of the day which tended to represent one or two of the Opposition parties and, for instance, an Independent or someone from the Technical Group was not on it, it is monitored so that they will be on another day. They are monitored constantly between the 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. news programmes in terms of who is on and from which party to ensure a cross-section is represented.