Mr. Kevin Bakhurst:

Yes, that is true. There are pressures on both sides, but political representatives are well used to dealing with that. Some of the voices on the other side are not as practised as political representatives. There is a problem and it is to do with the nature of public debate on these issues. It is the same in respect of the water protests. Some of the abuse that is heaped on people on both sides of the argument is unedifying. It is difficult but we endeavour to get a range of voices on all the issues. Members are correct, we have to have a balance over time. It is not necessarily giving 15 minutes to one side and 15 minutes to the other side, but it is to cover a fair range of voices and give a fair range of exposure. We weigh that up all the time.

In regard to complaints from the political parties, we get complaints in a range of ways and deal with them accordingly. It depends on how the complaints are made, some may be a telephone call to me or I may hear about them in a conversation withMs Deirdre McCarthy. I also receive more formal complaints and some of them are legal complaints and others are proposed legal actions. How we deal with complaints is a result of the nature of the complaint. Some complaints will be made to Ms McCarthy and if necessary she will bring them to me and we will discuss them. It depends on the nature of the complaint and how it is made.