Mr. Peter Feeney:

Yes. Our annual report will say that 50 of the complaints we receive should have been directed to the BAI or the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland. Approximately 50 each year are misdirected to us. They are not lost, however, in that we give the complainants a contact telephone number and email address for the BAI or the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland. Some complaints are not processed because they are not about individual articles but about the press in general or about something published more than three months previously.

We have a strict rule that an article being complained about has to have been published within the previous three months. The other requirement is that people have to show they are personally affected. This is to stop us being used by campaigning groups. It does not necessarily mean only individuals can complain. We will accept complaints from lobby groups and pressure groups on behalf of their members also. It is not just individuals but also groups. I will give a specific example of this. Some years ago we received a complaint from the Israeli ambassador about Middle East coverage in an Irish newspaper. We accepted his complaint because we said he represented the state of Israel and it had a legitimate concern. We do hear complaints from more than just individuals.