Sometimes – I will not identify the newspaper concerned – when I wondered at some of the stories printed about me, I asked the press officer in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform to contact the person whose name appeared on the byline of the story to say it was not true. I received the response that the journalist did not exist but was a name of convenience used by three journalists, on occasion, as a byline. Are the National Union of Journalists and the National Newspapers of Ireland willing to put up with the pretence that people exist and have written stories when, in fact, the name is completely imaginary or chosen from a telephone book? If that is ethical journalism, I do not know what matters are coming to.