Media coverage: The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland has decided to stick to its policy of not imposing a moratorium on by-election coverage for the final 24 hours of the campaign.
While RTÉ has yet to decide on the matter, the station is expected to impose a moratorium as it traditionally does for both national polls and by-elections.
This means that RTÉ will broadcast no by-election coverage for the final 24 hours of the campaigns in Meath and Kildare North, where polling takes place on March 11th. However, the State's independent stations will continue to broadcast news of the campaigns up to polling.
The purpose of the moratorium is to allow voters a short period of reflection before voting without being bombarded by last-minute appeals for votes.
However, the BCI chief executive, Mr Michael O'Keeffe, said yesterday: "As the by-elections do not form part of a national election poll, the commission has decided not to enforce the 24-hour moratorium."
Mr O'Keeffe said the commission would be writing to the national independent radio and television stations and also the local commercial stations in the relevant constituencies "to reiterate the requirement that they must ensure fairness and balance in the exposure given to all candidates and interests under Section 9 of the Radio and Television Act, 1988".
Meanwhile RTÉ confirmed yesterday that it would give the usual coverage to Sinn Féin's ardfheis even though it takes place on March 4th-6th, the weekend before the by-elections.
A station spokeswoman said last night that the situation would be different if a party conference was taking place in the run-up to a general election campaign, but the decision had been taken to go ahead with the coverage, which had been planned before the by-election date was announced. As with the other party conferences, Sinn Féin will receive two hours of live television coverage on the Sunday morning.
The party leader's address on Saturday night will also be broadcast live. RTÉ gives the parties a choice between a one-hour broadcast of the leader's address from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. , or a half-hour from 8 30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sinn Féin has opted for the former.