asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he or his Department made representations to any newspapers or other media, other than advising them of the details of the visit, to secure the agreement of the media that they would send reporters to cover his recent visit to the Middle East.

The press office of the Department of Foreign Affairs inform news organisations, as a matter of routine, of the arrangements for the official visits of the Minister for Foreign Affairs abroad. On this occasion, the French Presidency of the European Community made available accommodation for a number of journalists from Ireland on their official aircraft to facilitate media coverage of what was a very important troika visit to the Middle East; this invitation was, of course, also conveyed to the news organisations.