The Lady Chief Justice recently oversaw a broadcasting pilot which saw BBC NI, UTV, Sky News, ITN and PA Media film — but not broadcast — the handing-down of judgments in the Court of Appeal.

However, she recently spoke of her regret that the Department of Justice has indicated that legislation necessary to begin broadcasting footage recorded in courtrooms will not be brought in this Assembly mandate.

Pressed on the matter earlier this week, justice minister Naomi Long said progress on the issue was “important, and it is something that I, too, would like to see”.

She said the biggest obstacle was “limited resource in the Department and in the Office of the Legislative Counsel for drafting commitments”.

Mrs Long added: “There is also a challenge in the development of policy in the area.

“For example, when it comes to the issue of what would be filmed in court, the current view of the Lady Chief Justice is that it would be in relation to Court of Appeal judgements and rulings. However, you will be aware that we saw in England recently, very powerfully, that sentencing remarks are also filmed there.

“Whilst the pilot looked only at Court of Appeal judgements and rulings, we would want to take a more holistic approach.

“We would not want to repeal the current rule, which says that all filming in a court is illegal, without knowing particularly the detail of what needs to be done.”

The minister also said she had explored the idea of repealing the ban through primary legislation but postponing commencement until the drawing-up of regulations in consultation with the legal sector.

“I was advised that that was perhaps not good practice in legislation, which is why we did not proceed down that route, but there may be some things that we can do, even over the course of this mandate, certainly to develop the policy to support that change,” she said.

South of the border, a short-lived pilot saw the broadcasting of Irish Supreme Court decisions on two occasions in 2017.