Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams attracted close to 100,000 viewers when his speech at the party's ard fheis was broadcast live on RTE television at the weekend.
The party's success in the Republic's general election last May secured it air time on the state broadcaster, with Mr Adams hitting the screens between 5pm and 6pm on Saturday.
RTE yesterday revealed that 95,000 viewers watched the party president deliver his keynote speech in the live broadcast.
It was a far cry from the days when RTE was banned from broadcasting interviews with Sinn Féin members under Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act.
The Section 31 order lapsed in January 1994, two years after union leader and Sinn Féin member Larry O'Toole went to the High Court and successfully challenged RTE's refusal to interview him as a spokesman for striking Gateaux workers in Dublin.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who is no stranger to going live at the Fianna Fail Ard Fheis, normally attracts around 200,000 viewers.
An RTE spokeswoman, however, yesterday stressed that programme times had to be taken into account when considering viewing figures.
"Generally speaking there will be a much bigger audience between eight and nine at night compared to the earlier time. It's not really possible to compare the two times," she said.
No political leader, however, could of course compete with the public's love for drama or cuddly toys, with old favourites such as Fair City specials or the annual Late Toy Show usually attracting up to one million viewers.
A Sinn Féin spokeswoman said that party members were pleased with the public response to the ard fheis and "delighted" that large numbers had watched Mr Adams's speech.
Under current rules, a political party must have five percent of the vote in the state or seven TDs before its annual party conference can be broadcast.
Sinn Féin, which has five Dail deputies, took 6.8 percent of the vote last May – paving the way for Mr Adams's turn on the screens last Saturday.
