BBC Northern Ireland will not broadcast Gerry Adams’s Ard Fheis speech in the days leading up to next month's assembly election.
The broadcaster said election guidelines prevented it providing the usual conference coverage, including a live transmission of the Sinn Féin leader's speech.
Sinn Féin’s annual conference this year takes place on Friday and Saturday April 22 and 23 in Dublin's Convention Centre.
The second day is the eve of the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Easter Rising but also falls just 12 days before the May 5 Stormont poll.
The level of Sinn Féin support on both sides of the border means that under normal circumstances both the BBC and RTE would broadcast Mr Adams’s closing speech on the Saturday night.
However, broadcasters must adhere to strict rules that are designed to ensure equal coverage for parties during an election campaign.
RTE has said it will screen the Sinn Féin leader’s speech, including into homes north of the border.
The Republic’s state broadcaster said it had no plans to impose a ‘geo-block’ of the sort used to scramble sports events that are available on subscriber-only channels.
"It was decided that, as previously, the ard fheis will be covered in the conventional way, including live broadcast of the leader’s speech on April 23,” an RTE spokesman said.
However, BBC Northern Ireland has decided against transmitting Mr Adams's speech live.
A spokesman said Sinn Féin’s Ard Fheis would feature on television, radio and online news where appropriate and that the entire conference would be made available on the i-player.
"Due to our election guidelines, we’re unable to provide our usual party conference coverage on BBC NI television because it is being held during the formal election period," he said.
