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BBC Northern Ireland refuse to confirm staff numbers for Euro 2016

BBC Northern Ireland has refused to confirm how many people will be sent to cover the Euro 2016 football tournament in France next month. Picture by Niall Carson/PA Wire
BBC Northern Ireland has refused to confirm how many people will be sent to cover the Euro 2016 football tournament in France next month. Picture by Niall Carson/PA Wire BBC Northern Ireland has refused to confirm how many people will be sent to cover the Euro 2016 football tournament in France next month. Picture by Niall Carson/PA Wire

BBC Northern Ireland has refused to say how many staff it is sending to the Euro 2016 football championships in France this summer.

The BBC overall is to post 258 staff to France for the tournament, but refused to confirmed how many of those will be from its Northern Ireland operation.

It has been suggested BBC Northern Ireland will send 22 staff.

The BBC and ITV will share viewing rights for the championship, which begin next month and will feature Northern Ireland in a major international competition for the first time in three decades.

The Republic, Wales and England will also compete for the trophy.

The publicly-funded broadcaster did not respond to a request for comment when asked why it was unable to provide a further breakdown of numbers and job titles of those travelling from Northern Ireland.

In a blog post last month about the Rio Olympics and Euro 2016, Director of BBC Sport Barbara Slater confirmed that 258 staff would attend the football tournament and said she was aware that "staff numbers can often attract criticism."