The state broadcaster has very strict guidelines designed to ensure balanced coverage to all parties and candidates in the run-up to May's general election and a candidate featuring in a TV advert would breach those guidelines. RT�? sources said the only question was when the advert featuring Redmond would be replaced.

A spokesman for RT�? said that some Sensodyne ads were scheduled to be broadcast over the next week, but the station had yet to establish if they involved Redmond.

If they did, a decision would have to be made on when to replace the ad. He said there was "no way the [Redmond] ad could be broadcast in the runup to the general election."

Other sources told the Sunday Tribune that if ads did feature Redmond, they would be pulled "sooner rather than later" and possibly as early as this week. They stressed that they would be informing Sensodyne first on any decision.

In the run-up to the last general election, RT�? postponed a TV series on great Irish houses presented by Senator David Norris. And Mayo gaelic football manager and Fine Gael election candidate John O'Mahony had been prevented from appearing on sports bulletins and programmes on RT�? since the start of the month.

Redmond, who has become a familiar face in Irish homes as a result of the Sensodyne advert, has been a PD activist for a number of years.