While there will be no blanket ban on expletives, individual programmes will in future have to justify their use. Gratuitous bad language will not be tolerated, sources said.

Programmes which have come under scrutiny in recent weeks include the Late Late Show on Friday nights and the Gerry Ryan morning radio show on 2FM.

The recent appearance of comedian Tommy Tiernan on the Late Late sparked the highest number of complaints on bad language received by RT�? recently. While the station has ruled out the use of bleeps to mask profanities, Pat Kenny's team has been told to advise their guests not to use bad language.

The sometimes colourful language used on the Gerry Ryan show was also noted by senior management and there have been discussions with his production team about the matter.

"It's not a diktat from the director general or anything like that.

It's just that presenters and researchers have been reminded to be conscious of their audience and the time of day their programme is being broadcast, " one source said. Another source added: "We are not saying there is a ban on bad language, but it will have to be justified in its context each time."

The time the programme is broadcast, the genre of the programme and the audience expectations will be the key factors taken into account. Presenters will not be given "carte blanche" to allow cursing just because it goes out after 9pm, the sources said. They noted that while the Late Late Show was broadcast after the traditional watershed, it is regarded as a family show and the audience would not expect to hear bad language.

In contrast, the controversial Podge and Rodge Show, which goes out late at night on RT�? Two, will escape censure. "We don't have a problem with Podge and Rodge. The audience knows what to expect. If you're offended by Podge and Rodge, you're looking at it to be offended, " a source said. However, it is understood there is a view within the station that the duo will have to move away from what one insider described as the "w**ker humour" to more "cruelty humour."

Bad language is regarded as acceptable in comedy, drama and, at times, current affairs programmes. For example, the use of the word 's**te' by an interviewee on Morning Ireland last week was regarded as acceptable because it conveyed the emotion felt by the person talking. Similarly, the accounts on the Liveline show of the incident between rugby player Trevor Brennan and Ulster fans were considered a necessary part of the story that could not be censored. "There are occasions when the use of bad language is justified, but we are tightening up on its use, " a source said, ruling out the introduction of a list of banned words.

ANARCHY ON THE AIRWAVES IT'S 40 years since renowned British theatre critic Kenneth Tynan said the first 'f**k' on television. A decade later, punk band the Sex Pistols caused a massive furore when singer Johnny Rotten said "s**t" and guitarist Steve Jones used the term "f***ing rotter" on Thames Television's live early evening TV show 'Today' (LEFT). The 'Daily Mirror' famously responded with the headline "The Filth and the Fury." The presenter Bill Grundy was suspended for two weeks and the 'Today' programme was cancelled two months later.

However, half a century earlier James Joyce managed to slip a reference to both the 'F' and 'C' words into 'Ulysses' when he wrote: "If you see Kay/Tell him he may/See you in Tea/Tell him from me."