Published Friday, 08 July 2011
DUP North Antrim MP Ian Paisley Jr, who has been notified by police that his phone may have been tapped, said he believes all newsroom in Northern Ireland are now "under suspicion".
"They have a responsibility to come clean and say if they have taken stories generated by phone hackers and turned them around and used them to generate local paper sales."
Mr Paisley said he has written to the Met Police "to look at local newsrooms" and examine whether there was "any cross-contamination between News of the World hacking stories and subsequent stories that have appeared in local papers."
His comments come as Prime Minister David Cameron announced a full public inquiry, to be led by a judge, will be held into the widespread phone hacking scandal.
Mr Cameron faced reporters for the first time since the shock announcement on Thursday that the News Of The World is to close on Sunday.
The Prime Minister promised action to "get to the bottom" of the furore but said it was not just about the press - but about the police - and "about how politics works too".
As well as the public inquiry, Mr Cameron also announced that a second inquiry would be held to examine the ethics and culture of the press.
Mr Cameron said that "a new system of regulation was needed" and that the Press Complaints Commission had failed, adding: "We need a new start."
Meanwhile, the NoW's former editor and former Downing Street communications chief, Andy Coulson has been released on police bail after being questioned over the phone hacking scandal and alleged corrupt payments to police officers.
Ex-royal editor of the News of the World Clive Goodman, 53, was also quizzed at a separate police station over claims officers were bribed. Both men were released on police bail until October.
Mr Cameron defended his hiring of Mr Coulson, saying he believed that he deserved a second chance when he hired him.
As Mr Coulson, 43, left Lewisham police station in south-east London on Friday evening, he said: "There is an awful lot I would like to say, but I can't at this time."
The arrests came as chief executive of News International Rebekah Brooks sought to reassure News of the World staff about what will happen next after the company decided to shut the paper.
She spoke to journalists and pledged to find as many of them as possible jobs within the company in the wake of the closure.