On a standard working day, I would normally be at my desk for 8.30 a.m. and finish at 5.30 p.m. There is also an evening shift as well as a rota covering weekends and early mornings. If there is a major event you can be called in - or would know when to come in.
In the case of Omagh, I wasn't needed until Sunday (the day after the bomb), but I was relieving people who had been working 18 hours from Saturday into Sunday.
The normal day starts with a screening of the TV and radio news bulletins as well as the morning papers. In the NIOIS we are looking at stories which affect Northern Ireland and specifically the departments of government in Northern Ireland. This is anything from the peace process to industrial investment. Someone on the early shift lists these and distributes the list to the appropriate people. The next task would be to plan for the day in terms of where ministers and the Secretary of State are and what they are doing. We also discuss how to react to what has happened over night. In the case where it was announced that troops would be taken off the street, we first had to confirm the statement had been made. We would then have gotten a statement from the Secretary of State or minister on duty to give to the press. Often you won't know such an announcement is coming and then you have consider the wider implications of it as well.
In recent years, lunchtime has become an important focus for news. What is being broadcast at lunch can dictate what appears in the Belfast Telegraph and on the evening news. We therefore screen lunchtime TV and radio, including RTE, Sky and CNN - and have a less formal lunchtime press meeting based on these.
In the afternoon we look at what events are coming up. If you are lucky you might get to look at what is coming in the long term - for example, the Secretary of State's visit to the US in the autumn.
A lot of what any reporter does is "phone bash" - ringing to see if there are any stories - and a lot of that bashing ends up in our ears. My job includes a lot of answering short-term questions from the public, political parties and the press on the phone.
These questions could be about the timing of the next prisoner release, or a request for a meeting with a minister, or for information about what was said at such a meeting.
One of the big problems with Northern Ireland is that rumour takes over. One of our roles is to give people facts rather than rumours, hints and suggestions.
A lot of modern media work tends to spend more time on speculation, particularly when there are confidential discussions going on - that's a natural human thing. The information officer doesn't have the luxury of indulging in speculation; we can only come back with the information and wisdom we have at that time.
What is being speculated about may be proven true, even the following day, but we cannot confirm something before it happens. Fact and reality often do not fit deadlines.
It is potentially a very exciting time in Northern Ireland. It won't be easy, peace is something that will have to be worked at. Getting information out that this is a good place with good people is the big challenge.
In an interview with Paul Tanney