Mr. Paul Mulligan:

I read some of what Dr. Mercille said and has written, although I did not buy the book. There is huge value in rigorous academic research in terms of looking at the issues that were around at the time and in learning the lessons so that we do not make the same mistakes again. That is what we are here today to talk about. However, I have some problems with his analysis of these things. To a large extent his analysis was not centred on RTE; it was centred on two very large business groups, The Irish Timesand the Irish Independent group. He says that by their very nature as big businesses, they were in cahoots with big business itself. He stated that that was a known fact. I did not see the proof for that fact in his analysis - it was a case of "That is a fact." His view is that because these newspaper groups were in bed with big business and property business, the only view that was ever going to be in their media was support for business and those financial and property businesses. However, in reality, The Irish Timesis read by 9% of the adult population in Ireland and the Irish Independentis read on a daily basis by 16% of the adult population in Ireland. There are local radio stations and local press in every county in Ireland that far exceed the kind of audiences that any of those newspapers have. Is there a supposition that these other media were part of the conspiracy too? If they were-----