Mr. Gerry O'Regan:

It is hard for me to get into the mindset of those who were making the appointment at the time. I think the main reason I was hired is because I had a reasonable track record, in the sense that I had been deputy editor of the Irish Independentfor some years. Prior to becoming editor of the Irish IndependentI had edited two other newspapers for a total of about 11 years. I would have had, at the time, a lot of practical hands-on experience. I think the appointment was made, as I said and I keep coming back to it, to try to optimise the sales and make sure the paper held its share of the market, etc.