Mr. Frank Mulrennan:

I will take Deputy Lowry's question on the finances of Celtic Media. We borrowed €5.5 million in the teeth of recession from Lloyds Bank. It was a remarkable achievement to secure funding from a Scottish bank for a local newspaper group in rural Ireland. Dare I say it, we are very good at what we do. I am very proud of what we do as a management team. We have paid back a good deal of the loan. We paid it back in the teeth of a 65% decline in advertising since 2008 and a 35% decline in circulation.

We have looked at other business models. Deputy Lowry will know that a very fine newspaper in his own area, The Nenagh Guardian, is a very fine client of ours. We pre-press, which is a fancy name for graphically design, The Nenagh Guardianin Mullingar. We provide the The Nenagh Guardian, Tuam Herald, Galway Independent, Cork Independent and other fine newspapers with that service. We do so because the consolidation of services is crucial in order to take costs out of a business, which is not a bad term. By taking costs out of a business at that level one provides resources to invest in local journalism, whether it is in Tipperary, Wexford or wherever and to invest in local advertising sales.

Did we consider other options? Yes. We have rebuilt our business model in Mullingar, of which Senator Davitt will be well aware. We have between 20 and 24 people employed in Blackhall Place in Mullingar. They are great people. They are very loyal colleagues. I am very gratified that they will make a submission of their own accord to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. They have worked with me and Mr. Carey to rebuild our business model. However, we cannot row against the digital tide, so my board of directors and I have given strong consideration to the alternatives. When Independent News and Media approached us, we gave it a very strong hearing because the only future is through digital and marketing, which takes resources.

I totally get the discussion around media diversity but I will outline the harsh reality of running a business. I appreciate what Senator Leyden has said. We have put our Cavan and Navan newspaper offices on the market and we are going to put our Athlone office on the market. The Cavan premises, located at Station House from which the old Midland Great Western Railway line ran, is a fine building. Let us be straight about it, we are selling the building to pay a bridging loan because this sale has been so delayed. I respect the legislation and the democratic process but I run a business and we are incurring substantial delays and costs and the professional fees around this very small deal are shocking, with all due respect to the professional advisers.

We are talking about a sale which is worth less than €4 million. When one subtracts professional fees and the money that my company must repay to the bank, we are talking about a lot less than €4 million. Nobody will escape to the Bahamas and we will turn up to work on the following Monday when this sale takes place. I urge the committee to please consider the commercial reality of these jobs in rural Ireland.