James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for making very interesting presentations today. The whole issue of plurality of media is very interesting and very timely as is the debate we are having. I think the world stands at a new juncture in terms of how we consume and disseminate news, fake news and these kinds of phenomena. It is all the more important we have this debate and that independent quality journalism is respected and supported. I also note that one of the academic witnesses made a comment, which I thought was very interesting and relevant, that the press is no longer just a check on government but a check on public, private and corporate interests.

To summarise the debate, we heard the editorial and academic view against the merger and the raising of concerns. We also heard commercial arguments presented in favour of it. It strikes me as both a marriage of convenience but also a loveless romance. In fact, there is an air of the Shakespearean tragedy if I can say that Celtic Media is the poor hapless Juliet and the all powerful INM is Romeo but perhaps that is only in the absence of any other suitor, rather than falling for Romeo in this case. I would like to put two questions to Mr. Mulrennan. My colleague, Senator Davitt, asked whether there would be job cuts or potentially media title closures if the merger did not go ahead but I want to ask that question in the context of the merger going ahead. Will there be job cuts or potentially media title closures if the merger does not go ahead or if it goes ahead? I would be very interested in that.

My remaining questions and comments are directed to Mr. Pitt. He is ultimately the man at the top of the tree if this all goes ahead. I think it is fair to say that we can predict the future best by studying the past and in that context it is informative to look at INM to date and the operation of the four titles under its remit, certainly the four national titles. Mr. Séamus Dooley of the NUJ has mentioned the outsourcing of INM production to Yorkshire. It is also a concern. In terms of the four titles, theIrish Independent, the Sunday Independent, the Sunday Worldand The Herald, what kind of cutbacks have been experienced at those newspapers to date? What kind of operational management is there for resources and spread of resources? Is there overlap of resources between titles? Does this make it more difficult to get a newspaper out every day? Has quality suffered as a result of this and how is that management chain working out in terms of resources as opposed to the product, which ultimately is independent quality journalism? Is that coming under threat, even within the existing titles?

I ask Mr. Pitt not to take any offence at this but I listened to the other witnesses and I know a bit about his background. It struck me that he is the only man who is not a newspaper man as such, certainly among the witnesses. His background, as I understand, is in discount retail. I know there is a certain pile them high and sell them cheap approach in that type of business, which I would suggest is probably not the same as the media world. I notice that Mr. Pitt's comments were very much commercial in nature when he talked about the merger. As a CEO, that is par for the course and is expected. I would just stress the point and ask how he reconciles that with the needs of this type of business, which is much more than a business and is a standard bearer for democracy.

In terms of the merger and this not being a commercial product but something so much more than that, how will editorial independence be guaranteed? What scope will there be for editorial control in local publications? I mean that both in terms of management intention and direction but also in terms of resources. Will we see a situation where the editorial clusters? For example, some titles will pool. Mr. Mulrennan already spoke about some titles having one editor over two or three publications. I have seen that happen. As a practising politician, I deal with local newspapers all the time. I do not think that model works as it dilutes the proximity to the ground, which is so important for a local publication, so there are huge concerns around that.

Local newspapers are paramount and are very important to their local communities, as Mr. Mulrennan and Mr. Carey have very eloquently put it. This kind of cost-cutting approach, including supply chain procurement and logistical management, is a different type of world from the world of local independent newspapers and I ask how those items would be reconciled.