Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate being here. I am not a member of this committee and I am grateful to the Chairman for notifying me of the meeting. Some of the witnesses will know me from local radio. I have often debated with Mr. O'Hanlon on Shannonside Northern Sound on the Joe Finnegan show. I also did some small features for newspapers like the Roscommon Heraldand the Roscommon People, formerly the Roscommon Championin Roscommon. County Roscommon is also served by the Westmeath Independent, the Longford Leader, the Athlone Topic, the Leitrim Observer, The Connacht Tribune, and the Tuam Herald. All those newspapers are bought in Roscommon because of our geographical location. For accuracy, honesty and fair play the newspapers are fantastic and we should never forget that.

Many rural areas do not have broadband and will not have it for some years irrespective of what good work is done. Those local newspapers are very important, particularly to the older generation. I have a brother who is a postman. It is a great policy of An Post that, wherever they can, postmen and postwomen are delivering a newspaper to a person living alone. The newspapers still have an important role. We need to try to get some support and funding for them because they face enormous challenges in present circumstances.

Along with my colleagues, I am always prepared to put my advertisements and Christmas greetings into the local newspapers. It is not just putting Eugene Murphy's name out there; it is really important for us to support them. While we all need to use social media because of the times we are in, if we present a piece to a local newspaper which contains facts that need to get out there, it is always very well covered by the journalists and editors. There is a very important role to play in that regard.

Many of my party colleagues, including the Chairman, have mentioned other aspects of this. I will certainly try to work to support local newspapers at this very important time. I hope we will not see the demise of this very important product. We do not want to lose the social aspect of this, particularly for those in rural areas. I also know Siobhán Holliman in the Tuam Herald. I thank all the witnesses for their contributions to date. From the perspective of all those around the table, irrespective of their party, we all want to try to support the newspapers at this time.