Mr. S?amus Dooley:

I support Dr. Flynn. Concentration of ownership is a very real issue in the regional press sector. As a result there is a dominant owner within mid-Leinster and the mid-west, which means that a significant number of newspapers are in the ownership of one company. At a minimum, we think there should be an automatic investigation of what is called phase 2, on the editorial and diversity phases. It should not just be a market dominance issue. We have a concern, reflected in my report, that the new body replacing the BAI, this all-singing, all-dancing body that is going to be hugely powerful, will not have either the legal powers or the resources to interrogate that adequately. The result is there are many newspaper offices that now have shared editors and shared editorial resources. The regional media is a unique part of the landscape, as is the relationship between the resident editor and the resident reporters. There are vast swathes where local democracy is suffering as a result of that, and competition law in Ireland just does not adequately address the democratic deficit arising from it. While it is less of an issue in the national newspaper sector, I would claim it is a growing concern within regional print in particular.