Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses to the meeting. Mr. Feeney commented that they are the leading print model at the local level. A former boss of mine, Mr. Frank Mulrennan, from Local Ireland, might disagree with him. He owns my local newspaper as well so I will give him a plug.

I want to ask the witnesses some questions in respect of that. The newspapers they represent such as theCork Independent, Galway Advertiserand Limerick Postare quality publications. I do not care whether a publication is paid for or not. When I was a young journalist and we were at meetings of the Drogheda Independentcompany, they used to give us statistics on the value a person puts when they pay for a product versus something they get for free through their letterbox, and what is regurgitated to advertisers. That was a different world 25 years ago in terms of where we were as a product and in terms of advertising. There are differences. Some free newspapers do not cover the courts, local authorities, GAA, soccer or whatever else. Issues arise regarding what can be done with staff resources. With regard to the future of media commission report and where we are going, there may be a smaller offering of print media to keep alive. The fact that we are perhaps moving towards a fund that provides for journalistic content from courts across the board will help the witnesses. My interest is in keeping young journalists in employment and helping future journalists and the opportunities they have in the newsrooms of the witnesses and other newsrooms. I see from the briefing note that the company was established in 2021. How many free titles does it represent nationwide?