Dr. Michael Foley:

I thank the Chairman and members of the committee for inviting me to address them. It is a great honour to be here.

I draw the members' attention to a number of reports, looking at Ireland as well as many other countries in the world, which concentrate on media ownership. Reporters without Borders, RSF, describes the concentration of media ownership in Ireland as a major problem. The American human rights organisation, Freedom House, which reported on Ireland in 2016, said in reference to press freedom that a "high concentration of ownership affects plurality and competitiveness in the sector". A recent report for the European Commission conducted by Dr. Roderick Flynn showed that Ireland was high risk in terms of concentration of media ownership.

In another report commissioned by Sinn Féin's Ms Lynn Boylan MEP, Ireland was described as having one of the most concentrated media markets in any democracy. The issue of the concentration of media ownership is well known and well documented. We are aware that a media whose ownership is highly concentrated is seen as damaging for democracy and it has been assumed for nearly 200 hundred years that multiplicity of media outlets is the lifeblood of debate and ensures citizen can receive as a wide a range of views and opinions as is possible, whether it is about politics or the economy as well as other aspects of life, including education and culture. The more concentrated the market is, the more exposed it is to the lack of variety and content.

Coming to the issue before us, it is assumed in the legislation that media is not like other business endeavours. The whole reason we are here is because media differs from other types of commercial activity. The reason that the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 passed responsibility for media mergers from the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to the then Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources reflects that point. The Minister can now determine whether a proposed media merger would be contrary to the public interest in protecting the plurality of media. That is stated quite explicitly in the guidelines, which I will not read as members have probably seen them. It should be noted that when the guidelines were issued by the then Minister, Mr. Alex White, there was criticism that they and the legal changes were too little and too late and nothing could be done retrospectively. There is a Bill before the Dáil, sponsored by Deputies Catherine Murphy and Róisín Shortall, that hopes to address that retrospective issue. In the meantime, there is no doubt that if Independent News & Media Holdings Limited, INM, is allowed to acquire the Celtic Media newspapers, it will strengthen INM's already dominant position and mean that INM will be by far the biggest single player in the regional newspaper market.

Cross-media ownership and plurality impact very directly on the people who live in the areas served by Celtic Media. They currently have access to an independent newspaper, produced in their locality. After a takeover, those same people might be receiving their national news, local news and possibly radio news all from the same company or from media organisations linked to one another through shareholding. INM has suggested the takeover of Celtic Media is nothing more than a business or commercial decision, with no further implications. The deal would lead to possible synergies, according to INM, as I have read, which in itself is worrying. Synergies could mean the outsourcing of some editorial functions, such as sub-editing as has happened with INM titles, or even one newsroom serving a number of titles, thereby reducing the number of reporters and impacting negatively on the gathering of local news. This has happened already with radio stations.

As stated, if INM's acquisition of Celtic Media goes ahead, it will control 28 regional newspaper titles in addition to its five national titles. The radio sector is also a factor, given that the Communicorp Group, which is owned by the same major majority shareholder as INM, controls Newstalk, Today FM, 98 FM, Spin 1038 and Spin South West, or 20% of the radio market. When one looks at the Dublin, one will see a larger figure, where Communicorp radio stations are higher than RTE. It is essential when looking at media ownership in Ireland that the cross-media ownership by INM and Communicorp Group is considered at the same time.

The Government's case is that nothing can be done retrospectively about media ownership because of the constitutional protection of private property which could, of course, be tested if Deputies Catherine Murphy and Róisín Shortall's Bill is allowed to proceed. However, if dealings with media ownership retrospectively is impossible, it would be unwise at this stage to allow a company to expand in the face of almost universal agreement that there is a problem with the degree of media ownership concentration in Ireland. The signal the Minister would be sending is that the Government has no intention of addressing a major issue facing Irish democracy.