Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I thank all the witnesses for keeping their contributions brief because I want to open the floor to the members. We will take questions from members in groups of three. If the witnesses bank the questions as they are posed, I will then revert to them to answer those questions. I wish to start by questioning our three academics. As we know, INM publishes the Irish Independent, Sunday Independent, the Evening Herald, the Sunday Worldand the Belfast Telegraph. It has a 50% stake in the Irish Daily Starand controls 13 paid-for regional weekly newspapers. The witnesses may feel they have answered my question already, but I wish to get their definitive reply on it. In overall terms, would it be contrary to the public interest in terms of maintaining the plurality of the media if this merger were to go ahead? Perhaps Dr. Foley will address the question.