Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I should declare an interest in that my wife is a regular columnist in the Evening Herald, one of the INM main publications. I should say that. There is a side issue in that I have never had the sense that she has ever been under editorial control. It would not be easy to manage editorial control over the person in question, but it shows some of the good qualities and tradition of the company.

I regret that Deputy Lowry has left because I want to quote him accurately. If I recall rightly, he said that when it came to the crunch, it was all about the business model. My view is that when it comes to the crunch, it is all about what is in the public interest in terms of the House and how we do our work. For me, the critical issue is cross-media ownership. The real concern is that in the fire occurring across all our media at the moment, one cannot differentiate between radio, print, broadcasting and, increasingly, digital, which is to say Facebook, Google and others. The advertising market is combining. One of the real concerns is that the largest shareholder in INM is also the owner of Communicorp, which has massive radio interests nationally. As such, I note that it has been widely reported that Mr. Pitt was in a major dispute with his own chairperson in terms of the potential purchase by INM of Newstalk. There were different views on the valuation of the company. Can Mr. Pitt confirm that INM was looking to purchase Newstalk and, following a sub-committee process, did not? It is around the issue of that value where there were significant differences between the management and the chair. That was widely reported. A related question is whether INM is still interested or has a potential desire to purchase radio assets as well as the print assets here. There is real concern about such cross-media ownership.

My next question is to Mr. Mulrennan whose comments were interesting. I learned something useful in our own deliberations where it was Celtic Media that was approached. The business was not on the market and a sales process had not been started. When did INM approach Celtic Media and what was the nature of the approach? Obviously, Mr. Mulrennan runs a good business. I take on board what he said about his staff and management. From everything I hear from local representatives, these are very good titles. However, it colours our consideration that the business was not for sale. Someone approached the business seeking to purchase it. That casts a certain light on what we have to do under the Act. Our timelines are very tight and one wishes one had more time for deliberations. When was Celtic Media approached?

Can Mr. Pitt confirm if the reports of significant disputes within INM on the valuation of media were correct? Was the reporting accurate? Does INM still have ambitions to purchase other radio stations or media titles as well as the one here today?