Mr. Robert Pitt:

Deputy Lawless asked me a question about the production facility in York. The way we produce newspapers will change and we will have to consolidate many of the back office functions. These functions do not influence the tone or editorial voice of a newspaper and it was these that moved to York following our decision. Unfortunately, there is no similar facility in Ireland to which we could have moved. If there had been such a facility, we would have given it serious consideration and if such a facility were to open here, we would like to have these jobs back in Ireland. As I pointed out, INM employs 800 people, all of whom are located on the island of Ireland, and all of our business is on the island of Ireland. We are an Irish business.

Deputy Bríd Smith described Independent News and Media as a "giant". INM is very small compared with other media businesses operating in this country, for example, News UK and Daily Mail and General Trust, DMGT. We do our best to fight our corner and ensure there is a strong Irish voice in the Irish media. This sometimes means taking difficult decisions but that is the job with which I am charged and a challenge I need to face.

Deputy Lawless asked me a question on my background in retail. I am very proud to have worked in retail for Lidl and Tesco. I worked with diligent, hard-working people who care in retail and, to be honest, I found very similar people in my current company. What we in retail bring is not only expertise in supply chain and cost-cutting but a focus on the customer or, in the case of newspapers, the reader. One can do this by asking how we can make people buy more newspapers. If one looks at the performance of INM newspapers, we are beating market trends, outperforming others and doing very well.

I also brought a sense of realism to where we are. The deal under which we print newspapers in The Irish Timesowned printing plant and The Irish Timesallows us to distribute its newspaper was of mutual benefit and an example of people being very practical. There are major questions facing the newspaper industry and we need to figure out how to ensure we still have newspapers in ten or 15 years time. We can and will do this if we are all pragmatic about how we protect the quality of newspapers and if we ensure they remain independent and their content is relevant. The most important issue is that if newspapers are not relevant and the content is not trusted, people will stop buying them, which will hasten the current trends. I believe my previous experience has brought something to this.