Professor Colum Kenny:

I will answer Deputy Bríd Smith's questions and address a sideswipe that was made at the experts by another member. Deputy Smith asked about pressures in news organisations. It is absolutely correct that there are pressures in every news organisation. Deputy Stanley put it best when he stated we know that he who pays the piper calls the tune. Every day, journalists come across all kinds of pressures. They face the pressure of threatened legal action, which is a real difficulty in Ireland when it comes to telling the truth, and there are also pressures from owners and ideological pressures. Over the years, I have written for the Irish Press Group, the Irish Independentand The Irish Timesand I have worked in RTE. There are constant pressures, which is precisely the reason committees such as this one need to fight to protect the media and media diversity and plurality and make media places where we can hear different voices.

Before he left the meeting, Deputy Michael Lowry stated it was all very well for the experts. We know what that phrase means; it means experts are not realistic and are academics with their heads in the clouds. There is nothing more realistic than the issues of diversity and plurality in the media. These issues have an economic value to the country. If a country does not have free, vibrant and authentic media, people will not hear the stories that need to be told, whether they are about the banking crisis or the issues that gave rise to the Moriarty tribunal. The reason one needs diverse and plural media is that this is of real economic benefit.

With due respect, Senator Terry Leyden is here to ask about more issues than he seems to believe because that is what the Act requires. Under the Act, the indicators of plurality are set out in a formal notification on mergers and acquisitions pursuant to Part 3A of the Competition Act, as amended. The guidelines make clear that these issues must be addressed.

I have absolute sympathy with Celtic Media and its employees. My colleagues and I know the economic realities of the workplace. We have seen students leaving the country because there are no jobs here and we see others entering employment with precarious working conditions in which they are exploited, an issue about which Deputy Stanley spoke. When working conditions are such that people do not receive proper contracts from organisations such as INM and other media organisations, including RTE, they cannot feel free to do they type of things members want them to do. This is the reality for working people, not a theory. Having a gun held to one's head and being told to agree to this merger or jobs will be lost is a very real consideration. However, other considerations must also be taken into account, which is the reason we have competition regulation and media mergers legislation. These are just as real, concrete and authentic as other considerations, which is the reason the European Union refers to concrete indicators of plurality.