Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I thank Deputy Penrose for raising this issue. I assure him there is no intent on my part to delay this in any way. In fact, as he rightly said, I went to Government in July last year to bring forward proposals. That legislation contains not just the media merger proposals but also contains two important programme for Government commitments, the merger of the Competition Authority and the National Consumer Agency and the introduction of measures to deal with unfair trading in the grocery sector.

I would like to give the Deputy some assurance that while, clearly, the system needs to be improved and we are setting about improving the criteria to implement those changes the Deputy set out, there are already clear criteria in the legislation. Under section 23 of the Competition Act the Minister has powers to consider a public interest determination around issues such as diversity of ownership. The list includes the strength and competition of indigenous media, the spread of ownership, ownership concentration among individuals and among corporates, cross-media ownership, the scope for diversity of views, market share and so on. I assure the Deputy strong criteria are in place to deal with a media merger should it come to my attention. There will also be powers to consult more widely than is set out in existing legislation. As Minister, I have the discretion to consult and impose conditions or otherwise.

There is no doubt the new criteria set out by the review group are crisper and include a more structured consultation being required of the Minister. It is my intention to have a proper consultation process in place as I recognise the need for it in such an area. If there are applications for a media merger, there should be a process to allow people express their views.

The powers to deal with this area will be transferred to the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Rabbitte, a decision which had not been made before I assumed my role. We have made that decision and agreed to that transfer. The reason for the delay in drafting the legislation is due to other priority legislative measures which I am introducing in the House. There is a full programme of legislation. For instance, I have introduced legislation to reinforce the joint labour committee system, which was struck down by the High Court, to honour the troika agreement, on microfinance, the transfer of agency workers and the loan guarantee scheme.

The Government approved the heads of the Bill to deal with media mergers which include the recommendations from the advisory group. I am keen to push this ahead and keep this legislation as a single unit. I have spoken to the Attorney General and it will get priority drafting. Best regulatory practice says that one should keep a consolidated approach to legislation and not extract one piece from the rest. Accordingly, I got approval from the Government for such an approach. There is a process in train for the drafting of that legislation. It is my intent to proceed with all possible haste to be in a position to introduce the legislation to the House, have it debated and passed.

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