Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I am not entirely sure what to make of that response. The Constitution certainly does include a section on property rights but all rights have to be balanced and, indeed, the section in the Constitution is balanced by a second section which deals with the common good. Essentially, the point I am making is that there is no reason for the Government to make matters worse where there is already a demonstrated difficulty with the excessive concentration of media ownership. Why would it do that when retrospection is not permitted, according to the Taoiseach, although I believe that is open to challenge in the courts?

To take the position in rural areas, which I do not need to describe to the Taoiseach, the more concentrated media ownership gets in rural areas, the less informed people are going to become. What is proposed is that the current CEO of Celtic Media would become the managing director of all 28 INM regional titles. This would mean the possibility of cross-selling of advertising and the possibility that people in rural areas will not be able to go into Eason's, for example, and pick up alternative newspapers. The retrospection aspect is one that must be taken very seriously. What is the Taoiseach's view of this acquisition of the Celtic Media group?

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