Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Retrospection is an issue flagged in the report published by Lynn Boylan, MEP. The report in itself recognises it is an extremely difficult area with regard to property rights, market effects, procedural fairness and freedom of expression considerations. This was the caveat put on retrospection. During the passage of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act in 2014 the introduction of retrospection regarding media ownership was debated. The decision was made that on balance it would not be right or proper to consider it. The threshold issue was raised during the Committee Stage debate, but setting a specific threshold can be fraught with risk. The only responsibility I have in this regard is to look at media plurality, and when I receive the report from my officials I will consider it in the context of the statutory obligations I have set as out in legislation and guidelines. I will look at this purely from the point of media plurality.

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