Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

At a meeting of the Joint Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment last night, members had a hot and heavy debate following a presentation by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, BAI, on the proposed merger of Independent News and Media and Celtic Media. While I am aware that this issue has been raised previously, there must be proper public scrutiny of what is taking place. The National Union of Journalists has given me a document which features a map of Ireland in terms of media ownership should the proposed merger take place. It is not an accident that the map is coloured in blue. It shows that, in terms of media ownership, the country will be almost entirely owned by Denis O'Brien and his consortium, Independent News and Media, if the merger goes ahead.

There is extreme concern about plurality in the media in the event that the merger proceeds and the joint committee, of which I am a member, will examine the issue. We have been given an extraordinarily tight timeframe in which to make a submission to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, which is conducting a phase two investigation of the proposed merger. This is the first time the Competition Act, as amended by the previous Government under the watch of the then Minister, Mr. Alex White, will be put to the test. At the time, we were told the new legislation would protect media diversity.

The committee has approximately 12 days to make a submission to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. I had to fight hard in the committee to secure an agreement that we would attempt to have public scrutiny of the proposed merger and seek to quiz representatives of Independent News and Media, Celtic Media and the National Union of Journalists, as well as academics, about what the merger would mean for the plurality of media and the future of media in this country. We have an extraordinarily short period to complete this process.

The joint committee will send an invitation to Denis O'Brien's news and media company to see if it will appear at the hearing. It may not be able to do so but some people are not able to pay their taxes here. It can be difficult for an exile living abroad to get permission from his advisers to make an appearance at such a committee within such a tight timeframe and it may not be possible. The Taoiseach and his entire Cabinet should be very concerned about this. Once upon a time - in the 1940s - the Skibbereen Eagledeclared that it would keep an eye on the Kremlin. If the proposed merger proceeds, we will not have a single Skibbereen Eagleleft and there will be no one left to keep an eye on anyone else.

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