Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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424. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the stage the proposed determination regarding an acquisition (details supplied) has reached within his Department; if he plans to seek Cabinet approval for any decision he may make on this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38857/16]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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Following approval by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, notification of the proposed merger referenced in the question was received by me as Minister on 21 November 2016. I have 30 working days from the notification deadline of 24 November 2016 to conduct an initial, or Phase 1, assessment of the case on media plurality grounds.

This examination is guided by the relevant criteria laid out in the legislation and by the Guidelines on Media Mergers, both of which are available on my Department's website. Following this examination I have three options under the legislation, which are to allow the merger to proceed, to allow the merger to proceed with conditions, or to ask the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) to conduct a more in-depth, or phase 2, examination of the proposed merger.

If the latter is the case, then the BAI will, following its examination of the proposed merger, provide me with a report detailing its recommendations on the matter. It is also possible for me, as Minister, to establish an advisory panel to provide an opinion to the BAI on the application of the relevant criteria to the media merger in question. Following receipt of the BAI's report and recommendations, I must then make a decision either to allow the merger to proceed, to allow it to proceed with conditions or to refuse to grant my consent.

No provision is made in legislation to allow a Minister to seek Cabinet approval for a determination on a media merger nor is there any role for the Oireachtas.

It would not be appropriate for me to provide further comment while this case is currently under consideration.