Written answers

Tuesday, 7 February 2017

Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources

Media Pluralism

Photo of Bríd SmithBríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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76. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will consider media plurality and industrial relations issues when making his decision on a proposed acquisition by a company (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5789/17]

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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78. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will take issues of media plurality and industrial relations into account when he is making his final decision on the sale of a company (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5810/17]

Photo of Denis NaughtenDenis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 76 and 78 together.

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 had 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 was guided by the relevant criteria laid out in the legislation and by the Guidelines on Media Mergers, which are available on my Department's website. The examination process laid out in the legislation and the Guidelines consider a number of important criteria or measures, including diversity of ownership in the relevant media sector and in the wider media market, editorial management, governance structures, and the financial standings of the parties to the proposed merger.

Following this examination I had three options under the legislation; 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.

On completion of this Phase 1 examination, I decided on 10 January 2017 to request the BAI to conduct a full media merger examination of the proposed transaction. The BAI will, following its examination of the proposed merger, provide me with a report detailing its recommendations on the matter within 80 working days from the date of my request. Furthermore, in accordance with the legislation, I intend to establish an advisory panel to provide an opinion to the BAI on the application of the relevant criteria in the legislation 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.

As part of the BAI's full media merger examination, and in accordance with the legislation, it has called for public submissions on the proposed merger. I would invite any person who an interest  in the proposed merger to write to the BAI and express their views. The deadline for these submissions is 20 working days from the date of my request.

Once the BAI has made its recommendation to me and has provided me with its report, I have a further 20 working days within which I must make a final determination to allow the proposed acquisition to proceed; to allow the proposed acquisition to proceed with conditions; or to refuse to allow the proposed acquisition to proceed. 

It would therefore not be appropriate for me to comment on this case while the examination is on-going.

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