After the recent relevations that Ray Burke the Fianna Fail TD received payments from a company connected to the media tycoon Tony O'Reilly which 'may' have affected his decisions in the distribution of MMDS licenses, investigations into media ownership and competition have begun. O'Reilly's companies received a large share of the license's on offer and the Fianne Fail party a small percentage of the money given to Burke, which was reputably a contribution to the party. The Competition and Mergers Review Group, which advises the Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Mary Harney, have set up a sub-committee on media ownership.
Tony O'Reilly is the major shareholder and chief executive of the Independent Newspapers Group, which owns the majority of the papers in Ireland with considerable interest in newspapers around the world most notably in Australia. There has been considerable disquiet at the power held by O'Reilly for several years but a marked unwillingness to face up to the issue by politicians for obvious reasons. Although O'Reilly claims to have no editorial role in his newspapers the have in the past and in the face of the current relevations spoke with a remarkably similar voice and shown a loyalty to their boss that would be the envy of any cult leader. Independent Newspapers have had an influence in the presentation of election information with editorial comment appearing to favour one party over another depending often on how the parties would affect O'Reilly's business interests. The mess over the granting of MMDS licenses and the Fianna Gael government to provide a so called 'level playing field' in the face of strong grass roots opposition has caused the whole issue to blow up in all their faces.
The hasty establishment of the subcommittee was triggered by the recent debate in the Dail over monopoly in the media. The public outrage at yet another political scandal made it necessary that the politicians appear to move on the issue especially after it was revealed that Tony O'Reilly connected companies had been major contributors to Fianna Fail.
The sub-committee on media ownership consists of Myles O'Reilly (no relative), a competition specialist who represents IBEC, competition lawyer Vincent Power and SIPTU researcher Paul Sweeney. According to the Sunday Business post when the Minister asked the Competitions and Mergers Group if they had anything to contribute, it emerged that they had not yet tackled the problem. Now here comes a real beauty for those of us who like to read between the lines (a nation pass-time in Ireland at which we have become very adept) The group is preparing a report on competition but, surprisingly, it is not dealing with competition in the media.
The reasons given by the group are quite surprising for Competitions and Mergers experts. Firstly the lawyers in the group were concerned about the complexities of legally defining what a media monopoly is. There were apparently considerable difficulties in putting some recommendations of the Commission on the Newspaper industry into law (surprise, surprise, considering the amount of money filled brown envelopes floating around) these included some basic concepts such as ensuring plurality, opinion and diversity of ownership !!!. There was also a recommendation that the issue of concentration should be considered on a media wide basis.
In the Dail, Harney told Democratic Left deputy leader Pat Rabbitte that legislation would await the completion of the group's report. Considering the fundamental nature of the problems being considered by the commission we could be waiting a very long time for that piece of legislation. But then a nice cooling off period might just suit some people in the Dail and it certainly won't upset Tony O'Reilly.
Michael McMahon 15/7/98
