Deputy Kenny was given permission to raise on the Adjournment the question of the closure of the Mayo News with consequent job losses.
Adjournment Debate. - Mayo Newspaper Threatened Closure.
Let me express my appreciation to the Ceann Comhairle for allowing this question to be raised on the Adjournment of the House. I regret that it has to take place at 12.35 a.m. on 24 June but this matter was outside my control.
The reason for my wish to raise this matter on the Adjournment arises from the contents of a letter which was received by the Taoiseach and by the nationally elected representatives from my constituency, namely, Deputy Flynn, Minister for the Environment, Deputy D. Gallagher, Minister of State at the Department of the Gaeltacht, and Senator Martin J. O'Toole. While it might not be appropriate for a Government Minister or a Minister of State to speak on a matter on the Adjournment, I am sure that I speak on behalf of all the nationally elected representatives when I raise this local but extremely important matter on behalf of the people in the area served by the paper, namely, the Mayo News.
The Mayo News has been the dominant local paper in this district for a great many years. Its circulation is now in the region of 11,500. The paper was founded in about 1892 and, instead of looking forward to its centenary celebrations and its centennial year, alas, its demise now seems to be at hand after almost 100 years of tradition and local involvement to an enormous extent. The reason for the anxiety of the staff and people, in general arises from the High Court decision given in favour of the Revenue Commissioners on 2 June for the sum of £280,791. This matter appeared in the public press on 14 June and was only in that manner communicated to some members of the staff concerned. I understand that this capital sum arises from an accumulation of debts during a number of years due to the involvement of an Irish printing company who own the paper in the publication of the newspaper, the Mayo News itself. Therefore, the accumulated interest of a compound nature would be increasing on a daily basis.
As our public representatives know, this paper serves the Westport area in particular with a population in excess of 20,000. It serves the local towns of Westport, Louisburg, Newport, and the outlying areas of Mulranny, Ballycroy, Drummin and Leenane as well as Clare Island, Inishturk, Inishbiggle and Achill Island which is the largest island off our coast. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle will appreciate that a local newspaper of its type has an enormous impact particularly in the rural districts which it serves in carrying local news, for good or for bad, and advertising general wares and items manufactured in the district for the benefit of the people there.
For generations this region has suffered enormously from emigration. On consultation with the people concerned with the paper it emerges that a substantial percentage of single subscriptions to the paper are from emigrants whether in Britain, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Boston, New York or elsewhere. Therefore, it is an important link of communication with people from that district who have gone abroad for one reason or another and it has served them well for generations.
The paper and printing works were bought in 1947 by Foilsiúcháin Náisiúnta Teoranta, or FNT printing company, and were acquired initially with the intention of producing Irish books for publication. Vested in the company and in the printing works is the unique skill of qualified printers who are competent to deal with printing in the Irish language, which is not common to local newspapers throughout the country today. This skill has been acquired in many years and a large number of very fine publications have emerged from FNT including John Hume's Derry and a great number of leaflets and pamphlets in Irish, some by Cardinal Ó Fiaich and other such people. In the past 40 years FNT have produced high quality Irish print and Irish books. This is something that should not be lost in view of the Government's recognition of the standing of the Irish language and in view of everybody's concern that as much as possible of high quality printed material should be available in that language.
It is fair to say that the Minister for the Environment, Deputy Flynn, and the Minister of State, Deputy Gallagher, in their respective positions as Airí na Gaeltachta in the last number of years allocated Government funds for the production of the then newspaper, Inniu, which was printed by FNT in the Mayo News printing works in Westport. These Government grants were available over the years as a subsidy to the company to produce that paper which served a great number of Irish students in second level colleges throughout the country. Both Ministers are very familiar with the operation of the printing works and the old style overhead hot metalworks. They both dealt with this matter in their capacities as Ministers for the Gaeltacht.
For a variety of reasons Inniu is no longer in print. FNT still produce books and the Mayo News, as the local newspaper, is printed in the works. The paper is viable and all payments relative to it, including payments to the current staff, have been made up to date. The real reason I raise this matter on behalf of everybody from the area is that we desire the Government and the Minister for Finance, or whoever the appropriate Minister is, to see to it that the Revenue Commissioners shows leniency in terms of the payment of the sum due. There would be no point in placing a sheriff's order or in sending people from the sheriff's office to seize goods in the printing works because those goods are only of scrap value. They are the old style metalworks and they would not be of any value in comparison with the sophisticated equipment available in other printing works at present.
I understand a meeting took place yesterday between the owner, his accountants and the Revenue Commissioners to see if the Commissioners would allow a phased payment. If that is allowed the owner will be prepared to talk to the staff about the restructuring of operations and further rationalisation, with the introduction of some advanced computer training in the printing works. I am raising this matter on behalf of the people in Mayo News Limited, the people of Westport and on behalf of our public representatives. The printers are highly skilled and have an advanced and unique knowledge of printing in Irish, something which is available only in very few places today.
The paper has had a historic and an illustrious past in political, social, sporting and local terms in this region. Every elected representative in this House from west Mayo has always had a direct personal involvement with this paper and they have given it unbiased and fair treatment over the years. The paper has had a very intense involvement with sport over the past 40 years and also in terms of the social and local integration of the general area. There are areas in this part of the country that are not reached adequately by radio signals because of the conformation of our mountains and so on and the paper plays a very important part in that regard.
I know if one approaches the Revenue Commissioners on a matter such as this the usual reply is, "Deputy, you are a legislator. You legislate in the House of the Oireachtas so that we can introduce and implement what you legislate for". If intransigence and bureaucracy are combined to produce the demise of 100 years of literary tradition it will be a very sad day because this paper has become part of the fabric of the rural life of that area. I will quote the essential part of the letter which has been received by the Taoiseach, by the Minister, Deputy Flynn, by the Minister of State, Deputy Gallagher and by Senator Martin J. O'Toole who was appointed as chairman of Mayo County Council last night.
Not without some difficulty.
Without the Minister's assistance, even though he was not as vocal as he normally is. The letter states:
The Collector General of Taxes was recently awarded a judgment of £280,791 against Foilseacháin Náisiúnta Teoranta, the owners of this industry.
We understand that a sizeable portion of the amount is accumulated interest on arrears due since FNT were publishing the Irish language weekly newspaper, "Inniu". We also understand that the liabilities of the company to the Revenue Commissioners in recent years have been met in full and that our Directors are negotiating with the Collector General to allow a phased payment of the arrears.
The issuing of a Sheriff's Warrant on foot of the judgment of £280,791 would result in an immediate closure of the firm's operations with the loss of 18 full-time jobs. The seizures of stock, machinery, etc. would realise only a small portion of the arrears due.
The company's present viable operations include publication of "The Mayo News" (weekly), publication and printing of books, mainly Irish language publications and general job printing. With new technology being phased in, and further rationalisation and restructuring of operations, we are confident that the future of the industry can be secured.
The important communication role played by a provincial newspaper, such as "The Mayo News", both for the local community and emigrants, can not be over-emphasised. The loss of such a publication and the jobs of 18 workers (10 of whom are married with young families) would be a disaster.
In conclusion, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, I thank the House for letting me raise this matter on behalf of the people from my area. You have a personal involvement in this district, having many relatives there, fine upstanding people, in the area. No doubt as a child, on your visits to that part of the country, you too read the Mayo News and you understand its importance to the local district. I hope the Minister will use his good offices to ensure that leniency will be shown by the Revenue Commissioners in this matter, that they will allow a phased payment of the amount due and so that, with the owners and the staff, we can save a paper that is due to celebrate its centenary in five years' time, instead of looking forward with anxiety to its potential demise and destruction.
I regret I was not aware of the imminent closure of Mayo News Limited until it was brought to my attention earlier this afternoon. However, in the short time available to me I have endeavoured to find out as much as possible about the matter. My inquiries to date indicate that the company which was established in 1949 and which currently employs about 18 people obtained no grant assistance from the IDA. The newspaper is mainly circulated in the Westport and Castlebar areas — I am not going to suggest which town should be first or second.
Westport is first.
So far as I am aware the company's current difficulties stem from the highly competitive position that obtains in the newspaper industry at present. The net effect of this competition is that certain newspapers are experiencing difficulty in maintaining circulation and advertising revenues and, accordingly, staff reductions are not uncommon. Deputies will appreciate that these commercial forces are beyond our control.
A further point worth mentioning in relation to the newspaper industry is that there is a significant over-capacity in it. The main reason for this development is the growth that took place in the seventies combined with the emergence of more sophisticated technology in the eighties. As a result the industry now has the capacity to significantly increase output without any further expenditure on buildings or machinery or on staff. That scenario also obtains in almost all subsectors of the printing and publishing industry. For those reasons it is now Government policy not to provide financial assistance towards investment in the printing and publishing sector unless proposals contain major export dimensions. I am sure Deputy Kenny will understand that.
It is my view that this policy will increase the competitiveness of the sector in the medium term. There is also the other point that there is a debt due to the Revenue Commissioners of a figure just short of £300,000. Deputies will be aware of the financial constraints on the Government, and their predecessors, and we cannot have people paying PAYE on a weekly basis while others accrue debts on a long term basis. We cannot have one rule for one sector and a different rule for others. I contacted my colleague, the Minister for Labour, to ascertain whether he had obtained any data in regard to the difficulties the Mayo News are experiencing at present. The Minister has indicated that he has not been notified of any recent developments of the company and I find that most unusual. It is remarkable that no contact has been made by unions or employees with the Department of Labour regarding a company that is about to fold up. Is there something sinister about this?
The paper is viable and the only problem is in regard to the arrears.
Deputy Kenny has had sufficient time to make his case. I am merely stating what he omitted to say. It is not possible for me to keep track of developments in the thousands of companies in the State. For the most part the resources of my Department, and the State agencies which operate under it, are geared towards attracting future, further and large industrial investment from abroad and expanding successful existing companies. I regret what has happened but if the company produced the full amount of money due to the Revenue Commissioners they would not have any problems.
The Dáil adjourned at 12.55 a.m. on Wednesday 24 June 1987 until 10.30 a.m.