Vol. 398 No. 10
19 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce the reasons he referred to the Fair Trade Commission the proposed sale by RTE of half their shareholding in Cablelink to Telecom Éireann; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
As indicated in a public statement issued by the Government Information Service on my behalf on 30 April 1990, I decided, in the due exercise of my powers under the Mergers, Takeovers and Monopolies (Control) Acts, 1978 and 1987, to refer the proposal whereby Bord Telecom Éireann will acquire 60 per cent of the issued share capital of Cablelink Limited for investigation and report by the Fair Trade Commission. I asked the commission to have particular regard to the criteria in the legislation relating to the likely effects on competition, the interests of the consumer and the interests of shareholders in the enterprises concerned. In making the referral, I also had regard to comments by the commission in an earlier 1986 report in a study by them into cable television systems in the greater Dublin area. This report was presented to the Houses of the Oireachtas (P1. 4295) and published.
When I receive the report of the commission's investigation into the proposal under reference, I will give further consideration to the matter under the merger control legislation.
When does the Minister expect the commission to report? Is he aware that his Cabinet colleague, the Minister for Communications, intervened in March to block the offer from the American telecommunications company, Pactel Limited and instructed RTE to sell the available shares to Bord Telecom Éireann "in the national interest"? Does the Minister for Industry and Commerce not agree that it is in the national interest to dispose of these shares to Telecom Éireann?
I have no view to express on that as it is a matter that I will consider when I have received the commission's report, which I expect to receive within two days.
In that event do I take it that the Minister does not agree with the views of his Cabinet colleagues on this issue?
I have said precisely that it would be quite wrong for me to express a view on the matter since I have to make a decision on it in a quasi-judicial fashion and I will not prejudge my decision, particularly since I have not yet received the commission's report.
Surely the Minister must have had the same information before he made a decision to refer it to the Fair Trade Commission? Does he agree that it was on the intervention of the Taoiseach, at the request of the chairman of Telecom Éireann, that this decision was taken and that far from being in the national interest it was part of a grand design in preparation for the privatisation of Telecom-Cablelink and that this is the reason the instruction was given to RTE to dispose of the shares to Telecom Éireann rather than to Pactel?
Clearly I cannot have irrevocably made up my mind in regard to the matter when I have referred it to the commission for investigation and for their advice. I will take their advice into account but I am not, of course, necessarily bound by it. I do not know what their advice is going to be but I will study the report, as I have done with other matters of this kind, and I will then make up my own mind.
Could I ask——
Order. If the remaining Question No. 20 is to be disposed of it must be called now.
