I wish to raise this issue of Irish newspapers being under threat from dumping by British publishers. The dumping of British newspapers in Ireland has already caused 800 jobs to be lost, while thousands more are threatened by the price war. Indigenous newspapers directly employ over 4,000 people in Ireland as well as providing massive upstream and downstream employment. They have a 75 per cent added value compared with an average industry value of 46 per cent and play a vital role in the everyday life of the nation, playing a unique, cultural, political, social and economic role.
Irish newspapers are totally committed to the wellbeing of Ireland and the people, seeing national and international events through Irish eyes — something that imported media can never do. Ireland suffers the highest level of imported newspapers. One in four morning dailies and one in three Sunday newspapers is British. The reality unfortunately is that Irish newspapers are expensive relative to imported newspapers. There is no single cause for this, although the following are contributory factors. VAT on the cover charge at 12.5 per cent is the highest in Europe whilst British newspapers produced in the United Kingdom are zero rated. Government decisions have had a negative impact on the indigenous industry. The Casual Trading Bill has had the net effect of putting in doubt the future of many vendors. The ban on tobacco advertising, despite the Minister for Health's assurance that a unilateral ban would not be imposed, and the lack of a freedom of information Act have also had a negative impact.
Irish newspapers made massive investments in modern technology resulting in much improved and better presented newspapers. They also invested heavily in reporting public service issues including news, business, the courts, as well as extensive coverage of political, social and cultural matters both in and affecting this country.
British newspapers operate with nonunion manning levels achieved through radically different industrial relations legislation which further discriminates against Irish newspapers. The indigenous industry has faced up to the challenges of a radical change in work practice with the minimum of internal strife and without the huge social unrest experienced in Wapping and elsewhere in Britain.
It seems that British publishers are intent on destabilising the Irish market through the dumping of "editionised" run-on copies at hugely discounted prices. For example, the Daily Mirror, which has a normal retail price of 45p, is being sold for 20p by retailers who are credited on a coupon basis with 25p per unit. When one takes away the distribution costs of 21p — this is made up of VAT at 5p, the newsagent's margin of 11p, the wholesaler's margin of 4p and carriage cost of 1p ; the bottom line is that they are dumping free newspapers, plus 1p on each unit sold.
Another example is the Sunday Times which sells for 90p in Britain and which, when written up for currency values and VAT, should be sold for IR£1.05, and this is before the huge transport costs are added. This paper sells here for IR£1, which is reduced to 60p for readers who have bought Saturday's edition of The Times,
I wish to refer to the transport costs involved. Following Ireland's opening World Cup match the Sunday Times attacked the Irish market in a near military style last Sunday, landing delivery planes in Dublin, Cork, Shannon, Galway, Derry and Belfast. The massive costs of this operation are clearly not reflected in the cover price of the newspaper. Another example is the Daily Telegraph which yesterday was priced at 65p here and 48p in Britain and which today is priced at 30p in both countries. Given the currency surcharge, transport costs and VAT at 12 per cent, this is clearly below cost selling. The company must be absorbing these costs. Although dumping does not technically exist within the European Union, this is below cost selling and economies of scale must enter into it. The biggest selling Irish Sunday newspaper, the Sunday World, sells 270,000 copies, while the News of the World sells 170,000 copies in this country in addition to the 4.7 million copies it sells in the United Kingdom.
A comprehensive approach much be adopted to the newspaper industry and a competitive policy arrangement for the print industry vis-à-vis radio and television must be put in place. It is important for democracy that we retain a strong indigenous newspaper industry. While politicians and the press sometimes disagree, we need each other to fulfil the various functions we perform which are of critical importance to the well-being of the country.
The Minister should act on these issues as soon as possible. It is not an exaggeration to say that unless something is done quickly the newspaper industry will be taken out of the hands of Irish people who have the interests of the country at heart. Generally speaking, the media here is very responsible. This sort of responsibility comes at a cost which is becoming more difficult to bear. What we are witnessing is a major circulation war where the British publishing giants are prepared to take massive financial losses to win. If our print media lose this war, part of our way of life will be re-colonised, so to speak, not to mention the 4,000 jobs at risk, approximately 400 of which are in my constituency.
