I thank you, Sir, for allowing me raise this matter, one of the many occasions on which it has been aired. It is vital that the matter is addressed immediately. Will the Minister make known to the examiner his decision on the Competition Authority's report? It is now both material and central to clarification of all the issues involved, particularly the examiner's urgent request for potential investors for the Irish Press group of newspapers.
In raising the matter again this evening I draw the House's attention to the fact that on 31 March the Minister received the report of the Competition Authority, when he stated he would make known his decision within a month. There was ample time for him to declare his hand before the crisis evolved in the Irish Press group. The crisis developed partly because the Minister bobbed and weaved and dodged and ducked but did not make known his decision. At the outset I put it down to a dilatory way of doing his work but I am now forced to believe that he deliberately set out on a manipulative path of concealment and deceit in not making known his decision on the report. That manipulative path affects 600 people. Now that an examiner has been appointed surely it is vital that potential investors are made aware of the exact Government thinking on the report submitted to the Minister four months ago.
I hope the Minister will outline his decision on the report this evening as it is essential to the examiner's deliberations and to those whom we are told wish to invest in the Irish Press group of newspapers. While unemployment is central to this issue, we must also have a wide diversity of opinion expressed through the print medium. The citizens of this land will suffer if that is not the case. It is facile to say that all newspapers express different points of view, but it would be unfortunate if there was an increasing acceleration towards a unitary state of mind within the print medium. That would not be for the good of the country or its citizens.
