MINISTER FOR Communications Pat Rabbitte yesterday described the resignation of Independent News Media chief executive Gavin O’Reilly as “the end of an era”.
He told The Irish Times, however, it was not the Government’s task to become involved in boardroom conflicts.
Mr O’Reilly’s decision to quit on Thursday ended 39 years of direct control by his family of the country’s largest media group.
The move followed weeks of speculation that INM’s largest shareholder, Denis O’Brien, who owns 22 per cent of the business, would seek to have Mr O’Reilly removed at the company’s agm.
On the prospect of Mr O’Brien assuming control of INM, Mr Rabbitte said his department would soon publish legislation covering competition and media ownership, and he did not want to enter the process with any “preconceived conclusions”.
However, Mr Rabbitte said the Government was very concerned about the concentration of ownership in the sector. He said it must be enabled to respond to what he described as an “undue concentration of ownership”.
Mr Rabbitte said the media had to be treated differently from other enterprises because of its importance in determining “the character of our public discourse and its influence on the quality of our democracy”.
However, he said it was too early to judge whether Mr O’Reilly’s decision meant anything other than merely a change of chief executive at INM.
Speaking in Limerick yesterday, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said Mr O’Reilly’s resignation had not changed the amount of shares owned by Mr O’Brien and his associates. “So, there is no difference between the ownership of the media in Ireland today and the ownership of the media in Ireland yesterday.
“But, as the Taoiseach said, this is an issue which the Government will keep under observation.”
