THE revival of one or more of the failed Irish Press titles is still a possibility, the chairman of Independent Newspapers, Dr Tony O'Reilly, has said.
However, Dr O'Reilly, whose company is a 24.9 per cent shareholder in two Irish Press companies, said "a lot of debate will have to take place before the ideals put to bed".
We will have to look at the business plan which they (Irish Press) are preparing for next year," he said. He added that "other investors" would also have to look at the business plan.
Dr O'Reilly acknowledged that there was a question mark over any prospective relaunch, given the fact that the three titles will have been off the streets two years by next year.
He said any new paper would have to find its own audience and the question was how much of an audience there was and how much advertising was there.
Dr O'Reilly also said there was a question mark over the viability of another quality newspaper being published in Ireland. "The figures don't seem to support it," he said.
"The total market for newspapers in Ireland is 2.8 million copies per week. The real growth is outside Ireland," he said.
He said the Evening News, which began publishing a month ago, had had no effect on the Evening Herald's circulation.
Independent Newspapers also owns 29.9 per cent of the Sunday Tribune, which has suffered badly in the competitive Sunday market. He said Independent was "reasonably happy" with the Tribune's performance to date.
Responding to reporters' questions after the meeting about his illness at the end of last year, Dr O'Reilly flatly denied he had had a stroke. His spokesman at the time said he had an inner ear infection and the flu.
Looking fit and tanned, Dr O'Reilly, who was clearly surprised when asked the question, said he felt fine.
Referring to yesterday's rights issue, Dr O'Reilly said the money raised could be used for many projects, including expansion and rationalisation of the Middle Abbey Street operation.
Independent employs more than 700 people in Dublin and is currently negotiating a deal to move to on screen make up.
Independent's managing director, Mr David Palmer, said the company had agreed 18 voluntary redundancies with SIPTU and a further 34 redundancies were under negotiation with the Irish Printers' Union.
He declined to put a figure on what the package would cost.
Asked if the company was considering further job cuts, he said the company "is always seeking to rationalise".
Dr O'Reilly also said the London Independent, in which Independent has a stake, was "one price increase" and "one (price of) paper decrease" away from where it should be. He said the increase was in "in the hands of somebody else", a reference to News International, and the paper (i.e. newsprint) decrease was predictable.
