The Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, is to publish the report of the Commission on the Newspaper Industry in two weeks' time. She also said that proposals for legislation on defamation were being prepared by the Department of Justice.
Ms Harney told Labour's Enterprise, Trade and Employment spokesman, Mr Pat Rabbitte, that she had received the 300-page report yesterday morning from the chairman of the Competition and Mergers Review Group.
It included recommendations on all the matters referred to it, such as regulating changes of ownership of newspapers, amendments to merger legislation and consideration of concentration of ownership of the media. Ms Harney had asked the group to advise her on how best to implement recommendations of the Commission on the Newspaper Industry dealing with competition issues.
She said she would consider the recommendations and, if legislation was required to implement any of them, she would present her proposals to Government in the normal way.
She told Mr Rabbitte she would look at cross-ownership between the newspaper sector and broadcasting. This was extremely important, particularly in an electronic and digital environment.
The Minister supported the commission's recommendation that an independent Ombudsman be appointed and funded by the newspaper industry to investigate complaints of breaches of press standards. She supported this recommendation but implementation was clearly a matter for the newspaper industry.
Ms Harney said she understood the industry might be linking this recommendation to others in the report concerning changes in the libel laws. "This is a matter for the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, who has indicated that proposals for legislation on defamation are being prepared in his Department."