Rabbitte bid to fast-track media mergers Bill fails

MINISTER FOR Communications Pat Rabbitte has failed to convince his Cabinet colleagues that a new law on media mergers should be put through the Dáil before the summer recess.

Early last month, in the wake of businessman Denis O’Brien increasing his stake in Independent News Media to 29.9 per cent, it emerged Mr Rabbitte wanted to change the Government’s planned schedule for legislation to facilitate the new law.

A complex consumer and competition Bill is due to be published later this year and is to update the law on media mergers as part of a wider reform of company law.

The Bill is the responsibility of Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton and aims to give effect to changes in consumer and competition law, including the amalgamation of the National Consumer Agency and the Competition Authority.

Responsibility for overseeing media mergers is to be transferred to Mr Rabbitte’s department under the new law.

Mr Rabbitte wanted to have the sections dealing with media mergers extracted from the larger Bill and put through the Dáil and Seanad, so that new rules would become law by the summer.

“That conversation is now over,” said one Government source. There would be no separate Bill as suggested by Mr Rabbitte.

Another source said the matter had not been discussed at Cabinet.

There was no response to a request for a comment from Mr Rabbitte.

A spokesman for Mr Bruton said the Minister’s position remained as was set out in a recent reply to a parliamentary question.

Two weeks ago Mr Bruton said he saw no benefit in progressing a standalone piece of legislation.

A source with knowledge of the matter said separating the media mergers element from the main Bill would have delayed other legislative priorities for Mr Bruton’s department.

Mr Rabbitte had not been planning any new elements for his proposed earlier Bill than had been proposed in the larger Bill.

Mr O’Brien is now the largest shareholder in the Independent group, as well as being the largest owner of radio assets in the State.

He owns Newstalk and Today FM, as well as other radio stations, and his Communicorp group has 40 stations in eight countries.