Sir, - Your report of the Seanad debate on the new Copyright Bill (The Irish Times, June 18th) quotes Mr Paul Coghlan (FG) as stating that he believed the National Union of Journalists was in agreement with the National Newspapers of Ireland in their opposition to a crucial aspect of the Bill.
Mr Coghlan has never consulted the NUJ and his claim that NNI and NUJ are singing from the same hymn sheet is a misrepresentation of the position. The present Bill diminishes the copyright of staff journalists. When the Government published a draft Bill there was no attempt to interfere with the existing provisions of the existing Copyright Act, under which staff and freelance journalists hold copyright in all circumstances.
Lobbying by the NNI led to an amendment to the draft Bill. At a meeting with senior department officials an NUJ delegation made it very clear that the union favoured a retention of the status quo, but when the Bill finally emerged the copyright of staff journalists had been considerably diluted.
Mr Kitt, in attempting to strike a balance, is seeking to deprive staff journalists of existing rights in order to please the newspaper owners. In doing so he has managed to please no-one.
Now that Mr Kitt has agreed to revisit the Bill before report stage we hope he will give equal consideration to the views of NUJ and NNI, notwithstanding pressure from the powerful newspaper lobby.
Incidentally, one of the strong advocates of a further diminution of staff copyright quoted in your report is Senator Mauarice Hayes. It should be noted that Senator Hayes is a director of Independent Newspapers. - Yours, etc.,
Seamus Dooley, Irish Organiser, National Union of Journalists, Liberty Hall, Dublin 1.