Madam, - I refer to a report (The Irish Times, April 1st) in relation to the Moriarty Tribunal, which included a copy of a letter dated July 30th, 1996, from Dr Anthony O'Reilly (as he then was) to the Taoiseach, Mr John Bruton. Reference to the contents of this letter was also included in an article by Colm Keena on April 3rd.
Dr O'Reilly was highly critical of the conduct and findings of the Competition Authority in its Interim Report of a Study on the Newspaper Industry, published in 1995, especially in relation to Independent Newspapers.
I was chairman of the Competition Authority at that time, and I feel obliged to reject the comments made by Dr O'Reilly and to set the record straight.
The conduct of the authority was not "frankly disgraceful" and it was not "rude" to the representatives of Independent Newspapers.
If the authority had not behaved with total courtesy and fairness during several days of meetings with Independent Newspapers, there would have been objections from the representatives and from their solicitor and counsel, who were present at all times. There were no such objections.
I strongly object to the claim that the authority "gave the clear impression that they had made up their minds before the arguments had even been heard". The authority had come to no prior conclusions in this matter.
It questioned and carefully listened to the points made by many representatives of organisations, and it held many lengthy internal discussions before reaching its conclusions.
Indeed, one of the three members of the authority, Mr Pat Massey, produced a minority report, urging the Minister for Enterprise and Employment to take decisive action. Vigorous questioning should not be mistaken for pre-judgment.
I am especially concerned and angry at the statement in Dr O'Reilly's letter that "To opine that the Irish newspaper market need not take account of UK newspapers was completely incompetent in defining the 'relevant market'. . .".
The authority devoted much space in its report to the issue of the relevant market, which was carefully analysed, and it emphasised that the question of whether there was a single newspaper market, or whether there were a number of separate and distinct markets, was a rather complex one.
In accepting the latter approach of several separate markets, the authority was not saying that there was no degree of substitution between newspapers in different markets, but that the products were not close substitutes. It certainly did not state that the Irish newspaper market need not take account of UK newspapers, as alleged by Dr O'Reilly.
Finally, it is worth noting that, nine years after the authority's report, the "long-term efforts of Rupert Murdoch and his lieutenants in Ireland from simply taking over the Irish media scene ...", the doomsday scenario forecast by Dr O'Reilly in 1996, has not taken place. - Yours, etc.,
PATRICK M. LYONS, Craigmore, Somerby Road, Greystones, Co Wicklow.