Waterford Crystal and media mergers
The Leader welcomes the Waterford Crystal settlement and notes publication of draft guidelines governing the new media-merger process.
Like others, I very much welcome the announcement on the Waterford Crystal workers. That is wonderful news and it will be a great boost to the local economy as we approach Christmas.
I also welcome publication of the draft media merger guidelines which are available for public consultation until 22 January. They have been prepared under the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 which recently came into force. They have been produced to help media organisations and other interested parties to understand how the new media merger process will work in practice. In particular, they set out the relevant criteria for making determinations on whether a proposed media merger is contrary to the public interest in terms of media plurality.
I very much welcome it. Perhaps it is a subject that might be suitable, in due course, for a debate in the House.