Naughten did no favours for Denis O’Brien, says Leo

DENIS Naughten wasn’t doing Denis O’Brien any favours when he referred the Celtic Media takeover bid to a regulator, Leo Varadkar said yesterday.

The Taoiseach was giving his support to the Communications Minister, who is accused of giving information to a lobbyist for media group INM.

This was the first time Mr Varadkar faced questions from the media after the political controversy broke on Wednesday morning, when it emerged that Mr Naughten had told the lobbyist he would probably refer the takeover bid to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.

Mr Naughten has repeatedly professed his innocence and insisted his comment to lobbyist Eoghan Ó Neachtain was his ‘personal view’.

As it appeared yesterday that the minister is likely to cling on, some members of the opposition were still claiming it was ‘untenable’.

However, when asked if he was satisfied with the explanation by the Independent Alliance minister, and that the matter was put to bed, the Taoiseach said: ‘Yes, I am. What is happening here, particularly when it comes to Sinn Féin, really is just politics of the old sort.

‘Looking for a head without giving somebody a fair hearing, throwing mud in the hope that some of it will stick to the Government. Here are the basic facts: Denis Naughten didn’t do any favours for anyone. Denis Naughten didn’t do any favours for INM, he didn’t do any favours for Denis O’Brien. In fact, what he did was delay the merger by referring it to BAI, which was what I assume they would not have wanted him to do.

‘So he didn’t do any favours for anyone here.’ The Taoiseach insisted that ‘all he did was take a phonecall from a lobbyist’ but conceded that ‘perhaps he shouldn’t have’.

Mr Varadkar said the minister had ‘indicated that he would follow the law and be guided by his officials’ advice. Perhaps he shouldn’t have taken that call, he said he regrets it.

‘But in terms of what he actually said and what he actually did, he behaved entirely appropriately. And I am very satisfied with his explanation,’ he added.

When pressed as to whether he believes it was an error of judgment to relay that information to the lobbyist, who is a former Government press secretary, the Taoiseach responded: ‘I think as Denis has said, he regrets taking that call from the lobbyists.’

He said: ‘All he did was tell the lobbyist that if the file crossed his desk – and it hadn’t at that point – if the file crossed his desk he would abide by the law and be guided by the advice of his officials.

‘I don’t consider that to be secret or inside information, that is what any good minister would be expected to do.’

INM announced in 2016 that it intended to buy Celtic Media, in a multi-million euro deal. The company publishes several local newspapers, and if the takeover was successful it would have brought INM’s regional publication count from 13 to 20.

In November that year, the acquisition was approved by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. In that same month, Mr Naughten received the call from Mr Ó Neachtain, a director of public affairs at Heneghan PR, which works for INM. And this is the conversation in which he indicated the deal would likely be referred to the watchdog.

An email was then reportedly sent to the INM chairman at the time, Leslie Buckley, which had details of the conversation. This message was reportedly forwarded to Denis O’Brien, INM’s largest shareholder. In June last year, INM said the planned takeover was not going ahead by ‘mutual consent’.

‘It’s just politics of the old sort’ ‘He behaved appropriately’