Irish market
The collapsing Irish economy, on which Richard West reported last week, seems to be involving the Irish press in its ruin. Independent Newspapers Ltd, whose publications include the Irish Independent, have announced 260 redundancies. For this they particularly blame the Republic's 23 per cent VAT which pushes their papers' prices absurdly high. Ten years ago, British newspapers won ten per cent of the Irish market: today, with the Daily Telegraph selling for 27 Irish pennies against 40 for the Independent, they have reached 30 per cent. One senses that a really determined drive by Fleet Street for Irish markets might virtually close down the indigenous press. The political consequences of the trend are hard to predict. Will the Irish come to accept a less romantic view of life in Northern Ireland, or will the British press adopt a policy of tepid Fenianism in the search for circulation? One can be at least fairly certain that a greater Irish dependence on her larger neighbour will produce a greater accompanying resent- ment.
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