MONDAY 26 JUNE 1995

U2 WORLD EXCLUSIVE
Back issues of The XPress on Sunday featuring Liam Mackey's exclusive interview with U2 are still available from: Room 103, Liberty Hall, Dublin 1.

NEIL JORDAN WARNS OF CONSPIRACY
BRUTON'S MOVE
THE GREAT GATE SHOW
EXAMINING THE EXAMINER...
Press' Purty Party

Published by The Irish Press NUJ, Liberty Hall. Origination by Malcolm Kindness, Telephone 4962551.

Neil Jordan warns of conspiracy

by Colm Keena
A conspiracy to portray Ireland as safe, modern, European and middle-class could be imagined from reading Irish newspapers, author and film-maker, Neil Jordan has said.
This same "conspiracy" is embarrassed by certain aspects of Ireland's past, he told an audience in the Adelphi cinema in Dublin.
In an address on the issue of "freedom of speech," Mr Jordan compared the censorship of novels in the 1950s and 1960s to the way the commercial pressures of the marketplace in present-day Ireland exclude "marginal" voices.
He was speaking before a special screening of his film, The Crying Game, at a benefit night for the Irish Press Journalists' Fund last week.
Neil Jordan recalled how his first short stories were published in the New Irish Writing page of the Irish Press, edited by David Marcus. The outlet was an important one for the writers of his generation, he said.
"In the Ireland that we live in at the moment it seems to me that any forms of censorship there are going to be will be ones to do with commercial life and the pressures of the marketplace in which we all live".
"Marginal voices are being excluded by a subtle interplay of the culture of approval and the culture of the commercial marketplace itself."
He said he returned to Ireland recently and went out to buy the Sunday newspapers. "I began to read those newspapers and I became increasingly irritated, as one does, and longed for an alternative".
"I was never a great fan of any newspaper in particular, but it did strike me that there was one particular point of view, or series of points of view, that had actually vanished, and I kind of missed them very much."
Mr Jordan said that if the Irish Press titles did not come back into being, it would be very sad for the public in general. "I don't think you could quite call it censorship, but it would be the finish of a very necessary point of view," he said.

BRUTON'S MOVE

Minister may decide to back staff court bid

by Donogh Diamond
The Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Richard Bruton, was last night "seriously considering" whether to lend his support to the Irish Press workers' High Court bid to have an Examiner appointed to the company.
The Minister was expected to make his decision this morning, as the High Court hearing on the examinership application begins.
Over the weekend, his legal advisers were considering the proposal from the union representatives involved for the Minister to back up the application in court.
Yesterday a spokesman for the Minister told the XPress that no decision on the request for support, or exactly what form it might take, would be made until this morning.
The Minister's interest was "in saving as many jobs as possible and getting the titles back on the streets as quickly as possible", said the spokesman, and anything that might help achieve that end was useful.
And he confirmed that the Minister was "seriously considering" the request to support the application for an examiner.
Irish Press Newspapers Ltd. has called both a shareholders' meeting, and a creditors meeting for Wednesday, on foot of the Board's decision to liquidate.
Last Thursday, three employees submitted affidavits to the High Court stating they represented the 205 journalists employed in the Irish Press, and had the broad support of the rest of the 600 workers.
The three journalists, the Father of the Irish Press NUJ Chapel, Ronan Quinlan, his deputy, Mairead Carey, and Clerk of the Chapel, Chris Dooley, said in their affidavits that a number of strategic decision by management over the years had been central to the company's current position.
Those decisions included changing the daily newspaper from a broadsheet to a tabloid format in 1988; the ill-fated investment in Southside Publications; the decision to go into partnership with Ingersoll companies in 1989, and the relaunch of the Evening Press in two parts in 1991, according to the petitioners.
Meanwhile, an informal public meeting of creditors, including employees, of Irish Press Newspapers Ltd. is due to take place in Buswells Hotel in Dublin at 5pm this evening.
The meeting, which will be addressed by Chartered Accountant and Insolvency Practitioner, Paul Mackey, will allow creditors to express their views on the proposed appointment of Mr. Tom Grace as liquidator of the company, according to an advertisement placed in the Irish Times over the weekend.
The ad states that Mr. Grace is a partner in the firm Price Waterhouse/Craig Gardner, which is also auditor to Independent Newspapers Plc. Independent Newspapers controls 24.99% of IPN and has a lien/security over the three Press newspaper titles.

THE GREAT GATE SHOW

The good and the great of Irish theatre gave their all for the Irish Press last night. A glittering collection of poets, writers, actors, singers and comedians turned on some of their finest ever performances at a benefit concert at the venerable Gate Theatre.
The show opened with the brash Gavin Friday resplendent in crimson socks and shirt. Brian Keenan followed with a moving poetry reading, and then Tom Hickey turned in a virtuoso performance of Michael Harding's The Mysoginist.
The cream of Irish artistic talent, including Mary Black, Joe O'Connor, Edna O'Brien, Stephen Rea, Bernadette Grevey and Clare Boylan also gave memorable performances. The audience joined in an enthusiastic version of Dublin's Fair City, led by Bernadette Grevey.
With just a simple backdrop, they took to the stage one by one and gave far more than just three minutes for the Irish Press at the packed theatre.
Over 400 tickets were sold for the show, which was opened by the Lord Mayor, Cllr John Gormley.
Speaking on behalf of all the participants, he said they were performing to show solidarity with the Irish Press workers and to raise funds.
"The human dimension of all this has been missed," said the Lord Mayor. "It is a terrible time of uncertainty for those employed and their families. The Press newspapers were always of a very high standard and we hope to see their return in some form of other," said Cllr Gormley to a huge round of applause from the packed house.
Kerry poet, Brendan Kennelly, acting as MC, told the audience at the beginning of the show that backstage there was chaos among the 26 "geniuses" on the billing.
But each of their "three minutes" from the first to the final performance by Niall Toibin held the audience enthralled.

EXAMINING THE EXAMINER...

by Kieran Conway
The 1990 Companies Act provides that various categories of people, including employees, can petition the High Court to have an examiner appointed to a company.
Modelled on US and British legislation, the Act was introduced to save the Goodman Group from collapse. It is designed to protect a company in difficulties from, generally, its panicky creditors, and has never been invoked by employees before now or in circumstances like these.
Its premise is that the company is fundamentally sound and can, given a decent breathing space, overcome its problems. Thus, for a period of up to 90 days, with possible extensions, the company comes under the protection of the High Court while the examiner works on a package designed to save it - assuming that it is sound enough to be able to survive.
The examiner's duty is to conduct "an examination of the affairs of the company" and report the results to the court together with his or her estimate as to whether the company can survive as a going concern and, if so, what steps are necessary to ensure that survival. The court may then approve the taking of those steps.
The examiner has wide powers and his or her proposals may extend to the sale of assets, the reconstruction of the company, and changes in its management structure.
During the period of examinership the existing directors and management, who are one and the same in the case of the Press, are left in place. They are there, however, under the control of, and to the bidding of, the examiner, who may recommend to the High Court that all powers be taken from the directors if this is felt to be in the company's interest.
An examiner's duty is towards that complete abstraction: the company. His or her proposals are designed to save it. He or she acts in the interests of the company exclusively and not in that of its management, creditors, or, indeed, employees.
The downside of an examinership is that some of the proposals might turn out to be less than palatable to the workforce - but that was going to be the case whatever happened.
The argument of the workers and many commentators is that the Press management have been acting in their own interest rather than in that of the company. Thus, from the mid-80s on, proposals by Michael Smurfit, The Sunday Business Post/Telegraph consortium and others that would have resulted in control passing away form the current directors have been rejected.
The attraction of Tony O'Reilly as an investor was that he was apparently willing, like Ingersoll before him, to leave the existing management in place.

Press' Purty Party

NEXT Wednesday is Press Night at Dun Laoghaire's Purty Loft, with all proceeds from the door going to the newspaper fund.
The Purty Loft is offering you the opportunity to show your support for the employees of the Irish Press, and have a great night into the bargain.
The Loft, which is situated behind the Top Hat, has kindly agreed to give the proceeds from the door to the newspaper fund.
There's a full bar, music to suit all tastes and maybe a few surprises in store.
A few well-known faces will be dropping in, and the bar is open until the wee hours. So be there!

NOTE TO OUR READERS...

The XPress newspapers carry a nominal cover price of 1p, but we appreciate all donations to our newspaper fund. To help co-ordinate our fund raising activities, a bank account has been set up in aid of the NUI members who are currently locked out of the Irish Press offices. Please forward all donations to:

The Press Journalists Fund,
Bank of Ireland,
6 Lower 0'Connell Street.
Account number 60002008
Sorting code: 90-07-97
Contact 878 7430/878 7550

The XPress is now available on the Internet. Our world wide web address is: http://www.adnet.ie/Adnet/XPress.htm
or email us c/o fergal@indigo.ie