Alison O'Connor: Irish media is a better place now Denis O'Brien has left

With the sale of Communicorp completed this week, Denis O'Brien has washed his hands of his Irish media interests. After making myriad personal threats to sue journalists, few will miss the businessman

Denis O'Brien: 'If you’re in media, all the other media people savage you,' he told a Trinity society earlier this year. Picture: Niall Carson/PA

It was with a whimper rather than a bang that the man who has dominated the Irish media landscape for decades, and was feared by so many journalists, ended that involvement this week.

Denis O’Brien walks away from owning newspapers and radio stations with his pockets far lighter — by hundreds of millions of euro actually. On top of that, no matter what angle you look at it from, his reputation is most certainly unenhanced.