Irish Examiner view: Missing the deadline on newspaper Vat

Publishers urgently require some breathing space

European countries have taken a more progressive view on newspaper Vat than Ireland.

Back at the start of summer we stated, not for the first time, that Vat should be abolished on newspapers, and on their electronic versions. It is unconscionable that Ireland has been prepared to tolerate this tax on knowledge while other European countries take a more progressive view.

This argument was put more eloquently this week by Frank Mulrennan, CEO of the Celtic Media Group of local papers. He quoted Ernest Hemingway in The Sun Also Rises who answers a question about how someone can go bankrupt.

There are, he says, two ways: “Gradually, then suddenly.”

For some newspapers any cessation of Vat now will come too late in the teeth of energy and newsprint prices, both of which have tripled. The Government should have responded at least two years ago. Action is shamefully overdue.

In the background are major legal cases. Google faces a €25bn lawsuit in Europe and the UK for loading the digital advertising market in its own favour, something the tech giant denies.

These claims may take years to resolve. Google has already been hit with anti-trust fines totalling €8.25bn in the past decade. Some publishers don’t have 10 weeks to wait, let alone 10 months or 10 years. A breathing space is urgently required for them.