Paper shows 'change needed for survival'

The Tánaiste has paid tribute to the "courage and determination" shown by staff at The Irish Times during the company's restructuring process. Ms Harney was speaking at the official opening of the newspaper's new printing press at Dublin's Citywest yesterday.

The recovery plan had been painful, she added. But in a world where it it was now accepted that the average working person had to embrace "five or six" new technologies in a lifetime, The Irish Times had emerged as a model of the truth that "you have to change to survive".

Ms Harney noted that printing had begun at the plant in early June, just as the new Government took office. Politicians and the media were not usually in such harmony, she added. But a free press was one of the hallmarks of a democratic society, and arguably even more important than the government.

"Thomas Jefferson said: 'Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter'."

She had sometimes wondered: "If we woke up one day and there were no newspapers and no government, which would we notice? I think the newspapers would be be quick to tell us we had no government, but the government might not tell us we had no newspapers."

The Irish Times had "come a long way from 1859", when it was founded, the Tánaiste said, and the new printing facility would be a big help as it faced the future.

"It better do," she added, reminding the audience that the project had cost more than €70 million.

Ms Harney performed the official opening, setting in train the production of a 12-page supplement about the new facility, which will appear with next Tuesday's newspaper. The supplement included a colour photograph of the Tánaiste, taken an hour earlier as she arrived at the plant.

The printing press was operating at "cruising" speed during her visit, producing 1,000 supplements a minute. At full speed, it can print 75,000 full-colour newspapers an hour, meaning that most editions of The Irish Times can now be produced in two hours. The excess capacity means that the press can take on other work, such as the 64-page Farmers' Journal supplement on the ploughing championships.

Ms Harney also toured the "mail-room", by far the largest area of the Citywest plant. This is where the different sections of the paper are assembled and wrapped for despatch. Unlike the old mail-room, where supplements had to be pre-printed before insertion at a rate of 30,000 an hour, the new inserter can work simultaneously with the printing press, inserting copies at up to 75,000 an hour.

Wishing the newspaper well in the future, the Tánaiste praised the role of the outgoing editor, Mr Conor Brady, for presiding over 15 years of unprecedented growth in readership. Being a newspaper editor was like being leader of a political party, she said, adding: "It's not an easy job, and you don't have many friends."

But she said that if Mr Brady wanted to consider a career in politics, she had many "green-field constituencies" available.

She also paid warm tribute to the chairman of The Irish Times Ltd, Mr Brian Patterson, for his work in such public bodies as the newly-formed Financial Services Regulatory Authority. It was very difficult to get highly-skilled people to perform roles which served the wider community, "but Brian Patterson has done that so many times now".

Finally, Ms Harney praised the work of the newspaper's production staff, often overlooked in the focus on the journalists who wrote the stories. She was aware that there were certain "tensions" between the two ends of the newspaper business, but production staff were crucial to the running of a newspaper.

Speaking as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, she added: "This is a very enterprising project and one that I hope will sustain employment in The Irish Times for years to come."