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Jump To Comment: 1 2 3That interview (above) with Ursula Halligan on TV3 will haunt Eoghan Harris down the ages, that and his betrayal of all he once stood for, in return for first Rupert Murdoch's and then Tony O'Reilly's shilling.
Matt Cooper's 'Who Really Runs Ireland' (Penguin, 2009) deals in some detail with the developing relationship between O'Reilly, Harris and Ahern.
It is a far cry from when Eamon Smullen called O'Reilly a 'leech' in 'O'Reilly's Last Game', published by Sinn Fein the Workers' Party (SFWP) in 1976. It is attached here as a PDF. The pamphlet details how O'Reilly made money by taking over Irish companies with dormant shareholders, who did not realise the asset value of their holdings. O'Reilly's Ftizwilton holding company vehicle engaged in asset stripping that resulted in hundreds of job losses, but that enriched O’Reilly. The SFWP that produced the pamphlet degenerated into The Workers Party and broke up eventually into Democratic Left (that joined the Labour Party), leaving a rump behind. Former members like Harris ended up supporting censorship, internment and the crony capitalism critiqued in 'Tony O'Reilly's Last Game'.
Harris, as an RTE employee, cold not publicly associate himself with authorship of SFWP publications. He was almost sacked in 1974. He later revealed his role in writing most of the party's best known publications, but covered up how his views did a 180 degree turn.
O'Reilly took over Independent newspapers in 1973. That effectively insulated him from critical coverage in Irish media. In the small Irish pool, Journalists in other papers will not write critical things about O’Reilly because they might end up applying to work for one of his newspapers. In Britain, the Guardian critiqued Rupert Murdoch’s News International. In Ireland, there is no equivalent. Great unexpressed hatred, little room. The proprietors would not allow it anyway. They have a mutual interest in not criticising each other. Far better to distract readers by bashing public sector workers and RTE (that the public owns), writing up the world of 'celebrity' and other nonsense.
His holdings allowed O’Reilly to build political-business alliances, in which the Sunday Independent in particular supported O'Reilly's business interests, and his political prejudices, particularly on the North. For this latter work the Harris pair were ideally suited, because they share the same prejudices. The opportunity to engage in continual Provo and northern nationalist bashing is irresistible. It makes their day.
The Harris's have nailed themselves to heir to the throne, Gavin O'Reily's mast, in the shareholder battle with Dennis O'Brien for control of Independent newspapers. O'Reilly the younger will have to work out whether the politically unstable pair are a liability or an asset. He might figure them to be a short-term asset and long-term liability.
Presumably, they will be well paid for their services. Tomorrow’s Sunday Independent will be interesting. I might leaf through its pages, before putting it back neatly in place in its pile.
How Harris's SFWP wrote about Tony ('Sir Anthony) O'Reilly, Harris's boss today, in 1976
Cover of the SFWP 1976 pamphlet