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The initial clash between Pat Rabbitte and Richard Bruton took place against the backdrop of the battle in the boardroom of INM, which saw Denis OBrien triumph over the OReilly family. Photograph: Dara Mac Dnaill

While the new guidelines on media mergers do not mention any person or individual companies by name, the shadow of Denis OBrien looms large.

The new media merger legislation and accompanying guidelines have been a long time coming and follow a tug-of-war between the Department of Communications and the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, under whose remit mergers initially fell.

The initial clash between Pat Rabbitte and Richard Bruton took place against the backdrop of the battle in the boardroom of Independent News and Media (INM), which saw Denis OBrien triumph over the OReilly family.

At Government level, the Department of Communications took charge of the new dual-notification system for media mergers at the end of October. Alex White, who took over from Rabbitte in communications, will decide if a media merger is in the public interest, while the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission will determine if a deal can proceed on competition grounds.

At the height of the OReilly-OBrien tussle for control of INM, many in Government felt it would be wise to steer clear and allow things settle down at the biggest newspaper group in the country.

That has happened, and a restructured INM with OBrien as majority shareholder with a 29.9 per cent has emerged. OBriens Communicorp group houses Today FM, Newstalk and other radio ventures. Newstalk also operates syndicated news for local radio stations.

Recently, the National Union of Journalists called on White to call a halt to what it saw as OBriens threat to media diversity. That plea from NUJ secretary Seamus Dooley came after Newstalk secured a deal to provide news to more stations, making it the largest supplier of radio news in Ireland.

Critics will argue White is closing the stable door after the horse has bolted but the draft guidelines appear to outline criteria which could limit room for manoeuvre.

The most obvious is setting a threshold of ownership judged to constitute significant interest which means a person or business has sufficient voting, financial or ownership strength within the relevant media business or media businesses to influence directly or indirectly, to an appreciable extent, the direction or policy of the media business or media businesses with regard in particular to news, current affairs or cultural content.

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Shadow of Denis OBrien looms over new media merger guidelines