Will Johnston's Irish adventure cost more jobs?

Peter Kirwan, Press Gazette's Media Money columnist says the suggestion that Johnston Press may sell its newspapers in the Irish Republic for as little as €40m "prefigures an abject conclusion to one of the most spectacular acts of boom-era media hubris."
Kirwan examines "a whirlwind summer of deal-making in 2005" when Tim Bowdler, the now-retired chief executive of Johnston Press, invaded the Republic of Ireland. Within weeks, he tied up three deals that transformed the company into the country’s largest publisher of local newspapers.
Kirwan concludes: "Even if Johnston Press does sell its Irish papers for £50m and then uses the proceeds to reduce its euro debts, the company will remain saddled with at least £100m of loans dating back to its ill-fated Irish adventure.
"This year, the cost of making interest payments on that debt will amount to at least £6m.
Given that advertising recession will probably erase most — if not all — of Johnston Press’s free cashflow during 2009, the most obvious way of paying that interest bill will be to make more journalists redundant at the titles that the company continues to publish.
"If you require evidence that the casino logic of the noughties (which benefited Johnston Press directors more than most) has resulted in misery for thousands of hard-working journalists, look no further."