Foinse goes out of business

ejmaztec

I know that I'm a plastic paddy and couldn't be arsed even beginning to learn Irish, but it's sad that those trying to keep the language alive are dropping like flies.

http://www.independent.ie/breaking-news/national-news/business/10-staff-to-lose-job-as-foinse-goes-out-of-business-1792556.html

Friday June 26 2009

Ten full-time journalists are set to lose their jobs following a decision to close down Ireland's only Irish-language newspaper.
Connemara-based Foinse is set to close this weekend when its current contract with Foras na Gaeilge expires.
Efforts to agree a new contract have been ongoing since last September, but the two sides couldn't agree the terms of a deal.

A Neurotic

I've never looked at Foinse in my life, but I've always intended to. And I know enough about it to know that this is a big loss. Balls

big b

They had 10 full time journalists?

The paper rarely had 10 pages.

sorry, but not entirely surprised, to see it go.

My name is Mud

I read this as Fonzie goes out of business.

AAAYYYYYYYYYYY

Stephen

So did I. Damn recession, dey took ar fonzies.

silverharp

happy days!

AnonoBoy

I too mistook this for an Arthur Fonzarelli thread.

markopantelic

dissapointing or should i say 'tá dioma orm'

Pop's Diner

Sunday, Monday, Happy Days.
Tuesday, Wednesday, Happy Days.
Thursday, Friday, Redundant.

Banter Joe

é

Riamfada

Well if they tried to appeal to the English speakers of the world to buy their Irish product then they might stay in business.

jdivision

Another example of why the Irish language is just an industry reliant on grants

upmeath

jdivision wrote: »

Another example of why the Irish language is just an industry reliant on grants

I can see where you're coming from, but it's not just the fragility of the language that's exposed. The print media is in turmoil all over the world at the minute.
Here in Ireland, the industry is sound enough. The papers charge €1.80 on weekdays, €2 on weekends (can't wait for somebody to correct me and tell me the Star is a paper :rolleyes:) and many have websites which are updated in real time and carry banner ads, clean as a whistle and financially robust.
In the US you get your daily newspaper from a box on the side of the street for a mere 25 cents (less than 20 eurocent). So where do the journalists get their salaries from? Advertising. And with a large number of companies who could previously shell out huge sums on ads struggling to balance books at the minute, the papers are being cut off from their main source of income. Some papers have gone out of business as a result, others have been subsumed into media conglomerates, and the smart ones have turned to the internet, where raw materials (paper and toner) aren't needed and advertising still brings in the bucks.
Poor old Foinse catered to a niche market, granted, but the argument that Irish language media outlets need care and nurturing won't stand alone - TG4 has been a successful venture, and some of the country's most celebrated media personalities are known for broadcasting as Gaeilge - Hector Ó hEochagáin and Daithi Ó Sé are just two examples. The Irish language has gained popularity and become somewhat trendy over the last decade or so, the mechanisms for teaching it have changed, Peig Sayers is no longer the be all and end all of Irish literature, and it's a lot more fun than it used to be. Print media, on the other hand, is stuggling, and I'd be inclined to think Foinse bit that bullet.

TheZohanS

jdivision wrote: »

Another example of why the Irish language is just an industry reliant on grants

Like this one?

Delta Kilo

upmeath wrote: »

the argument that Irish language media outlets need care and nurturing won't stand alone - TG4 has been a successful venture,

Eh no. TG4 is not successful. Last year they were forced into revealing their accounts by TV3 who sued them in the EU courts. It revealed that they took in €25m in grants from the government and made, under their own steam, the massive sum of €3m. So that is essentially a loss of €22m.

Now if that is what you call care and nurturing then maybe your argument holds water, however I would disagree. To hell with the Irish Language, there is only 10,000 speaking it...it is costing a fortune, everything has to be translated, official documents, luas announcements, train announcements, bus notices... It is a waste.

It is time we stopped flogging this dead horse!

upmeath

Delta Kilo wrote: »

Eh no. TG4 is not successful. Last year they were forced into revealing their accounts by TV3 who sued them in the EU courts. It revealed that they took in €25m in grants from the government and made, under their own steam, the massive sum of €3m. So that is essentially a loss of €22m.

Forgive me, I wasn't aware of the account deficit. But despite financial troubles it's been a cultural success, the Irish language is there and holding its own on the airwaves, whatever about the newstands.

Delta Kilo wrote:

To hell with the Irish Language, there is only 10,000 speaking it...it is costing a fortune, everything has to be translated...
...It is a waste

Where did you pull that figure out of? About 3% of the population uses Irish everyday, and countless more use it occasionally. Dozens of Gaelscoileanna have opened in the last ten years and the language has gained special status in the EU in the last few years.
If you think the Irish language has a cushy ride then look at the German-speaking community of Belgium, they number less than 80,000 (or 0.75% of the Belgian population) they have regional autonomy, and state publications have to be printed in Dutch/Flemish, French and German as a result. And did I mention they have their own MEP? I know German isn't a minority language, it's spoken by 80 million people next door to Belgium, but the German speaking community in Belgium cost a lot more to the taxpayers of Flanders and Wallonia than the Irish speaking community do to the Irish taxpayer. And the language is spread evenly throughout the country, Meath and Waterford have as many Irish speakers as Mayo or Donegal do.

banquo

Or just started taking seriously how we teach it to kids and not the joke of an education i went through.

Purple Gorilla

Sad It was a great tool for LC Irish!

My name is URL

The language will have disappeared within 25 years.

I know not many people agree with this but its not a bad thing. Its progress and social evolution.

It's good to hold onto traditional values, but only for tradition's sake.

big b

My name is URL wrote: »

The language will have disappeared within 25 years.

I know not many people agree with this but its not a bad thing. Its progress and social evolution.

It's good to hold onto traditional values, but only for tradition's sake.

They said the same in Scotland more than 25 years ago. It's still going alright & the first all Gaelic college just opened.
It's a pity a sh*tty education system turned so many people away from it. We're so proud of a lot of heritage, but diss our own language. A shame.

biko

Delta Kilo wrote: »

Now if that is what you call care and nurturing then maybe your argument holds water, however I would disagree. To hell with the Irish Language, there is only 10,000 speaking it...it is costing a fortune, everything has to be translated, official documents, luas announcements, train announcements, bus notices... It is a waste.

It is time we stopped flogging this dead horse!

I agree, the biggest language wins. No need for translations/mistakes.
The most common/biggest language in the European Union is German, followed by French. Which do you prefer?

rororoyourboat

Where's the evidence that the language will be dead in 25 years? To be honest, it's people that don't really know what they're talking about always spout statistics like this.

I have worked with the Irish language, in an all-Irish speaking envoirnment and the industry built up around the language is quite robust. There will be some casualties with the "R-word" all around and sadly, Foinse just couldn't cut it.

dlofnep

It's sad to see Foinse go. I must admit, I've only bought it 2 or 3 times in my life, and as a self-admitted language activist - I should have bought it more often. I would obviously like to see it supported, and it's sad to see people lose their jobs.. At the end of the day - I along with every other person who liked the language should have supported it by buying it.

I'd like to wave fingers, but I'm probably just as to blame as anyone else. In saying that - I don't tend to buy any newspapers at all. I read online - the likes of Nós and so on.

Still - I am a little saddened to see Foinse go - and further saddened for people to use it's demise as an excuse to bash the language.

As for those who say the language is dieing - where's the evidence? In the past 5 years, the language has seen a huge surge and I use it daily with many of my friends.

Tar.Aldarion

Magnus wrote: »

I agree, the biggest language wins. No need for translations/mistakes.
The most common/biggest language in the European Union is German, followed by French. Which do you prefer?

Ì'd love if everybody spoke the same language. Since I know French, lets pick that one. :pac:

Delta Kilo

upmeath wrote: »

Where did you pull that figure out of? About 3% of the population uses Irish everyday, and countless more use it occasionally. Dozens of Gaelscoileanna have opened in the last ten years and the language has gained special status in the EU in the last few years.

Article in the Sunday Independent Life section, I think it was last weeks edition. That was based on CSO figures from the last census.

It also highlighted that virtually nobody in Dingle agreed with Eamonn Ó Cúiv's decision to change the name to Daingean because they feared the tourists would not recognise it. They felt as if it was like Coca Cola changing their name! Just highlights how much of a money-spinner this whole Irish "culture" is.

The Gaeilscoileanna are nothing only evidence of the middle-class snobbery rampant in Ireland. They send the kids their because of the perceived higher standard of teaching and also, as much as I hate to say it, because of the lack of foreign nationals and lower class children present in such schools.

Don't get me wrong, I like Irish. I have just completed the Irish School System and enjoyed learning Irish, paper 1 anyways. Why, oh why do students have to learn about how Máirtín Ó Direáin wishes to die, or what Cathal O Searcaigh thinks about in his spare time? It turns SO many people off Irish and tbh I don't blame them.

I just think that it is unsustainable in its current form. Radical changes need to take place in the classroom for any hope of it to succeed.

big b

The houses taking in summer students down here seem as busy as ever...

biko

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Ì'd love if everybody spoke the same language. Since I know French, lets pick that one. :pac:

The language of luuuurvv
D'accord.

Nolanger

They should have changed it to a Polish newspaper as there's more people in this country who can actually read that language.

ejmaztec

Nolanger wrote: »

They should have changed it to a Polish newspaper as there's more people in this country who can actually read that language.

That would be novel, all of the summer students heading off to the Poltacht areas to brush up on their language skills.

dlofnep

ejmaztec wrote: »

That would be novel, all of the summer students heading off to the Poltacht areas to brush up on their language skills.

lol @ poltacht

markopantelic

the thing is in ireland(and dublin) at least a rise in people speaking irish also indicates a better society..don't ask me why but i think people who learn irish particulary in school are always good at other languages as well like my cousin is fluent at irish, english, german french and spanish