End of an era for Foinse as publication ceases
September 11, 2013
Móinear Teo. have announced Foinse will not be available in shops across the country later this month, as was initially intended.
Foinse was established in 1996, and a weekly Irish language newspaper was available nationally until summer 2009, subsidised with funding from Foras na Gaeilge. When the funding from Foras na Gaeilge came to an end, Foinse was relaunched in autumn of 2009, with a new look and a new distribution system.
Until recently, Foinse was available as a supplement with the Irish Independent each Wednesday, and was very popular, especially with school students across the country and with Irish language learners.
In addition to the printed weekly newspaper, Móinéar Teo. also launched many online services over the past number of years including the information website www.foinse.ie and a grammar blog. Foinse added greatly to the content being shared through social media online, on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
While a printed edition of the newspaper will no longer be available, educational material like Foinse Óg and Foinse sa Rang will still be available online at www.foinse.ie.
At the beginning of the year, Foras na Gaeilge announced a decision to cut all funding for the weekly Irish language newspaper ‘Gaelscéal’ before the contract was due to end officially.
A low sales rate was the main reason given by Foras na Gaeilge for this action, with an average amount of 1,300/1,400 hard copies sold in shops weekly.
In a statement last February, CEO of Foras na Gaeilge stated: “There are difficulties with sales and distribution of newspapers worldwide. The Board and the Committee will now be looking at these questions as we move towards founding a new news service for the Irish Language community.”
The latest development means there is no longer any Irish language newspaper available for the Irish speaking community. Foras na Gaeilge held public consultation meetings last spring, as well as a series of focus groups to discuss what form the publication which would replace Gaelscéal would take. No results of this research have been issued as yet.
Foilsithe ar Gaelport.com
