Interesting discussion including the views of the former editor of Lá Nua. There seems to be a lot of frustration at Foras na Gaeilge and Sinn Féín regarding this. Some of you may remember the funding issues Lá had some months ago. I thought they had secured additional funding int he end so it's surprising to hear this and even more surprising and disappointing that they won't be seeking a contract for a weekly newspaper.

Discussing in Irish going on here:
"Athrú poirt Shinn Féin ró mhall chun Lá Nua a thartháil?"
http://igaeilge.wordpress.com/2008/10/22/athru-poirt-shinn-fein-ro-mhall-chun-la %C2%A0nua-a-tharrthail/

From Slugger O'Toole "Lá Nua le druideadh roimhe Nollaig?"
http://sluggerotoole.com/index.php/weblog/comments/la-nua-le-druideadh-roimhe-no llaig/P50/

quote:

Slugger understands that Lá Nua is to close before Christmas. Belfast Media Group will not be entering the competition for a new weekly newspaper as Gaeilge and a staff meeting is being held tomorrow [Thursday] to discuss the details of what’s about to happen.

quote:

The online element that Foras are prepared to fund only amounts to what Foinse already provides - ie a website which is only updated once weekly. That is entirely inadequate for today’s 24/7 world. What is needed at the very least is an Irish language version of breaking news.ie.

Had Foras decided last February to sit down with Lá Nua to discuss the online element, Lá Nua would in all likeliehood have survived. As well as that the Foras has decided to use this opportunity to CUT funding for the Irish language print media, from €600k approx per year to €400,000 per year. That decision is a foul on Lá certainly but also on Foinse which is going to eventually end up in the same black hole Lá is in now. Foras is supposedly responsible for promoting the Irish language - and, since last year, Irish language literature, but what this means is a blow for Irish literature [less reading as Gaeilge means a smaller readership in the long term for Irish books, which only sell in the hundreds as it is, and ultimately the language.

- Concubhar O Liatháin

quote:

When Foras na Gaeilge was established in 1999, it had on its doorstep a perfect opportunity to get behind a flagship project which would announce its arrival with bells and whistles. Instead it adapted a dog in the manger approach and tried to string Lá along with promises of better things to come while, all along, hatching unsuccessful plots with others to put Lá out of business. Now it has finally succeeded in this aim, with the help of Sinn Féin, an unexpected convert to the cause of censorship after the party was questioned vigorously by the newspaper over its failure earlier this year to defend the Irish language broadcast fund and to effectively counter the decision by Edwin Poots to axe the proposed Irish Language Act.

Well, the English and later British for 700+ years were willing to spend money (I think I recall reading that at one time the English crown spent around a third of it's income per year on the colonies in Ireland) to subsidize colonies, underwrite undertakings and give military support, all to hold a strategic asset. Obviously Irish is not such an asset either the people of Ireland nor bodies setup ostensibly to protect it.

Think about that next time someone says Irish is uneconomical and a waste of taxpayers money. Perhaps the equivalent of 100's of billions were spent to defeat, hold and convert Ireland, so why is 600,000 euro deemed so large by people today?

It's unfortunate that the Foras didn't seriously consider an online edition. Because clearly, most Irish speakers aren't willing to pay for a newspaper in the language. Granted, it has a strong Northern focus and spends a lot of time covering language issues (as opposed to discussing whatever just *in* Irish), but to not even sell 3,000 copies per edition? That's telling.

Hopefully something can be sorted out and Foinse can continue along too.

Most of the stuff is boring -people want to be inspired, not get dragged down.

Also, it is a Belfast paper -snoor zzzzzz

You have to also consider that newspapers dont sell as much these days as they did in the past. Most major newspaper sales are down. Not the best market for an Irish language paper considering the small readership market available.

Most people want instant news... t.v. & the internet provides that. I'd imagine it would be more cost effective and maybe just more effective in general to have a good news 'paper' as Gaeilge online

Táim in aontaim leat, a Niall, faraor....

I think it's a great shame for Lá Nua to be closing down, even if it is 'just' a Belfast paper (in some people's estimation).

Is mór an náir!

"even if it is 'just' a Belfast paper"

Sorry to say, but people are so often led through the heart, and if they don't identify with something, they won't support it, even if it is good for them.

There are probably elements of politics to it as well. The government/establishment in the south is just as culturally anti-Irish as some of the more extreme elements of Unionism, so it suits a lot of people to pull the language brick by brick

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