Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
national daily
newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...
published by Irish Press plc between 5 September 1931 and 25 May 1995.
Foundation
The paper's first issue was published on the eve of the 1931 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final between Kilkenny and Cork; other newspapers did not cover Gaelic games in any detail at the time. Margaret Pearse, the mother of Padraig and Willie Pearse, pressed the button to start the printing presses."Still mourning for the Press", ''The Kingdom'', 13 June 2002. The initial aim of its publisher was to achieve a circulation of 100,000 which it quickly accomplished. It went on to list a subscribership of 200,000 at its peak. Irish Press Ltd. was officially registered on 4 September 1928, three years before the paper was first published, to create a newspaper independent of the existing media where the
Independent Newspapers
Independent Newspapers Limited (INL) was a newspaper publisher in New Zealand. Started as the Wellington Publishing Company in 1906 to publish ''The Dominion'', it began taking over other newspapers in the 1970s and was renamed Independent New ...
group was seen as supporting
Cumann na nGaedheal
Cumann na nGaedheal (; "Society of the Gaels") was a political party in the Irish Free State, which formed the government from 1923 to 1932. In 1933 it merged with smaller groups to form the Fine Gael party.
Origins
In 1922 the pro-Treaty ...
/
Fine Gael
Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil à ...
, and ''
The Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
'' being pro-union, and with a mainly middle-class or Protestant readership. The ''Irish Press'' founder
Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera (, ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was a prominent Irish statesman and political leader. He served several terms as head of govern ...
said the paper's objective was: "To give the truth in the news, that will be the chief aim of ''The Irish Press''. ''The Irish Press'' will be a truthful journal and a good newspaper". The founders planned to produce an evening and Sunday edition of the paper if the daily was successful, and they did.
Initial financing
The money to launch ''The Irish Press'' was raised in the United States during the Irish War of Independence by a bond drive to finance the First Dail. The amount raised was $5 million ($55 million adjusted for inflation as of 2011). However, 60 percent of this money was left in various banks in New York. Nobody has been able to explain why Éamon de Valera ordered the bulk of the money to be left in New York when he returned to Ireland in late 1920.''Tim Pat Coogan: A Memoir'' p. 252 In 1927, as a result of legal action between the
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between ...
government and de Valera, a court in New York ordered that the bond holders be paid back outstanding money due to them. However de Valera's legal team had anticipated the ruling and had prepared for the outcome. A number of circulars were sent to the bond holders asking them to sign over their holdings to de Valera. The bond holders were paid 58 cents to the dollar. This money was then used as start up capital to launch ''The Irish Press''. Following the 1933 Irish General Election de Valera used his Dáil majority to pass a measure allowing the bond holders to be paid the remaining 42 percent of the money still owed.
Censorship by Free State Government
In December 1931, the editor Frank Gallagher was prosecuted by an Irish Free State military tribunal for publishing articles alleging that Gardaà had mistreated the opponents (Anti-Treaty republicans) of the Irish Free State government. This was facilitated by ''Amendment No. 17 of
Constitution of the Irish Free State
The Constitution of the Irish Free State ( ga, Bunreacht Shaorstát Eireann) was adopted by Act of Dáil Éireann sitting as a constituent assembly on 25 October 1922. In accordance with Article 83 of the Constitution,
Prominent personalities
The newspaper was controlled by Éamon de Valera and his family, and as a consequence, it supported
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtà Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...
consistently throughout its life, expressing the "national outlook" in keeping with the thoughts and sentiments of his party supporters. The paper was aimed particularly at teachers and schools, with strong coverage of GAA games and the
Irish language
Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...
Seán Lemass
Seán Francis Lemass (born John Francis Lemass; 15 July 1899 – 11 May 1971) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach and Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1959 to 1966. He also served as Tánaiste from 1957 to 1959, 1951 to 1954 ...
was an early managing director. Major Vivion de Valera, son of the founder, subsequently became managing director. De Valera was noted for courtesy amongst those running the business, which was considered well run. Shareholders came from both Ireland and the United States. It was many years before a dividend was paid. Douglas Gageby worked on each of the press titles, ''The Irish Press'', ''
Evening Press
The ''Evening Press'' was an Irish newspaper which was printed from 1954 until 1995. It was set up by Éamon de Valera's Irish Press group, and was originally edited by Douglas Gageby. Its principal competitor was the ''Evening Herald'', which h ...
'' (as first editor) and ''
The Sunday Press
''The Sunday Press'' was a weekly newspaper published in Ireland from 1949 until 1995. It was launched by Éamon de Valera's Irish Press group following the defeat of his Fianna Fáil party in the 1948 Irish general election. Like its sister n ...
'', and subsequently was editor of ''The Irish Times''. Tim Pat Coogan, who started working for the ''Evening Press'', became editor of ''The Irish Press'' from 1968 until 1987. Derry-born James Patrick (Jim) McGuinness, who was editor from 1953 until 1957, brought in journalists such as
Benedict Kiely
Benedict "Ben" Kiely (15 August 1919 – 9 February 2007) was an Irish writer and broadcaster from Omagh, County Tyrone.
Early life
Kiely was born near Dromore, County Tyrone and was a student at the Christian Brothers School in Omagh. In 1 ...
, Seán J. White, and also Brendan Behan as a columnist.
Others who have written for ''The Irish Press'' include the poet
Patrick Kavanagh
Patrick Kavanagh (21 October 1904 – 30 November 1967) was an Irish poet and novelist. His best-known works include the novel ''Tarry Flynn'', and the poems "On Raglan Road" and "The Great Hunger". He is known for his accounts of Irish life th ...
; the broadcaster and journalist Vincent Browne, who was Northern Editor from 1970 to 1972; Damien Kiberd who was business editor; his brother, Professor Declan Kiberd, was a columnist with ''The Irish Press'' from 1987 to 1993; the Catholic and feminist campaigner and journalist
Mary Kenny
Mary Kenny (born 4 April 1944) is an Irish journalist, broadcaster and playwright. A founding member of the Irish Women's Liberation Movement, she was one of the country's first and foremost feminists, often contributes columns to the ''Irish In ...
; sports writer and founder of GOAL
John O'Shea
John Francis O'Shea (; born 30 April 1981) is an Irish professional football coach and former player. He was known for his versatility in playing several positions on either side of the pitch or the centre.
Born in Waterford, O'Shea joined Man ...
; the novelist John Banville was Chief Sub-editor of the Irish Press - other sub-editors included the poet Hugh McFadden; the historian Dermot Keogh, and the Joycean critic Terence Killeen; T. P. O'Mahony (Religious Affairs Correspondent 1967–89); Maire Comerford; sports writer
Michael Carwood
Michael Carwood, was an Irish sports journalist, musician and songwriter.
Born in Dublin in 1948, he was educated at Dundrum National School and Oatlands College in Dublin.
In 1968, he started working for ''The Irish Press'', becoming a journa ...
; Breandán Ó hEithir (Irish Language editor 1957–1963); Dermot Walsh; Tom O'Dea (television critic 1965–1983); also the renowned sports writer Con Houlihan.
In its early days, it was circulated throughout Ireland by a specially rented train because the rival Independent Newspapers would not rent space on its train to ''The Irish Press''. It sustained itself with its own resources until the ''Sunday Press'' was founded in the 1940s. In its heyday, ''The Irish Press'' had a number of first-rate reporters and columnists. One notable section, ''New Irish Writing'' was edited by David Marcus.
Section 31 and the Troubles
In the 1970s, the
Minister for Posts and Telegraphs
The Minister for Posts and Telegraphs ( ga, Aire Poist agus Telegrafa) was the holder of a position in the Government of Ireland (and, earlier, in the Executive Council of the Irish Free State). From 1924 until 1984 – when it was abolished †...
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
. The ''Press'' editor, Tim Pat Coogan, published editorials attacking the Bill.
The Fine Gael/Labour Coalition Government tried to prosecute ''The Irish Press'' for its coverage of the maltreatment of republican prisoners by the Garda "Heavy Gang", with the paper winning the case.
Additional titles
Later, the ''Irish Press'' started two further newspapers, the ''Evening Press'' (1954), and the ''Sunday Press''. The ''Evening Press'' was aimed at an urban readership and achieved a daily circulation of 100,000. Terry O'Sullivan, the pen name of Tomas O'Faolain, father of writer and journalist Nuala O'Faolain, was provided with a car and driver and wrote a social column. The new newspapers subsidised ''The Irish Press'' when its circulation sagged. Its adoption of a tabloid format did not rescue its declining circulation.
Formerly one of the main daily newspapers in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, its business failure left the ground clear for its old rivals, ''
The Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
'' and the '' Irish Independent'', to dominate the daily market for some years until other competitors were introduced.
Digital archive
The newspaper is available online on
Irish Newspaper Archives
The Irish Newspaper Archives is a commercial online database of digitised Irish newspapers, and claims to be the world's oldest and largest archive of Irish newspapers.
Subscription-free access to the archive is available to users in Irish publi ...
.
Final days
The final issue of the ''Irish Press'' and ''Evening Press'' was on Thursday, 25 May 1995. The newspapers closed ostensibly because of a bizarre industrial dispute over the sacking of the group business editor, Colm Rapple, but in fact, the company was insolvent with accumulated losses of €19m and the company applied to liquidate with a few days of the dispute starting. The group had not been in a healthy financial state for several years. When it eventually closed, with indebtedness of £19 million, 600 people lost their jobs.
A relaunch in 1988 of the ''Irish Press'' as a tabloid did not help matters. In 1989, Ralph M. Ingersoll Jr. took a 50 percent stake in Irish Press Newspapers. Several efforts were made to relaunch the newspapers but these failed.
Independent Newspapers invested £1.1 million for a 24.9 percent stake in Irish Press Newspapers and had made loans of £2 million when the titles ceased publication. It recouped £1 million arising from a charge against a loan when the ''Irish Press'' office in
Burgh Quay
The Dublin quays () refers to the two roadways and quays that run along the north and south banks of the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland. The stretches of the two continuous streets have several different names. However, all but three of the ...
was sold in 1996.
The final editor from 1987 to 1995, Hugh Lambert died after a short illness on 26 December 2005.
Irish Press plc today
The company, Irish Press plc, remained in existence after cessation of printing of the main titles. Irish Press bought '' Thom's Directories'' for £355,000 in October 1999. The directors of the company are Éamon De Valera (grandson of the former Irish president that founded the newspaper) and Jimmy A. Lehenan. Vincent Jennings was Chairman 1992–2005. The company experienced mixed success with its ''Thom's Directory'' venture. Since getting out of the newspaper business, the company has struggled on occasion to produce profits.
The company entered voluntary liquidation in 2017 following the sale of all its remaining assets except Thoms Directory, which had ceased printing in 2012 and moved to an online directory format afterwards. No buyer was found for Thoms, which was then itself liquidated.
The Irish Press group sponsored a trophy for the
All-Ireland Minor Hurling Championship
The GAA Hurling All-Ireland Minor Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Electric Ireland GAA Hurling All-Ireland Minor Championship) is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). I ...