Tuesday 15 January 2008

Keltalingvaj Ĵurnaloj


...de la blogo, From the Balcony, de Máirtín Ó Muilleoir:

I note that there's a new report out in Wales (where there are 500,000 Welsh speakers or 20 per cent of the population and where every child learns Welsh at school) saying the proposed new daily paper Y Byd is unviable. But on closer inspection, the report also says to move ahead to publication as long as the risks are managed. It also asks for €.41 grant per copy, over twice the sum received by Lá Nua.

Apparently, the author of the government-commissioned report, Tony Bianchi, uses our daily Irish language newspaper, Lá Nua (which now publishes 16 pages per day), as proof of that thesis.

However, as far as I can tell, Mr Bianchi never spoke to anyone from Lá Nua to determine why in fact the paper is viable (even though support from the local Executive ended in October 2007 when Michael McGimpsey, the health minister, withdrew his advertising — he was the only department using Lá Nua, a hangover from Bairbre de Brún's time) and has been coming out continuously since April 2003.

If I had a blade of grass for every 'unviable' Irish language project which I've seen blossom to success, I'd have the Argentinian Pampas in my back garden…

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