An authentic voice

In the centenary year of the infamous Church and Nation Committee report, it is deeply depressing that the Irish community in Scotland still struggles for official recognition.

As both a journalist and a writer, I have tried to address this issue.

My last non-fiction book was dedicated to the position of the Irish community in Scotland.

I also realised that the culture was an appropriate space for this narrative.

Consequently, my last two stage plays (Hame, Rebellion), which both premiered as part of the Saint Patrick’s festival in Glasgow (2015, 2016), viewed Fair Caledonia through the world view of Scotland’s own Irish.

I became aware that the Glasgow Irish were almost entirely invisible, especially in any positive way, in modern Scottish literature.

That’s why I introduced the character of Gerry O’Donnell in my debut novel (The Squad) in 2018 and the sequel (Native Shore) last year.

Getting anyone in Scotland to review the latter has been a scéal eile!

A community, especially one as officially ignored as the Irish in Scotland, needs to have its own space.

Last week I was in touch with the good people who run the Irish Voice.

This is their 10^th year in operation.

Here is what they recently sent me, and I’m happy to share it with you:

For the last ten years The Irish Voice has been offered to our community every month, totally for free. This has been thanks to the support of our advertisers and sponsors, and the value they see in being associated with our publication.

Run by a very small team, who all have other work commitments, the pressure involved in each edition is great, and we are only able to continue our work thanks to the crucial efforts of contributors, supporters and delivery drivers, who offer their services to us.

Having negotiated the difficult Covid years, and now continuing to publish through an uncertain business environment, The Irish Voice is now looking to the next ten years and beyond in order to safeguard our voice for the Irish community and continue to represent and celebrate our people.To do so we have turned to the wider Irish community for support for the first time.

In almost 120 editions we have published nearly 2000 pages of content, millions of words, thousands of pictures and over half a million individual copies of The Irish Voice. We have distributed these to every corner of Scotland, sent our newspaper to every county of Ireland and heard hundreds of happy stories of our editions being sent to readers’ families and friends around the world.

We have also been able to join other community organisations in the political representation of our community, forming relationships with, and giving platforms to, decision makers and stakeholders who can affect the key issues for the Irish in Scotland.

All of this has been done self-sufficiently, and with a commitment to always being free for outlets to stock and readers to enjoy.

However, we have now sought a target of £10,000 using the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe, and are approaching the half-way mark of our fundraising drive. This will allow us to target the following areas which require urgent financial attention:

• Overhaul our existing website and online offering
• Change the constitution of the company to allow funding applications to be made
• Develop our print edition with a new look for our second decade
• Invest in the equipment and software which needs renewal
• Settle the (small) bounceback loan amount remaining outstanding, which allowed us to continue through lockdown.

We have been fortunate enough not only to receive the support of individuals in the community making personal donations, but also more substantial contributions from community organisations and businesses owned by those in the Irish community.

These donations are having a huge impact as we mark our 10th anniversary, providing larger injections of cash which have allowed us already to meet some of our targets and moving us closer to our aim of reconstituting The Irish Voice and securing the long-term future of Scotland’s Irish community newspaper.

If you would be in a position to help with this fundraiser or have any other support or advice for the future of The Irish Voice we would be delighted to hear from you or to arrange a meeting.

Go raibh míle maith agat.

The Irish Voice Team.

 

Dear reader, I have donated, and I would please ask you to do the same if you can.

Here is the link.