Bac ar mhaoiniú Lá curtha ó mhaith

Tá deireadh leis an bhac ar airgeadú oifig Lá i nGaeltacht Dhún na nGall. Dar leis an t-eagarthóir Lá, Ciarán Ó Pronntaigh: “Is cinnte gur imir an tacaíocht thréan ó go leor daoine – idir léitheoirí, ár mbraithre atá ag treabhadh i ngoirt na dteangacha mionlaigh i dtíortha eile agus eile – tionchar chun ár leasa ar an scéal seo – is mór againn bhur dtacaíocht”.Press Release from Lá

The Department of Finance in the North has lifted a six-month freeze on European funding for the daily Irish language newspaper Lá. The decision secures five jobs at the Donegal office and enables Lá to return to five-day-a-week publication.

Lá, the only daily newspaper in a Celtic language, opened its Gaeltacht office in June of last year but funding was delayed in August after UUP MP Sylvia Hermon raised qustions in the British Parliament about funding for the Andersonstown News Group.

At the time, she said: “It is absolutely outrageous that public money has been used to fund an avowedly republican newspaper group. This is totally unacceptable. For a start I am sure it is incompatible with European law which outlaws the state funding of newspapers.”

“This decision, which was approved by Finance Minister Ian Pearson, is great news for the Irish language community,” said Lá Managing Director Máirtín Ó Muilleoir. “Our thanks goes to the Irish language activists around the world who campaigned to have this freeze lifted. This is a first-class cross-border initiative bringing together hard-pressed communities in West Belfast and the Donegal Gaeltacht. This decision means we can now concentrate on producing a top quality daily newspaper”.

Additional note: Shares in the Lá newspaper are shared evenly between the Andersonstown News Group and 100 of the country’s top Irish language activists and organisations. The paper is legally constituted on a not-for-profit basis and is a sister paper of the Andersonstown News.