As a youngster growing up in Liverpool, The Irish Post was one of three papers that my Mum and Dad brought into the house on a Sunday. These were The Irish Press (with it’s epic typographic errors) or The Irish Independent (depending on what was available), the Connacht Tribune to find out about fluctuations in the price of land back home and who my parents knew that had died and The Irish Post which made them feel connected to a wider diaspora in the UK.
They still purchase the paper on a regular basis, but that won’t be for much longer as what looks like the last issue is now on the shop shelves. I picked up my copy this morning which I usually skim to have something to talk about with my parents, alongside the Irish Times. According to the Irish Times, the paper went into liquidation on Friday, with administrators look to find a buyer or sell off the assets. The 10 editorial staff were let go with redundancy.
It is interesting that both online and offline staff were let go and that the web page did not carry the news of the paper’s demise.
If the paper was in your media buying mix or a PR target then it is worth noting that many of the readership will have moved on to The Irish World, The Irish Emigrant and Irish mainstream media. The bigger issue however for the ‘forgotten Irish‘ like peers of my parents who moved here in the 1950s and 1960s, the lack of a paper copy of the ‘Post leaves a gap that the web won’t fill. The ‘Post gave a sense of community and connection that Irish state broadcaster RTÉ had already eroded when it turned off it’s medium wave service.
More information
Another blow for TCH as ‘Irish Post’ closes with loss of 10 jobs – Irish Independent