129-593: The Irish Writers Union ( Irish : Aontas Scríbhneoirí Éireann ), also known by its acronym , IWU , is a representative association devoted to furthering the professional interests and needs of writers in various media in Ireland. The Union is based in the building of the Irish Writers Centre (which it co-founded), in the centre of Dublin . The IWU is a member of the European Writers' Council (EWC) , which itself
258-540: A unique dialect of Irish developed before falling out of use in the early 20th century. With a writing system , Ogham , dating back to at least the 4th century AD, which was gradually replaced by Latin script since the 5th century AD, Irish has one of the oldest vernacular literatures in Western Europe . On the island, the language has three major dialects: Connacht , Munster and Ulster Irish . All three have distinctions in their speech and orthography . There
387-560: A 4.3% ABV version of the Draught, without the nitrogen; Kaliber, a low alcohol pale lager ; Guinness Bitter, a 4.4% bitter sold in a can with a widget ; and the 7.5% Guinness Foreign Extra Stout . Guinness stout is available in a number of variants and strengths, which include: In 2005, Guinness announced the Brewhouse Series, a limited-edition collection of draught stouts available for roughly six months each. There were three beers in
516-697: A bargaining chip during government formation in Northern Ireland, prompting protests from organisations and groups such as An Dream Dearg . Irish became an official language of the EU on 1 January 2007, meaning that MEPs with Irish fluency can now speak the language in the European Parliament and at committees, although in the case of the latter they have to give prior notice to a simultaneous interpreter in order to ensure that what they say can be interpreted into other languages. While an official language of
645-560: A better future for Ireland and all her citizens." The Strategy was produced on 21 December 2010 and will stay in action until 2030; it aims to target language vitality and revitalization of the Irish language. The 30-page document published by the Government of Ireland details the objectives it plans to work towards in an attempt to preserve and promote both the Irish language and the Gaeltacht. It
774-549: A centre for the Union either personally or in his political capacity, Harte presented him with a suggestion for a Writers' Centre. A large number of old Georgian houses were falling into disuse in the inner suburbs of Dublin; Harte suggested that Cronin petition that one of these be set aside as a centre for supporting and promoting Irish authors. Harte had heard about the Writers' Museum, directed by Matt McNulty; he went to McNulty asking about
903-472: A cultural and social force. Irish speakers often insisted on using the language in law courts (even when they knew English), and Irish was also common in commercial transactions. The language was heavily implicated in the "devotional revolution" which marked the standardisation of Catholic religious practice and was also widely used in a political context. Down to the time of the Great Famine and even afterwards,
1032-541: A degree course in the NUI federal system to pass the subject of Irish in the Leaving Certificate or GCE / GCSE examinations. Exemptions are made from this requirement for students who were born or completed primary education outside of Ireland, and students diagnosed with dyslexia . NUI Galway is required to appoint people who are competent in the Irish language, as long as they are also competent in all other aspects of
1161-460: A fully recognised EU language for the first time in the state's history. Before Irish became an official language it was afforded the status of treaty language and only the highest-level documents of the EU were made available in Irish. The Irish language was carried abroad in the modern period by a vast diaspora , chiefly to Great Britain and North America, but also to Australia , New Zealand and Argentina . The first large movements began in
1290-503: A joint statement, in which they opposed a 'no deal' Brexit scenario. Both organisations expressed their fears regarding such a scenario and provided the following reasons for doing so: Additionally, the joint statement placed emphasis on what was regarded as a historically intimiate relationship between the British and Irish literary communities, in particular, referencing the notion that there exists an "enduring popularity of Irish writers in
1419-467: A model contract for writers and advised authors in this regard, helping writers negotiate their contracts with publishers. To this day, this service remains central to the activities of the Union. There was a lack of clarity around copyright in Ireland in the 1980s, and in part due to the efforts of the Irish Writers Union, the situation was clarified in keeping with international best practice. At
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#17328805279511548-574: A paper suggested that within a generation, non-Gaeltacht habitual users of Irish might typically be members of an urban, middle class, and highly educated minority. Parliamentary legislation is supposed to be available in both Irish and English but is frequently only available in English. This is notwithstanding that Article 25.4 of the Constitution of Ireland requires that an "official translation" of any law in one official language be provided immediately in
1677-554: A pass in Leaving Certificate Irish or English, and receive lessons in Irish during their two years of training. Official documents of the Irish government must be published in both Irish and English or Irish alone (in accordance with the Official Languages Act 2003, enforced by An Coimisinéir Teanga , the Irish language ombudsman). The National University of Ireland requires all students wishing to embark on
1806-446: A preliminary social network of people who could be contacted. Names and contact details were obtained in a rather informal manner, often handwritten on spare scraps of paper. With his contact list completed, in the summer of 1986, Harte sent out a letter to all those on it, outlining the plans and objectives of the proposed union and asking the recipients if they were interested in joining. Most of those contacted expressed an interest. In
1935-565: A public discussion to discuss these concerns. However, Deane sent a late message stating his inability to participate. Eavan Boland , on the other hand, was in attendance, and she explicitly opined that she was "sorry to be included in an anthology which excludes women." In 1993, the Irish Writers Union affiliated to the trade union SIPTU, but maintained absolute independence in its internal operations. From 1987 onwards, Taoiseach Charles Haughey appointed writer Anthony Cronin as his advisor for Arts policy. Although Cronin had no money to finance
2064-611: A religious context. An Irish translation of the Old Testament by Leinsterman Muircheartach Ó Cíonga , commissioned by Bishop Bedell , was published after 1685 along with a translation of the New Testament. Otherwise, Anglicisation was seen as synonymous with 'civilising' the native Irish. Currently, modern day Irish speakers in the church are pushing for language revival. It has been estimated that there were around 800,000 monoglot Irish speakers in 1800, which dropped to 320,000 by
2193-488: A result of linguistic imperialism . Today, Irish is still commonly spoken as a first language in Ireland's Gaeltacht regions, in which 2% of Ireland's population lived in 2022. The total number of people (aged 3 and over) in Ireland who declared they could speak Irish in April 2022 was 1,873,997, representing 40% of respondents, but of these, 472,887 said they never spoke it and a further 551,993 said they only spoke it within
2322-415: A right in the interregnum. I have no doubt he has been in touch with the Irish Writers Union but no organisation can bind every writer to a particular agreement." In 2012, President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, attended the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Union. The Irish Writers Union was involved in the international 'Fairer Contracts' campaign in 2016. The campaign was officially established when
2451-650: A statement to the London Stock Exchange denying the report. In 2015, Diageo launched the Brewers Project, in an attempt to diversify the company's product range and expand into the craft beer industry which had become popular. Hop House 13 , a lager named after a store at the St James's Gate brewery extant in the early 20th century, was heavily promoted on YouTube and social media . St. James's Gate in Dublin
2580-537: A wider meaning, including the Gaelic of Scotland and the Isle of Man , as well as of Ireland. When required by the context, these are distinguished as Gaeilge na hAlban , Gaeilge Mhanann and Gaeilge na hÉireann respectively. In English (including Hiberno-English ), the language is usually referred to as Irish , as well as Gaelic and Irish Gaelic . The term Irish Gaelic may be seen when English speakers discuss
2709-567: A writers' advisory office, availing of the Social Employment Scheme. Harte employed a secretary and two workers in this office, one of whom, Joe Jackson, went on to become Ireland's first Writer-in-Residence. From the outset, the aim of the project Harte had in mind was to establish a writers' union and a centre for Irish writers. Still working from his base in Lucan, Harte employed the poet Padraig MacGrane to collect names of writers, setting up
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#17328805279512838-584: Is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family . It is a member of the Goidelic language group of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous to the island of Ireland . It was the majority of the population's first language until the 19th century, when English gradually became dominant, particularly in the last decades of the century, in what is sometimes characterised as
2967-499: Is a brewery founded in 1759 in Dublin , Ireland, by Arthur Guinness . The company is now a part of Diageo , a company formed from the merger of Guinness and Grand Metropolitan in 1997. The main product of the brewery is Draught Guinness . Originally leased in 1759 to Arthur Guinness at £45 per year for 9,000 years, the St. James's Gate area has been the home of Guinness ever since. It became
3096-751: Is a nominating body for a number of prestigious international writing awards and is frequently called upon to provide judges for national and international writing competitions. The Irish Writers Union appears in the 2014 novel, Temple Bar , published by the American University of Cairo Press. Documents relating to the Irish Writers' Union are stored in the archives of the National Library of Ireland . Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish : Gaeilge ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik ),
3225-645: Is a sales value threshold for full membership, with other eligible for associate membership. The National Executive Committee of the Union meets monthly throughout the majority of the year at 19 Parnell Square, Dublin City, and an AGM open to all members takes place annually in the same premises, usually in March. The association has a category or 'honorary life members', and holders of this status, past and present, include Michael D Higgins , William Trevor , Robert Greacen , Liam Mac Uistin, Benedict Kiely and Sam McAughtry . In
3354-448: Is also An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , a standardised written form devised by a parliamentary commission in the 1950s. The traditional Irish alphabet , a variant of the Latin alphabet with 18 letters , has been succeeded by the standard Latin alphabet (albeit with 7–8 letters used primarily in loanwords ). Irish has constitutional status as the national and first official language of
3483-511: Is divided into four separate phases with the intention of improving 9 main areas of action including: The general goal for this strategy was to increase the number of daily speakers from 83,000 to 250,000 by the end of its run. By 2022, the number of such speakers had fallen to 71,968. Before the partition of Ireland in 1921, Irish was recognised as a school subject and as "Celtic" in some third level institutions. Between 1921 and 1972, Northern Ireland had devolved government. During those years
3612-617: Is immensely influential in motivating writers to persevere in this precarious process.” In 2003, the then chairperson of the IWU, Conor Kostick , a historian based at Trinity College, Dublin (TCD) , founded the 'Writers Against the War' campaign in response to the outbreak of the Iraq War . In 2004, the Irish Writers Union launched the Jim Plunkett Memorial Award, with prize money being funded by
3741-402: Is no longer in effect because the brewery property has been bought out when it expanded beyond the original 4-acre site. Ten years after establishment, on 19 May 1769 Guinness exported his beer (he had ceased ale brewing by then) for the first time, when six and a half barrels were shipped to England. The business expanded by adopting steam power and further exporting to the English market. On
3870-490: Is obtained through the Irish Writers’ Union and not directly from individual authors. Some authors are not members of the Irish Writers’ Union and, in many cases, ICLA is granting licences and receiving royalties for the use of works without the specific authorisation of the rights holder." Following the revelation that eleven people who had earned over €1 million in 2001 paid no tax on these earnings as beneficiaries of
3999-567: Is only in Gaeltacht areas that Irish continues to be spoken as a community vernacular to some extent. According to data compiled by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht , Sport and Media , only 1/4 of households in Gaeltacht areas are fluent in Irish. The author of a detailed analysis of the survey, Donncha Ó hÉallaithe of the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology , described
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4128-412: Is still spoken daily to some extent as a first language . These regions are known individually and collectively as the Gaeltacht (plural Gaeltachtaí ). While the fluent Irish speakers of these areas, whose numbers have been estimated at 20–30,000, are a minority of the total number of fluent Irish speakers, they represent a higher concentration of Irish speakers than other parts of the country and it
4257-554: Is the largest federation worldwide that solely represents writers. The Irish Writers Union became an affiliate of the trade union SIPTU in 1993, but retained complete autonomy in the running of its own affairs. It is the only nominating body in Ireland for the Nobel Prize for Literature . The IWU is also a nominating body for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award . The Irish Copyright Licensing Agency (ICLA) also works with
4386-566: Is undertaking a "significant review of its operations". This review is largely due to the efforts of the company's ongoing drive to reduce the environmental impact of brewing at the St James's Gate plant. On 23 November 2007, an article appeared in the Evening Herald , a Dublin newspaper, stating that Dublin City Council , in the best interests of the city of Dublin, had put forward a motion to prevent planning permission ever being granted for
4515-659: The Fíor-Ghaeltacht (true Gaeltacht ), a term originally officially applied to areas where over 50% of the population spoke Irish. There are Gaeltacht regions in the following counties: Gweedore ( Gaoth Dobhair ), County Donegal, is the largest Gaeltacht parish in Ireland. Irish language summer colleges in the Gaeltacht are attended by tens of thousands of teenagers annually. Students live with Gaeltacht families, attend classes, participate in sports, go to céilithe and are obliged to speak Irish. All aspects of Irish culture and tradition are encouraged. The Act
4644-619: The Republic of Ireland , and is also an official language of Northern Ireland and among the official languages of the European Union . The public body Foras na Gaeilge is responsible for the promotion of the language throughout the island. Irish has no regulatory body but An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , the standard written form, is guided by a parliamentary service and new vocabulary by a voluntary committee with university input. In An Caighdeán Oifigiúil ("The Official [Written] Standard ")
4773-454: The reverse takeover of the leading Scotch whisky producer Distillers in 1986. Saunders was then asked to resign following revelations that the Guinness stock price had been illegally manipulated (see Guinness share-trading fraud ). In 1986, Guinness PLC was in the midst of a bidding war for the much larger Distillers Company. In the closing stages, Guinness' stock rose 25 per cent — which
4902-410: The "Home of Guinness", is Dublin's most popular tourist attraction . A converted brewing factory, it is now a Guinness museum, incorporating elements from the old brewing factory to explain the history of its production. Some of the old brewing equipment is on show, as well as stout ingredients, brewing techniques, advertising methods and storage devices. The exhibition takes place over seven floors, in
5031-611: The 17th century, largely as a result of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland , which saw many Irish sent to the West Indies . Irish emigration to the United States was well established by the 18th century, and was reinforced in the 1840s by thousands fleeing from the Famine . This flight also affected Britain. Up until that time most emigrants spoke Irish as their first language, though English
5160-719: The 1998 Good Friday Agreement , the language gradually received a degree of formal recognition in Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom, and then, in 2003, by the British government's ratification in respect of the language of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . In the 2006 St Andrews Agreement the British government promised to enact legislation to promote the language and in 2022 it approved legislation to recognise Irish as an official language alongside English. The bill received royal assent on 6 December 2022. The Irish language has often been used as
5289-403: The 6th century, used the Latin alphabet and is attested primarily in marginalia to Latin manuscripts. During this time, the Irish language absorbed some Latin words, some via Old Welsh , including ecclesiastical terms : examples are easpag (bishop) from episcopus , and Domhnach (Sunday, from dominica ). By the 10th century, Old Irish had evolved into Middle Irish , which
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5418-695: The 8th European Writers Congress, held in Madrid, Spain during May 1987, the Irish Writers Union and the Society of Irish Playrights jointly proposed a motion, which passed unanimously. The motion declared "that, in view of the disturbing efforts at present being made to erode the freedom of artistic expression in many countries, including Great Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, and Ireland, this Congress condemns all forms of artistic censorship, and urges all governments to rescind any legislation which infringes
5547-563: The Act all detailing different aspects of the use of Irish in official documentation and communication. Included in these sections are subjects such as Irish language use in official courts, official publications, and placenames. The Act was recently amended in December 2019 in order to strengthen the already preexisting legislation. All changes made took into account data collected from online surveys and written submissions. The Official Languages Scheme
5676-659: The Arts (BIA) Stakeholder Forum, which occurred in December 2021. In 2022, the Irish Writers Union became a participating organisation in the Pilot Scheme for the BIA. In a 2022 interview, the IWU was one of several organisations praised by Irish novelist, Gráinne Murphy, in its initiatives pertaining to supporting writers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In February 2023, the Irish Times reported that
5805-539: The Censorship of Publications Act, 1967 whereby the previously permanent ban on a given work was replaced by a twelve-year ban (and later a five-year ban), this did little to assist the distribution of short-lived works. In the 1980s a new Censorship of Publications Board composed of a body of retired judges started banning books afresh, among them works by Angela Carter ; Alex Comfort 's 'The Joy of Sex'; and various academic volumes dealing with erotic Classical art. The ban
5934-619: The Digital Single Market. Amid the COVID-19 crisis in 2020, Irish libraries, publishers, and authors reached an agreement to coordinate a number of 'virtual storytimes' in response to the closure of libraries. Educators throughout Ireland live-streamed or uploaded storytime activities on social media platforms, ensuring that the recordings continued to be accessible online after the closure of libraries. As part of their yearly 'Spring into Storytime' promotion, libraries included it to showcase
6063-631: The European Court of Justice for failure to implement a PLR system. It declared that Ireland breached the Lending Rights Directive 1992 by exempting all public libraries from PLR in the Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000. One of the central concerns for the IWU was that funding of Irish PLR came directly from the Exchequer and not from public libraries' budgets and the IWU welcomed the fact that
6192-463: The European Union , only co-decision regulations were available until 2022, due to a five-year derogation, requested by the Irish Government when negotiating the language's new official status. The Irish government had committed itself to train the necessary number of translators and interpreters and to bear the related costs. This derogation ultimately came to an end on 1 January 2022, making Irish
6321-595: The IWU criticised the perceived absence of advisory input from writers' organisations regarding the scheme's conception and execution. Nevertheless, it recognised that the Irish PLR scheme was, it believed, a comparatively equitable mechanism that did not excessively favour best-selling authors. The Irish Writers Union was also a participant in the Minister Catherine Martin's Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media's Basic Income for
6450-451: The IWU. Full membership of the IWU is open to those who have had a novel, non-fiction book or volume of poetry published in print, a play performed publicly, or any equivalent achievement in the literary arts; associate membership is open to others ("established, struggling or forever hopeful") who satisfy the Union's governing committee that they are actively engaged in writing. For e-book authors, including those who are self-published, there
6579-519: The Irish Copyright Licensing Agency (ICLA). Former Northern Ireland based broadcaster and Senator, Sam McAughtry , was the subject of a feature documentary on BBC Northern Ireland in 2006, which referenced his approximately twenty year long involvement in the Irish Writers Union. From 1995, the Irish Writers Union campaigned for the introduction of a Public Lending Rights (PLR) scheme in Ireland. Morgan Llewelyn , then chairperson of
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#17328805279516708-683: The Irish Playwrights and Screenwriters Guild), for instance, being based at the Irish Film Institute on Eustace Street in Temple Bar . The renovation of the premises on Parnell Square was funded by a £100,000 grant from the Irish Lottery. In 2000, then Minister of State, Tom Kitt , declared that the Irish Copyright Licensing Agency (ICLA) possessed concerns regarding Section 166 of the Copyright and Related Rights Bill, 1999, which dealt with
6837-455: The Irish Writers Union from 1988-1990. In 1991, only eight days following the release of 'Field Day Anthology,' by Seamus Deane , strong complaints to the anthology's absence of numerous women authors, and of essential works of Irish feminism, were raised by Nuala O'Faolain in an interview with Deane on the RTÉ television show 'Bookline.' After a span of three months, the Irish Writers' Union arranged
6966-464: The Irish Writers' Union, said that she was taken aback by the government's early reaction, allegedly stalling action. However, she stressed that Irish authors were not seeking a substantial financial reward. A spokesperson from the Department of Arts, Culture, and the Gaeltacht had acknowledged the department's particular concern for authors' rights, but chose to withhold their opinion on the topic until it
7095-530: The Irish Writers’ Union had issued proposed pay scales to address low pay in the publishing industry. In June 2023, the Irish Writers Union, along with the Screen Directors Guild, the Writers Guild of Ireland (WGI), Irish Equity and Screen Composers of Ireland, supported the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike , which delayed the production of several Hollywood movies. As of 2023, Lindsay J. Sedgwick
7224-536: The Irish language policy followed by Irish governments as a "complete and absolute disaster". The Irish Times , referring to his analysis published in the Irish language newspaper Foinse , quoted him as follows: "It is an absolute indictment of successive Irish Governments that at the foundation of the Irish State there were 250,000 fluent Irish speakers living in Irish-speaking or semi Irish-speaking areas, but
7353-548: The James Joyce Centre for member James Plunkett . The inaugural chairperson of the Irish Writers Union was Jack Harte . Among the former chairpersons of the IWU are the writer Eilís Dillon , who also was a niece of the poet and 1916 Easter Rising leader, Joseph Plunkett . Morgan Llywelyn , Helena Sheehan and Conor Kostick have also served as chairpersons of the Irish Writers Union. Additional individuals to have served as chairpersons include Anthony P. Quinn, known as
7482-597: The Republic of Ireland ), new appointees to the Civil Service of the Republic of Ireland , including postal workers , tax collectors , agricultural inspectors, Garda Síochána (police), etc., were required to have some proficiency in Irish. By law, a Garda who was addressed in Irish had to respond in Irish as well. In 1974, in part through the actions of protest organisations like the Language Freedom Movement ,
7611-633: The Society of Authors, with the assistance of ALCS and other organisations, sent a formal open letter to publishers as part of a global collaborative effort to address creative contracts. The communication, which was sent to members of the Publishers' Association and the Independent Publishers' Guild, urged publishers to adhere to the principles of C.R.E.A.T.O.R, a set of guidelines involving seven crucial aspects aimed at ensuring balanced agreements. These components included transparency, equitable compensation, and reversion conditions that enabled writers to fully use their literary creations. The message also discussed
7740-440: The U.K. and vice versa," and that the two industries are "inextricably aligned, sharing the same VAT rates, Nielsen consumer data, territorial rights and Legal Deposit scheme." In October 2019, the Irish Writers Union made a submission to the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation on the transposition of EU Directive 2019/790 into Irish law. It also commended the passage of this Directive on copyright and related rights in
7869-450: The Union claimed that the average rate of €0.04 per borrowing from public libraries in Ireland was “too low” and that "it is approaching a level where the scheme in Ireland will be considered derisory and therefore in violation of the EU directive.” According to The Times , the Irish Writers Union was critical of the fact that authors were remunerated a median of €32 for the borrowing of their works from local libraries in Ireland, as part of
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#17328805279517998-411: The alleged disparity in the handling of writers who have literary representatives and those who do not. The International Authors Forum presented the '10 Principles for Fair Contracts' document to align with the letter. According to Europa in Versi , Helen Soraghan Dwyer was chairperson of the Irish Writers Union in 2017. In 2018, the UK based, Society of Authors , and the Irish Writers Union released
8127-453: The author of Credit Unions in Ireland , and Wigs and Guns: Irish Barristers in the Great War, as well as Anthony Roche, author of Bearing Witness: Essays on Anglo-Irish Literature . The screenwriter, playright, and children's author, Lindsay J. Sedgwick , was serving as chairperson by 2023. The foundations for the Irish Writers Union were laid in 1985 when Jack Harte , at that time principal of Lucan Vocational School, County Dublin, set up
8256-443: The autumn of 1986, approximately 120 members-to-be met up in Buswell's Hotel, Kildare Street, Dublin City, to hammer out the constitution of a writers' union. Over a three-hour meeting, from three to six o'clock on a Saturday afternoon, a 65-clause constitution was arrived at. The Irish Writers Union was launched on 15 December 1987 at the Guinness Brewery, Dublin City , with its constitution already in effect as of 1 January 1987. Harte
8385-577: The beginning of the following academic year. For a number of years there has been vigorous debate in political, academic and other circles about the failure of most students in English-medium schools to achieve competence in Irish, even after fourteen years of teaching as one of the three main subjects. The concomitant decline in the number of traditional native speakers has also been a cause of great concern. In 2007, filmmaker Manchán Magan found few Irish speakers in Dublin , and faced incredulity when trying to get by speaking only Irish in Dublin. He
8514-429: The brewery. The Guinness brewery in Park Royal , London closed in 2005. The production of all Guinness sold in the UK and Ireland was switched to St. James's Gate Brewery Dublin. In 2018, Guinness opened its first brewery in 64 years in the United States, in Baltimore, Maryland. The last Guinness brewery in the US closed in 1954. This US location will focus on "special news" and Guinness Blonde American Lager, but not
8643-403: The brewery. The brewery had its own power plant. There is an attached exhibition on the 250-year-old history of Guinness, called the Guinness Storehouse . Arthur Guinness started brewing ales in Leixlip , County Kildare , and then from 1759 at the St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin . On 31 December he signed a 9,000-year lease at £45 per annum for the unused brewery. However, the lease
8772-480: The certification of licensing schemes. Kitt stated in an Oireachtas debate that "the ICLA is concerned it may not be capable of being certified as it may not, in its opinion, be able to satisfy the requirements contained in section 166(2)(a), that is, that the works to which its licences refer can be identified with sufficient particularity. This is because, as far as authors are concerned, the authorisation to collect and administer royalties on behalf of its rights holders
8901-403: The classic stout, which will still only be brewed in Dublin. According to a Diageo publication in 2019, the St James' Gate brewery was then operating at over 90 percent capacity and one of the "most profitable breweries in the world". The main product is Guinness Draught , a 4.2% ABV dry stout that is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide. For many years a portion of the drink
9030-463: The controversial tax exemption scheme for artists, the incumbent Government of the period promised a review. However, the Irish Writers Union asserted in a submission that the majority of writers and artists "earning a pittance" depended on the scheme. According to Peter McKimm, then chairperson of the IWU, the tax exemption primarily supported and motivated novice writers to maintain their professional trajectories. The IWU emphasises in their submission to
9159-430: The creations of Irish writers and promote family reading. An agreement was reached between a consortium of Irish publishers and the Irish Writers Union to fortuitously dismiss licencing payments for the internet-based reading of certain works. Lissa Oliver, then chair of the Irish Writers Union, commented on the ongoing attempts to ensure that young people may be engaged while safeguarding the copyright of writers. In 2021,
9288-531: The current brewery to meet the lower cost of building a new one had passed. The following day, the Irish Daily Mail ran a follow-up story with a double-page spread complete with images and a history of the plant since 1759. Initially, Diageo said that talk of a move was pure speculation but in the face of mounting speculation in the wake of the Sunday Independent article, the company confirmed that it
9417-431: The death of Benjamin Guinness in 1868 the business was worth over £1 million, and the brewery site had grown from about 1 acre to over 64 acres. In 1886 his son Edward sold 65 per cent of the business by a public offering on the London Stock Exchange for £6 million. The company pioneered several quality control efforts. The brewery hired the statistician William Sealy Gosset in 1899, who achieved lasting fame under
9546-449: The development of the site thus making it very difficult for Diageo to sell off the site for residential development. On 9 May 2008, Diageo announced that the St James's Gate brewery will remain open and undergo renovations, but that breweries in Kilkenny and Dundalk will be closed by 2013 when a new larger brewery is opened near Dublin. The result will be a loss of roughly 250 jobs across
9675-445: The early 1990s, following her relocation to Co. Cork , Astride Ivaska became active in the Irish Writers Union. During this period, Eithne Strong and Gabriel Rosenstock were likewise associated with the organisation. Leland Bardwell , Seamus Deane and Sebastian Barry were also involved in the Irish Writers Union at the turn of the 21st century. Sam McAughtry, as well as the author and playright Miriam Gallagher , also served on
9804-713: The education system. Linguistic analyses of Irish speakers are therefore based primarily on the number of daily users in Ireland outside the education system, which in 2022 was 20,261 in the Gaeltacht and 51,707 outside it, totalling 71,968. In response to the 2021 census of Northern Ireland , 43,557 individuals stated they spoke Irish on a daily basis, 26,286 spoke it on a weekly basis, 47,153 spoke it less often than weekly, and 9,758 said they could speak Irish, but never spoke it. From 2006 to 2008, over 22,000 Irish Americans reported speaking Irish as their first language at home, with several times that number claiming "some knowledge" of
9933-468: The end of the famine, and under 17,000 by 1911. Irish is recognised by the Constitution of Ireland as the national and first official language of Republic of Ireland (English being the other official language). Despite this, almost all government business and legislative debate is conducted in English. In 1938, the founder of Conradh na Gaeilge (Gaelic League), Douglas Hyde , was inaugurated as
10062-535: The entire Diageo/Guinness workforce in Ireland. Two days later, the Sunday Independent again reported that Diageo chiefs had met with Tánaiste Mary Coughlan , the deputy leader of the Government of Ireland, about moving operations to Ireland from the UK to benefit from its lower corporation tax rates. Several UK firms have made the move to pay Ireland's 12.5 per cent rate rather than the UK's 28 per cent rate. Diageo released
10191-585: The executive committee. Another notable member was Ann Henning Jocelyn, Countess of Roden . Richard Pine has served as honorary secretary. As per the organisation's website, the Irish novelist, Edna O'Brien , a member, was twice the IWU nominee for the Nobel Prize for Literature. According to an issue of the Irish Literary Supplement , the Irish Writers Union hosted an 80th birthday celebration in May 2000 at
10320-545: The first President of Ireland . The record of his delivering his inaugural Declaration of Office in Roscommon Irish is one of only a few recordings of that dialect. In the 2016 census, 10.5% of respondents stated that they spoke Irish, either daily or weekly, while over 70,000 people (4.2%) speak it as a habitual daily means of communication. From the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922 (see History of
10449-404: The government that a writer's formative years are typically devoted to writing, followed by obtaining an initial publication followed by additional work with the expectation of publication. They declared to then Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen , that “this period requires an enormous investment of a writer’s time over many years, with very little or no income being generated from writing. Even for
10578-471: The government-funded programme. While eight writers earned the highest potential remuneration of €1,000, the remainder received compensation ranging from €10 to €50 for the public lending of their texts. Irish authors were allocated less than €21,700 out of the €200,000 limit, while British authors obtained the majority of the funds. In Britain, creators were able to earn nearly eight times the maximum set in Ireland, which amounted to £6,600 (€7,718). Additionally,
10707-541: The grounds of performing a reading from his poetry, Comfort felt able to accept an invitation to appear at Buswell's Hotel, an event at which Comfort's views as a medical doctor and scientist on the importance of being able to write about sexual matters were aired. Such acts as these chipped away at the authority of the Censorship Board and when its five-year ban expired, 'The Joy of Sex' duly appeared on Irish bookshop shelves. Richard Pine served as honorary secretary of
10836-698: The language family, is derived from the Old Irish term. Endonyms of the language in the various modern Irish dialects include: Gaeilge [ˈɡeːlʲɟə] in Galway, Gaeilg / Gaeilic / Gaeilig [ˈɡeːlʲəc] in Mayo and Ulster , Gaelainn / Gaoluinn [ˈɡeːl̪ˠən̠ʲ] in West/Cork, Kerry Munster , as well as Gaedhealaing in mid and East Kerry/Cork and Waterford Munster to reflect local pronunciation. Gaeilge also has
10965-410: The language was in use by all classes, Irish being an urban as well as a rural language. This linguistic dynamism was reflected in the efforts of certain public intellectuals to counter the decline of the language. At the end of the 19th century, they launched the Gaelic revival in an attempt to encourage the learning and use of Irish, although few adult learners mastered the language. The vehicle of
11094-472: The language. For most of recorded Irish history , Irish was the dominant language of the Irish people , who took it with them to other regions , such as Scotland and the Isle of Man , where Middle Irish gave rise to Scottish Gaelic and Manx . It was also, for a period, spoken widely across Canada , with an estimated 200,000–250,000 daily Canadian speakers of Irish in 1890. On the island of Newfoundland ,
11223-489: The largest brewery in Ireland in 1838, and the largest in the world by 1886, with an annual output of 1.2 million barrels. Although no longer the largest brewery in the world, it remains as the largest brewer of stout . The company has since bought out the originally leased property, and during the 19th and early 20th centuries, the brewery owned most of the buildings in the surrounding area, including many streets of housing for brewery employees, and offices associated with
11352-563: The mid-18th century, English was becoming a language of the Catholic middle class, the Catholic Church and public intellectuals, especially in the east of the country. Increasingly, as the value of English became apparent, parents sanctioned the prohibition of Irish in schools. Increasing interest in emigrating to the United States and Canada was also a driver, as fluency in English allowed
11481-771: The name of the language is Gaeilge , from the South Connacht form, spelled Gaedhilge prior the spelling reform of 1948, which was originally the genitive of Gaedhealg , the form used in Classical Gaelic . The modern spelling results from the deletion of the silent ⟨dh⟩ in Gaedhilge . Older spellings include Gaoidhealg [ˈɡeːʝəlˠəɡ] in Classical Gaelic and Goídelc [ˈɡoiðʲelɡ] in Old Irish . Goidelic , used to refer to
11610-463: The new immigrants to get jobs in areas other than farming. An estimated one quarter to one third of US immigrants during the Great Famine were Irish speakers. Irish was not marginal to Ireland's modernisation in the 19th century, as is often assumed. In the first half of the century there were still around three million people for whom Irish was the primary language, and their numbers alone made them
11739-689: The novel banned in Ireland. They were joined by Steve McDonagh, then president of the Irish Publishers Association (known as Clé) in supporting the novel's author, fiction writer Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie , as well as bookshops, against physical intimidation. The censorious attitude of the Irish state towards a wide variety of publications and movies was a very restrictive one through much of the mid-twentieth century; many books now considered central to Ireland's literary heritage, such as James Joyce 's Ulysses , were banned from sale or distribution in Ireland. Although Brian Lenihan Snr introduced
11868-639: The number now is between 20,000 and 30,000." In the 1920s, when the Irish Free State was founded, Irish was still a vernacular in some western coastal areas. In the 1930s, areas where more than 25% of the population spoke Irish were classified as Gaeltacht . Today, the strongest Gaeltacht areas, numerically and socially, are those of South Connemara , the west of the Dingle Peninsula , and northwest Donegal, where many residents still use Irish as their primary language. These areas are often referred to as
11997-593: The online publications that have published them remove their names or take down the stories. Because in Gaza, people are terrified that they or their families will be the next to die." The IWU presents the annual Irish Writers Union Poetry Award. It also awards bursaries, according to Writing.ie . The Union is involved in literary events through the European Writers' Council , and maintains links with other literary bodies throughout Europe. Its members frequently take part in literary festivals in various European countries. The IWU
12126-504: The only other partners outside of the Guinness family were members of the Purser family, who shared control of the brewery throughout most of the nineteenth century. He, his son Rupert and great-grandson Benjamin , the second and third Earls, chaired the Guinness company until the third earl's death in 1992. There are no longer any members of the Guinness family on the board. On 17 June 2007, The Sunday Independent first reported that Diageo
12255-436: The original Arthur Guinness, Sir Benjamin Guinness , was a Lord Mayor of Dublin and was created a baronet in 1867, only to die the next year. His eldest son Arthur , Baron Ardilaun (1840–1915), sold control of the brewery to Sir Benjamin's third son Edward (1847–1927), who was created Lord Iveagh in 1891 and Earl of Iveagh in 1919. Edward Guinness launched the company on the London Stock Exchange in 1886. Up until then,
12384-498: The other official language, if not already passed in both official languages. In November 2016, RTÉ reported that over 2.3 million people worldwide were learning Irish through the Duolingo app. Irish president Michael D. Higgins officially honoured several volunteer translators for developing the Irish edition, and said the push for Irish language rights remains an "unfinished project". There are rural areas of Ireland where Irish
12513-539: The political party holding power in the Stormont Parliament , the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), was hostile to the language. The context of this hostility was the use of the language by nationalists. In broadcasting, there was an exclusion on the reporting of minority cultural issues, and Irish was excluded from radio and television for almost the first fifty years of the previous devolved government. After
12642-544: The possibility of establishing a writers' centre. McNulty provided premises for this purpose at 19 Parnell Square. The Irish Writers Centre was founded in 1991, it is Ireland's national resource centre for writers. The Writers Centre was intended initially as a general Arts Centre. All related writers' support groups were directly involved and represented at this address, including those working with playwrights, children's writers and translators. Since then, there has been some dispersal of these roles, with playwrights (represented by
12771-424: The pseudonym "Student" for techniques developed for Guinness, particularly Student's t-distribution and the even more commonly known Student's t-test . Because of the Irish Free State 's "Control of Manufactures Act" in 1932, the company moved its headquarters to London later that year. Guinness brewed its last porter in 1974. In 1983, a non-family chief executive Ernest Saunders was appointed and arranged
12900-458: The public revelation that the family of W. B. Yeats was to be deprived of all copyright and royalty fees for his works due to this provision. Also in 1989, the Irish Writers Union accused sections of the Muslim community in Ireland of "hysteria" in their reaction to the publication of the controversial novel ' The Satanic Verses .' Representatives from the IWU criticised the group for attempting to have
13029-487: The relationship between the three Goidelic languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx). Gaelic is a collective term for the Goidelic languages, and when the context is clear it may be used without qualification to refer to each language individually. When the context is specific but unclear, the term may be qualified, as Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic or Manx Gaelic. Historically the name "Erse" ( / ɜːr s / URS )
13158-432: The requirement for entrance to the public service was changed to proficiency in just one official language. Nevertheless, Irish remains a required subject of study in all schools in the Republic of Ireland that receive public money (see Education in the Republic of Ireland ). Teachers in primary schools must also pass a compulsory examination called Scrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge . As of 2005, Garda Síochána recruits need
13287-625: The revival was the Gaelic League ( Conradh na Gaeilge ), and particular emphasis was placed on the folk tradition, which in Irish is particularly rich. Efforts were also made to develop journalism and a modern literature. Although it has been noted that the Catholic Church played a role in the decline of the Irish language before the Gaelic Revival, the Protestant Church of Ireland also made only minor efforts to encourage use of Irish in
13416-569: The right to freedom of artistic expression." The IWU's office at this time is described as being located at the Irish Transport & General Workers Union (IT&GWU) headquarters at Liberty Hall, Dublin 1 . In 1989, the Irish Writers Union called for the Government to change the law which allowed publishers to sell works over fifty years old without needing to pay 10-20% in royalties to their creators. The union asserted that this provision discriminated heavily against writers. This arose following
13545-555: The scheme was in fact introduced on this basis. At the Report and Final Stages debate of the Copyright and Related Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2007, then Senator Alex White opined that "the Minister of State ( Michael Ahern ) has not, however, dealt with the possibility of a limbo situation arising. The only reassurance he offers the House is that he thinks it unlikely that authors would seek to exercise
13674-699: The series: Despite an announcement in June 2007 that the fourth Brewhouse stout would be launched in October that year, no new beer appeared and, at the end of 2007, the Brewhouse series appeared to have been quietly cancelled. Withdrawn Guinness variants include Guinness's Brite Lager, Guinness's Brite Ale, Guinness Light, Guinness XXX Extra Strong Stout, Guinness Cream Stout, Guinness Gold, Guinness Pilsner, Guinness Breó (a slightly citrusy wheat beer), Guinness Shandy, and Guinness Special Light. Breó (meaning 'glow' in ancient Irish)
13803-454: The shape of a 14 million-pint glass of Guinness. The final floor is the Gravity Bar, which has an almost 360° panorama over the city, where visitors can claim a pint of "the black stuff". The storehouse is where they used to add the yeast to the beer for fermentation. Guinness Storehouse visitors do not get to see the beer being brewed in front of them, but from various vantage points in
13932-466: The successful writer, income is frequently sporadic, with many intervening lean years." In addition, they emphasised that the "fragility" inherent in the art of writing could not be accounted for in a "number-crunching exercise." McKimm elaborated by stating that “too many are one-book writers, while others have to struggle to achieve a modicum of success without any guarantee that they will, after years of work, write any more successful works. A tax exemption
14061-658: The vacancy to which they are appointed. This requirement is laid down by the University College Galway Act, 1929 (Section 3). In 2016, the university faced controversy when it announced the planned appointment of a president who did not speak Irish. Misneach staged protests against this decision. The following year the university announced that Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh , a fluent Irish speaker, would be its 13th president. He assumed office in January 2018; in June 2024, he announced he would be stepping down as president at
14190-525: The war as of 11 January 2024, included 13 Palestinian poets and 68 journalists. These deaths were publicly reported because their names are known through the poets’ publications and through the journalists’ writing for news outlets" and that "among those killed are the next generation of Palestinian writers. One US-based WANN mentor reported that two of her mentees asked, after a poet was detained and beaten, and multiple WANN writers killed, that their names on essays posted on WANN’s website be removed. Also that all
14319-594: The work of such writers as Geoffrey Keating , is said to date from the 17th century, and was the medium of popular literature from that time on. From the 18th century on, the language lost ground in the east of the country. The reasons behind this shift were complex but came down to a number of factors: The change was characterised by diglossia (two languages being used by the same community in different social and economic situations) and transitional bilingualism (monoglot Irish-speaking grandparents with bilingual children and monoglot English-speaking grandchildren). By
14448-408: Was Philip Casey . Influential figures such as Celia de Freine , Liz MacManus , Eilis Ní Dhuibhne , Sam McAughtry and Michael D. Higgins assisted in the establishment of the Irish Writers Union. Among the issues facing the union was the question of the practical management of authors' rights, and the relative positions of authors and publishers. From its early years, the IWU supported the idea of
14577-422: Was a wheat beer; it cost around 5 million Irish pounds to develop. For a short time in the late 1990s, Guinness produced the "St James's Gate" range of craft-style beers, available in a small number of Dublin pubs. The beers were: Pilsner Gold, Wicked Red Ale, Wildcat Wheat Beer and Dark Angel Lager. A brewing byproduct of Guinness, Guinness Yeast Extract (GYE), was produced until the 1950s. A grandson of
14706-426: Was aged to give a sharp lactic flavour, although Guinness has refused to confirm whether this still occurs. The thick creamy head is the result of the beer being mixed with nitrogen when being poured. It is popular with Irish people both in Ireland and abroad and is the best-selling alcoholic drink in Ireland where Guinness & Co. makes almost €2 billion annually. The brewery also produces Guinness Original ,
14835-523: Was also sometimes used in Scots and then in English to refer to Irish; as well as Scottish Gaelic. Written Irish is first attested in Ogham inscriptions from the 4th century AD, a stage of the language known as Primitive Irish . These writings have been found throughout Ireland and the west coast of Great Britain. Primitive Irish underwent a change into Old Irish through the 5th century. Old Irish, dating from
14964-495: Was chair of the Irish Writers Union. In September 2023, the Irish Writers Union and Fórsa participated in a counter-rally against a far-right group at libraries in Cork City, expressing support for library workers. In January 2024, the Irish Writers Union released a statement, condemning the harm suffered by poets, journalists and writers in the ongoing Israel-Hamas War . It stated that "the 23,000 Palestinians reported killed in
15093-466: Was considering selling most of the St. James's Gate Brewery to take advantage of high property prices in Ireland. The story was widely picked up by both national and international media organisations, but the proposal to build a new Dublin brewery at Leixlip on land belonging to Desmond Guinness was cancelled by the end of 2008. By then Irish property prices had dropped, and so the possibility of selling much of
15222-590: Was enacted 1 July 2019 and is an 18-page document that adheres to the guidelines of the Official Languages Act 2003 . The purpose of the Scheme is to provide services through the mediums of Irish and/or English. According to the Department of the Taoiseach, it is meant to "develop a sustainable economy and a successful society, to pursue Ireland's interests abroad, to implement the Government's Programme and to build
15351-511: Was establishing itself as the primary language. Irish speakers had first arrived in Australia in the late 18th century as convicts and soldiers, and many Irish-speaking settlers followed, particularly in the 1860s. New Zealand also received some of this influx. Argentina was the only non-English-speaking country to receive large numbers of Irish emigrants, and there were few Irish speakers among them. Guinness Brewery St. James's Gate Brewery
15480-445: Was involved in half of the purchases. Two of Guinness' directors signed under-the-table agreements in which Bank Leu subsidiaries in Zug and Lucerne bought 41 million Guinness shares. Guinness secretly promised to redeem the shares at cost, including commissions. To fulfil its end of the bargain, Guinness deposited $ 76 million with Bank Leu's Luxembourg subsidiary. As Distillers
15609-456: Was its first chairperson, a post he was to retain for three years. At the time of its foundation, the Irish Press wrote that "the Irish Writers Union, which aims to establish creative writing as a working profession, will negotiate on behalf of members for better contracts, better working conditions and more pay." Several prominent founder members were also members of Aosdána ; one founder member
15738-465: Was passed 14 July 2003 with the main purpose of improving the number and quality of public services delivered in Irish by the government and other public bodies. Compliance with the Act is monitored by the An Coimisinéir Teanga (Irish Language Commissioner) which was established in 2004 and any complaints or concerns pertaining to the Act are brought to them. There are 35 sections included in
15867-680: Was presented to the Cabinet for consideration. The Union continued to lobby throughout the early years of the twenty-first century for a Public Lending Rights scheme, in this the IWU worked closely with the European Writers Congress (EWC) and the Irish Copyright Licensing Agency (ICLA). Such a scheme came into effect with the Copyright Bill 2007, on 28 November 2007 after the European Commission had taken legal action against Ireland in
15996-678: Was spoken throughout Ireland, Isle of Man and parts of Scotland . It is the language of a large corpus of literature, including the Ulster Cycle . From the 12th century, Middle Irish began to evolve into modern Irish in Ireland, into Scottish Gaelic in Scotland, and into the Manx language in the Isle of Man . Early Modern Irish , dating from the 13th century, was the basis of the literary language of both Ireland and Gaelic-speaking Scotland. Modern Irish, sometimes called Late Modern Irish, as attested in
16125-507: Was traditionally the main starting point for Irish pilgrims to begin their journey on the Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James). The pilgrims' passports were stamped here before setting sail, usually for A Coruña , north of Santiago. It is still possible for Irish pilgrims to get these traditional documents stamped both at Guinness Storehouse and St James' Church , and many do, while on their way to Santiago de Compostela . Guinness Storehouse,
16254-442: Was unable to accomplish some everyday tasks, as portrayed in his documentary No Béarla . There is, however, a growing body of Irish speakers in urban areas, particularly in Dublin. Many have been educated in schools in which Irish is the language of instruction. Such schools are known as Gaelscoileanna at primary level. These Irish-medium schools report some better outcomes for students than English-medium schools. In 2009,
16383-443: Was unusual, since the stock of the acquiring company usually falls in a takeover situation. Guinness paid several people and institutions , most notably American arbitrageur Ivan Boesky , about US$ 38 million to buy US$ 300 million worth of Guinness stock. The effect was to increase the value of its offer for Distillers, whose management favoured merging with Guinness. In the course of the investigation, it emerged that Bank Leu
16512-513: Was upheld against the protests of the Irish Writers Union. A member of the Senior Council offered to take up the Union's cause on a pro bono basis, on the grounds that the Board were interfering with the legitimate rights of authors to earn a living. The poet and IWU member Robert Greacen had known Alex Comfort from their days as medical students in Dublin and put Jack Harte in touch with Comfort. On
16641-548: Was worth more than Guinness plc, the Guinness family shareholding in the merged company went below 10 per cent, and today no member of the family sits on the board. Guinness acquired the Distillers Company in 1986. The company merged with Grand Metropolitan in 1997, to form Diageo plc, capitalised in 2006 at about 40 billion euros. Although not officially fully taken over, the Guinness family still owns 51 per cent of
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