Tough time for Wexford’s free sheets as recession bites.

Every town has its free sheet newspapers. As a medium it thrived during the Celtic tiger era. Every enterprise looked for advertising in the local print media and there was plenty of customers willing to pay for ads. Wexford saw 2 such enterprises open for business South East Voice and County Wexford Free Press. Both gave an outlet for a more personalised agenda than currently seen in the local print media. The South East Voice regularly ran items on what it regarded as local scandals. It quietly closed its doors in Autumn and ceased printing. I’m genuinely sorry that it’s finished up. As a publication it was open to any politician who sent in a press release not just local but national as well. The most popular page was always Beat on the Street where it reported forthcoming local social events. It always gave any local politician who went to it an airing on any issue. When I was chairperson of TLC the paper was particularly good in raising the issue of school buildings and government neglect of schools. I remember in the run in to the Local Elections 5 years ago they reported a vox pop and favourable mention was given by me and when I read that I knew I was doing well. I wish the lads behind it well and I’d be delighted if it came back on the shelf.
The other tabloid free sheet the County Wexford Free Press has also weathered a storm. 2008 saw the death of one of its founding fathers, Liam Lahiff. Later many of the building ads, ever present since its inception, disappeared as builders and tradesmen cut back. This has forced a reduction in the number of pages and a reduced print run as the publication struggles to stay afloat. Publication once fortnightly, alternating with the Voice, is now less frequent. A reduced rate card aimed at tradesmen has been introduced and I hope it works for them.
It’s style is unique. Apart from one main current item on the front page and Johnny Roche’s thought provoking opinion column, much of the content reflects an older Wexford that many in the town might not now believe once existed. As someone once pointed out to me “Most locals mentioned in its columns have long since gone to their eternal reward, just make sure Joe they aren’t writing about you next week!” Add in the quirky but clumsy political column with its poor spelling (the author’s surname rhymes with spell check!) and folksy old time nous and it’s easy to see why there’s a reduced appeal to both young and new comers to our town. Jack O’Leary and Liam Gaul both produce excellently researched articles for these alone it deserves to survive as it’s title and style is a link to a long-ceased publication of the same name that published from almost the same location.
Publications like these do add to the diversity of the media and at a time when independent local papers like the Echo are selling out to national titles and even in some cases ownership passes out of the state there is a place for this type of free sheet. The town needs a diverse media owned and accountable locally. Lets hope that continues.

Chris Andrews talks before he thinks

Just what is Deputy Chris Andrews up to? His grandfather was the man who took an axe to Irish railways and now he seems hell bent on finishing off school transport. Is it in the genes? He’s also related to comedian Dave McSavage but no one is laughing in rural Ireland. According to Deputy Andrews there’s plenty of cars in the drives of rural Ireland to take pupils to school and school buses should be in Dublin. He wants the school bus network scrapped in rural areas.
I don’t know when he was last in rural Ireland but I’d wager he doesn’t know that parents pay for school transport and under his government the cost has just gone up to €350 per child per annum and even then you’re not guaranteed you’ll get a seat. Poor Deputy Andrews, he knows the price of everything but the value of nothing. If Aer Lingus accepted payment of Deputy Andrews for a ticket and later told him that he couldn’t fly because some one else was allocated his seat he’d be furious and he’d be off to the National Consumer Agency. Of course this cannot happen to adults but it does happen each year to children trying to go to school using school transport.
Deputy Andrews represents a small urban constituency that you can walk across in 1 hour. There’s plenty of good schools many of them fee paying, does he oppose other citizens have as good access to schools or having the same choice. For many parents in rural Ireland sending a child to school means having only one school because if you live in a one school catchment area that’s the only place your bus will bring you to.
If your child has a special physical need in Co Wexford you have to travel. In the case of some pupils in Wexford town they must get a bus to Enniscorthy. That also means a voluntary helper must accompany. I know one such woman who spent much of her day sitting in a minibus driving the back roads of South Wexford lifting children on and off a school bus. I’ve met mothers who complain to me how little help they get from the state. I wish some of these women could meet Chris Andrews TD and if they could I don’t think he’d come out with such nonsense. Many parents in north Wexford commute to Dublin and rely on the school bus to bring their children to and from school. Many parents are not home till 7PM, I’ve been on the N11 at 6.30 and it is a constant stream out of Gorey. School buses are essential for children to go to and from school when parents go to or are at work.School transport was introduced alongside free second level education in the 1960’s. It was brought in so that distance from schools would not be a disadvantage for rural families. I wonder do FF backbenchers understand anymore what disadvantage is? 2 months ago they removed book subsidies from most parents, because few schools are categorised as disadvantaged in Co Wexford. Resource teachers are now to be cut money for resources and I could go on.
School transport is good value for money, if Deputy Andrews wants to save cash why not cut back on some of the Ministers for State and their entourage. Why is it that years after millions being shelled out for smart ticketing, Dublin is no closer the integration of transport tickets let alone the Luas lines that incidentally give no reduction for school children? I wish I had as understanding an electorate in Co Wexford as Deputy Andrews obviously has in South East Dublin, Just think of all the half baked notions that I could indulge myself in. Now there’s a thought!