Irish Books II: Leabhair Ghaeilge II

In the previous post I lashed B na LG for failing to stop the disappearance of Irish language books from the shelves. I certainly hope I didn't give the impression that B na LG were solely to blame, for they aren't. There is another body involved: ÁIS. I should have known. How could one body suffice to oversee the wellbeing of the vast publishing realm of Irish language books! Surely, besides schoolbooks and government publications, there must be at least dozens of books passing through their capable hands.

So ÁIS apparently are responsible for distribution. They see to it that shops are aware which books are being published and that they are delivered copies when required. Here's how they do it. They have a team of reps who scour the country, targetting mid to large bookshops with attractive promos and samples. Trouble is - the team is rather small. They have one person. ONE PERSON. For the entire country. ÁIS went to the same school of economics as the Irish offshore Customs who have a single craft to patrol the entire coastline. So I've heard that the ÁIS man or woman gets to visit say Donegal about every 6 months. Lamentable. Now I have no idea what size ÁIS is as an organization in total, probably quite small, but I'm certain they have a board, a manager and so on. They must wreck their heads trying to figure out a route for our friend, the rep, who has to cover all of Ireland with this leabhair Ghaeilge. It is no surprise then when we hear that on those odd occasions when a book shop orders a leabhar, they can wait for weeks and weeks for delivery.

I wondered how could ÁIS be so ill equiped for the job, and yet so happily silent: SSssssh. For faic sake, don't let éinne know that our jobs are based on supporting a single rep. They'd cut the deontas! Dún do bhéal.

Then I learned that Áis had been taken over by Farce na Gaeilge, I mean Foras na Gaeilge - that infamous sícín gan cheann, that neurotic, catch-all body - back in 1999. If you follow Tuaráscáil in the Irish Times, Pól Ó Múirí will have bashed your ears about this body. The shambles it is. How it is aimless, incompetent, and divisive. On a discussion on the state of Irish Language publishing on R na G this week, the Farce, could not provide a spokesperson. Not for the first time, when questions are asked, the old Farce is as láthair.

But there you have it. Irish language books are like icebergs in the Sahara, melting away in the sun, their waters seeping off irreversibly into the sands of time. But no fear - we have an áis-hole on the job. And a Bord na gCnoc Oighir who will shortly run another 'Feachtas'. You see, if you run enough feachtais (campaigns) surely the punishing rays will relent and our iceberg will safely refreeze.

Irish Books: Leabhair Ghaeilge

If you have any interest in Irish language books you will surely have noticed the quite rapid decline in their availability in Irish bookshops. Over the last few years the Irish language racks have shrunk further and further in the big outlets, to the point where in many cases they have disappeared entirely. Or at best, you can pick up an Ó Dónaill dictionary or a copy of "Teach Yourself Irish". Beyond that, nothing.

That threatened species, the Irish language writer, must be painfully aware of the collapse in their channel to the market. But there's probably little they can do. I know some people will say - oh but the number of Irish language titles being published is growing. Perhaps, but they are not being stocked in bookshops and therefore I assume no-one is reading them. Besides, how many titles are really published - surely it's a minuscule number.

The topic was recently discussed on Raidio na Gaeltachta. Joining in the discussion was the head of Bord na Leabhar Gaeilge, whose name I think is Muireann Ní Mhóráin, though I cannot be certain of her surname for I missed part of the show.

Anyway, Muireann's performance was less than reassuring. In fact, it was the opposite. She made it abundantly clear that, if we are depending on Bord na Gaeilge, we aren't going to see those Leabhair Ghaeilge signs being re-erected any time soon.

First, she gave absolutely no impression that there was a severe problem. Not even a simple outline of the challenges facing the promotion, publication, and distribution of Irish language books. But this is typical for the Irish language movement - deny or ignore the problem in case your area is seen to be in decline and the grants stop.

Second she was asked what B na L. G. are doing to help the growth of Irish language publishing? A 'feachtas' (basically she meant ad campaign) here and a 'feachtas' there. In other words, nothing substantial. Writer Anna Heussaff was also on the program. She seemed reluctant to criticize B na LG (because she receives some sponsorship or backing from them for her own work), but she did say that what was needed was more of a coherent strategy than once-off campaigns. Exactly. But that is precisely the problem: B na LG has no strategy. Or if they have, Muireann didn't make it clear, and worse still, it isn't working.

Or is it working? Well this brings me to the third and final revelation from Muireann of B na LG. Muireann was asked if she knew how many Irish language titles were sold last year. She had no idea. She was asked if she perhaps knew the value of the sales of Irish books last year. Not a clue. This is cretinous. The head of B na LG has absolutely no idea of the most fundamental indicator of whether her organisation is a success or a pitiful failure.

Well, given what I've seen, I suspect the latter. But can you see how sinfully depraved it is that B na LG have no idea of their bottom line? This would be the equivalent of Micheal O'Leary of Ryanair saying he has no idea how many passengers they carried last year and no idea of how much revenue the airline earned. It is simply unthinkable.

The difference of course is that Mr O'Leary has to know. Because he needs to show his owners that he is doing a good job and that the airline is doing what they are set up to do: sell flights. But poor Muireann doesn't need to know, because her owners (us the taxpayers) don't really care. Or not so much they don't care, they don't really know how much of their hard earned notes B na LG is throwing around on a scheme which the Bord clearly cannot know is failing or succeeding.

This madness typifies the movement: no cost benefit analysis, no accountability, and dare you speak out about same. Shame on you for attacking our cultural heritage and those decent souls who devote their genius to it.

And here's the prediction: those shelves will continue to shrink and the readership of Irish language books will wither away. All the while, the tax payer will foot the bill for the "feachtais" and the "deontais". Ach ná h-abair faic!