IBISWorld’s Books, Newspaper and Magazine Publishing in Ireland Industry Trends (2014-2019) showed an average industry growth in Ireland of -4.3%. According to the IBISWorld outlook for 2019–2024, the book, newspaper and magazine publishing industry is expected to decline further, although this is primarily owing to newspaper publishers continuing to struggle to sustain a stable portion of the advertising market due to fierce competition, despite expected growth in revenue from digital advertising. In conjunction with dwindling newspaper circulation figures, revenue from print advertising is expected to continue to fall at a faster rate than digital advertising revenue grows. However, the outlook for magazine and book publishers is positive. The number of businesses stands at 335 with employment at 6,690. The companies holding the largest market share in the industry include Independent News & Media PLC and The Irish Times DAC., followed by Associated Newspapers (Ireland) Ltd, Independent Star Ltd, and Penguin Random House Ireland Ltd.
A briefing document from the Irish Book Industry Forum raised concerns about the procurement policy within the new library policy. They are concerned that it represents a move towards value before quality service in offering 65% of contracts to the lowest price (large scale UK supplier). It is argued that this puts Irish publishers at a disadvantage. Books published in Ireland will have to be transported to the UK for library binding and so forth in order to be sent back to Ireland again. This will incur additional sales costs to Irish publishers, but is also environmentally wasteful and expensive. This policy is in direct violation of the Irish Government’s and EU’s policy on “Green Public Procurement”. They suggest that this new policy creates a monopoly putting the sustainability of the industry’s ecosystem at risk. There is also a risk of ‘dumbing down’ the selection of books available to Irish readers. The writers lobby group Words Ireland have called for a reinstatement of the school library fund that was scrapped during the financial crisis.
The Arts Council offers support to emerging and professional writers through funding and bursaries such as literature project awards, commission awards, professional development awards, writers in schools schemes, arts grants, next generation awards, and literature bursary awards.
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