115 years of news in Enniscorthy

NO ENNISCORTHY ECHO was published this week for the first time in 115 years apart from a short period in 1916 when production was halted by the British military authorities who took possession of the printing works and padlocked the gates, leaving the staff outside.

The drastic course of action was prompted by the writings of a number of journalistic staff who were sympathetic to the nationalist cause, including Wexford town man Robert Brennan (father of the writer Maeve Brennan) who went on to become the Irish Free State’s first minister to the United States and was a founder of the Irish Press.

The Echo and South Leinster Advertiser was first introduced to readers on May 16, 1902, and cost just one penny. The newspaper was born in Abbey Square in an office belonging to the local solicitor, John A. Sinnott, but moved to Mill Park Road in 1908.

The first directors included Patrick Byrne, a businessman from Market Square; politician C. J. Irwin; Bernard J. O’Flaherty, Mayfield, Parnell Road, who was in the legal profession; John Bennett, proprietor of the Portsmouth Arms Hotel; Martin Donohoe from Main Street; Matt Ryan, a merchant at Market Square; and William Sears (a TD for Mayo in the first Dáil Eireann in 1918 who died March 23, 1929) who was also the newspaper’s first editor.

After Wiliam Sears, other editors included David Sears, Larry de Lacy and Fred Henegan, followed by Richard E. Whelan, from 1942 to 1973; Tomás Ó Duinn, who finished his journalistic career as a sub-editor with The Irish Times; Michael Sheerin who later worked for The Irish Press, and Managing Editor, Brendan Furlong, well-known GAA correspondent with the People Newspaper Group, publishers of this newspaper.

A receiver was appointed to the Echo in May 1986, placing the jobs of its 23 employees in jeopardy but on that occasion weekly production remained uninterrupted as attempts were made to find a buyer.

The company which was owned by a number of directors of the North Wexford Printing and Publishing Company had accrued debts of £500,000 with the majority of the amount owed to the Revenue Commissioners.

The Echo was saved when the Buttle family from Ballinahoun, Kilmuckridge, bought the title and premises at Mill Park Road. The newspaper rose from the ashes and a new era began under the stewardship of Norman Buttle, chairman of the Board of Directors, and his brother, Eamonn, in the role of Managing Director.

The management team consisted of Murry McDonald (accountant), Jimmy Gahan (editor) and Mary Hudson (advertising). One of their first major actions was to expand the newspaper by establishing editions in Wexford town, Gorey and New Ross with the official launch taking place in November 1988.

The old hot metal production system was replaced by computerisation, a new King printing press was installed, and week after week the local newspapers skipped off the presses.

After the Buttle family acquisition, the Duncormick-born author and historian, Richard ‘Dick’ Roche, who had been Deputy Editor of the Irish Independent, became Editor of the Echo; followed by Nicholas Walsh from the famous Waterford and Munster Express family and Enniscorthy’s Jimmy Gahan, who began his journalistic career with The Echo in 1969, and had acted in a deputy editorial capacity on occasions. Bray man Tom Mooney arrived as the Wexford correspondent and took over as editor from early 1996.

The Echo offices on Mill Park Road in Enniscorthy were completely refurbished in 1957, although the stonework facade was only slightly altered. The works were badly damaged by a fire in the summer of 1968 and reconstruction and modernisation was completed in 1970.

Accountant Kay Moran became the first woman to head the company when she was appointed Manager around 1973.

On January 1, 2006, Filbeck Limited (the trading title of the newspapers under the Buttles) transferred the newspaper printing and publishing business to The Wexford Echo.

A year later, in the final stages of the Celtic Tiger, The Wexford Echo was acquired by Thomas Crosbie Holdings (TCH) in a deal that is believed have cost €12 million. The company which owned the Examiner newspaper in Cork had acquired 15 newspaper titles since 1995 bringing the total number of newspapers in the group to 18 including the Irish Examiner, Waterford News & Star, the Western People, the Carlow Nationalist and Roscommon Herald but ran into financial difficulty and built up a debt of €19.5 million.

Three years ago, TCH went into receivership and in a financial restructuring which saw the company’s debt carried over, the Irish Examiner and regional print titles including Echo newspapers newspaper were acquired by Landmark Media Investments Ltd.

Again, as during the 1986 receivership, the newspapers continued to be published.

Landmark Media Investments with an address in Blackpool, Cork is a holding company established and owned by Tom Crosbie, supported by his father Ted Crosbie with directors Thomas Crosbie, Noel Wall, Daniel Francis Linehan, Thomas Joseph Murphy and Sean O’Keeffe.

The company which also owns a number of radio stations was reported as making a loss of almost €700,000 in the first 11 months of its existence.