The last local newspaper for the Swords area will cease publishing in October after close to 40 years in print.
The Fingal Independent was the last local title that served the Swords and wider Fingal area.
This week the owners, Mediahuis, said: “A structural decrease in revenues in these suburban regions, combined with a very strong increase in costs, has led to the fact that this standalone print title is no longer profitable.”
The group which also owns Independent.ie said it was working on an online alternative for readers in the Fingal area. The company said they are consulting with the staff impacted over the coming 30 days. It is not yet clear if the move will lead to redundancies.
Cllr Ian Carey said:
“This is bad news for Swords and Fingal. There is no source of regular local news for Swords, apart from a number of free sheets.
“Many people in Swords already felt that it was difficult to get regular information about what is happening in the town and across Fingal and this will make that worse.
“As a Councillor I feel that this will have a bad impact on local politics. The Fingal Independent is the only outlet covering, in a regular way, the news coming from the local authority. It’s important that people are aware of and have access to information on local government. Without this we are eroding one of the pillars of local democracy.
“I also have concern for the staff impacted and I hope the company, which has a large operation nationally, finds new roles for staff in other areas.”
