When we arrived at the Galway Advertiser headquarters, Eyre Square, they greeted us brilliantly, with a lot of empathy. They also gave us nice treats. At first a woman brought us up to Declan where we sat down at a board table. It was clear Declan [Varley, the editor] was a kind and a warm person, as we sat down to a table of Krispy Kremes, colourful socks and stationery.
Declan talked to us about how the newspaper is free and how they afford to keep the business open by selling as much advertisements as possible. When people would want to advertise their business, they would go to the Galway Advertiser and would pay for their business to be advertised. They have three storeys in the building. The first floor is where they welcome the public. The second floor is where they sell the advertisements and put them into the paper. The top floor is where Declan and his team of five work to write the stories in time to get it published in time for every Thursday.
The Galway Advertiser has been writing stories and providing advertisement space for over 50 years. Behind these pages is a team of 11 people providing news day and night for the people of Galway.
Declan told us that 40,000 papers are printed per week. A copy of the paper is sent to the printers in Dublin on Wednesday night. The printing process involves putting paper on a metal sheet and then putting them together. When printed, they put the papers into vans to be delivered from Dublin to Galway. Declan told us that it costs about 1 million per year to run the business.
Declan told us the most important skill to have as a writer is imagination. You can use imagination to make creative stories and have interesting stories for people to read. An example of when Declan used his imagination is when he made up a fake footballer and it went viral. It was very interesting to listen to all his stories.
We would like to give a special thanks to Declan and Maire from all of us in Galway Educate Together Secondary School. Thank you so much for giving us your time and explaining to us how the Galway Advertiser is made. We really appreciate the socks, pens and donuts!
Written by Tiffany Van Strien, Kevin Crowley, Michael Doyle, Daniel Doyle, Conall Miserra and Lisa Potter from Galway Educate Together Secondary School.
