Irish biennial conference


A tight budget, AI job threats and a landmark ruling


Reports by Deaglán de Bréadún Images by Maxwell Photography


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“FOR QUITE a time, I think I was in shock,” said NUJ general secretary Laura Davison about taking up the post in late 2024. “It’s quite a role to take on and it’s been quite a year,” she told delegates at the biennial delegate conference (BDC) of the Irish NUJ branches in Dublin in November. The union leader said she


It’s a proud moment for Ireland to hold the presidency of the union


Laura Davison general secretary, NUJ


was “particularly pleased” to be attending the BDC with joint NUJ presidents Gerry Curran and Fran McNulty: “I think it’s a proud moment for Ireland to hold the presidency of the union.” She was also pleased to see that vice- president Georgina Morris was present to talk about recruitment and organising. Davison said one of the highlights of the past 11 months was attending a Belfast event in honour of Lyra


McKee, the investigative journalist who was shot and fatally wounded in April 2019 while observing clashes in Derry between the police and dissident republicans. Davison attended her first


delegate meeting as general secretary in Blackpool last April where it was decided there should be no increase in subscriptions for the next two years. “This has meant real challenges in balancing the


union’s budget for the financial year that’s just begun,” she said. She also asked Irish


branches to support ‘the really important event’next May celebrating the centenary of the International Federation of Journalists of which the NUJ is an integral part.’ The impact of artificial


intelligence (AI) on employment was a constant theme, she noted: “We’ve


Seminar looks at boosting branches


THE CONFERENCE was based on the theme Organising Together – Better in a Trade Union. It included a seminar on branch renewal and recruitment moderated by Conor Kavanagh. NUJ vice-president Georgina Morris


reported on the work of the union’s development committee. Efforts to raise attendance at branch meetings as well as the level of participation by


members were discussed. The Irish executive is to host a follow-up roundtable next spring. The new cathaoirleach (Irish language version of chair) of the NUJ’s Irish executive council is Stephen Corrigan, a freelance journalist based in the west of Ireland who was unanimously elected in succession to RTÉ journalist Cearbhall Ó Síochain. Carolyn Farrar was


Be arrows, not targets


JOURNALISTS should be ‘the arrow, not the target’, Irish secretary Séamus Dooley told the conference, quoting Welsh writer and academic Raymond Williams. This call had previously been made by the then president of Ireland Michael D


6 | theJournalist


Higgins at the International Federation of Journalists’ (IFJ) congress in Dublin in 2013. President Higgins was due


to step down after 14 years in office on November 10, two days after the conference. Reviewing the past two


years, Dooley said: “I’ve been


re-elected to the leas-chathaoirleach (vice-chair) position (both pictured right).


Originally from County Wicklow,


Corrigan lives in Galway and contributes regularly to news coverage in the Connacht Tribune and the Galway City Tribune. In September 2024, he was named best diversity journalist at the annual Local Ireland Media Awards.


struck by how often journalists and journalism have become the target.” He said that “Gaza casts a long and dark shadow” and, commending those who have supported NUJ protest vigils, gave special praise to the Dublin broadcasting branch for organising events at the south Dublin headquarters of national broadcaster RTÉ.


“It is vital journalists and media organisations are allowed free, unrestricted access to Gaza,” he said. Delegates approved a


late-notice motion from the Irish executive council opposing RTÉ’s decision to outsource all TV documentaries, now produced in-house, to the commercial sector and re-assign staff to other duties.


been dealing with that daily in our industrial work, for example at Reach plc where we’ve seen major job losses over the last few months.” The company owns the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, Manchester Evening News, Birmingham Mail and Liverpool Echo. Davison congratulated


Belfast journalists Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney who achieved a landmark ruling last December from the Investigatory Powers Tribunal. It found an undercover surveillance operation by police bodies to identify the two journalists’ sources was disproportionate and illegal. She added that the NUJ


was proud to support the case and secure special status at the hearing.


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