Newspaper’s local legacy lives on

A BALLYMUN based newspaper that published positive local stories from 1998 to 2006 is still making news a decade after it closed down.

Started by local resident, Seamus Kelly, in June of 1998, Ballymun Concrete News was a dedicated newspaper for the people of Ballymun that was available in the area free of charge.

Last month Kelly curated an exhibition of 28 photographs from the paper that captured the changing landscape of Ballymun and documented the social history of a wonderful community.

And in an indication of how the paper’s local community contribution is still valued, Kelly was recently invited to give a presentation on the exhibition to 50 NUI Maynooth University students, during which he talked to them about the paper’s history and the regeneration of Ballymun. 

The newspaper’s primary objective was to highlight positive stories in Ballymun at a time when the area was often negatively portrayed by the national media.

Drugs, crime, murder – these were the types of stories usually attributed to the area of Ballymun, as its greasy underbelly often overshadowed what was a really strong, powerful community.

“I had always promised myself that when I got the opportunity I was going to redress the balance of negative news that was coming towards Ballymun,” Kelly told Northside People.

“I could see there was a difference between what the media was reporting and what I was seeing with my own two eyes.

“It was certainly disadvantaged but there was a lot of good people, and they set up groups for children, football clubs, men’s centres, women’s centres, so it proved they were very proactive people.

“My vision was to give 100 per cent coverage to Ballymun, no other area, just Ballymun alone, to try and sell the true picture of what Ballymun was really like.”

Concrete News started as a one page newsletter and proved to be an instant success.

As the paper gathered support, it progressively grew into a two, four and eventually eight page monthly tabloid. 

All editorial matters were handled solely by Kelly, who was splitting time between national press obligations and the Concrete News, but the paper really found its legs on the back of the kindness and generosity of the local people.

Kelly stresses that the newspaper would not have survived without the help of those within the community.

“I ran it completely on my own from my three-bedroom, tenth story flat in Ballymun,” added Kelly, who was also writing for the Irish Daily Mirror and Sunday World.

“I had Mickey Mouse equipment, you know, a second-hand computer, second-hand printer and I managed to get a scanner for cheap from a guy who fixed my printer from time to time.”

Concrete News was a popular publication and viewed as a noble initiative by many in the press, but it was eventually forced to close after losing out on a lucrative advertising tender. 

It was heartbreaking for Kelly, who had spent over eight years of his life devoting himself to the area of Ballymun and its positive people.

Ballymun Concrete News was a big deal to the people of Ballymun and its publication helped reverse an image that the area largely existed as a hub for drugs and crime.

The digital archive of Ballymun Concrete News has been donated to Dublin City Library and Archive for future generations.

The papers can be viewed online at dublincity.ie/ballymun-concrete-news.