Foundation

The IWU was launched at a meeting held in the Guinness Brewery, Dublin

The foundations for the Irish Writers Union were laid in 1985 when Jack Harte, at that time principal of Lucan Vocational School, County Dublin, set up a writers' advisory office, availing of the Social Employment Scheme. Harte employed a secretary and two workers in this office, one of whom, Joe Jackson, went on to become Ireland's first Writer-in-Residence. From the outset, the aim of the project Harte had in mind was to establish a writers' union and a centre for Irish writers. Still working from his base in Lucan, Harte employed the poet Padraig MacGrane to collect names of writers, setting up a preliminary social network of people who could be contacted. Names and contact details were obtained in a rather informal manner, often handwritten on spare scraps of paper. With his contact list completed, in the summer of 1986, Harte sent out a letter to all those on it, outlining the plans and objectives of the proposed union and asking the recipients if they were interested in joining. Most of those contacted expressed an interest.

Michael D. Higgins, a TD and future President of Ireland, was involved in the establishment of the IWU.

In the autumn of 1986, approximately 120 members-to-be met up in Buswell's Hotel, Kildare Street, Dublin City, to hammer out the constitution of a writers' union. Over a three-hour meeting, from three to six o'clock on a Saturday afternoon, a 65-clause constitution was arrived at. The Irish Writers Union was launched on 15 December 1987 at the Guinness Brewery, Dublin City,^[13] with its constitution coming into effect as of 1 January 1987. Harte was its first chairperson, a post he was to retain for three years.^[14] At the time of its foundation, the Irish Press wrote that "the Irish Writers Union, which aims to establish creative writing as a working profession, will negotiate on behalf of members for better contracts, better working conditions and more pay."^[15] Several prominent founder members included those affiliated to the Aosdána and the Arts Council.^[16]

Among the issues facing the union was the question of authors' rights over their work, and the rights of authors and publishers alike. From its early years, the IWU supported the idea of a model contract for writers and advised authors in this regard, helping writers negotiate their contracts with publishers.^[17] To this day, this service remains central to the activities of the Union. There was a lack of clarity around copyright in Ireland in the 1980s, and in part due to the efforts of the Irish Writers Union, the situation was clarified in keeping with international best practice. In the 21st century, Irish publishing contracts accord with Ireland's Copyright & Related Rights Act, 2000 and state unambiguously that the author is the copyright holder.

At the 8th European Writers Congress, held in Madrid, Spain during May 1987, the Irish Writers Union and the Society of Irish Playrights jointly proposed a motion, which passed unanimously. The motion declared "that, in view of the disturbing efforts at present being made to erode the freedom of artistic expression in many countries, including Great Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, and Ireland, this Congress condemns all forms of artistic censorship, and urges all governments to rescind any legislation which infringes the right to freedom of artistic expression." The IWU's office at this time is described as being located at the Irish Transport & General Workers Union (IT&GWU) headquarters at Liberty Hall, Dublin 1.^[18]

The IWU's address was given as Liberty Hall, Dublin City, in the late 1980s

In 1989, the Irish Writers Union called for the Government to change the law which allowed publishers to sell works over fifty years old without needing to pay 10-20% in royalties to their creators. The union asserted that this provision discriminated heavily against writers. This arose following the public revelation that the family of W. B. Yeats was to be deprived of all copyright and royalty fees for his works due to this provision.^[19] Also in 1989, the Irish Writers Union accused sections of the Muslim community in Ireland of "hysteria" in their reaction to the publication of the controversial novel 'The Satanic Verses.' Representatives from the IWU criticised the group for attempting to have the novel banned in Ireland. They were joined by Steve McDonagh, then president of the Irish Publishers Association (known as Clé) in supporting the novel's author, fiction writer Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie, as well as bookshops, against physical intimidation.^[20][21]

In 1991, only eight days following the release of 'Field Day Anthology,' by Seamus Deane, strong complaints to the anthology's absence of numerous women authors, and of essential works of Irish feminism, were raised by Nuala O'Faolain in an interview with Deane on the RTÉ television show 'Bookline.' After a span of three months, the Irish Writers' Union arranged a public discussion to discuss these concerns. However, Deane sent a late message stating his inability to participate. Eavan Boland, on the other hand, was in attendance, and she explicitly opined that she was "sorry to be included in an anthology which excludes women."^[22]

In 1993, the Irish Writers Union merged with the trade union SIPTU, as an affiliate, but maintained absolute independence in its internal operations.

Censorship

The censorious attitude of the Irish state towards a wide variety of publications and movies was a very restrictive one through much of the mid-twentieth century; many books now considered central to Ireland's literary heritage, such as James Joyce's Ulysses, were banned from sale or distribution in Ireland. Although Brian Lenihan Snr introduced the Censorship of Publications Act, 1967 whereby the previously permanent ban on a given work was replaced by a twelve-year ban (and later a five-year ban), this did little to assist the distribution of short-lived works.^[23]

In the 1980s a new Censorship of Publications Board composed of a body of retired judges started banning books afresh, among them works by Angela Carter; Alex Comfort's 'The Joy of Sex'; and various academic volumes dealing with erotic Classical art. The ban was upheld against the protests of the Irish Writers Union. A member of the Senior Council offered to take up the Union's cause on a pro bono basis, on the grounds that the Board were interfering with the legitimate rights of authors to earn a living.^[24] The poet and IWU member Robert Greacen had known Alex Comfort from their days as medical students in Dublin and put Jack Harte in touch with Comfort. On the grounds of performing a reading from his poetry, Comfort felt able to accept an invitation to appear at Buswell's Hotel, an event at which Comfort's views as a medical doctor and scientist on the importance of being able to write about sexual matters were aired.^[24] Such acts as these chipped away at the authority of the Censorship Board and when its five-year ban expired, 'The Joy of Sex' duly appeared on Irish bookshop shelves.

Acquiring a home base

The IWU is now based at the Irish Writers Centre in Parnell Square, Dublin City, following its establishment in the 1990s.

From 1987 onwards, Taoiseach Charles Haughey appointed writer Anthony Cronin as his advisor for Arts policy. Although Cronin had no money to finance a centre for the Union either personally or in his political capacity, Harte presented him with a suggestion for a Writers' Centre. A large number of old Georgian houses were falling into disuse in the inner suburbs of Dublin; Harte suggested that Cronin petition that one of these be set aside as a centre for supporting and promoting Irish authors. Harte had heard about the Writers' Museum, directed by Matt McNulty; he went to McNulty asking about the possibility of establishing a writers' centre. McNulty provided premises for this purpose at 19 Parnell Square.^[25] The Irish Writers Centre was founded in 1991, it is Ireland's national resource centre for writers. The Writers Centre was intended initially as a general Arts Centre. All related writers' support groups were directly involved and represented at this address, including those working with playwrights, children's writers and translators. Since then, there has been some dispersal of these roles, with playwrights (represented by the Irish Playwrights and Screenwriters Guild), for instance, being based at the Irish Film Institute on Eustace Street in Temple Bar. The renovation of the premises on Parnell Square was funded by a £100,000 grant from the Irish Lottery.^[26]

Aims and accomplishments

The Union states on its website that its aims are as follows:

• To advance the cause of writing as a profession, and organise Irish authors. It is also the Union’s policy to provide advice and support to writers in their relations with publishers and other users of their work (including offering model contracts and providing assistance in disputes). The Union hopes thereby to achieve better remuneration and conditions for writers, while monitoring contracts and royalty payments to authors or their estates.
• To provide a means for the expression of the collective opinion of writers on matters affecting their profession.
• To contribute to Governmental educational policy in so far as it relates to the art of writing and the use of literature in the educational system.
• To campaign against all forms of censorship.

In 2000, then Minister of State, Tom Kitt, declared that the Irish Copyright Licensing Agency (ICLA) possessed concerns regarding Section 166 of the Copyright and Related Rights Bill, 1999, which dealt with the certification of licensing schemes. Kitt stated in an Oireachtas debate that "the ICLA is concerned it may not be capable of being certified as it may not, in its opinion, be able to satisfy the requirements contained in section 166(2)(a), that is, that the works to which its licences refer can be identified with sufficient particularity. This is because, as far as authors are concerned, the authorisation to collect and administer royalties on behalf of its rights holders is obtained through the Irish Writers’ Union and not directly from individual authors. Some authors are not members of the Irish Writers’ Union and, in many cases, ICLA is granting licences and receiving royalties for the use of works without the specific authorisation of the rights holder."^[27]

Following the revelation that eleven people who had earned over €1 million in 2001 paid no tax on these earnings as beneficiaries of the controversial tax exemption scheme for artists, the incumbent Government of the period promised a review. However, the Irish Writers Union asserted in a submission that the majority of writers and artists "earning a pittance" depended on the scheme. According to Peter McKimm, then chairperson of the IWU, the tax exemption primarily supported and motivated novice writers to maintain their professional trajectories. The IWU emphasises in their submission to the government that a writer's formative years are typically devoted to writing, followed by obtaining an initial publication followed by additional work with the expectation of publication. They declared to then Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen, that “this period requires an enormous investment of a writer’s time over many years, with very little or no income being generated from writing. Even for the successful writer, income is frequently sporadic, with many intervening lean years." In addition, they emphasised that the "fragility" inherent in the art of writing could not be accounted for in a "number-crunching exercise." McKimm elaborated by stating that “too many are one-book writers, while others have to struggle to achieve a modicum of success without any guarantee that they will, after years of work, write any more successful works. A tax exemption is immensely influential in motivating writers to persevere in this precarious process.”^[28]

In 2003, Conor Kostick, then chairperson of the IWU, and a historian based at Trinity College, Dublin (TCD), founded the 'Writers Against the War' campaign in response to the outbreak of the Iraq War.^[29] In 2004, the Irish Writers Union launched the Jim Plunkett Memorial Award, with prize money being funded by the Irish Copyright Licensing Agency (ILCA).^[30] Former Northern Ireland based broadcaster and Senator, Sam McAughtry, was the subject of a feature documentary on BBC Northern Ireland in 2006, which referenced his approximately twenty year long involvement in the Irish Writers Union.^[31]

A major campaign undertaken by the Union in regard to changing government policy was to lobby throughout the early years of the twenty-first century for a Public Lending Rights scheme, in this the IWU worked closely with the European Writers Congress (EWC) and the Irish Copyright Licensing Agency (ICLA). Such a scheme came into effect with the Copyright Bill 2007, on 28 November 2007 after the European Commission had taken legal action against Ireland in the European Court of Justice for failure to implement a PLR system. It declared that Ireland breached the Lending Rights Directive 1992 by exempting all public libraries from PLR in the Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000.^[32][33] One of the central concerns for the IWU was that funding of Irish PLR came directly from the Exchequer and not from public libraries' budgets and the IWU welcomed the fact that the scheme was in fact introduced on this basis.^[34] At the Report and Final Stages debate of the Copyright and Related Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2007, then Senator Alex White opined that "the Minister of State (Michael Ahern) has not, however, dealt with the possibility of a limbo situation arising. The only reassurance he offers the House is that he thinks it unlikely that authors would seek to exercise a right in the interregnum. I have no doubt he has been in touch with the Irish Writers Union but no organisation can bind every writer to a particular agreement."^[35]

In 2012, President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, attended the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Irish Writers Union.^[36]

In 2018, the UK based, Society of Authors, and the Irish Writers Union released a joint statement, in which they opposed a 'no deal' Brexit scenario. Both organisations expressed their fears regarding such a scenario and provided the following reasons for doing so:

• The implementation of border controls and tariffs would have catastrophic effects on the industry as a whole in both nations.
• The United Kingdom might implement an "international exhaustion" framework if it leaves the European Union without an agreement. This would entail that books not destined for sale in the United Kingdom could enter the country at a reduced price, which would be detrimental to authors and publishers in each country.
• Irish and British authors could be harmed by the severance of ties within the network of European writers caused by the cessation of free migration to and from the United Kingdom.
• The absence of an agreement is highly probable to result in a significant depreciation of the sterling and a subsequent decrease in the market value of Irish books.^[37]

Additionally, the joint statement placed emphasis on what was regarded as a historically intimiate relationship between the British and Irish literary communities, in particular, referencing the notion that there exists an "enduring popularity of Irish writers in the U.K. and vice versa," and that the two industries are "inextricably aligned, sharing the same VAT rates, Nielsen consumer data, territorial rights and Legal Deposit scheme."^[38]

In October 2019, the Irish Writers Union made a submission to the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation on the transposition of EU Directive 2019/790 into Irish law. It also commended the passage of this Directive on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market.^[39]

In 2021, the Irish Writers Union claimed that the average rate of €0.04 per borrowing from public libraries in Ireland was “too low” and that "it is approaching a level where the scheme in Ireland will be considered derisory and therefore in violation of the EU directive.” Additionally, the IWU chastised the perceived absence of advisory counsel from writers' organisations regarding the scheme's conception and execution.  Nevertheless, it recognised that the Irish PLR scheme was, it believed a comparatively equitable mechanism that did not excessively favour best-selling authors. In accordance with EU law, each of the 27 member states is required to implement a system for compensating writers for the lending of their publications by libraries.^[40]

The Irish Writers Union was also a participant in the Minister Catherine Martin's Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media's Basic Income for the Arts (BIA) Stakeholder Forum, which occurred in December 2021.^[41][42]

In a 2022 interview, the Irish Writers Union was one of several organisations praised by Irish novelist, Gráinne Murphy, in its initiatives pertaining to supporting writers during the COVID-19 pandemic.^[43] In February 2023, the Irish Times reported that the Irish Writers’ Union had issued proposed pay scales to address low pay in the publishing industry.^[44]

In June 2023, the Irish Writers Union, along with the Screen Directors Guild, the Writers Guild of Ireland (WGI), Irish Equity and Screen Composers of Ireland, supported the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, which delayed the production of several Hollywood movies.^[45]