The Guild of Agricultural Journalists

May 2011

Dear Member

Welcome to the Guild of Agricultural Journalists of Ireland website. I have to say that 2011 has been a fantastic year for the Guild. We celebrated our 50th anniversary this year. And I get the sense that there is renewed enthusiasm about our Guild as we look towards the next 50 years.

I see the Guild providing members with two important benefits. Firstly, we try to organise events which are of interest to our members. In 2012, my aim is to organise more events which are aimed a little more towards enhancing our roles in the journalism-communications business. I want to see the Guild becoming more active and providing our members with events which are stimulating and of professional interest. In previous years we have tended to concentrate on visiting agri and farm related businesses. While I think this remains important in terms of sourcing good stories, I think we should also provide members with professional development events. And I would welcome any suggestions on what we can do for you as members.

I will be putting together a diary of events for 2012 which will be advertised here.

The other important aspect of the Guild is the social aspect. I make no apologies for highlighting this. I have enjoyed mixing and socialising with various Guild members at different events over the past number of years and I think this is something which our members enjoy about our Guild. I have made some great friends through the Guild and I am sure other members would concur that the friendships forged and links made through our Guild are special.

And so each November we gather for our gala event which alternates biannually between our Michael Dillon memorial lecture and our Guild awards. I am proud that this has developed into an important annual event in the broader agriculture calendar in which industry and farm organisations come along as guests of the Guild for the night.

Finally, your Guild is blessed with a very enthusiastic and vibrant committee whom will continue to come up with new ideas which will help our Guild continue to evolve at a time when agricultural journalism is back centre stage, not only in Ireland, but worldwide. This is an exciting time for agricultural journalism and I hope that we can reflect this by what we do in the Guild which has a very sound and strong standing as a full member of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists.

I look forward to meeting you at our events in 2012!

Damien O Reilly

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