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<h1>Nidge takes on Joe in Gaeltacht showdown</h1>
<h2> Cartoons prove hit for Tuairisc.ie </h2>
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<ul><li><strong>Topics:</strong></li><li><a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/culture">Culture</a></li><li><a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/search/search-7.1213540?article=true&q=Treibh">Treibh</a></li></ul>
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<p><a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/treibh/nidge-takes-on-joe-in-gaeltacht-showdown-1.1976192#"><span content="2014-10-24T19:36">Fri, Oct 24, 2014, 19:36</span></a></p>
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<p><strong>First published:</strong> <span content="2014-10-24T19:36">Fri, Oct 24, 2014, 19:36</span></p>
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<p class="">A cartoon featuring the RTÉ Raidió na
Gaeltachta broadcaster Máirtín Tom Sheáinín interviewing himself has
proved the biggest hit so far for Tuairisc.ie, the new online news
service in Irish.</p><p class="">The website’s second cartoon,
which was released last night, features the unlikely duo of Joe McHugh,
the Minister for the Gaeltacht, and Nidge, the fictional gangland leader
from the popular RTÉ drama <em>Love/Hate</em>.</p><p class="">Editor Seán Tadhg Ó Gairbhí is hoping that the new animation will prove as popular as the Máirtín Tom Sheáinín animation.</p>
<p class="">“ We’ve been delighted with the
response so far. The premise is simple, if a little surreal: Joe McHugh
and Nidge end up in the Gaeltacht for different reasons. The Minister is
a bit more enthuasiastic about learning the language than Nidge, which
leads to some tension,” said Ó Gairbhí.</p><p class="">Joe McHugh
famously spent a week learning Irish in the Donegal Gaeltacht during
the summer after he was promoted to the Gaeltacht ministry by Enda Kenny
despite being less than fluent in the langauge.</p><p class="">Tuairisc.ie
was launched on the 9th of October by former head of TG4 and RTÉ,
Cathal Goan, who urged the new website to keep a close eye on the
Government and their Irish-language policy in particular.</p><p class="">The
editor of Tuairisc.ie was “very pleased” with the reaction to the new
service: “We’re delighted with the feedback particularly from people in
the Gaeltacht and daily speakers of the language, our core audience.
It’s early days and we’re still gathering information, but the figures
so far are very encouraging. </p><p class="">“We have a good mix
of national and international news, analysis, sport culture and
lifestyle. We also have a special section, which is being developed at
the moment, for Leaving Certificate students and learners of all ages.”</p><p class="">It is the stories that relate to Irish-language issues that are proving most popular with readers, however.</p><p class="">“That
is one of the most striking things about our first few weeks on line.
They may protest to the contrary on occasion, but it seems the
Irish-speaking community wants news and analysis relating to Irish
language issues, issues that are ignored to a large extent by most other
media,” said Ó Gairbhí.</p><p class="">Even with the benefit of
online analytics, it can still be difficult to predict what the public
will take in an interest in: “We spent weeks before our launch preparing
FOI requests, researching stories, organizing opinion polls and
carefully choosing our contributors. After all that, our biggest ratings
success to date has been a three-minute animation of Máirtín Tom
Sheáinín interviewing himself!”</p><p class=""> LINK - <a href="http://tuairisc.ie/fisean-asnc-nidge-vs-joe/">http://tuairisc.ie/fisean-asnc-nidge-vs-joe/</a></p>
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