Irish in the West
Celebrating San Francisco’s Irish Herald Newspaper
One of the most ubiquitous symbols of the Irish community in San Francisco is The Irish Herald. In almost every Irish bar or restaurant you can visit, you’ll find a stack of these lovely newspapers. The Irish Herald, as a newspaper for the Irish community on the West coast, has had a monthly edition since 1962. If you haven’t seen it around before, you’ll see it everywhere now. It’s got sections for current events, sports, arts, culture, and politics. In many ways, it is the voice of the Irish community. In September, I spoke with the man behind the operation, the singular Seán Canniffe. Humbly, he told me about his joys of running a monthly paper single-handedly, his plans (or lack thereof) for the future, and his experience with the Irish communities in San Francisco.

“Other than placing an ad, the best way the average reader can support The Irish Herald is, according to Seán, “be involved in the community. Everyone has got something they can be involved in—whatever facet of the Irish community. The stronger our community is, the more chance The Irish Herald will survive.” Seán continues, “If it hadn’t been for the UICC, I wouldn’t have met so many people, connected with the community; none of this would’ve happened. If it was in Sacramento or L.A., it wouldn’t have happened. And now we have The Irish Herald.” This is the value of the Irish Cultural Center here in San Francisco.”
Seán was born in England to Irish parents from Kerry and Cork. Despite his birthplace, he was raised Irish in all respects. He attended school with all Irish kids and grew up playing Irish sports, participating in Irish dancing, listening to Irish music, and the like. Being steeped in Irish culture made him uniquely qualified for his current job. People who read The Irish Herald are either born and bred in Ireland or they’re Irish Americans. Being raised in the culture, but outside of the homeland, Seán straddles this divide well. As he says “being Irish is a state of mind,” one that Seán understands and articulates well.
In 1998, Seán moved to San Francisco. He was in his early thirties and didn’t know anyone in the city, so he visited the United Irish Cultural Center (UICC). Astounded by the facility, Seán started to make connections in the San Francisco Irish community. Over the next couple of years, he heard about the paper, and in 2000, he bought it.
Seán did three main things when he took over as publisher. First, he started a nationwide network with other Irish American newspapers, such as Irish American News in Chicago. This created a structure for content to be shared. Suddenly, Irish newspapers had the ability to get their articles published and distributed all over the United States. This network is still in use today. When Seán writes an article, he can send it across this network and have it picked up and published by all the Irish papers in the country.
Secondly, in 2000, he started an edition that was published and distributed in Southern California. While there are large populations of Irish in Los Angeles, San Diego, and other SoCal towns, the broader community does not have as much to grab onto as we do up in San Francisco. Here, we have the United Irish Community Center, the Pastoral Center, and the St Patrick’s Day Parade, just to name a few examples of our Irish cultural heritage. In SoCal, they are not so lucky. As is the case in San Francisco, the SoCal edition of The Irish Herald was distributed in bars and restaurants. When COVID hit, many of these spaces closed. After nearly twenty years, the SoCal edition stopped being produced.
And thirdly, when Seán took the reins in 2000, he established relationships with many members of the Irish communities in San Francisco. These are the efforts of which he is still the most proud. For example, back in 2000, the St. Patrick’s Day Parade had been floundering. For years, attendance was dwindling and there weren’t many participants. The Irish Herald provided the parade organizers with a voice to get the word out. They ran ads and called for donations and participation. Their numbers started to pick back up, and the parade became a marquee event again. In most years, The Irish Herald fundraises about $20,000 to $25,000 for the parade. In one year, the paper raised as much as $40,000. It should be noted that Seán repeatedly asserts that he does not want to brag. “I am not looking for any pats on the back,” he says. He is self-effacing but realistic in his understanding of the importance of The Irish Herald. It has completely revitalized the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
This speaks to the role that The Irish Herald plays in the San Francisco Irish Community. “It has many roles, in my opinion, but the biggest one is that I believe that having an Irish paper adds to the cohesion of the community,” says Seán. “Most big cities in this country do not have an Irish newspaper. New York, Boston, and Chicago do. Philly used to.” Irish societies exist all over the country, and many cities have other things, like cultural centers, parades, and sports, but they don’t have Irish newspapers. “The newspaper boosts everything,” Seán continues. “Everything the center does is amplified. It distributes the communication. If it weren’t for The Irish Herald, GAA [Gaelic Athletic Association] people would be the only people who knew what the GAA did. It’s a way to get kids involved and to preserve stories.” San Francisco has one of the strongest GAA programs in the country. Other than New York’s, ours is the strongest youth program. San Francisco, like New York, Chicago, and Phoenix, has one of the premiere Irish Cultural Centers as well. Seán stresses that all of these groups would exist without The Irish Herald, but having the newspaper amplifies everything and can connect the Irish community across the country.
And The Irish Herald would be quite different without Seán. He writes about one-third of all words published. The rest are written by freelancers and volunteers; sometimes articles are solicited from various Irish figures using the network he set up back in 2000. Seán does the layout, distribution, ad sales, and just about everything else. He loves to distribute the bundles of freshly printed papers. Going into each location allows him a chance to chat with all people and the businesses that are supporting him. He is the only full-time employee. His wife does the accounts. During the last two weeks of every month, he works seventy to eighty hours to get the paper out. Although he finds the work rewarding and fulfilling, at fifty-eight, he doesn’t imagine he’ll be doing it forever.
When I asked about his plans for the future, Seán said “I don’t know” with a laugh. He sees himself running the paper for the next seven or eight years at least and he says the paper is in safe hands. Eventually, he will make a plan to keep the paper going in perpetuity. For now, he’ll continue to rely on the revenue from ads to keep things running. The paper is delivered to businesses for free, so ads are where all the profits come from. Ads costs as little as $270 annually, and many businesses advertise more out of goodwill than for the return on their investment.
Other than placing an ad, the best way the average reader can support The Irish Herald is, according to Seán, “be involved in the community. Everyone has got something they can be involved in—whatever facet of the Irish community. The stronger our community is, the more chance The Irish Herald will survive.” Seán continues, “If it hadn’t been for the UICC, I wouldn’t have met so many people, connected with the community; none of this would’ve happened. If it was in Sacramento or L.A., it wouldn’t have happened. And now we have The Irish Herald.” This is the value of the Irish Cultural Center here in San Francisco
For now, we can be grateful that Seán is behind the wheel at The Irish Herald, connecting our community. The paper can be found at the Irish Cultural Center, in Irish pubs and restaurants, and anywhere else the Irish community congregates across San Francisco.
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