At their annual conference, Bookselling Ireland today revealed that bookshops can be linked to €132m contribution to the Irish economy annually. The findings are part of a report undertaken by leading Irish Economist Jim Power, examining the economic impact of Irish bookshops. 

The report, The Economic Contribution of the Irish Bookselling Sector, is the first of its kind undertaken and will be released in full later this year.  It was commissioned by Bookselling Ireland to demonstrate the various ways in which the bookselling sector, which includes both wholesale and retail bookselling (excluding Amazon), contributes to the Irish economy both directly and indirectly.

Key findings:
⦁    234 shops with a strong geographical spread
⦁    Irish bookselling supports 3,233 FTE jobs; 1,796 directly and a further 1,437 in the wider economy
⦁    Gross Wages €32.3m 
⦁    Turnover of Booksellers €98m
⦁    Aggregate GVA or ‘footprint’ throughout the supply chain €132m
⦁    Bookselling sector directly contributes €6.6 million to the Exchequer through payroll taxes, business taxes and local authority contributions

Speaking about the report, Jim Power said: “It is very clear that, despite the challenges of recent years, the Irish bookselling sector is in good health and is making a strong economic and financial contribution to the Irish economy with a footprint of €132m and 1,796 direct jobs supported. However, apart from the economic and financial contribution, the social and cultural impact is huge. No Irish town is complete without a good bookshop.”

Frank Kelly, Chair of Bookselling Ireland added: “Bookselling Ireland is delighted to have hard facts to prove the value and the impact of bookselling to the Irish economy, and to the central role bookshops play in Irish society and culture.  Those of us who work with books know the value and the benefit they bring, but now we have data to back up the impact we have.  Ireland is a nation of writers and readers and we look forward to working with the government, the trade and the media  to help them understand the true fiscal, societal and cultural impacts we have, and how much poorer the Irish economy and landscape would be without us.”