VILLAGEMAGAZINE has been forced to cease publication as it could no longer be funded, publisher Vincent Browne said last night.
He blamed what he termed the "suspension" of the publication on "a significant downturn in advertising and the cancellation of special contract publications we were undertaking for third parties".
Browne, an Irish Timescolumnist and TV3 presenter, said in a statement: " Villageshowed a loss of €589,000 for 2006. The losses were reduced to €111,615 on lower turnover in 2007.
"We were on course to make a modest profit in 2008 but the cancellation of the contract publications and the downturn in advertising has made continuation impossible."
He said the media enterprise had involved a total of 140 issues and the closure has led to three job losses.
Browne told The Irish Timeshe has suffered serious financial losses as a result of the closure, saying he was the major financier of the magazine as a 75 per cent shareholder. He expressed disappointment for the staff and contributors.
Villagemagazine had started as a weekly production and its first edition appeared in October 2004 in tabloid size, before it went monthly from January of last year.
Browne said he hoped to "leave it open" and run "the odd publication" in the future.
He said the www.village.ie, a current affairs and news commentary site, is being updated at present. It will soon include public affairs commentaries from 1994, archive material from Magillmagazine from 1977 to 1998 and the full archive of the print issues of Villagemagazine.