Daily Ireland

Encyclopedia : D : DA : DAI : Daily Ireland



Type	Daily newspaper
Format	tabloid

Owner(s)	Andersonstown News
Founded	January 2005
Political position	Irish Republican
Headquarters
Editor

Website	[www.dailyireland.com]

Daily Ireland is a daily newspaper launched in January 2005 throughout the island of Ireland to cover news stories from an Irish republican viewpoint. It is linked to the Belfast local newspaper, the Andersonstown News.

Positioning

Its supporters regard the paper as the first mass market Irish republican newspaper. Critics have accused it of being overly supportive of the politics of Sinn Féin, the biggest nationalist party in Northern Ireland. Some supporters and opponents have compared it to the defunct Irish Press newspaper, which was strongly associated with, and supportive of, Fianna Fáil, Ireland's largest party.

A comment by the Republic's Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell on RTÉ's Questions and Answers live television debate programme, in which he claimed the newspaper was backed by the Provisional IRA and compared it to the Nazi party newspaper the Völkischer Beobachter, led to a threat of legal action for libel by the publishers of the papers. The publishers denied his allegation and demanded its withdrawal. As some Sinn Féin supporters have been killed or threatened by loyalists, staff at Daily Ireland contend that McDowell's comments put them in danger. A member of the paper's management was later told by the Police Service of Northern Ireland that he was at risk of attack by loyalist paramilitaries. McDowell to date has refused to withdraw his comments, and told Daily Ireland he would see them in court. When they brought a suit against him in Belfast, his defence team declared that as Minister of Justice, McDowell has sovereign immunity. The case continues.

Circulation

In May 2005 the management of the paper denied media reports that Daily Ireland was experiencing poor circulation and was about to lay off many of its staff. This was confirmed by the paper on 14 May 2005 when it claimed that poor advertising revenue was being caused by the decision of the British government not to place advertisements in it (as it is obliged to do with papers that have reached a certain circulation), and that 30 jobs were in danger as a result. Government policy at the time was not to advertise in publications for which audited circulation figures were not available and as a new publication, these figures were yet to be published for the Daily Ireland.

Circulation & Readership of

*Circulation*	10,474
*Readership*	-
*Dates*	Feb-April 2005
Source	Audit Bureau of Circulations

When the figures were published by the [Audit Bureau of Circulations], the paper had an average circulation of 10,474 for February, March and April 2005, considerably below expectations (most county newspapers have higher sales) and well below break-even level. In contrast the Irish Independent had a circulation of approximately 160,000 and the Irish Times a circulation of 117,000. They are not universally available in Northern Ireland and so have their principal market in the Republic of Ireland, unlike Daily Ireland which was intended to be an all-Ireland newspaper. The Irish News, which is largely restricted to Northern Ireland, has a circulation of over 50,000. Though new newspapers regularly start at a low base and lose money for their first couple of years, no Irish national newspaper in recent years which started at such a low base has survived, with newspapers such as the Stars on Sunday, Daily News and Dublin Daily, attracting higher initial base circulations in smaller markets (the former two in the Republic, the latter in Dublin) before folding. With such a small readership the longterm survival prospects of Daily Ireland remains a matter of speculation within the advertising and newspaper industries.

External links

[Daily Ireland Online] — the newspaper's website
[Paper to sue over minister's IRA claim] — The Guardian article on the libel controversy

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*National & regional newspapers in Ireland*
Currently existing Daily Ireland \| Evening Echo \| Evening Herald \| Foinse \| Herald AM \| Ireland on Sunday \| Irish Examiner \| Irish Independent \| Lá \| Metro \| Sunday Independent \| Sunday Tribune \| Sunday World \| The Belfast Telegraph \| The Irish News \| The Irish Times \| The News Letter \| The Sunday Business Post

Defunct An Claidheamh Soluis \| Daily News \| Dublin Evening Mail \| Evening Telegraph \| Dublin Evening Standard \| Evening Press \| Freeman's Journal \| The Irish Press \| The Sunday Press \| Sunday World (19th cent) \| The Nation \| United Irishman

*See also: List of newspapers in Ireland*