Daily Ireland

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

Critics have accused it of being overly supportive of the politics of Sinn Féin, the main republican party in Northern Ireland and which also has some support in the Republic of Ireland. Its opponents have compared it to the no longer published Irish Press newspaper, which was strongly associated with, and supportive of, Fianna Fáil.

A comment by the Republic's Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell on RTÉ's Questions and Answers live television debate programme, in which he explicitly linked the newspaper to one element of the republican movement, in colloquial language, led to a threat of legal action for libel by the publishers of the papers. The publishers denied his allegation and demanded its withdrawal. Mr McDowell to date has refused to withdraw his comments.

Given its current short period in circulation there is no published information yet as to the extent of its 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 advertise with it, and that 30 jobs were in danger as a result.

External links

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