Irish Times
The Irish Times is a national daily newspaper published Monday to Saturday. It has the second highest readership for a daily national broadsheet in Ireland and is often referred to as Ireland’s ‘paper of record’ or ‘paper of reference’.
The paper publishes national and international news, sport and business news daily, with supplements throughout the week focusing on topics such as health, family, property (commercial & residential), business and sports. A weekend edition is published on Saturday which includes Weekend analysis supplement, Magazine, Home & Garden, and Saturday Sport and The Ticket (Arts and Culture). A key focus for the publication is opinion and analysis including a variety of perspectives from across the political spectrum. The Irish Times was one of the first newspapers in Ireland and the UK to launch a website in 1994. Now it publishes content across print, online and audio platforms from its newsroom in Dublin.
Founded in 1859 by Major Lawrence Knox as a daily newspaper for an Irish Protestant readership, the paper retained a Unionist outlook throughout the tenure of Major Knox and takeover by the Arnott family, owners of the Dublin department store. Throughout the conflict surrounding the establishment of an independent Irish state in the early 20th Century, The Irish Times led by editor John Healy held a Unionist pro-British editorial outlook. Robert Smyllie, who was appointed editor following Healy’s death in 1934, began to reorientate the newspaper to reflect a new independent state. It is Douglas Gadeby, editor from 1963 to 1984 (with a short break in 1974), who is credited with making major changes in The Irish Times which increased its appeal to a national audience rather than its historical association with the Irish Protestant community. Today the paper has a liberal, centre-left outlook and aims to include a variety of opinions and perspectives. One of the key stated objectives is to allow readers to “reach informed and independent judgements”.
In 1900 the paper went public with the Arnott family retaining a majority shareholding up until the 1960s. In 1962 Thomas Bleakey McDowell became Chief Executive and instigated a programme of change in the newspaper.
In 1974 McDowell changed the business structure introducing a Trust, with the stated aim of ensuring “an independent newspaper primarily concerned with serious issues for the benefit of the community throughout the whole of Ireland, free from any form of personal or party political, commercial, religious or other sectional control”. The Irish Times has no shareholders. Therefore profits are not paid as dividends but are reinvested in Irish Times journalism and development of the organisation. Today governance of The Irish Times Group is shared by The Irish Times Trust and The Irish Times Board, these two groups aim to ensure editorial independence and financial viability of The Irish Times.
Audience Share
MissingData
Ownership Type
Private
Geographic Coverage
National
Content Type
Paid Content
Media Companies / Groups
The Irish Times DAC
Ownership Structure
The Irish Times is owned and operated by The Irish Times DAC which is ultimately owned by The Irish Times Trust CLG. The company has no shareholders but is managed by two boards, Board of The Irish Times Trust CLG and The Board of The Irish Times DAC, members of which are appointed by the Board of The Irish Times Trust CLG.
Voting Rights
All directors have a single vote in any decisions made. In the event where there is a disagreement, the three directors nominated to the board by the Trust have an effective veto where they have 50% of all votes plus 1. However, this can only be used in exceptional circumstances where a Board of Directors proposal contravenes the objectives, principles and standards set out in the Memorandum and Articles of Association for the Trust. In this event lawyers for the Trust and the Board must agree that the proposal constitutes a ‘significant policy’ under the Memorandum and Articles of Association for the Trust.
Individual Owner
General Information
Founding Year
1859
Affiliated Interests Founder
Established the newspaper in 1859 at the age of 29. Knox was a former member of the British Army, later justice of the peace for Dublin and briefly MP for Sligo. In his first editorial he declared that the newspaper was for “Irishmen loyal to the British connection”. It is recognised that under his leadership the newspaper developed to promote moderation and balance in its coverage. Knox died in 1873, aged 37, prompting the sale of The Irish Times to Sir John Arnott.
Affiliated Interests Ceo
Became Managing Director of The Irish Times Group in 2022. Prior to this she was Deputy Editor of The Irish Times and a member of The Irish Times DAC Board since 2017. She joined The Irish Times in 1996 and held a number of journalistic roles, including as online editor where she was a key figure in the development of The Irish Times online platform. Originally from Letterfrack, Mayo, she studied at the University of Galway and is now a member of the editorial advisory board at the School of Journalism.
Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief
Was appointed editor of The Irish Times in 2022 taking on the role vacated by Paul O’Neill. He joined The Irish Times in 2007 when he was awarded the Douglas Gageby Irish Times fellowship for young journalists. He has held various roles within The Irish Times including migration correspondent, Paris correspondent, legal affairs correspondent and foreign affairs correspondent. In 2017 he became an assistant editor. He is a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, University of Strasbourg and Cambridge University. In 2016 he wrote The Supreme Court, a book examining the history and role of this institution in Irish society. He has also won a number of awards for his journalism.
Affiliated Interests other important people
Chairman of the Board of The Irish Times Trust CLG, Fellow Emeritus and former Provost of Trinity College Dublin.
Chairman of the Board of The Irish Times DAC. Co-founder of Frontline Ventures; adviser to the EBRD venture capital programme; Chair of Genio, the Service Reform Fund.
Contact
Financial Information
Revenue (in Mill. $)
Missing Data
Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
Missing Data
Advertising (in % of total funding)
Missing Data
Market Share
Missing Data
Further Information
Meta Data
Audience data is available via the media sales pages on The Irish Times website, 251,000 daily print readers. This is sourced from Kantar TGI 2023 survey data.
In 2019 The Irish Times discontinued its participation in the ABC circulation measurement programme following the withdrawal of Mediahuis titles from this programme the previous year.
Revenue details are reported for the overall group not for individual titles.
Within the media industry in Ireland reporting on income levels are generally at group level rather than individual title level. On top of this, overall revenue details for the market as a whole are unavailable. Due to these factors it is not possible to report accurately on market share for individual titles or groups.
There is currently no standard audience measurement available for print and online news titles in Ireland. Individual titles publish data on readership or users but measurement parameters and sources vary between organisations, therefore it is not possible to report an accurate audience share for the purposes of this project.
Sources
O’Brien, M. (2008) The Irish Times: A History. Dublin: Four Courts Press.
Ellis, G. (2014) Trust Ownership and the Future of News: Media Moguls and White Knights. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
Horgan, J. & Flynn, R. (2017), Irish Media A Critical History, Four Courts Press, Dublin
