The Herald

Logo of The Herald

The Herald is a daily newspaper, which although primarily focused on Dublin issues, circulate nationally and, as of 2020, had a daily print circulation of just over 21,000 copies. As of 2025, its daily print readership is 102,000  people, the smallest readership of any of the national dailies. As a mid-market, tabloid newspaper, content of the Herald combines news and entertainment coverage, with a particular focus on politics, crime and local interest stories for the Dublin area.


First published as The Evening Herald on 19th December 1891, one day after the launch of its sister paper, the Irish Daily Independent, the paper proclaimed itself as a voice in the fight for the independence of Irish men and women. The newspaper was created to promote a pro-Parnellite position following a split in the Irish Parliamentary Party, at a time when the country’s leading newspaper was the anti-Parnellite Freeman’s Journal.


The paper existed as an evening broadsheet paper for 91 years, before transitioning to a tabloid format in 1982. In March 2013 The Evening Herald became the Herald, adjusting its publishing schedule and becoming a morning paper. In March 2017, it was announced that owners Independent News Media (INM) were merging the Sunday World and The Herald newsrooms, although both publications kept their branding. This merger occurred as part of a broader strategy to pivot away from print content, and to produce more digital output. This strategy, which led to a number of job losses for INM editorial staff, was condemned by the National Union of Journalists.


Today, The Herald is owned by Mediahuis Ireland, a subsidiary of Mediahuis NV, whose shareholders comprise Mediahuis Partners NV (50.6%), Concentra (32.7%) and VP Exploitatie (16.7%).


In 2023, following the removal of the Herald.ie, and an assessment that print papers will have largely disappeared by 2030, then Mediahuis Ireland CEO Peter Vandersmeersch stated that they would no longer be investing in the paper, and that the paper would have to “sink or swim”.


(Last updated in April 2026)

Key Facts

Audience ShareMissing Data
Ownership TypePrivate
Geographic CoverageNational
Content TypePaid
Data Publicly Available
ownership data is easily available from other sources, e. g. public registries etc.
Operating CompanyMediahuis Ireland Limited
Identifier: Company Number: IE 153066, Companies Registration Office Ireland

Ownership

Ownership StructureThe Herald is owned by Mediahuis Ireland (Formerly Independent News and Media), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. Mediahuis' largest shareholders include the Belgian Baert Family (29.5%) via their 90% ownership Concentra, the Dutch van Puijenbroek Family (16.7%) via their 100% ownership of VP Exploitatie, and the Belgian Thmoas Leysen (13.25%) via his 26.5.% ownership of Mediahuis Partners NV.
Voting RightsMissing Data
Individual Owner

Operating Company

Facts

Founding Year1891
Founder
  • Missing Data
CEO
  • Sheena Peirse

    Sheena Peirse took over as CEO at Mediahuis Ireland in August 2025 after former CEO Peter Vandermeersch stood down. Peirse originally arrived at Mediahuis in 2019 just after it was acquired (as Independent News and Media) from its previous shareholders.
    She was originally appointed as digital director, with responsibility for monetizing  the company’s hitherto paywall-free websites and integrating its print and digital operations. She became Chief Customer Officer in 2021.

    Peirse has been steeped in digital media since the internet entered public consciousness in the 1990s, initially working for an academic publisher in Cambridge and then briefly working at Express Newspapers. In both contexts she worked to transition legacy print-based operations to exploit online affordances.  

    In 2000, she then moved to work as a producer at ITV franchise United News and Media just as it completed a £UK7 bn merger with Carlton Communications. Having worked to develop digital broadcast content there, she moved to Channel4.com in May 2003. She stayed with Channel 4 for nearly a decade graduating to Managing Editor, Online by 2010. A six year stint as Editorial Director, Online at ITV followed before she crossed the Irish Sea to join Mediahuis Ireland.
    Peirse has been credited with not just the shift to digital subscriptions as the core of Mediahuis Ireland’s revenue base but also the company’s broader transition to becoming audio and video producer for online/podcast markets. 

Editor-In-Chief
  • Missing Data
    MIssing Data
ContactIndependent House
27 - 32 Talbot Street
D01 X2E1 Dublin 1
info@independent.ie
+353 (0)1 705 5333
www.independent.ie/regionals/dublin ( Formerly Herald.ie, now redirects)
RevenueMissing Data
Operating ProfitMissing Data
Advertising (in % of total funding)Missing Data
Market ShareMissing Data
Headlines
Meta Data

Although a number of sources confirm The Herald launched as The Evening Herald in 1891, there is no clear information about who founded the publication.

Audience share total taken from publisher statement, reflects average sales from January to June 2020.

Audience share percentage calculated by taking this number as a percentage of total audience of 2,580,000 as used by Kantar Media (65% of 16+ Population).

No information about voting rights of Shareholders available.

Revenue, operating Profit and Advertising not available at level of Publication.

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