null | Media Ownership Monitor Ireland

The Irish Mail on Sunday, similar to its Irish Daily Mail stablemate, espouses a politely has a conservative political and social outlook. As of mid 2025, Audit Bureau of Circulation figures suggest that the paper sells about 31,000 physical copies every week which, according to Kantar TGI, translated into a print readership of 211,000 readers. The newspaper’s editorial team is based in Dublin and operates independently of the Mail on Sunday title based in London. The Irish Mail on Sunday newsroom is located at the same address as The Irish Daily Mail but has a separate editorial team to the daily title.

The presence of the of the Irish Mail on Sunday in the Irish market stems from Associated Newspapers/Daily Mail and General Trust’s 20021 acquisition of the Irish Sunday title Ireland on Sunday in September 2001. Ireland on Sunday had originally launched as a sports weekly – The Title - in 1996 before relaunching in 1997 as broad-based Sunday national incorporating The Title as a sports supplement. In July 2000, journalists and original founders Liam Hayes and Cathal Dervan, sold the paper to Scottish Radio Holdings which in turn sold it to Associated Newspapers 12 months later for a reported £UK7.4m.

Associated Newspapers invested heavily in the Irish operation, redesigning Ireland on Sunday to mirror Associated’s UK title The Mail on Sunday, with a view to targeting the readership of the Sunday Independent. Though costly - Associated’s Irish operation posted accumulated losses of €60m by 2006 – the parent company doubled down establishing a daily sister paper – the Irish Daily Mail - in February 2006. Six months later, Associated announced that Ireland on Sunday itself would immediately be rebranded as The Irish Mail on Sunday.

DMG Media Ireland operates the Irish publications for parent company DMGT (based in the UK). It has acquired and operates a number of news, entertainment and lifestyle media brands including the Irish Mail on Sunday, other niche publications such as EVOKE, RollerCoaster.ie, Extra.ie, OneFabDay.com and Nalac, the publishing firm owning Business Plus magazine and its online brand BizPlus. In 2025, Associated moved into the Irish radio market through the acquisition of local radio station WLR FM. Through its different publications DMG Media Ireland is active in sponsorship programmes for a variety of sports organisations in Ireland including horse racing, camogie, cricket and women’s soccer.

(Last updated in April 2026)

Key Facts

Audience Share	Missing Data
Ownership Type	Private
Geographic Coverage	National
Content Type	Paid
Data Publicly Available	ownership data is easily available from other sources, e. g. public registries etc.

Ownership

Ownership Structure	The Irish Mail on Sunday is operated by DMG Media Ireland (Daily Mail Group) is wholly owned by Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) a UK company which in turn is 100% owned by Rothermere Continuation Limited, a private company owned by the Rothermere family and registered in Jersey. The company was delisted from the London Stock Exchange in 2022. DMG Media Ireland (Daily Mail Group) is the trading name used in Ireland for DMGT’s Irish media subsidiaries, the registered company name in Ireland is Associated Newspapers Ireland Ltd.
Voting Rights	In 2021 Rothermere Continuation Limited (RCL) bought all shares in the Daily Mail Group Trust (DMGT) making it fully private.
Individual Owner	Jonathan Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere 100

Operating Company

Daily Mail and General Trust PLC

Facts

Founding Year	2006
Founder	Jonathan Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere In 2006 the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) via its Irish subsidiary DMG Media Ireland/Associated Press Limited launched The Irish Mail on Sunday, a subsidiary publication specifically for the Irish Market. It bought the paper under the Ireland On Sunday title in 2001 and renamed it The Irish Mail on Sunday in 2006, the same year the Irish Daily Mail was launched. DMGT also publishes The Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday newspapers in the United Kingdom. The Daily Mail was founded by Harmsworth’s great grandfather Harold Harmsworth and brother Alfred and in 1896, the company has remained under the control of the Harmsworth family since its foundation.
CEO	Paul Henderson Paul Henderson took over as Chief Executive of DMG Media Ireland in 2009, having worked as director of sales for Independent Star Limited (then Publisher of the Irish Daily Star) between 2003 and 2009. His first job in journalism – directly after completing his Leaving Cert in 1990 – was also with the then two years old Irish Daily Star. He has also worked in television, as a sales manager at TV3 (predecessor of Virgin Media Television Ireland) between 1998 and 2003.
Editor-In-Chief	Robert Cox Working at The Irish Mail on Sunday since 2013, Robert Cox was appointed Editor-in-Chief in 2019. He has previously worked as Deputy Editor and News editor at this title.
Other Important People	Conor O’Donnell Group Editor Irish Mail Newspapers - Conor O’Donnell joined DMG Ireland in 2008 taking on the role of night editor and deputy editor of the Irish Daily Mail. In 2011 he was appointed editor of The Irish Mail on Sunday and in 2019 became Group editor for DMG Ireland. He began his career in Munster’s regional newspapers The Kerryman and the Irish Examiner before moving to London to work at the Daily Telegraph.
Contact	Top Floor, Two Haddington Buildings 20-38 Haddington Road D04 HE94 Dublin 4 news@dailymail.ie +353 (0) 1 256 0800 www.dailymail.co.uk

Revenue	Missing Data
Operating Profit	Missing Data
Advertising (in % of total funding)	Missing Data
Market Share	Missing Data

Meta Data	DMGT do not publish financial data at an individual title level or details on advertising vs other revenue streams, but financial reports are published annually on the company website for the overall group. 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	Ian Kehoe “Launch, buy, build: Paul Henderson on how DMG Media is thriving in the publishing business” The Currency 27 January 2022. Accessed on 8 April 2026. DMG Media Ireland Company website FAME Database, Financial Analysis Made Easy. Includes: Company accounts, ratios, activities, ownership and management for the largest 2.6 million UK and Irish companies, summary information for a further 1 million smaller businesses.

Meta Data

DMGT do not publish financial data at an individual title level or details on advertising vs other revenue streams, but financial reports are published annually on the company website for the overall group.

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