There was more blood-letting in the crowded Belfast newspaper market this week as jobs were cut at Daily Ireland.
About
a quarter of the paper’s 30-plus staff are believed to have been made
redundant, just three months after the pro-united Ireland morning paper
was launched. The move follows the shock closure a month ago of
non-sectarian Belfast morning title Daily View five weeks after its
launch.
Even with the closure of Daily View, Belfast still has
the most crowded morning newsstands in the country, with the Irish
News, News Letter and the new morning edition of the Belfast Telegraph
competing for readers.
Daily Ireland claims to be suffering from
a government advertising boycott and warned last month that jobs could
be cut as a result. But the Northern Ireland Office said it could not
advertise with a publication until it had an official ABC figure. A
three-month ABC sales figure for Daily Ireland is expected before the
end of the month.
According to estimates from rivals, Daily Ireland’s sale is about 7,000 a day.
However, the paper has predicted its sale would be “well into five figures”.
The
redundancies are believed to include the news editor, news and sport
reporters and a photographer. Daily Ireland refused to provide full
details, but managing director Mairtin O’Muilleoir said: “Daily Ireland
is continuing to build and confident of the future. The government ad
ban is being put under enormous pressure and will go to create a level
playing field. Daily continues to give uplift to all the group titles.”
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