New nationalist daily paper planned for North

A NEW nationalist daily newspaper is being planned for Northern Ireland, it was confirmed yesterday.

The newspaper, under the working title of Ireland Today, is the brainchild of the Andersonstown News Group in west Belfast which produces the Irish language daily Lá and several bi-weekly titles.

It will be targeted at readers in Northern Ireland and Border counties in the Irish Republic.

The group believes the new title will create 40 jobs on both sides of the border at offices in Belfast and Monaghan.

Northern Ireland currently has three daily newspapers the Belfast Telegraph, Newsletter and the Irish News. The new paper will be in direct competition for nationalist readership with the Irish News.

Andersonstown News Group's managing director, Mairtín Ó Muilleoir, said market research had shown there was a real window of opportunity for a stridently pro-united Ireland and cross-border newspaper.

"This new title will be a dynamic, quality newspaper that will help to sustain and build the strongly pro-nationalist community in the Northern counties of Ireland," he said.

"Our market research, analysis and surveying show that there exists a real window of opportunity for the provision of a strongly pro-nationalist newspaper. "Advertising spend in newspapers in the North alone last year was in the region of £70 million.

"We need only to take a small amount of that pie, bring new advertisers to market and win a share of the southern advertising spend to create over 40 new jobs in the heart of one of Belfast's traditional economic blackspots."

The Andersonstown News Group also produces the bi-weekly Andersonstown News, the North Belfast News, and South Belfast News.

The publishing group is also involved in two local Dublin newspapers, the Lucan Gazette and Blanch Gazette, and prints the South Armagh paper, The Examiner.

Mr Ó Muilleoir added: "The increasingly self-confident constituency targeted by Ireland Today is emerging from a traumatic period of conflict yet it has no daily newspaper which gives voice to its concerns and views yet that's an essential ingredient in building the peace."

Mr Ó Muilleoir said he hoped to have the first edition of the newspaper on the streets by the end of this year, but he said no definite date had yet been set.

Yesterday's launch of the plans for the new paper in the Belfast Odyssey was attended by community and political leaders.

Among the guests was Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, who was joined by party colleague Bairbre de Brún.