‘Cultural differences’ behind move by newspaper to drop topless Page 3 girls

Topless Page 3 girls have been removed from the Irish edition of The Sun despite the decision of its British sister paper to retain the controversial concept.

The editor of The Irish Sun, Paul Clarkson, said subtle “cultural differences” between Britain and Ireland were behind the decision, and that topless women had been phased out from the newspaper in the past number of weeks.

“Ireland isn’t Britain. We like the same football teams, chocolate bars, TV shows, but we have different needs in a paper. Our own readers never really had a problem with page three.”

“It’s very tame compared to what you’d see on The Jeremy Kyle Show in the morning on TV3 or on the front cover of Vogue or Heat magazine and so on.

“But it seems to be a bar for some people who would never pick up the paper and I want people who think The Irish Sun is not for them to have a chance to try it.”

The editor of The Sun in Britain recently announced that he intended to keep publishing topless women as it is a “good way of selling newspapers”.

However, his Irish counterpart said the change on this side of the Irish Sea was to allow people who don’t normally buy the paper to see that it is about more than topless women.

He said the reaction to the move had been “largely positive” but admitted that there was a core element of Irish Sun readers who would like it to return.

Founder of the No More Page 3 campaign, Lucy Anne Holmes, said the move was a step in the right direction. “I do think it’s a step in the right direction but I do think it’s just a step though, one of many steps that have to be taken.

“We will still have a picture on page three of a young woman straddling something imaginary in a swimming costume so it’s not as if The Irish Sun has suddenly realised that women say and think and do incredible things and want to celebrate that.

“It’s still primarily showing women on page three as something to be looked at and for direction but we do have to take it as step in the right direction.”