The Sunday papers

A history of Ireland’s weekly press

Joe Breen & Mark O'Brien, editors

For over a century, the Irish Sunday newspaper has influenced social mores and political developments in Ireland. In this lively and engaging book, historians and journalists celebrate the character, role, culture and history of the Irish Sunday newspaper.

Each chapter gives an overview of a particular title, examining the Ireland in which it first appeared, its origins, its proprietors, editors, journalists and contributors, its major stories and controversies, its business dynamic, circulation and readership, and its overall contribution to journalism, society and culture in terms of its coverage of politics, sports and other areas of public interest.

This book includes chapters on the Sunday Freeman, 1913–16 (Felix M. Larkin); Sunday Independent, 1905–84 (Mark O’Brien); Sunday Press (Ray Burke); Sunday Review (Joe Breen); Sunday World (Siún Ní Dhuinn & Regina Uí Chollatáin); Sunday Journal (Mary Muldowney); Sunday Tribune (Pat Brennan & Brian Trench); Sunday Independent, 1984–2012 (Kevin Rafter); Sunday Business Post, 1989–2001 (Ed Mulhall); and Sunday Times (Michael Foley).

Joe Breen is a former managing editor at the Irish Times. He has lectured at University College Dublin and Dublin City University and has contributed to Periodicals and journalism in twentieth-century Ireland: writing against against the grain (2014) and to Independent newspapers: a history (2012). Mark O’Brien is associate professor at the School of Communications, Dublin City University, where he teaches media and journalism history. He is the author of several books, including most recently The fourth estate: journalism in twentieth-century Ireland (Manchester, 2017), and co-editor of several others.