Named after newspaper first published in 1880
Irish Sun is an online newspaper which had its origins in 2002 and was inaugurated in 2004, although it uses the name of a newspaper that was published and circulated in Dublin from the year 1880. The publication concentrates on national Ireland news but also presents stories from around Europe and the world that have relevance to the country or to Irish people, many of whom reside and work in many different parts of the world.
Now in its second decade of existence, Irish Sun when it first went live Mary McAleese was President of Ireland while Bertie Ahern was Taoiseach. Dublin aid worker Margaret Hassan was kidnapped in Iraq that year and Irish Sun reported on it, together with her subsequent murder two months later. Ian Paisley was welcomed by Ahern to Dublin for the first time while Cian O’Connor won a gold medal at the Athens Olympics.
On 1st January 2005 Cork was named the Europe Capital of Culture, the Irish Farmers Association celebrated their fiftieth birthday, and Bertie Ahern took a third of his cabinet on a trade mission to China. Irish Sun reported it all. Irish Sun covered the shut-down of the Irish Sugar Company factory in Carlow which put several hundred people out of work. Cian O’Connor was stripped of his gold medal because the Olympic Federation ruled the horse he rode had contained banned substances. O’Connor was cleared of any wrong-doing. Ireland mourned the death of Pope John Paul II, but welcomed Pope Benedict XVI. On 28 July 2005, the Provisional Irish Republic Army ended its armed struggle and began handing over its arms.
The Duke of Edinburgh visited Dublin in 2006 while Belfast City Airport had a name change to the George Best Belfast City Airport.
St Patrick’s Day in 2007 in Dublin saw 650,000 people march, more than 50% more than the year before. A general election on May 24 saw the formation of a FF/Green/PD government.
In 2008 a blizzard raged across Ireland and snow fell for the first time since 2000. As the Global Financial Crisis began to take hold Irish Sun’s stock market report on January 21 2008 noted a loss on the Ireland exchange of more than four billion euros on that one day. On 25th September the publication’s business desk reported the economy was officially in recession (for the first time in 25 years). Just five days later Irish Sun reported the government was injecting 400 million euros to prop up six Irish banks that were facing collapse.
In 2009 unemployment increased 50% to 9.2%. Swine flu was found in pigs in Ireland, and by the end of the year Irish Sun had run reports on the deaths of at least 10 Irish citizens.
2010 was a bleak year, Christmas Day that year was the coldest in history at -17.5 degrees.
In 2011 Queen Elizabeth visited Ireland for the first time. The country also welcomed U.S. President Barack Obama. Michael Higgins assumed the presidency in November 2011.
2012 brought reports of the bankruptcy of Sean Quinn, who had been declared as Ireland’s richest person just four years earlier. China’s Vice President Xi Jinping visited. Unemployment hit 14.7%
In February we covered the move to liquidate the former Anglo Irish Bank, which had been nationalised in January 2009.
2013 also sat Taoiseach Enda Kenny issue an apology for the government's role in the Magdalene laundries where "troubled women" were forcibly detained and made to work as virtual slaves from 1922 to 1996.
Our business desk reported that Ireland was back in recession in 2013, for the first time in four years. In December of that year Ireland officially exited the EU/IMF bailout programme having fulfilled its conditions - the first bailed-out eurozone country to do so.
President Michael D Higgins, the first Irish president to visit Britain, made the journey in April 2014.
In 2015 one of our biggest stories was the referendum which saw an overwhelming approval for same-sex marriage.
In February 2016 the national election resulted in the Fine Gael/Labour coalition losing its majority. The situation remained uncertain until May when Fine Gael joined with Fianna Fail to form a minority government. Parliament then re-elected Enda Kenny as Taoiseach.
By 2016 pressure was building on Ireland due to the tax concessions it has been providing international technologies companies. In a shock move however we reported an order by the European Commission for Ireland to impose 13 billion euros in back taxes against Apple. The government appealed the decision.
A scandal in the Gardia erupted in early 2017 and then in 2017 Taoiseach Enda Kenny stepped down. In June 2017 Leo Varaghar was elected leader of Fine Gael which resulted in him then being elected as Taoiseach, the youngest ever.
Irish Sun has reported on all the major events concerning Ireland and continues to do so. Irish Sun is not associated with The Sun in the UK, or that publication’s Irish edition. The portal is operated by Midwest Radio Network and is part of the distribution syndication of the Big News Network news agency.
Contact: for any queries or comments, please use our contact form.
Corporate Overview:
Market: Republic of Ireland/Est. population 4.8 million
Publisher:
Midwest Radio Network
Level 2, 111 Harrington Street
Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
www.midwestradionetwork.com
Bankers:
Westpac Banking Corporation
Sydney, Australia
Affiliate:
Big News Network news agency
Dubai Media City, Dubai, UAE
www.bignewsnetwork.net
Title: Irish Sun
Website: www.irishsun.com
Mission: Irish Sun was conceived in September 2002 and initiated in 2004 to provide up-to-the minute local Irish news, together with international headlines as part of a global network pooling resources to deliver a quality service to member portals. Each online publication has been modelled on a newspaper format for familiar readability by users. The locations forming part of the network were selected on the basis of demand for news for that location. Irish Sun, effectively an online newspaper, provides coverage of the republic and greater Ireland. International news, business and finance stories are common across the network of sites, and are drawn from a number of sources including original in-house journalists and wire services.
Irish Sun and the other sites are administered by Midwest Radio Network.
Associated sites include: Africa Leader | Arab Herald | Asia Bulletin | Herald Globe | Mediterranean Times | Middle East Star | Israel Herald | The US News
