First issue of the
Irish Independent
Murphy and family (1905?1973)
edit
Masthead of the
Freeman's Journal
, founded 1763, which merged with the
Irish Independent
in 1924
Independent Newspapers in January 1935
The
Irish Independent
was formed in 1905 as the direct successor to
The Irish Daily Independent and Daily Nation
, an 1890s' pro-
Parnellite
newspaper. It was launched by
William Martin Murphy
, a controversial Irish nationalist businessman, staunch anti-
Parnellite
and fellow townsman of Parnell's most venomous opponent,
Timothy Michael Healy
from Bantry.
[4]
The first issue of the
Irish Independent
, published 2 January 1905, was marked as "Vol. 14. No. 1".
During the
1913 Lockout
of workers, in which Murphy was the leading figure among the employers, the
Irish Independent
vigorously sided with its owner's interests, publishing news reports and opinion pieces hostile to the strikers, expressing confidence in the unions' defeat and launching personal attacks on the leader of the strikers,
James Larkin
.
The Irish Independent
described the
1916 Easter Rising
as "insane and criminal" and famously called for the shooting of its leaders.
[5]
In December 1919, during the
Irish War of Independence
, a group of twenty
IRA
men destroyed the printing works of the paper, angered at its criticism of the
Irish Republican Army
's attacks on members of the
Dublin Metropolitan Police
and British government officials.
[6]
In 1924, the traditional nationalist newspaper, the
Freeman's Journal
, merged with the
Irish Independent
. Until October 1986 the paper's masthead over the editorial contained the words "incorporating the Freeman's Journal".
[7]
For most of its history, the
Irish Independent
(also called simply the
Independent
or more colloquially, the
Indo
) was seen as a nationalist, Catholic,
anti-Communist
, newspaper,
[8]
which gave its political allegiance to the
Pro-Treaty
party
Cumann na nGaedheal
and later its successor party,
Fine Gael
.
[8]
During the Spanish Civil War, the
Irish Independent
'
s coverage was strongly pro-
Franco
: the paper criticised the De Valera government for not intervening on behalf of the
Spanish Nationalists
.
[9]
In 1961, the
harp
became a symbol of the
Irish Independent
. It originally appeared in black but was changed to green in 1972.
O'Reilly (1973?2012)
edit
In the 1970s, former
Heinz
chairman
Tony O'Reilly
took over the
Irish Independent
. Under his leadership, it became a more
market liberal
newspaper and economic right-wing. By the mid-nineties its allegiance to Fine Gael had ended. In the
1997 general election
, it endorsed
Fianna Fail
under a front-page editorial, entitled "It's Payback Time". While it suggested its headline referred to the fact that the election offered a chance to "pay back" politicians for their failings, its opponents suggested that the "payback" actually referred to its chance to get revenge for the refusal of the
Rainbow Coalition
to award the company a mobile phone licence.
[10]
In late 2004, Independent Newspapers moved from their traditional home in Middle Abbey Street to a new office, Independent House in
Talbot Street
, with the printing facilities already relocated to the
Citywest
business park near
Tallaght
.
On 27 September 2005, a fortnight after the paper published its centenary edition, it was announced that editor Vinnie Doyle would step down after 24 years in the position. He was replaced by Gerry O'Regan, who had until then been editor of the
Irish Independent
'
s sister paper, the
Evening Herald
. The newspaper's previous editor
Stephen Rae
was also formerly editor of the
Evening Herald
and was appointed editor in September 2012. Fionnan Sheahan was appointed editor in January 2015.
[11]
Billionaire
Denis O'Brien
acquired a majority shareholding of the
Irish Independent
'
s parent company INM in May 2012.
[12]
In July 2019 the takeover of INM by Belgian media group
Mediahuis
was approved by the Irish High Court.
[13]
From 11 February 2020, it was announced that Independent.ie content would go behind a paywall.
[14]
The Irish Independent is available on the
Irish Newspaper Archives
, in black-and-white microfilm up to 2004, in colour since 2005. It is also archived up to 2009 online on the
British Newspaper Archive
website.