THE IRISH MAIL ON SUNDAY has been criticised this morning for using the Sunday Tribune’s masthead and page layout on their front of the paper, on the first weekend after the Tribune announced it would not publish until it had been sold.

Not all of the Mail issues this morning are carrying the controversial wrap-around, which says today’s Mail is a “special edition designed for readers of the Sunday Tribune”.

Noirin Hegarty, editor of the Tribune, said she was “appalled and shocked” with today’s “front page lookalike of the Sunday Tribune with the naked ambition of gaining extra circulation”.

Hegarty described the Mail’s cover as an attempt to bury “a still-alive corpse” as a “shameless act of commercial vandalism”.

She said she was appealing to “fair-minded Irish Sunday newspaper” readers to refuse to buy the Mail’s titles.

Responding to criticism, the Mail on Sunday said in a statement that it wanted to encourage people to continue buying Irish newspapers, saying it was written, edited and printed in Ireland.

A receiver was appointed to the Sunday Tribune last week after Independent News and Media pulled its financial support for the paper. Staff salaries will be honoured for the month of February.

Here’s a round-up of reactions to the Mail’s front cover today: