THE IRISH SUN has announced its line-up for the new Sunday edition of the paper which will be published for the first time this weekend.

Paul Williams, who had originally moved from the Sunday World to the now-closed News of the World, is one of the headline names being used to tout the launch. Former Ireland soccer player Roy Keane is to have a weekly column in the paper – he had written for the Irish Sun recently. TV3 Exposé presenter Glenda Gilson will have a column on “fashion must-haves, celebrity gossip, as well as the scoops on the glitzy events she attends” – she used to write a column for the News of the World.

The Irish Sun is owned by News International, which shut News of the World in London and its Irish edition in Dublin last July in the wake of the phonehacking scandal revelations. As reported by TheJournal.ie on the night of that announcement, staff within the Irish Sun were told that their operation would switch to a seven-day run within the next few months.

The Sun’s editor Michael McNiffe, said that he was looking forward to “becoming Ireland’s number one Sunday newspaper”. What exactly that definition entails isn’t elaborated upon by McNiffe. ABC figures released today show that the Sunday World is currently Ireland’s biggest-selling Sunday newspaper with sales of 251,455. A close second is the Sunday Independent, whose sales are at 250,641. Some Sunday titles saw their circulations rise in the last half of 2011, which could in part be attributed to the closure of the News of the World.

Oliver Keenaghan, general manager of News International Ireland, said that he was excited about the “future plans” his group also have for the Irish Sun and the NI-owned Sunday Times. The Irish Sun on Sunday will sell for €1.

New figures show falling circulation for most Irish daily newspapers>
News of the World closes as phone hacking scandal expands>
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