Sky shuts Dublin office over lack of bad news

SKY NEWS is to close its Dublin bureau with the loss directly of three jobs, including two Ireland correspondents’ positions, and four other jobs indirectly.

It means that Sky News, which has a large audience here, will not have a resident reporter in Ireland.

Staff were informed of the redundancies in a letter this week read out to them by Sky News deputy head Simon Cole.

He said: “Over the last 18 months, there has been a diminishing return of news from Ireland. This is partially explained by the successful peace dividend in the North – without terrorism Northern Ireland is no longer a big story. Accordingly, Sky News no longer requires two correspondents expressly dedicated to and based in Ireland.”

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times