Average sales of the Irish edition of the Daily Mail have risen to a record 82,787 as competition intensifies in the newspaper industry.
The Irish edition was first published on February 5th and initial returns put the paper's sale at about 55,000, but new figures covering the period from February 27 to April 2nd put its sale at 82,787.
The figures, covering UK owned titles, have been released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).
The Daily Mail UK edition has been sold in Ireland for decades and by the end of March 2005 it had an average sale of 9,404.
The Irish edition, owned by Associated Newspapers Ireland, has been attempting to build on this with the Irish edition. The paper has placed a special emphasis on recruiting female readers. So far it has not sought any Irish advertising but this will be necessary in order for the paper to thrive commercially.
The Irish version is currently on sale during the week for 50 cent, but increases to 75 cent at weekends.
The weekday price is significantly below other titles in the market, for example Evening Herald costs €1 and the Irish Independent costs €1.60.
Significantly the Daily Mail Irish edition has already passed out the Irish edition of the Daily Mirror which posted an average circulation in March of 73,611.
This was down on 77,560 in March of 2005, a fall of approximately 5 per cent.
The Irish Star, co-owned by Independent News and Media and Express Newspapers, posted an average circulation of 100,583 in March, which was a 2.8 per cent drop from 103,569 last March.
The Sun, the biggest selling daily newspaper in Britain or Ireland, posted an average sale of 111,838. Compared to March 2005 its sale has fallen by 6.1 per cent from 119,129.
Most of the other UK dailies do not have a significant sale in the Republic, according to ABC.
For example the Financial Times only sold 4,128 copies on average in March 2006, marginally down on the same period in 2005.
In the Sunday market the major title remains the News of the World, which is one of the biggest selling papers in Europe.In Ireland its average sale in March was 163,146 This was down slightly from 164,939, a drop of just over one per cent.
The Sunday edition of the Irish Star made strong gains during the period, up to 61,616 from 49,098, a jump of 25 per cent.
Among the Sunday broadsheets the Sunday Times is the leading UK title with its Irish edition posting an average sale in March 2006 of 108,368, although this was a 2 per cent drop from 110,668.
This performance was in line with declining trends among other Sunday broadsheets, with the Sunday London Independent and the Sunday Telegraph losing sales. However the Observer managed to buck this trend with an average sale in March of 13,139, a rise of 14.5 per cent.
