The Irish edition of the Daily Mail is showing signs of a significant decline in sales, with the paper now selling just over 60,000 copies.

The edition, which was first published on February 5th, made a strong entry into the market, selling on average 82,787 copies in March. But this slipped to 70,610 copies in April and the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) figures now show its sale at 60,385 copies.

This means that, between March and May, the paper's sales have fallen by almost 30 per cent. The reason for the falling sales is unclear as the paper has been sold at 50 cent for several months now, although it increases to 75 cent on Saturdays.

By contrast, the paper's UK edition has been growing sales. In May it managed an average daily sale of 2,089,845 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, up slightly on the total in April. The paper is the second-biggest selling title in the UK after the Sun.

While general pressure on circulations in the first few months of 2006 may be one explanation the falls, no fresh data for Irish papers has been published to give an indication of market trends.

The paper is owned by Associated Newspapers, which has also been experiencing sales pressure with its other title, Ireland on Sunday. It posted an operating loss of €23 million in the year to October 2004, one of the largest losses in recent years among national newspaper groups.

The company is due to report results for 2005 shortly, which should give an indication of whether the investment in the Daily Mail Irish edition has pushed it further into the red.

The company is also involved in a third Irish title, Metro, along with The Irish Times and Metro International.

While the Daily Mail (Irish edition) is under sales pressure, it may be able to boost its revenue by pulling in advertising from the Irish market. However, press advertising has been static in the last two years.