A new national evening news paper will be launched this summer, backed by an as yet unnamed Irish publishing group, reports Colm Keena. The editor will be Mr Dick O'Riordan, former editor of the Evening Press and current editor of the weekly Dublin newspaper, the Leader.
Today's edition of the Leader will be the last. The directors of that newspaper will now direct their attention towards the launch of the new publication.
"One hundred per cent no," Mr O'Riordan said when asked if either Mr Eamon de Valera or Mr Vincent Jennings, of Irish Press plc, were involved with the new newspaper.
He would not name the new backers whom, he said, were Irish and were investing a "considerable amount of money" in the new venture.
The Evening Herald is the only national evening newspaper since the collapse of the Irish Press group.