Interviews began yesterday to select the new editor of the Sunday Tribune newspaper, with interest from several internal and external candidates.
Approximately 10 candidates are expected to be interviewed this week for the post, held until recently by Matt Cooper, who is now presenting The Last Word on Today FM.
Among the internal candidates expected to feature are Paddy Murray, deputy editor; Brian Carey, business editor; Martin Wall, news editor; columnist Diarmuid Doyle; and Harry Magee, a news reporter and former editor of Magill magazine.
Several external candidates, including journalists from Independent Newspapers, are also expected to be interviewed this week. Noirin Hegarty, of the Evening Herald, and Kevin Rafter, of RTÉ, are believed to be among them.
The Independent group has a significant interest in the Tribune, and representatives of the company are expected to be influential in selecting a successor.
Mr Jim Farrelly, a senior journalist and executive for many years within the Independent group, is managing director of Tribune Newspapers.
The next editor will face an uphill task as the paper is facing huge competition from other Sunday titles, including News International's Sunday Times and Ireland on Sunday, which is now owned by Associated Newspapers of Britain. The Sunday Independent and the Examiner-owned Sunday Business Post are also competing in the Sunday newspaper market.
The newspaper recorded some circulation gains during Mr Cooper's editorship, but the circulation has dropped to 85,000 in the past year.