The largest Irish community newspaper in Britain, the Irish Post, has been bought by Thomas Crosbie Holdings (TCH), publisher of the Irish Examiner.

TCH will pay Jefferson Smurfit £1.7 million sterling (€2.48 million) for the paper, which has an ABC circulation of 31,400.

It is the first newspaper to be acquired by TCH in Britain.

TCH's managing director, Mr Anthony Dinan, said that the newspaper needed fresh investment and marketing to reverse its circulation losses over recent years.

TCH now owns 13 newspapers and has made seven acquisitions in the past three years.

Mr Dinan said the company was interested in other media opportunities.

"We feel we can grow while getting a good return and good value," he said.

The Irish Post was set up in 1970 and is particularly popular in urban centres such as Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, London and Liverpool, where there are large Irish populations. Its main competitor is the Irish World.

Mr Dinan said TCH could improve the paper by using content from its two Irish-based titles, the Irish Examiner and the Sunday Business Post, and from its network of 10 regional papers in the Republic and Northern Ireland.

The following newspaper titles are now part of the TCH group stable: the Irish Examiner; the Sunday Business Post; the Evening Echo; the Newry Democrat; the Down Democrat; the Kingdom; the Waterford News & Star; the Sligo Weekender; the Western People; the Nationalist & Leinster Times (Carlow); the Kildare Nationalist; and the Laois Nationalist.

The company also has interests in radio stations Red FM, Northwest Radio and MidWest Radio.

The circulation of the Irish Post has been falling in recent years and its presence on the Web is minimal, unlike the Irish community newspaper in New York the Irish Voice, which has managed to build up a major Web presence.

Mr Dinan said there were opportunities to broaden the Irish Post's profile in Britain and via the internet.

However, he added that the printed newspaper had a loyal following.

It is understood three publishing companies were interested in buying the title. The sale was handled by BDO Simpson Xavier on behalf of Smurfit Communications.

Late last year, Smurfit, which owns several magazine titles, disclosed that it would not be proceeding with its sales plans.

It said in a statement: "The group retained BDO Simpson Xavier to advise on the options open to it with regard to the magazine business. Following this review, the group determined that it would not realise value for the company and decided to retain it."

However, Smurfit remained keen to sell the Irish Post because it was losing readers, some of them to the Irish World.