There was surprise in newspaper circles yesterday when the editor of the Sunday Business Post, Mr Ted Harding, resigned from the paper.
The reason for Mr Harding's decision was not given and he could not be reached for comment.
The newspaper, owned by Thomas Crosbie Holdings (TCH), said in a statement that Mr Harding was "pursuing other personal and professional interests". Mr Harding had been editor for three years.
TCH, which owns the Irish Examiner and several local and regional titles, said it would be advertising externally and internally for a successor. It wished Mr Harding luck in the future.
According to the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC), the paper's sales figure was 52,115 in the six months to June 27th - up from 51,613 in the same period in 2003.
Readership figures for the title were also rising.
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) chapel at the paper expressed "shock and dismay" at the announcement.
"The NUJ chapel [ branch] wishes to express shock and dismay at the sudden departure of editor Ted Harding. Thomas Crosbie Holdings and the Sunday Business Post management have refused to disclose the reasons for the editor's departure. Editorial staff wish to express support for Ted Harding's decisions which have led to record readership of 168,000, an increase of 10 per cent on the same period last year," the chapel said in a statement.
The union said that explicit guarantees about the independence of the paper had been given by TCH when it bought the title in 2002. It said it wanted a meeting with TCH management to discuss "recent and future developments at the newspaper".
It also said it was alarmed that the paper's independence could now be threatened.
The Sunday Business Post claims the highest AB profile of any Irish newspaper and the highest ABC1 profile of any Sunday newspaper.