The Irish Times Ltd is to invest €12.5 million enlarging its printing facility at Citywest in west Dublin. Liam Reid reports.
The investment will facilitate the development of its contract printing business, which is now a major revenue generator for the company.
The €70 million Citywest facility, which opened in June 2002, is one of the most advanced printing plants on the island. It has developed a significant contract printing business, and now prints seven weekly titles, including the Mail on Sunday, Star on Sunday, the Farmers' Journal, the Tallaght Echo, the Galway Advertiser, the Business and the Irish Field. The Irish Times was also jointly named as Newspaper Printer of the Year, while The Irish Times Saturday Magazine won coldset colour supplement of the year.
Announcing the investment, Ms Maeve Donovan, managing director of The Irish Times, said the company provided "the best-quality colour newspaper printing service in the country". She said there was "a significant opportunity to expand that business". This is part of the plan to broaden and diversify the Irish Times business. And of course, as with all of our developments, the purpose is to protect The Irish Times newspaper."