New editor of Irish Mail titles

Sebastian Hamilton has been appointed editor-in-chief of The Irish Daily Mail and the Irish Mail of Sunday, Associated Newspapers Ireland has announced.

Mr Hamilton, who currently serves as the editor of the Irish Mail on Sunday, will oversee the running of both papers and will report to the editor-in-chief of Associated Newspapers and Daily Mail editor, Paul Dacre. He replaces Eric Bailey, who will step down in January, after two years in the position.

Conor O'Donnell, the editor of the Irish Daily Mail, will move to become editor of the Irish Mail on Sunday.

Mr Hamilton joined the Irish operations of Associated Newspapers from the UK in 2006, six months after the paper was launched in Ireland. In the UK, he had served as news editor of the Mail on Sunday, while before joining Associated Newspapers, he had worked at the Sunday Telegraph, Scotland on Sunday and the Sunday Times.

In 2011, Mr Hamilton and another Mail journalist were informed by Scotland Yard that they may have been the victims of phone hacking carried out by the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire on behalf of the News of the World.

Mr Bailey (58) will remain as consultant editor to the newspapers and as a non-executive director on the board of Associated Newspapers Ireland.

"I could not have wished for a better way to end my full-time career," he said in a statement released by Associated Newspapers Ireland.

"I am delighted that I will still be involved in the success of our newspapers, and that we have been able to make promotions from inside the company."

The Irish Daily Mail's circulation has held up in a declining market in recent years, recording a circulation of 50,780 in the first half of 2012, while the Irish Mail on Sunday has a circulation of 108,981, making it the third biggest Sunday paper in Ireland.