'The Irish Catholic' newspaper appoints new Editor

Michael Kelly

The Irish Catholic has appointed a new Editor. Michael Kelly, who has served as Deputy Editor since 2005, will take up his appointment with immediate effect.

The outgoing Editor, Garry O'Sullivan, moves to the role of Managing Director. Mr O'Sullivan led a management buyout of the company earlier this year.

Mr Kelly, 33, said he was "delighted" to be taking on the role.

"It is an honour to have been appointed Editor of a newspaper with such a distinguished history going back almost 125 years," he said.

"There has arguably never been a more interesting time to be an Irish Catholic. I hope to build on the success of the paper by expanding further into the online and social media sphere to consolidate and grow the reputation of The Irish Catholic as the number one source for news, opinion and informed commentary about issues of faith," Mr Kelly said.

The newspaper, which is published nationwide every Thursday, has a readership of almost 70,000 people and sells some 22,000 copies every week.

Mr Kelly, a native of Omagh, Co Tyrone, said The Irish Catholic would continue "to be a space where Catholics can discuss and debate what is important to them and to the future of the Faith.

"I look forward to continuing the work of our excellent team in our Donnybrook offices and the many columnists and contributors who make The Irish Catholic the success that it is," Mr Kelly said.

He said the success of the International Eucharistic Congress showed "that there is still a great vitality in Irish Catholicism and that Irish Catholics have a thirst to deepen their knowledge and experience of the Faith".

Mr Kelly previously worked with Vatican Radio in Rome and as Rome Correspondent with The Irish Catholic before returning to Dublin in 2005. He was appointed Deputy Editor in 2007.

The Irish Catholic was founded in 1888 by Timothy Daniel Sullivan, a former Lord Mayor of Dublin and an Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) MP at Westminster. The newspaper is entirely independent of the Catholic hierarchy.

During an almost 125-year history, The Irish Catholic only failed to appear on only one occasion - the Easter Rising of 1916 when Dublin was in turmoil.