Limerick Leader celebrating 130 years of serving Limerick

THIS Friday August 9, is a special day in the history of the Limerick Leader, as the paper celebrates 130 years in existence.

On August 9, 1889, the first edition of the Limerick Leader was published and since then it has gone from strength to strength.

The Limerick Leader was established as the “sterling and fearless organ of the true nationalism of our country.”

The first editorial said that the paper would be a faithful organ of the National Party in Limerick and Clare with “resources and energy thrown into the struggle against the evil workings of Eviction and Coercion.”

Evolving from its nationalistic traditions, the Limerick Leader continues to inform the people of Limerick on what is going on in their community, from sittings of the local courts, to council meetings and much more including reports on all the sporting action from GAA to soccer and rugby.

Yes, we have columnists and opinion pieces, but our real value and strength is our unbiased reporting of what is going on in very village and town in county Limerick, to the happenings in Limerick city.

The Limerick Leader sold for one penny back in 1889 and in the first edition, not surprisingly, the Irish National League featured prominently with reports from Abbeyfeale, Banogue, Broadford, Bulgaden, Coolcappa, Croagh, Fedamore, Newcastle West and other areas around the county.

The four broadsheet pages were packed with news and some advertising, with the Glentworth Hotel (now Pery’s Hotel), one of the few surviving businesses still in operation along with the Royal George Hotel. Like the Limerick Leader, they have survived through the decades along with some other fine businesses which have been loyal supporters of the Leader over all those years.

The Limerick Leader continues to be the main news organ in the Mid-West region with modern technology ensuring we reach more readers than ever before.

Our online edition at www.limerickleader.ie regularly achieves around one million page views each week - yes one million each week - with several hundred thousand readers.

The weekend edition continues to be the most popular paper on sale in the Limerick area and we also provide a tabloid paper on Monday and a free paper, The Leader, ever Wednesday, which is delivered door to door in the city area and is available in local shops.

While today Limerick people all over the world can find out what is happening by going onto our website or buying our online edition, back in the 1930s it was more difficult but hundreds of papers were still sent to New York, Chicago, Boston and different parts of Britain.

We recently moved office from 54 O'Connell Street around the corner to 29 Glentworth Street, where our staff continue to provide the best news and advertising service in the Mid-West.

While the news industry is changing at a rate never seen before, the basics - truth and fairness - remain at the heart of what we do. And we in the Leader will continue to strive to respect these basic principles while remaining your number one source of news in the region.