Donegal Democrat

The Donegal Democrat is a twice-weekly regional paper published in Donegal town in County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. It was founded in 1919 by John Downey as an outlet to further the nationalist cause in the region. As the paper’s first editorial stated, “it shall ever be our object to uphold anything that will further the National and local interests.” The paper was raided several times by British forces in its early years.

The paper remained in the Downey family until 1948 when it was purchased by Cecil King. The King family retained ownership until 1995 when Cecil King Jr put the title up for sale. The McCarroll family-owned Derry Journal Group purchased the paper in the same year.
In 1998, as part of its wider foray into the Irish media market, Mirror Group Newspapers (later Trinity Mirror) bought the Derry Journal group (including the Donegal Democrat). Trinity Mirror disposed of its Irish regional print assets in 2004, which were acquired by Local Press Limited, a vehicle created by 3i, a venture capital and private equity company. Just a year later, 3i sold Local Press Limited on to the Scottish-based Johnston Press for €95m. (In the same year - 1995 - Johnston Press also spent €138.6m to acquire the seven title-Leinster Leader group and £UK155m Scottish Radio Holdings UK and Ireland print titles. These included five regional newspapers in the Republic of Ireland.)

The Democrat, along with the rest of Johnston’s Irish holdings were finally sold to Iconic Media in 2014 for €8.7m. The paper has remained in Iconic’s hands ever since. Iconic Media is owned by Media Concierge (Holdings) Limited, which is wholly owned by The Denmark Family, with UK businessman Malcolm Denmark as the controlling shareholder.

Today, the Donegal Democrat is printed on Tuesdays and Thursdays and also populates the news site donegallive.com, which includes content from its sister papers the Donegal Post, the Inish Times, and the Inishowen Independent. According to the website, the papers together have a weekly audience of 61,000.

Key Facts

Audience Share	Missing Data
Ownership Type	Private
Geographic Coverage	Local
Content Type	Paid
Data Publicly Available	ownership data is easily available from other sources, e. g. public registries etc.

Ownership

Ownership Structure	The Donegal Democrat is operated by Formpress Publishing Limited, which is owned by Iconic Newspapers Limited. The parent organisation of Iconic Newspapers Limited is Media Concierge (Holdings) Limited (previously Mediaforce (Holdings) Limited). The Denmark Family is the sole owner of the media group. Malcolm Denmark, who owns 75% of shares, is identified as the controlling shareholder in accounts filed with Companies House in the UK for Media Concierge (Holdings) Limited. The remaining company shares are owned by C.N. Denmark (15%), T.C. Denmark (9%), and V.M. Denmark (.76%).
Voting Rights	Malcolm (M.C.) Denmark is identified as the controlling shareholder in accounts filed with Companies House in the UK for Media Concierge (Holdings) Limited.
Individual Owner	Denmark Family 100

Media Companies / Groups

Facts

Founding Year	1919
Founder	John Downey John Downey established the Donegal Democrat in 1919 with the financial backing of local businessman Cecil Stephens. He had previously worked as a printer in Ballyshannon, first with P.A.Mooney of The Donegal Independent. He later worked in The Donegal Vindicator on East Port, where was foreman in the printing works for John McAdam Downey who was a staunch advocate for Irish independence and helped establish the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in Donegal.
CEO	Malcolm Denmark Malcolm Denmark is an advertising executive who established Mediaforce UK in 1985, an advertising agency which represented media owners to advertising agencies. At the time, Mediaforce focused mainly on regional outlets across the UK. However, the business now includes the production and distribution of inserts in local and national titles. It has also expanded into print and online outlet ownership through an aggressive acquisition policy focusing on regional and local media publishers in the UK and Ireland. Since the establishment of Mediaforce, Malcolm Denmark’s business interests have expanded in this sector. He has established Media Concierge (Holdings) Ltd., which includes several subsidiaries, including Mediaforce. Denmark has also ventured into business activities that encompass a full range of advertising services such as representation, marketing, publishing, and distribution for Iconic Media in Ireland (Mediaforce Ireland/Formpress), which is the news publishing section of his business. In addition to media businesses, Malcolm Denmark also holds significant property interests and is the owner of multiple race horses. Malcolm Denmark owns 75.2% of Media Concierge, alongside his son Callum Nicolas Denmark’s 15%, his daughter Tara Clare Denmark’s 9% and Valerie Mary Denmark (born 1957) 0.76%.
Editor-In-Chief	Alan Foley Alan Foley has served as the Managing Editor for Iconic Media outlets in County Donegal since 2023. He is responsible for content appearing in the Donegal Democrat, the Inish Times, the Inishowen Independent, the Donegal Post and LetterkennyLive. He previously worked as a sports editor for the Donegal Democrat.
Contact	Quay Street Donegal Town County Donegal Ireland news@donegallive.ie '+353 (0)86-0497111

Revenue	Missing Data
Operating Profit	Missing Data
Advertising (in % of total funding)	Missing Data
Market Share	Missing Data

Headlines	River Media HQ and 2 newspaper offices put up for sale (2014), Donegal News, Accessed 5 August 2025 John Downey, the man who started it all almost a century ago (2019), Donegal Democrat [Irish Newspaper Archives], Accessed 20 August 2025 Baptism of fire for new publication (2019), Donegal Democrat [Irish Newspaper Archives], Accessed 20 August 2025
Meta Data	Historical information about the Donegal Democrat was obtained from the archived print editions of the paper via the Irish Newspaper Archive (https://www.irishnewsarchive.com/). Information about circulation was gathered from www.donegallive.ie. Ownership and financial information was gathered from the FAME Database (Moody’s) regarding Formpress Publishing Limited, Iconic Newspapers Limited, and Media Concierge (Holdings) Limited. Information regarding editor Alan Foley was sourced from donegallive.ie. An average 2023 exchange rate of EUR 1 = GBP 0.8629 and EUR 1 = USD 1.181 was used (European Central Bank). Accurate estimation of outlet market share was not possible because reporting on income levels in Ireland is typically done at the group level rather than the individual title level. Additionally, overall revenue details for the market as a whole are not available. Accurate estimation of audience share is not possible. Although Kantar collects publicly available figures on readership for national titles, parallel figures are not available for regional and local newspapers.
Sources	Companies register office, Accessed on 16 June 2025 FAME Database Formpress Publishing Profile, Accessed on 30 June 2025 Determination of merger notification M/07/005 – River News Papers (NI)/OLOK (2007), The Competition Authority, Accessed 5 August 2025 M/18/092 – FormPress Publishing (Iconic)/assets of River Media (2018), CCPC, Accessed 5 August 2025
Documents (PDF)	Brainstorm of Fire for New Publication Link File John Downey: The Main Who Started it All Link File Determination of Merger Notification River Newspapers Link File Compiled Financial Data Formpress Publishing Limited Link File