The Gorey Guardian

The Gorey Guardian is a weekly local paper published in the town of Gorey in County Wexford, Ireland. The paper was established in 1994 as part of the People newspaper group and is now published as the Enniscorthy (& Gorey) Guardian, a merging of two local Wexford papers.

The parent organisation of the Gorey Guardian, the People newspaper group, was formed in the late 19th century by newspaper proprietor Edward Walsh. The group remained in the Walsh family until being purchased by Independent News and Media in 1972. In 2019, INM’s holdings, including the Gorey Guardian, were purchased by Mediahuis NV and re-branded as Mediahuis Ireland. Mediahuis NV owns news titles throughout the EU, including the entire Euractiv media network. The company’s largest individual shareholders are the Baert Family, the van Puijenbroek Family, and Thomas Leysen.

According to the Mediahuis website, the Enniscorthy/Gorey Guardian have more than 23,000 readers weekly and is the biggest-selling regional paper in the area.

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 Gorey Guardian is operated by Mediahuis Ireland Limited, the parent company of which is the Belgian media conglomerate, Mediahuis NV. Mediahuis NV’s largest shareholders include the Belgian Baert Family (29.5%) via their 90% ownership of Concentra, The van Puijenbroek family (16.7%) via their 100% ownership of VP Exploitatie and Thomas Leysen (13.25%) via their 26.5.% ownership of Mediahuis Partners NV.
Individual Owner	Thomas Leysen 13.25 van Puijenbroek Family 16.7 Baert Family 29.5

Ownership Structure

The Gorey Guardian is operated by Mediahuis Ireland Limited, the parent company of which is the Belgian media conglomerate, Mediahuis NV. Mediahuis NV’s largest shareholders include the Belgian Baert Family (29.5%) via their 90% ownership of Concentra, The van Puijenbroek family (16.7%) via their 100% ownership of VP Exploitatie and Thomas Leysen (13.25%) via their 26.5.% ownership of Mediahuis Partners NV.

Individual Owner

Media Companies / Groups

Mediahuis NV
100%

Facts

Founding Year	1994
CEO	Sheena Peirse Sheena Peirse became the CEO of Mediahuis Ireland on 1 October 2025, having previously served as the company’s chief customer officer. Peirse formerly held senior roles at ITV and Channel 4 in the UK.
Editor-In-Chief	Darragh Clifford Darragh Clifford is the Group Editor for several papers under the Mediahuis Ireland banner: Bray People, Gorey Guardian, New Ross Standard, Wicklow People, Wexford People, and the Enniscorthy Guardian. Clifford has held this position since 2020. He previously worked as an editor for Independent News and Media.
Contact	Channing House Rowe Street Wexford Co. Wexford Ireland d.clifford@peoplenews.ie +353 (0) 53 9140100 https://www.independent.ie/regionals/wexford/gorey-news

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

Headlines	Guardian readers in the money with cash prize (2017), Irish Independent, Accessed 6 October 2025 We're still rising! (2005), Irish Independent, Accessed 6 October 2025 Printing of daily papers to be phased out - Mediahuis boss (2023), RTE, Accessed 21 October 2025 Competition body approves INM acquisition of local newspapers (2016), The Irish Times, Accessed 1 October 2025 Court approves INM takeover by Mediahuis (2019), The Irish Independent, Accessed 18 September 2025 Mediahuis Ireland names new chief executive (2025), Irish Examiner, Accessed 18 September 2025
Meta Data	Historical information about the Gorey Guardian was obtained from the Irish Independent website. Information about contact information was obtained from the Mediahuis website. Ownership and financial information was gathered from Mediahuis Ireland’s filings with CORE. Information regarding editor Darragh Clifford was sourced from his LinkedIn profile. 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. Individual outlets may publish data on readership or users; however, measurement parameters and sources vary between organisations, thereby limiting opportunities for comparison.
Sources	Ireland Companies Online Registration Office Environment (CORE) (2023), Form B1C, Mediahuis Ireland, Accessed on 20 October 2025 Enniscorthy/Gorey Guardian Advertising (2025), Mediahuis, Accessed 6 October 2025 Dougan, C. ‘The printed word in troubled times: A historical survey of the Irish provincial press, 1914-1921’ (2015), PhD Dissertation, Accessed October 1, 2025
Documents (PDF)	Financial Statement Mediahuis Ireland Limited (2023) Link File