The New Ross Standard

The New Ross Standard is a weekly regional newspaper published in the town of New Ross in County Wexford, Ireland. As New Ross lies at the confluence of counties Wexford, Waterford, and Kilkenny, the Standard carries news throughout the region. The Standard was established in 1879 as a Catholic, nationalist paper. The exact details of the paper’s founding are unknown; however, Bassett’s 1885 Wexford County Guide and Directory lists four papers under the proprietorship of Edward Walsh (then also editor of The Wexford People): the Wexford People, the New Ross Standard (est.1879), the Enniscorthy Guardian (1880), and the Wicklow People (1883).

The Walsh Family appears to have retained the People newspaper group until selling it to Independent Newspapers in 1972, a move which immediately contributed to the profitability of the new parent company. This may well have played a role in Tony O’Reilly’s decision to acquire the Murphy family’s shares in Independent Newspapers in 1973.

In 2019, the paper was purchased by Mediahuis NV from Independent News and Media. Mediahuis NV re-branded its Irish holdings 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 Standard has a readership of more than 16,000 and is read by 70% of households in the region.

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 New Ross Standard 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 New Ross Standard 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	1879
Founder	Edward Walsh Edward Walsh was an early owner of The New Ross Standard (not to be confused with the Edward Walsh associated with the Munster Express paper). By 1885, Walsh was proprietor of four newspapers in the People group. He died in May 1893.
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 d.clifford@peoplenews.ie +353 (0) 53 9140100 https://www.independent.ie/regionals/wexford/new-ross-news

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

Headlines	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 New Ross Standard was obtained from the British Newspaper Archive.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 202 The New Ross Standard Advertising (2025), Mediahuis, Accessed 2 October 2025 The New Ross Standard, The British Newspaper Archive, Accessed 2 October 2025 The New Ross Standard, “Wexford Guide and Directory 1885,” Library Ireland, Accessed 2 October 2025
Documents (PDF)	Financial Statement Mediahuis Ireland Limited (2023) Link File