The Wicklow People

The Wicklow People is a local weekly newspaper published in Wicklow town. The paper was founded in 1882 as a sister paper to the Wexford People.The Wexford People was founded in January 1853 by James Johnson and William Power; however, in August 1871, it was acquired by Edward Walsh. Walsh subsequently created one of the first regional newspaper groups in Ireland by adding the New Ross Standard (est. 1879), the Wicklow People (1883) and the Enniscorthy Guardian (1889) to his stable of titles before his death in 1893. Walsh’s papers served as voices for Home Rule and increased independence from Britain, and as a result, he was imprisoned in 1890 for publishing accounts of Land League activities.

The Wicklow People was purchased by Mediahuis NV as part of its wider acquisition of Independent News and Media in 2019. Mediahuis’s Irish holdings were then 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.

The Wicklow People paper is printed on Wednesdays. Information on circulation is not readily available. This lack of information is perhaps unsurprising as Mediahuis Ireland, the paper’s owner, foresees phasing out all print sales by 2033. The People has no website of its own but provides content for the Regionals section of the Irish Independent website.

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 Wicklow People 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 Wicklow People 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	1882
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 and 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/wicklow

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

Headlines	Independent Group acquires seven new regional news titles (2016), Irish Independent, Accessed 1 October 2025 Printing of daily papers to be phased out - Mediahuis boss (2023), RTE, Accessed 21 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 Wicklow People was obtained from the Irish News Paper Archive and 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 2025 Wicklow People, Irish Newspaper Archive, Accessed 23 September 2025 Wicklow People (2025), British Newspaper Archive, Accessed 23 September 2025 Darragh Clifford (2025), LinkedIn, Accessed 23 September 2025
Documents (PDF)	Financial Statement Mediahuis Ireland Limited (2023) Link File