The Irish Times is a national daily newspaper published Monday to Saturday. It has the second highest readership for a daily national broadsheet in Ireland and is often referred to as Ireland’s ‘paper of record’ or ‘paper of reference’.

The paper publishes national and international news, sport and business news daily, with supplements throughout the week focusing on topics such as health, family, property (commercial & residential), business and sports. A weekend edition is published on Saturday which includes Weekend analysis supplement, Magazine, Home & Garden, and Saturday Sport and The Ticket (Arts and Culture). A key focus for the publication is opinion and analysis including a variety of perspectives from across the political spectrum. The Irish Times was one of the first newspapers in Ireland and the UK to launch a website in 1994. Now it publishes content across print, online and audio platforms from its newsroom in Dublin.

Founded in 1859 by Major Lawrence Knox as a daily newspaper for an Irish Protestant readership, the paper retained a Unionist outlook throughout the tenure of Major Knox and takeover by the Arnott family, owners of the Dublin department store. Throughout the conflict surrounding the establishment of an independent Irish state in the early 20th Century, The Irish Times led by editor John Healy held a Unionist pro-British editorial outlook. Robert Smyllie, who was appointed editor following Healy’s death in 1934, began to reorientate the newspaper to reflect a new independent state. It is Douglas Gadeby, editor from 1963 to 1984 (with a short break in 1974), who is credited with making major changes in The Irish Times which increased its appeal to a national audience rather than its historical association with the Irish Protestant community. Today the paper has a liberal, centre-left outlook and aims to include a variety of opinions and perspectives. One of the key stated objectives is to allow readers to “reach informed and independent judgements”.

In 1900 the paper went public with the Arnott family retaining a majority shareholding up until the 1960s. In 1962 Thomas Bleakey McDowell became Chief Executive and instigated a programme of change in the newspaper.

In 1974 McDowell changed the business structure introducing a Trust, with the stated aim of ensuring “an independent newspaper primarily concerned with serious issues for the benefit of the community throughout the whole of Ireland, free from any form of personal or party political, commercial, religious or other sectional control”. The Irish Times has no shareholders. Therefore profits are not paid as dividends but are reinvested in Irish Times journalism and development of the organisation. Today governance of The Irish Times Group is shared by The Irish Times Trust and The Irish Times Board, these two groups aim to ensure editorial independence and financial viability of The Irish Times.