Initially established by journalist and publisher Henry White in 1821 as The New Observer (to cash in on the success of the - unassociated - Observer newspaper), the paper became The Sunday Times in 1822 to associate itself with another - also unconnected - newspaper, The Times of London. The paper went through a variety of owners through the 19th and 20th century until it was acquired by Canadian press magnate Roy Thomson as part of his 1959 purchase of the Kelmsley group of newspapers. In 1966 Thomson purchased The Times bringing both titles under the ownership of the newly formed Times Newspapers Limited (TNL). Following a sequence of industrial disputes in the late 1970s, Thomson sold TNL to Rupert Murdoch in 1981.

Given his existing ownership of The Sun and The News of the World, TNL added broadsheet prestige to Rupert Murdoch’s stable of UK Newspapers. The takeover also led to a marked shift in the politics of the Sunday Times. Under the stewardship of editor Andrew Neil (1983 to 1994), the paper actively supported the neo-liberal policies of the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher.

Neil also actively sought to increase sales in the Republic of Ireland, sponsoring an aggressive circulation drive which saw sales increase 50% from 50,000 in December 1992 to 75,000 in July 1994. In 1993 the paper formally launched an Irish edition employing two journalists - Alan Ruddock (formerly deputy editor of the UK edition) and John Burns to produce an Irish lead story along with Irish arts coverage, reviews and sports. The decision to include RTE programmes in the paper’s television listings proved a particular driver for local sales.

In July 1994, the paper opened a full office in Dublin, marking the beginning of a gradual expansion in journalists employed and a concomitant increase in the proportion of the paper dedicated to Irish content. presence of Irish content. This drove a gradual increase in sales, breaking the 100,000 circulation mark in 2002 and later peaking at 114,000 in 2009.

However, the Sunday Times proved no less vulnerable to the post-2008  industry-wide circulation decline. By 2023, sales had fallen to just under 50,000 according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation.    

The circulation decline led to retrenchment of the Irish operation. In  2022,15 of 20 journalists employed on the Irish edition of the Sunday Times (and the online Times Ireland edition) were “invited” to apply for one of 12 new positions with an additional digital dimension. The move, understood to be intended to result in three redundancies, prompted a staff exodus. By July 2022, 11 of the 20 had indicated that they were taking redundancy and/or moving to work elsewhere.

The move has re-established the Sunday Times as the centre of gravity for News Corporation’s broadsheet content in Ireland. It  effectively meant the end of the Times Ireland’s digital daily edition and a move to a “digital first” strategy centred around the Sunday edition.