The Leinster Express is a weekly local newspaper published in Portlaoise, County Laois, in the Midlands region of Ireland. The Express was founded by businessman Henry W. Talbot in 1831, making it one of the oldest provincial papers in Ireland and the first in County Laois (then known as the Queen’s County). In contrast to many other provincial Irish newspapers, especially those founded in the late 19th century, the Leinster Express adopted a decidedly conservative, pro-British stance. Its early motto was “The Law - the King- the People”.
 
Following Talbot’s death, his family sold the paper to Michael Charles Carey who, along with his son (also Michael Charles Carey), managed and edited the paper until 1943. Remarkably, the Careys maintained the conservative/loyalist editorial stance into the 1940s, at a point when it was somewhat misaligned with the prevailing mood of what was by then an independent Irish state.
 
After the death of Michael Charles Carey junior, the paper passed to his niece, Mrs Tisdall who entered a partnership with PT Montford. However, after Montford’s death in 1947, the paper was acquired by Freddy and Rose Townsend, who ran the paper until their son Freddy Jr took over at the start of the 1970s.
 
Under Freddie jr, the Express switched from a broadsheet to a tabloid format in 1970 (one of the first local papers to do so). However, such innovations were not enough to stabilise the paper’s finances, and in 1972 the paper was sold to the PMPA Insurance Group.  
 
Following a capital injection from PMPA, the paper was sold on again to Derry Quinn and Teddy Fennelly. As Managing Director, Quinn introduced more innovation, acquiring the Kilkenny Standard in 1980 and launching a sister paper, the Offaly Express, in 1984. He oversaw the merger of the Express with the Leinster Leader Group in 1999 and remained as managing director of the Express until 2005.
 
The Leader Group’s holdings were purchased by UK-based Johnstown Press in 2005, and then in 2014, were acquired by Iconic Media.
 
The Leinster Express is currently operated by Formpress Publishing Ltd., which is owned by Iconic Media. Iconic is owned by Media Concierge (Holdings) Limited, which is wholly owned by The Denmark Family, with UK businessman Malcolm Denmark as the controlling shareholder.
 
Today, the Leinster Express publishes a print edition on Tuesdays and operates laoislive.ie, which provides similar content to its print edition. The Express has a print circulation of approximately 8,000.