The Irish Post, first published in 1970, has been saved after Thomas Crosbie Holdings closed the title in August
The recently-closed Irish Post has been bought by Irish businessman Elgin Loane and is expected to be back in print within a few weeks.
Loane, whose company Printing Investments Ltd. publishes classified advertising title Loot, reportedly beat four other bids for the London-based Irish community newspaper, purchasing it for an undisclosed sum from Thomas Crosbie Holdings (TCH) which closed the title in August.
Chair of the Save the Irish Post campaign, Fiona Audley, said the campaign group was "delighted" with the purchase.
"We look forward to a new and exciting future for the Irish Post and thank all the readers and friends of the paper who showed their support over the last six weeks.
"We hope they will continue to support us now as we bring this valuable paper back to the newstands. The voice of the Irish in Britain is back!"
According to a report in the Irish Times, former staff will be rehired with some returning to work as soon as Monday.
In the wake of the title's closure the campaign, chaired by Audley, won the support of the all-party parliamentary group on the Irish in Britain, chaired by Labour MP Chris Ruane.
Ruane launched an early-day motion that called the title "a central pillar of the community" and "the voice of the Irish in Britain".
Ruane said that the purchase of the title was a "victory for the whole community".
"The new owner Elgin Loane has demonstrated his confidence in the future of the Irish Post and that’s down to committed staff and members of the community that stood behind it when the future looked bleak."
The Post, which went into liquidation in August with the loss of ten jobs, was established in 1970 by journalist Breandan Mac Lua and accountant Tony Beatty. It was later sold to Jefferson Smurfit and then to TCH which paid £1.7 million for it in 2003.
At the time of the TCH deal, the newspaper had an average circulation of 31,500, but that figure had nearly halved to 17,100 by the time it was sold.
The National Union of Journalists was not directly involved in the campaign to save the Post, as it had no members there, but it offered general support and promotion and said today that it welcomed the news that it had been bought.
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