Readership among the majority of daily and Sunday newspapers has fallen over the last 12 months, according to the new joint national readership survey (JNRS).

The statistics for the period from July 2004 to June 2005 include information on Irish and British newspapers circulating in the Republic. About 7,000 people, aged 15 and over, were surveyed by Lansdowne Market Research.

Readership measures the number of people who have read a publication, whereas circulation measures only the number of people buying a newspaper.

Respondents must have read a publication for at least two minutes to qualify for the survey.

During the period of the survey the population (aged 15 and upward) went up from 3.1 million to 3.2 million.

The number of people reading at least one newspaper was up slightly (1.1 per cent) to 2,967,000 from 2,935,000.

The numbers reading a daily newspaper dropped by 1.9 per cent, while the number reading a Sunday newspaper rose by 0.9 per cent.

Frank Cullen, director of the National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI), claimed the figures showed the public's affection for newspapers continued. "Ireland has 18 national newspapers to choose from and there are very few countries in the world with an equivalent population that enjoys such healthy diversity," he said.

The survey shows readership falling at the Irish Independent, The Irish Times, the Star, the Irish Examiner, the Mirror and the Irish Sun. The only daily paper recording a readership increase was the Irish Examiner, up 17.4 per cent to 243,000 from 207,000.

The JNRS shows that readership of The Irish Times at 335,000 is down 12,000 (3.5 per cent) from the equivalent period in 2003/04.

The Irish Independent was down by 27,000 (4.4 per cent) to 580,000. The Star, which is jointly owned by Independent News & Media (IN&M) and Express Newspapers, was down by 30,000 (6.6 per cent) to 426,000.

Two British newspapers, the Sun and the Mirror, were also included in the survey.

The Irish edition of the Sun was down 24,000 (8.1 per cent) to 272,000, while the Mirror was down by 26,000 (10.9 per cent) on 213,000. In the evening market, readership for the Evening Herald was down 43,000 (12 per cent) at 314,000.

In the Sunday market the picutre was mixed, with the Sunday Business Post, the Sunday Times and the Sunday Tribune all gaining readers.

The Sunday Independent lost 37,000 readers (3.4 per cent) and retains a readership figure of 1,056,000.

The Sunday World lost 31,000 readers (3.7 per cent) and now has readership of 810,000. The Sunday Tribune now has 236,000 readers, a rise of 17,000 (7.8 per cent).

The Sunday Business Post also managed to increase readership, up by 10,000 (6 per cent) to 178,000. Ireland on Sunday lost 12,000 readers (2.5 per cent) and now has readership of 469,000.

The Sunday Times was one of the bigger gainers in the latest figures, with readership up by 50,000 (15.9 per cent) to 365,000.

The News of the World Irish edition lost 11,000 readers (2.1 per cent) at 520,000. The Sunday Mirror was down 2,000 at (1 per cent) 196,000.

The Irish edition of the Sunday People dropped 28,000 readers (18.5 per cent) to finish the period at 123,000, the largest percentage loss in the survey.

The Sunday edition of the Star had a readership of 178,000. There was no comparable figure in 2003/04.