The leading business paper in Ireland, North and South, is The Irish Times according to a new survey. It shows that each issue of The Irish Times is read by 83 per cent of senior business people in the Republic, well ahead of the competition.

Looking at the figures for the whole island, the average issue readership of The Irish Times was 65 per cent, compared to 42 per cent for the Irish In- dependent.

The survey was commissioned by The Irish Times and the Bel- fast Telegraph and conducted by Research Services Limited. It reflects responses from almost 700 senior business people on both sides of the Border. In the daily market, The Irish Times retains a dominant position among business readers in the Republic, with average issue readership of 83 per cent, followed by the Irish Independent (56 per cent) and the Financial Times (33 per cent). The Belfast Telegraph is the leading business paper in the North, with 80 per cent reading it on average.

Looking at the weekly market, the survey shows that The Irish Times's Business This Week section is the market leader with a readership of 71 per cent in the Republic and 55 per cent on an all-Ireland basis.

Business people also believe that reading The Irish Times is important for their job. Of those surveyed, 72.6 per cent in the Republic said the newspaper was important reading for their job.

On an all-Ireland basis, The Irish Times was also well ahead, with 60.9 per cent of readers naming the newspaper as the most important publication to read in their job, 23.2 per cent saying the Financial Times, 15.4 per cent Business and Finance and 15.1 per cent the Sun- day Business Post.