The Sunday Tribune newspaper has been placed into receivership after its main financial backer, Independent News & Media (INM), withdrew its support from the company today.
INM, which owns 29.9 per cent of the Sunday title, is owed more than €40 million by Tribune Newspapers plc. With the paper losing up to €2.5 million a year and its circulation, and advertising revenues in decline INM has decided to pull the plug.
INM has agreed to provide sufficient funds to pay staff for four weeks to give the receiver - Jim Luby of McStay Luby - an opportunity to sell the newspaper.
A decision is expected within 24 hours on whether the newspaper will be published this Sunday.
In a statement, Tribune chairman Gordon Colleary said: "My firm hope is that new investment can be secured to ensure the future of the title and employment for our 43 staff."
The Tribune was founded in 1982 and has had a number of high-profile editors, including broadcasters Vincent Browne and Matt Cooper. But it has never made a profit.
The National Union of Journalists expressed disappointment at today's news. Union reps is to meet with staff this evening to discuss the implications of the development.
Speaking this evening NUJ Irish secretary Séamus Dooley said the country "could ill afford the loss of a newspaper which has frequently challenged the consensus".
"The financial situation at the Sunday Tribune has been precarious for some time. Over the past 12 months staff, led by the editor and her team, have made a tremendous effort to revamp the Tribune, which occupies an important place on the media landscape in Ireland. Staff have also made significant sacrifices by accepting pay cuts, despite the fact that they were earning less than counterparts in other national newspapers," he said.
"The Sunday Tribune remains a lively, vibrant and authoritative newspaper and its demise would be a major blow to media diversity in Ireland. We find it inexplicable that having provided funding for so long to the Sunday Tribune the board of INM has pulled the plug at this time," Mr Dooley added.
