by Tatiana Repkova

The newspaper group Independent News and Media is creating 60 jobs at a new printing press in Newry. The £20m plant was opened by chief executive Sir Anthony O'Reilly and former MP for the area Seamus Mallon. The company prints more than 30 newspapers, including the News of the World and the Daily Express.

O'Reilly said Newry was chosen for "its strategic position on the North/South corridor, excellent infrastructure and skilled employees." Newspapers previously produced in Dublin are "now printed and transported south before dawn to the markets of the Republic," he said, adding that their printing presses in Belfast had run out of capacity just months before the beginning of a 15-year contract to print News International publications, including the Sun and the News of the World. "This is in addition to Belfast printing the Daily Express, Daily Star, Daily Telegraph, Daily and Sunday Mirror, the People and an array of other titles," he said. The Belfast Telegraph, which is owned by the Independent group, will continue to be printed in Belfast, where its presses were recently upgraded.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/6574585.stm; April 20, 2007