Sunday Independent - Editorial

Editorial

The Editorial policy of the Sunday Independent can be described as support for Laissez-faire policies in economics and strong opposition to armed republicanism; some have described the newspaper's policies as those of the New Right. It was strongly supportive of the Progressive Democrats and in favour of income tax reduction and the rolling back of the state. Major issues often include big government, the size of the public sector, terrorism, and more recently, the Republic's regime of stamp duty on newly acquired property. It usually features articles by Alan Ruddock, Jody Corcoran, Brendan O'Connor, Anne Harris, Deputy Editor Willie Kealy and, a more recent addition, economist Marc Coleman. Former Editor Aengus Fanning also sometimes write material here. The Sunday Independent is quite hostile to the Irish Labour Party and social democratic policies; in the early 1990s, the paper singled out Labour politicians Mary Robinson (then serving as President of Ireland), Dick Spring and Michael D. Higgins for intense criticism. The Sunday Independent also took a negative tone towards rival media outlets RTÉ and the Irish Times, objecting to perceived left-wing and pro-nationalist bias in these organisations.

The Sunday Independent's editorials came out strongly against Martin McGuinness' campaign to become President of Ireland in 2011, claiming McGuiness' IRA past made him unsuitable for the role: "Those who contemplate voting for...McGuinness should ask if, within the context of the murders committed by the IRA on our security forces, they are prepared to force our soldiers and gardai to salute President McGuinness with equally heavy hearts.".