The Sligo Champion: Our story
The first edition of The Sligo Champion was published on June 4th, 1836 on Stephen Street where the newspaper has its offices today. It is the fifth oldest provincial newspaper in the country.
Edward Howard Verdon was the founder and editor of the newspaper and Mayor of Sligo four times. His principles of supporting the cause of common people and being a voice of the downtrodden remain with the newspaper to this day.
Another owner was P.A.McHugh, an ardent nationalist. Under his control the paper became a leading nationalist organ.Mr McHugh was Mayor of Sligo on five successive occasions, was elected to Parliament in 1892 and was the first ever Chairman of Sligo County Council when it was established in 1899.
The people of Sligo thought so highly of PA McHugh that they erected a statue to him in 1916 in the most prominent position of the town on October 29th 1916 at the top of Sligo’s main street, O’Connell Street. It was subsequently moved to an equally promnient position, outside City Hall where it stands to this day.
Independent News & Media plc acquired the Sligo Champion from the Townsend family in February 2008. It is now part of Mediahuis Ireland, publishers of the Irish Independent, Sunday Independent, independent.ie and 12 leading regional papers across the country.
Our people:
Paul Deering, Editor
A native of Sligo, Paul graduated from NUIG with a degree in History, Sociology and Politics. He has a postgraduate Diploma in Journalism from Dublin City University. He began his journalistic career with The Galway Adverister and later The Tuam Herald before joining the staff of his hometown newspaper, The Sligo Champion in 1990. He became Assistant Editor of the paper in 2008 and in 2019 was appointed Editor.
Paul is a former National League of Ireland referee and holds the honour of the being the only referee from Sligo to become a FIFA Assistant Referee.
E: p.deering@sligochampion.ie
Tel. 071 91 52234
Lorraine McDonnell, General Manager
Lorraine McDonnell joined The Sligo Champion in 2012 as its Business Development Manager and in March 2019 became the papers first female General Manager of one of Ireland’s oldest and leading regional newspapers. Lorraine is a native of Sligo and is active in various voluntary groups and charities.
E: lorrainemcdonnell@sligochampion.ie
T: @LorraineMcDonn8
Our policies:
This title supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and the office of the Press Ombudsman, and our staff operate within the Code of Practice for journalists in Ireland which can be viewed here.
Complaints – We take great pride in the quality of our journalism and always want to hear the views of our readers. Complaints are treated seriously and we aim to resolve them in an efficient and prompt manner. If you wish to make a complaint or request a correction or clarification, please contact editor@sligochampion.ie. Once verified, any corrections will be made as soon as possible and, where appropriate, noted on the updated story.
Article removal - While all of our titles comply with GDPR regulations, we are not automatically obliged to grant ‘right to be forgotten’ requests. Such requests are dealt with on a case-by-case basis and will only be considered in exceptional circumstances or where a significant error can be established. Our full policy in relation to article removal requests can be viewed here. If you wish to submit an article removal request you can do so here.
Get in touch:
1. General queries
Address: 31 Stephen Street, Sligo Email: editor@sligochampion.ie
Tel. 071 91 69222
Telephone:
2. Contact our newsroom
Email: editor@sligochampion.ie
p.deering@sligochampion.ie
Telephone: 071 91 57034/071 9157035 Letters to the Editor should be sent to editor@sligochampion.ie
3. Advertising
Contact advertising@sligochampion.ie
Tel. 071 91 69222
