Introduction

In pure geographical terms, Leinster is the third largest of the four Irish provinces, with a land area of 19,800 square kilometres. According to the 1911 census, it had a population of 1,162,044, though Dublin city and county accounted for 477,196 of this figure. Consequently, the population of the remaining eight counties was 684,848, with County Wexford the most populous (102,273) while County Carlow had the lowest population (36,252) of these counties. The urban centres with the largest populations were Kilkenny city, Wexford town, and Drogheda and Dundalk in County Louth. In total, thirty-five local newspapers served Leinster between 1914 and 1921. The four titles examined in this chapter, the Meath Chronicle, Enniscorthy Echo, Kilkenny People, and Midland Tribune were published in areas that displayed a variety of demographical characteristics.

The Meath Chronicle was published in Navan, which had a relatively small population of just fewer than 4,000. Nevertheless, the Chronicle was the only nationalist paper based in County Meath which had a population of just over 65,000, of which 93 per cent was Catholic. The situation was slightly different regarding the Enniscorthy Echo. It faced competition from a rival nationalist paper, the Enniscorthy Guardian, in the town of Enniscorthy, which had a population of 5,495. Furthermore, there were three other nationalist papers serving County Wexford: the New Ross Standard, Wexford Free Press, and Wexford People. The volume of competition, however, was somewhat offset by the fact that County Wexford, as noted, had the largest population of the Leinster counties (outside Dublin), with Catholics accounting for 93 per cent of the populace.