Figures published today show that The Irish Timeshad an average daily readership of 318,000 between July 2006 and June of this year.
The Irish Independenthad a readership of 590,000 over the same period, according to figures published by the Joint National Readership Survey.
A new sampling base was used for the report in 2006 by the JNRS management committee, which said it was "not valid to make direct comparisons" with previous reports.
The survey has stopped using the electoral register and now gathers its data using the GeoDirectory of 1.7 million residential addresses, which has been developed by An Post and the Ordnance Survey Ireland.
Under the old methodology, The Irish Timesrecorded a readership of 341,000 between July 2005 and June 2006 while the Irish Independenthad a readership of 566,000.
The figures show that 9.2 per cent of adults read The Irish Times. The paper scores well with the affluent AB audience, recording 140,000 readers to 98,000 for the Irish Independent.
The Irish Timesis also more popular in Dublin where it had 170,000 readers compared with 152,000 for the Irish Independent.
The Irish Examinerhad a readership of 256,000 over the 12- month period.
The JNRS data shows that the Irish Times Magazinehad a weekly readership of 342,000, or 9.9 per cent of adults over the 12-month period.
The Ticket, which appears with this newspaper each Friday, had 241,000 readers or 7 per cent of adults. This is the first time that the Tickethas been included in the JNRS report.
More than 3.1 million people, or 89.5 per cent of adults, read some newspaper during the week, according to the latest figures. Of those, 1.93 million or 56.2 per cent read a daily paper.
Among the tabloids, the Irish Daily Starhad the biggest readership with 433,000 adults. The Irish Sunwas next with 288,000 while the Irish Mirrorhad 183,000. The Evening Heraldhad 308,000 readers while the Irish Farmers Journalhad 263,000.
The Sunday Independenthad more than a million readers a week, making it the most read publication on that day. The Sunday Worldwas next with 889,000 while the News of the Worldhad 538,000. The Sunday Timeshad 362,000 readers, ahead of the Sunday Tribunewith 215,000 and the Sunday Business Postwith 158,000.
