Irish-Americans and Irish ex-pats across the US were brought up to date with the phenomenal progress of Daily Ireland last week by publisher Máirtín Ó Muilleoir.
In Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco, senior figures in the Irish community met with the Andersonstown News Group head to voice support for the new daily.
"Several of the best-known figures in Irish-America have already invested in Daily Ireland and this visit brought them and other potential investors up to speed with our development," said Máirtín Ó Muilleoir. "Our first round of funding was strongly backed by Irish-America and I found keen interest in our second round which is now ongoing."
At a reception in San Francisco, hosted by west coast investors in Daily Ireland, the editor of the Irish Herald, Seán Coniffe, paid tribute to the pro-nationalist newspaper. "It's been a real pleasure since February 1 to be able to go on the web and read a newspaper which, for the first time, gives us the whole story," he said.
Máirtín Ó Muilleoir said he was bowled over by the interest in Daily Ireland. "There was delight that our sales figures were 250% higher than predicted by our rivals and a real thirst for more information about how we are transforming the media scene in Ireland. Interestingly, the fact that we are the only Irish newspaper unequivocally against the extradition of the Colombia Three and the only newspaper refusing to give unconditional support to the PSNI won us plaudits from potential investors. Irish-America is much more in tune with politics in Ireland than normally expected and they realise the importance of having a challenging voice in the media."
