Irish staff at the News of the World were told their jobs were gone in a lengthy email from News Corporation chief James Murdoch – after some had learned their fate from Sky News.

The 22 staff and 10 part-timers at the paper’s Dublin office are still awaiting confirmation of what happens next after the paper was axed in the wake of the phone hacking scandal.

But they have been informed that Sunday’s edition of the paper will be the last after 168 years of publishing.

The email from Murdoch, son of News International guru Rupert, arrived in the Dublin office as he read a statement to the Sky News channel his father also controls.

The Irish edition of the paper employs 22 full-time editorial staff and another 10 freelances.
Crime writer Paul Williams was poached from the Sunday World last year while columnists included hurling legend DJ Carey and former Irish soccer international Kevin Moran.

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Edited by Ulsterman Geoff Frazer, the Irish edition enjoyed a circulation of 120,000 and was third to the Sunday World and the Sunday Independent in the market place.

Earlier this year both the Star on Sunday and the Sunday Tribune closed.

Staff at the Irish News of the World told the Irish Independent of their shock at the dramatic development amid rumors of a new Sun on Sunday to fill the void in the market.

“We were just getting on with the next edition,” one worker told the Independent. “There was no advance notice. It came with a crashing suddenness.”