The Irish Times remains the newspaper of choice among the State's top executives.

According to the 2006 European Business Readership Survey (EBRS), 78.9 per cent of the business elite read The Irish Times. The figure rises to 95 per cent among executives in the financial services industry.

This overall figure is fractionally down on the level of 79.2 per cent recorded in 2004 (when the last survey was conducted), but is still the highest figure achieved by any title in the State.

The next closest daily paper is the Irish Independent which is read by 56 per cent of senior executives, up from 52.8 per cent.

The Irish Examiner now attracts close to 30 per cent of top business people, an increase of 8 per cent.

In general, Sunday newspapers lost favour with senior executives over the last two years. The Sunday Independent shed almost 5 per cent of its business following, which fell from 59.5 per cent of respondents in 2004 to 54.7 per cent this year.

The Sunday Times bucked the trend however, and grew its business readership by over 10 per cent to 57 per cent, making it the second most popular title overall.

The Evening Herald experienced a marked decline in popularity, and now captures just 12.5 per cent of the senior executive audience compared to 20 per cent two years ago.

Business and Finance has maintained its position as the top business magazine, and is read by roughly one-third of the the country's key business people.

The Economist has leapfrogged the Financial Times to become the most widely read British publication among the Irish business fraternity, with almost a quarter of respondents indicating that they read the magazine.

The number of respondents who visited The Irish Times website, www.ireland.com, remained fairly static at 36.5 per cent.