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How to read Irish Independent free or for less

Some articles on independent.ie are free, some need a free account, and the rest need a Premium subscription. Irish public libraries, which are free to join, offer the Irish Independent and Sunday Independent as digital newspapers through BorrowBox ePress. The top Premium+ plan adds 16 ePaper titles, such as the Sunday Independent, The Herald and the Belfast Telegraph.

Last checked 14 Nov 2026. Offers change often, so confirm the price on the outlet's own page before you pay.

Quick answer

Join your local Irish public library for free and read the Irish Independent's digital edition in the ePress section of the BorrowBox app.

Ireland

Library

Free digital newspaper with an Irish library card (BorrowBox ePress)

Free

Membership of every Irish public library is free. Members can read the Irish Independent, the Sunday Independent and other Mediahuis titles in the ePress section of the BorrowBox app, logging in with their library card and PIN. Tipperary Libraries said in October 2024 that these titles can now be read from home, but a Dublin City Libraries page still lists them as in-library only, so check with your own library.

How to get it Confirmed on an official page Source 1 Source 2
Free articles

Free articles, some with a free account

Free

Some articles on independent.ie and in the Irish Independent News app are free to read, and some need you to register for a free account first. A subscription is needed for the rest.

How to get it Confirmed on an official page Source
Bundle

Premium+ with 16 ePaper titles

Premium+ from €15.99 in the iPhone app (billing period not stated)

Premium+ includes the ePaper editions of 16 titles, including the Irish Independent, Sunday Independent, Sunday World, The Herald, the Belfast Telegraph and regional papers, read in the ePapers app. The App Store lists Premium+ at €15.99 to €17.99 and Premium at €9.99 to €11.99 but does not say how often you pay, and the website's own prices may differ.

See the offer Confirmed on an official page Source 1 Source 2
Other

Single ePaper copies in the ePapers app

€0.99 or €1.99 per copy (in-app purchases)

The Irish Independent ePapers app shows the printed papers page by page and sells single copies as in-app purchases. The App Store lists single copies at €0.99 and €1.99 but does not say which titles each price is for.

See the offer Confirmed on an official page Source

Questions

Partly. Some articles are free, some need a free account, and the rest need a Premium subscription. With a free Irish library card you can also read the newspaper's digital edition in BorrowBox ePress.

Yes. Irish public libraries offer it in the ePress section of BorrowBox. Some libraries say you can read it from home, while Dublin City Libraries still lists it as readable only inside a library.

PressReader added the Irish Independent and 17 other Mediahuis Ireland titles to its catalogue in 2024. We could not confirm which library PressReader accounts include it; in Ireland, BorrowBox ePress is the library route we could confirm.

We found no current student offer. The independent.ie website refused our automated check, so we could not confirm whether one exists.

The iPhone app lists Premium at €9.99 to €11.99 and Premium+ at €15.99 to €17.99, without saying the billing period. We could not check the website's prices.