The Sunday Times is seeking four redundancies from among its Irish-based staff in an effort to get the British-owned newspaper group back to break-even by next July.

Irish editor Frank Fitzgibbon confirmed that the redundancies, including two journalists in the paper's culture magazine and one each in news and business, will be "voluntary and involuntary", but he said "there will be no pay cuts".

The NUJ will not be representing the staff facing redundancy as owner Rupert Murdoch does not recognise trade unions.

Like all newspapers in the past few years, the Sunday Times has suffered from declining advertising revenue. Fitzgibbon said that so far the Irish arm of the paper has escaped the cuts that have swept across the industry but it now must face the inevitable.

This is the first time the paper has recorded a loss and the group has to get back to break-even next year, said Fitzgibbon.