It was originally believed that the Chronicle began its life in 1766, but a decade ago a local man from Limerick; Joe MacMahon established that it actually dates to 1768.  The Limerick Chronicle was founded by Limerick poet and historical John Ferrar. The Limerick Chronicle carried on its masthead ‘The oldest newspaper in the republic’ and is still printed today although incorporated into the Limerick Leader.  An actor and dramatist called John O’Keeffe gave a vivid description of Ferrar’s little shop in the town centre, yards from where the city’s first newspaper, the Limerick Newsletter was founded fifty years previously. In his shop, Ferrar wrote most of the editorial copy, collected the advertisements over the counter and filled in any gaps with month-old news from London newspapers. Then, Ferrar set the type by hand, locked up the frames and laboriously hand-printed a couple of hundred copies. O’Keefe described Ferrar as being “very deaf, yet with a cheerful, animated countenance, thin and of middle size”