{"id":475781,"date":"2026-05-09T03:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T03:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/475781\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T03:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T03:32:11","slug":"gript-says-editor-john-mcguirk-suspended-over-alleged-governance-issues-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/475781\/","title":{"rendered":"Gript says editor John McGuirk suspended over alleged governance issues \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

John McGuirk<\/a>, editor of conservative Irish news website Gript, has railed against what he described as a \u201cbaffling outburst\u201d by his employers, who have issued a statement following his suspension<\/a> from his role six weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Staff and contributors to Gript were recently told that McGuirk was put on leave by Niamh U\u00ed Bhriain, a director and shareholder in Gript Media Ltd.<\/p>\n

A short Friday statement posted on Gript, under the heading \u201cA note on John McGuirk\u201d, reads: <\/p>\n

\u201cJohn McGuirk is currently suspended on full pay pending an internal process concerning governance and related issues. Contrary to reports the suspension is not related to editorial differences. No final determination has been made. Gript cannot comment further while the process is ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a lengthy response McGuirk said Gript\u2019s statement, which was posted on the company\u2019s website as being by \u201cGript Editor\u201d was \u201can extraordinary breach of good faith\u201d. McGuirk said he rejected \u201cthe substance of the claim against me referred to by the company in its statement entirely and without equivocation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Neither McGuirk nor the company have detailed the substance of the dispute. Suggestions it related to allegations concerning a conflict of interest and the leaking of internal financial information were dismissed by McGuirk.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not intend to litigate this dispute in public, but I will say that the notion that as the seniormost executive of the company, I required permission from my assistant editor or deputy editor to forward an email to a colleague is prima facie ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his statement, posted on X, McGuirk said he had hoped matters with the \u201cinterim leadership\u201d of Gript Media \u201cmight be resolved amicably, and over the past six weeks I have made considerable efforts to achieve that end.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the statement unilaterally issued by the company and without my consent this afternoon regrettably makes that aspiration much more challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n

He had resisted publicly commenting on the matter \u201cdespite innumerable requests to do so\u201d, he said. \u201cHowever, the company\u2019s decision compels me, against my wishes, to respond. I consider it an extraordinary breach of good faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s interim leadership had chosen \u201cof its own volition and with no discernable (sic) reason for so doing, to disclose the existence and breach the confidentiality of a confidential \u2018process\u2019 that it itself initiated\u201d, he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat breach of trust and obligation makes my continued silence untenable and has made this statement inevitable. I am bewildered and disappointed by the company\u2019s conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGuirk said he had not been invited to \u201ca single meeting\u201d, asked to give evidence, or been given the opportunity to respond \u201cmeaningfully\u201d to the company\u2019s concerns.<\/p>\n

Given the company had confirmed no determination had been made, \u201ctheir decision therefore to issue a statement absent any final conclusion is ever the more bizarre\u201d, said McGuirk.<\/p>\n

He had \u201cnever wished harm on Gript Media\u201d, he said. \u201cHaving devoted a considerable portion of my career to building a house, I have no desire to take a wrecking ball to it by saying anything more than strictly necessary to respond to what the company has said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt had always been my hope \u2013 though a hope made substantially weaker by today\u2019s baffling outburst by the company \u2013 that the differences between the company and I can be resolved amicably.\u201d He said he would be making no further public comment.<\/p>\n

McGuirk, an economics and political science graduate from Trinity College Dublin, was a spokesman for the Save the 8th campaign that unsuccessfully campaigned for a No vote in the 2018 referendum that paved the way for reform of the State\u2019s abortion laws.<\/p>\n

U\u00ed Bhriain holds 50 per cent of Gript Media\u2019s shares and is also assistant editor of the website. She is a director of The Pro-Life Institute, a company called Cashkoin FX Ltd and Irish Cultural, Preservation & Promotion Association, a company incorporated last year.<\/p>\n

The Pro-Life Institute has provided financial backing to Gript.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John McGuirk, editor of conservative Irish news website Gript, has railed against what he described as a \u201cbaffling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,18,13,14,6,19,17,46092,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":["post-475781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-john-mcguirk","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116542514443976473","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}