John McGuirk, editor of conservative Irish news website Gript, has railed against what he described as a “baffling outburst” by his employers, who have issued a statement following his suspension from his role six weeks ago.
Staff and contributors to Gript were recently told that McGuirk was put on leave by Niamh Uí Bhriain, a director and shareholder in Gript Media Ltd.
A short Friday statement posted on Gript, under the heading “A note on John McGuirk”, reads:
“John 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.”
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In a lengthy response McGuirk said Gript’s statement, which was posted on the company’s website as being by “Gript Editor” was “an extraordinary breach of good faith”. McGuirk said he rejected “the substance of the claim against me referred to by the company in its statement entirely and without equivocation”.
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.
“I 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.”
In his statement, posted on X, McGuirk said he had hoped matters with the “interim leadership” of Gript Media “might be resolved amicably, and over the past six weeks I have made considerable efforts to achieve that end.
“However, the statement unilaterally issued by the company and without my consent this afternoon regrettably makes that aspiration much more challenging.”
He had resisted publicly commenting on the matter “despite innumerable requests to do so”, he said. “However, the company’s decision compels me, against my wishes, to respond. I consider it an extraordinary breach of good faith.”
The company’s interim leadership had chosen “of its own volition and with no discernable (sic) reason for so doing, to disclose the existence and breach the confidentiality of a confidential ‘process’ that it itself initiated”, he said.
“That breach of trust and obligation makes my continued silence untenable and has made this statement inevitable. I am bewildered and disappointed by the company’s conduct.”
McGuirk said he had not been invited to “a single meeting”, asked to give evidence, or been given the opportunity to respond “meaningfully” to the company’s concerns.
Given the company had confirmed no determination had been made, “their decision therefore to issue a statement absent any final conclusion is ever the more bizarre”, said McGuirk.
He had “never wished harm on Gript Media”, he said. “Having 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.
“It had always been my hope – though a hope made substantially weaker by today’s baffling outburst by the company – that the differences between the company and I can be resolved amicably.” He said he would be making no further public comment.
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’s abortion laws.
Uí Bhriain holds 50 per cent of Gript Media’s 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.
The Pro-Life Institute has provided financial backing to Gript.
