It is Ireland’s answer to Fox News and the plethora of right-wing media that have sprung up across the United States and the UK over the last decade.
With a particular focus on hot-topic issues such as immigration – and particularly any crime involving immigrants – Gript has quickly carved out a place for itself on the Irish media landscape since 2019.
Thanks in part to viral videos of protests over International Protection Accommodation Services (Ipas) centres and press conferences where Government Ministers struggle to answer awkward questions, Gript has tapped into the frustration of those who believe other media ignore public discontent over these matters.
Gript was accessed by 5 per cent of Irish adults on a weekly basis in 2025, according to a report by media regulator Coimisiún na Meán.
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“How much more imported violence are we meant to ignore?” screamed one of the headlines on a report on Friday written by Niamh Uí Bhriain, who is a co-owner of the company behind Gript and its assistant editor.
Also featuring on the Gript site was a remarkable statement about the resignation of its founding editor John McGuirk, which made public serious allegations against him.
[ John McGuirk resigns from Gript amid deepening acrimony with website’s co-ownerOpens in new window ]
So, what is going on in Ireland’s most prominent conservative media organisation?
McGuirk was the most high-profile of Gript’s writers when he was appointed editor of the website in 2019. He had been a spokesman for Declan Ganley’s Libertas group when it campaigned against the Lisbon Treaty in 2008 and 2009. He was then a spokesman for the Save the Eighth campaign that unsuccessfully campaigned for a No vote in the 2018 referendum to legalise abortion.
As Gript editor he was involved in a number of controversies, most notably when Gript named the wrong Algerian man as being a suspect for the stabbing of a schoolgirl on Parnell Square in 2023.
McGuirk was suspended by Gript in late March after he was accused of a “conflict of interests” by having an “inappropriate relationship” with a person he manages – an allegation McGuirk has denied.
Separately, another female member of Gript’s staff made an allegation that McGuirk sexually harassed her on a work trip to the Battle of Ideas event in London in October 2024.
As McGuirk said in a video he published on Friday, he is alleged to have “started stroking her thigh” before moving his hand “towards her pelvic area” while they were seated at a public event with other people in the room.
The woman has also alleged that on the following day McGuirk held her hand so their fingers interlocked and this made her feel uncomfortable.
The woman says McGuirk later texted her to apologise if he had overstepped any boundaries. He is alleged to have said that if the complainant had looked like Ann Widdecombe, he would handled it differently.
In his video, McGuirk dismissed the sexual harassment allegation as “nonsensical”. He said there were independent witness statements from people who saw no such activity and who said the woman praised his conduct towards her that weekend.
Whatever internal investigation Gript planned into the allegations will now stop as McGuirk has resigned. He launched a new podcast with Sarah Ryan last week and has been added to the roster of writers for Statement, a new conservative website based in Slovakia.
The fallout between McGuirk and Gript came on the back of heated disputes about editorial, management and financial matters at the website. Gript’s subscription model charges between €10 and €50 a month.
In addition to Uí Bhriain, a former anti-abortion election candidate and a director of the Pro-Life Institute, the company’s other co-owner is Evelyn Porter. Both are the company’s directors.
Gript Media’s financial accounts up to the end of 2024 do not reveal the company’s turnover or list any payments to directors. The company had€3,232 cash in the bank at the end of the year but its overall financial position was €5,611 in the red.
A source familiar with the company’s financial position said its annual income was approaching €600,000, with about 4,500 paying subscribers.
Emails seen by The Irish Times from February show there was pressure on McGuirk to make cuts to the amounts paid to prominent columnists such as Kevin Myers and Cormac Lucey after income dropped to €47,500 a month and reserves were depleted.
The media company has been seeking investment from the US.
While Uí Bhriain’s title in Gript is “assistant editor”, both she and her sister Úna Nic Mhathúna are said to have the ultimate editorial say.
McGuirk complained internally that Nic Mhathúna had “bullied” him because she opposed his stance on Israel. Nic Mhathúna reposted an alleged “anti-Semitic” X post that called him “Rabbi John McGuirkstein” last December.
The post was later deleted. Nic Mhathúna declined to comment this week.
An email from Gary Kavanagh, Gript’s assistant editor, to McGuirk in February took McGuirk to task over his performance as editor.
“Niamh is the majority owner and she is entitled to define the broad shape within which editorial should function,” Kavanagh wrote in the email, seen by The Irish Times.
“There is always expected to be a degree of tension between ownership and the editor – that’s normal and can be healthy. But your lack of a cohesive editorial vision, or at least a lack of desire to communicate that vision, combined with the manner in which you conduct these discussions, has led to you losing arguments you really did not need to lose.
“Ultimately, editorial direction operates within the boundaries set by the owners. Refusing to implement their directives is not editorial independence; it’s insubordination. We both serve at the behest of Niamh and Úna, and a key part of your role is being able to maintain a relationship with them which is productive.”
Referring to Nic Mhathúna’s X post, Kavanagh said he spoke to her and was told “she didn’t read it closely and didn’t think of how it would be perceived, and that her intention was not anti-Semitic”.
In a statement, Gript said no editorial matters had led to McGuirk’s suspension.
“This is an employment matter where the alleged unacceptable conduct of Mr McGuirk, in his capacity as editor of Gript, was brought to Gript’s attention and was to be investigated.”
It said McGuirk’s resignation was received 90 minutes before a deadline to launch external investigations.
“Our view is that Mr McGuirk has treated this process with contempt from the start, breaking confidentiality repeatedly and then presenting a public face suggesting he is the aggrieved party. He is not, and his behaviour during this process has been unacceptable,” it said.
