John McGuirk

Tipperary

Editor at Gript

Editor, @griptmedia. Views personal.

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Articles

MCGUIRK: Coppinger defaming me is a vindication

3 weeks ago | gript.ie | John McGuirk

Last night, as some readers may know, I was on Virgin Media’s Tonight Show to discuss, amongst other things, immigration policy in Ireland. I have always enjoyed appearing on that programme, from its earliest days under Vincent Browne, and the team there are always very professional and kind. Judging by the feedback I received, many people seemed to think I performed reasonably creditably.
MCGUIRK: Is the Leaving Cert still fit for purpose?

3 weeks ago | gript.ie | John McGuirk

As regular readers will know, my wife is a teacher. Before I met her, and came to know as many teachers as I now do, I confess to having held to a lot of stereotypes about her profession: Long holidays, short hours, timing-the-babies-for-September-to-max-out-maternity-leave, that sort of thing.
Populism’s problem

3 weeks ago | thecritic.co.uk | John McGuirk

This article is taken from the June 2025 issue of The Critic. To get the full magazine why not subscribe? Right now we’re offering five issues for just £25. At the very heart of the populist right — its thrumming, animating core — is anti-elitism.
Daniel O'Connell and the revisionism of Irish history

3 weeks ago | gript.ie | John McGuirk

This year marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Daniel O’Connell, which is why I was delighted on Sunday to publish Eoghan Harris’s lecture – “O’Connell at Clontarf” – delivered to the Listowel Writer’s Week festival recently. I was struck by some of the reaction to that piece, and the negative tone of it towards O’Connell. Some of the criticism was fair. For example, Gerard Hanney noted that:“Daniel O’Connell may have damaged the Irish language.
JMG: "White Irish". The Gardai's statement on Carlow

3 weeks ago | gript.ie | John McGuirk

Dear Reader, It is a simple statement of fact that if you are looking for diversity of thought in the Irish media, you will struggle to find it. That is why we founded Gript – to serve the gap in the market left by so many of our colleagues, when they decided that the job of journalists was not to challenge consensus thought, but to herd around it, and defend it fiercely.
MCGUIRK: The video every Irish politician should watch

4 weeks ago | gript.ie | John McGuirk

Dear Reader, It is a simple statement of fact that if you are looking for diversity of thought in the Irish media, you will struggle to find it. That is why we founded Gript – to serve the gap in the market left by so many of our colleagues, when they decided that the job of journalists was not to challenge consensus thought, but to herd around it, and defend it fiercely.
MCGUIRK: Mr. Martin's shameful rhetoric on Israel

4 weeks ago | gript.ie | John McGuirk

The Taoiseach took to the Dáil chamber yesterday to perform one of his signature moments of moral clarity. Not to be outflanked by Sinn Fein and the left wing opposition, he made the following statement: Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Of course, one should not take Mr. Martin’s statements on Israel too literally.
Trump to Putin: That’s it, no more Mr. Nice Don

1 month ago | gript.ie | John McGuirk

As I noted on social media yesterday afternoon, the President of the United States is occasionally in the habit of accidentally admitting things that most of us – including I’d wager a fair few of his supporters – assumed to be true anyway:In this case, the statement couldn’t really be clearer: Without Trump, very bad things would have happened to Putin’s Russia. Ergo, as most of us have known for some time, Donald Trump has actively been looking out for Russian interests.
Macron on Macron: The slap heard around the world

1 month ago | gript.ie | John McGuirk

For some reason, despite my being (in her telling) perhaps earth’s most annoying person to share a house with, Mrs. McGuirk has never yet felt the need to do what Brigitte Macron did yesterday to her husband, the President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra:It would at face value be uncharitable and unchristian to draw wild conclusions about somebody’s relationship on the basis of one moment that was, clearly, not intended for the television cameras.
Three reasons why 100% mortgages are a good idea

1 month ago | gript.ie | John McGuirk

Dear Reader, It is a simple statement of fact that if you are looking for diversity of thought in the Irish media, you will struggle to find it. That is why we founded Gript – to serve the gap in the market left by so many of our colleagues, when they decided that the job of journalists was not to challenge consensus thought, but to herd around it, and defend it fiercely.