Alan Rusbridger, the former editor of the Guardian, has stepped down from a commission on Ireland’s media industry following controversy over his employment of a columnist who it has emerged supported the IRA.
Roy Greenslade, a former senior editor at the Sunday Times, the Sun and the Daily Mirror, recently revealed that he had supported the IRA’s use of violence during the Troubles and had concealed that fact to protect his employment.
In a brief statement on Sunday evening Rusbridger said he was stepping down from the Future of the Media commission in order not to distract from its work.
“The commission is considering critical issues for Ireland and I don’t want my involvement to be a distraction from its work, so I have told its chair, Prof Brian MacCraith, that I will step down,” he said.
Rusbridger said he had been heartened by support from his fellow commissioners and the culture and media minister, Catherine Martin, who last week backed his continued involvement.
The minister and the taoiseach, Micheál Martin, acknowledged the decision to withdraw and thanked Rusbridger for his “significant contribution”.
The announcement followed criticisms of columns Greenslade had written for the Guardian during Rusbridger’s tenure.
One article by Greenslade in 2014 was critical of Máiría Cahill and a BBC documentary that aired her claim about being raped by a former IRA member.
The Guardian apologised to Cahill last week, as did Rusbridger, who said Greenslade should have been explicit about his support for the IRA. After the Guardian’s readers’ editor completed a review of this and two other Greenslade articles regarding Cahill’s case all three articles were removed from its website.
Cahill had urged Rusbridger to resign from the Irish media commission, which was appointed by the government in September 2020 and is due to deliver a report later this year.
Several politicians, including Alan Kelly, leader of the opposition Labour party, had also urged Rusbridger to step aside or be removed.
