LAST UPDATE | 9 Mar 2021

THE TAOISEACH AND Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media have said Alan Rusbridger should remain in his role on the Future of the Media Commission.

The members of the Commission said in a statement today that they “unanimously support the continued membership of Alan Rusbridger on the Commission”. 

“We believe that it was important for Alan and The Guardian to apologise to Máiría Cahill, who has exposed important issues of media standards and transparency. These issues will continue to form part of the Commission’s ongoing work,” it added.

Maria Cahill has questioned the nature of an apology given by the former editor of The Guardian over a 2014 column written about her in the newspaper. 

Alan Rusbridger apologised to Cahill in an article over the piece by former columnist Roy Greenslade which suggested that a BBC documentary had been “too willing to accept” her allegation about being raped as a teenager. 

Rusbridger was editor of The Guardian when the column was written and now sits on the Commission on the Future of Media, which was recently set up by the Irish Government. 

Cahill, the great-niece of prominent republican Joe Cahill, said in 2014 that she was sexually abused as a 16-year-old by an alleged member of the IRA.

The person she accused denies all wrongdoing, and was acquitted of rape when the case against him collapsed.

A government spokesperson said the Taoiseach has taken “very seriously” the concerns expressed by Cahill in relation to the “actions of the journalist Roy Greenslade. 

He said it was important that Rusbridger apologised. 

“The behaviour of Roy Greenslade was unacceptable. He should have been objective and transparent,” they said, adding:

“We find it incomprehensible how a person in such a senior journalist position could behave in such a manner.”

The government spokesperson said the Commission is independent, and has made its own deliberations. 

“On balance, the Government is of the view that he should remain a member of the Commission,” he said.

Minister Catherine Martin said she spoke to Cahill last week, and has remain in contact with her, confirming that the Taoiseach has also spoken to Cahill about the matter. 

Minister Martin said this evening: 

“In discussions with An Taoiseach, who in turn has discussed the matter with the other coalition party leaders, we have, on balance, come to a view that Alan Rusbridger should remain on the Future of Media Commission.

“We accept that this will come as a disappointment for Máiría Cahill and we have not arrived at this conclusion lightly.”

Minister Martin said Cahill has “endured horrendous pain and ongoing suffering”. She said this  “was amplified by the criticism and judgment in the Guardian blog post by Roy Greenslade”. 

She said tonight: “The actions of Roy Greenslade in seeking to undermine Ms Cahill by questioning her motives, while failing to reveal his own allegiances, were abhorrent.”

A decision to remove someone from the Commission is not something that she or her colleagues would take lightly, the minister said earlier today, adding “nor do we take the treatment of Ms Cahill lightly”. 

In a statement, Martin said the decision for Rusbridger to remain on the commission was not taken lightly. 

“The Future of Media Commission has stated that the issues of media transparency and standards that Máiría Cahill has raised will continue to form part of its ongoing work,” Martin said.