TheDitch.ie

TheDitch.ie is a free-to-access online news outlet which concentrates on stories relating to the actions of Irish political figures and state institutions. Its stories are often based on careful scrutiny of public registers of interests of politicians or individuals and highlighting discrepancies between these and the actual interests of such individuals. It has broken a number of high profile stories since its establishment in 2021 which have led to the resignations of two Ministers of State and, indirectly, to the jailing of the romanIrish State’s official Planning Board.

TheDitch.ie is a small outlet. It appears that just two individuals, Roman Shortall and Eoghan McNeill (both shareholders in Ditch Media Limited), initially researched and wrote all of the content. As of 2023, a third journalist, Paulie Doyle has joined Shortall and McNeill. In an interview prior to Doyle’s arrival, McNeill has described those associated with TheDitch.ie as politically leaning to the left. McNeill and Shortall were also co-founders alongside the now departed Chay Bowes.

In April 2023, the Tanaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) and leader of the Fianna Fail Party, Michael Martin referred to The Ditch as a “political organisation attacking Government” suggesting that it was not “an independent media platform”. He was subsequently criticised by the Irish Branch of the National Union of Journalists for using parliamentary privilege to attack a news organisation. TheDitch.ie subsequently established “The Michael Martin Press Freedom Bursary” seeking pitches for stories about “how power operates in Ireland”.

The establishment of TheDitch appears to have been at least partially motivated by the frustration of one of its original shareholders, Chay Bowes and that of the individual who appears to be the main source of its funding, Paddy Cosgrave, with the clientalist nature of the Irish political sphere.

As of 2023, Ditch Media Limited has not filed a financial statement with the Companies Records Office so its funding and expenditure is not entirely clear. TheDitch.ie website does invite direct support from its readers but it does not operate any kind of paywall. According to Roman Shortall, a series of stories relating to the state planning board generated donations from “the corporate world, lawyers and accountants”. In interview on RTE Radio in April 2023, Eoghan McNeill, one of the shareholders and journalists with TheDitch acknowledged that TheDitch was largely funded by the Web Summit (Paddy Cosgrave’s organisation) and expected to receive a further €1m approximately from the same source in the five years up to 2028.

On November 7 2023 the Web Summit announced that it was withdrawing all funding from Ditch Media Limited with immediate effect and that the Web Summit. The press release stated that the Web Summit's legal counsel, Adam Connon had disposed of his 33.3% shareholding in Ditch Media Limited at some stage in October 2023. (However, this transfer had yet to be notified to the Companies Registration Office, thus he is continued to be identifed as a shareholder). The Web Summit decision was clearly motivated by concern to distance itself from any kind of language that was critical of Israeli actions in Gaza and which had certainly been a feature of TheDitch.ie’s editorial line. In a press release announcing the cutting of ties, the Web Summit stressed that TheDitch.ie was “a separate organisation with its own editorial control and its views do not represent those of Web Summit.” Where this leaves OnTheDitch.com’s finances is not yet clear.

TheDitch.ie association with Chay Bowes was complicated by the Russian invasion of the Ukraine. In January 2022, as threat of invasion loomed, Bowes contributed a piece on Ukraine-Russian relations to “Cassandra Voices”, an online Irish journal for alternative voices and perspectives. Whilst not legitimating a putative Russian military intervention in Ukraine, Bowes cited evidence that ethnic Russians inside Ukraine had been subject to violence at the hands of the Ukrainian Armed Forces suggesting that it was naive to imagine that Russia would simply abandon ethnic Russians to an “increasingly nationalist Ukraine”.

Since the actual outbreak of war, Bowes has been an active commentator on the conflict, generally adopting a critical stance towards western support for the Ukrainian war effect and drawing attention to alleged military atrocities committed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. On his blog The Islander, which is largely dedicated to writings on the invasion of Ukraine, he self-styles as a “journalist and geopolitical analyst”. (Bowes completed the online MA in Strategic Studies at UCC in 2015.)

In his April 2023 parliamentary comments, Michael Martin drew attention to Bowes’ connections with Russia, noting that Bowes had been quoted by Russia Today (the Russian state controlled news network) and had been praised by the Russian Ambassador to Ireland for the manner in which Bowes has written about the Russian invasion of the Ukraine. Bowes clearly is regarded favourably by the Russian administration: he has appeared on RT India captioned as an “RT Commentator and in July 2023 was invited by Russia to address the UN Security Council on the subject of the war in Ukraine.

Martin used Bowes’ association with TheDitch.ie to cast doubt on the objectivity of their output and to suggest that their editorial content was driven by unacknowledged ulterior motives.

In point of fact, however, it appears that Bowes had effectively resigned as a Director of Ditch Media Limited in June 2022 and in February 2023, a new filing with the Companies Records Office stated that Bowes’ 33.3% shareholding had been transferred to Adam Connon. Interviewed on RTE Radio, Eoghan McNeill that it was precisely Mr Bowes’ views on the conflict in the Ukraine that had become a “bone of contention” between the founding shareholders and which had led to Bowes withdrawal from the company. McNeill has been at pains to stress that TheDitch.ie has no links with the Russian government.