The Ditch

The Ditch is an Irish political news website established by journalists Eoghan McNeill, Roman Shortall, Chay Bowes, and businessman Paddy Cosgrave in April 2021. The website has focused on investigative journalism and investigations into politicians and since its creation has broken news stories in Ireland relating to politicians which have resulted in two Ministers of State resigning from office. Origins and founders The Ditch was founded by Paddy Cosgrave, Roman Shortall, Chay Bowes and Eoghan McNeill. Paddy Cosgrave is the primary financial backer of the Ditch via his Web Summit organisation. Cosgrave is the organiser behind the Web Summit conferences, which in the early 2010s were hosted annually in Dublin. However, in 2016 Cosgrave pulled Web Summit from Dublin and moved it to Lisbon, Portugal following an argument with the sitting Fine Gael government over a number of issues including grants. Since that dispute, Cosgrave has been described as holding a "grudge" against Fine Gael which has motivated him to support the company. The Ditch maintains Cosgrave has no editorial influence over the publication. Eoghan McNeill is a journalist who had formerly worked for the Irish Independent, China Daily, and the Cork News. He had also worked for Cosgrave's Web Summit in the past.