Affairs of the Nation

Jim O'Callaghan

Affairs of the Nation

HIT-AND-RUN DRIVER AN ‘INFORMER’

THE UNSTINTING state apology delivered in the Dáil recently by justice minister Jim O’Callaghan to the family of Shane O’Farrell – killed in 2011 near his Carrickmacross home by hit-and-run... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

SUSAN FITZPATRICK’S TURBULENCE

THE LIQUIDATION of a raft of firms next week turns out to be linked to one Ivor Fitzpatrick, the high-flying legal eagle, businessman and good pal of Charlie Haughey’s, who... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

NED O’SULLIVAN’S REVENGE

FANS OF Goldhawk are well aware of the disastrous IT project debacle in the Arts Council – including arts department secretary general Feargal Ó Coigligh, who told the Public Accounts... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

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Affairs of the Nation

PASCHAL DONOHOE’S JOB SEARCH

IS FINANCE MINISTER Paschal Donohoe becoming the Yosser Hughes of the European plutocracy? ‘Gizza job’ appears to be his mantra as he mingles with finance technocrats in the Eurogroup of... Read more »
Ian Bailey

Affairs of the Nation

DPP MAN VERSUS TAOISEACH AND HACK

IAN BAILEY would not have expected to play a posthumous role in last year’s general election but Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s public endorsement of a book claiming that Bailey should have... Read more »
Liam Cunningham

Affairs of the Nation

NAEEM MANIAR’S MANY HATS

LIAM CUNNINGHAM was in the headlines this week for his spat with Conor McGregor after the latter mocked the actor’s role in supporting the Gaza aid boat’s attempt to breach... Read more »
Lord Mountbatten

Affairs of the Nation

LIFTING THE LID ON MOUNTBATTEN

Richard Kerr and Stephen Waring, two former residents of Kincora Boys’ Home, were trafficked by Kincora warden Joseph Mains to members of a paedophile network in the 1970s. The ring... Read more »
Simon Harris

Affairs of the Nation

CYBER INSECURITY

IRELAND WAS one of 41 countries participating in last month’s Locked Shields 2025 in Tallinn, Estonia. The rationale given for Irish involvement in this “live-fire cyber defence exercise”, co-ordinated by... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Daniel Lambert

Pillars of Society

PROFILE: DANIEL LAMBERT

As manager of the Irish-speaking, hip-hop/rap trio Kneecap, Daniel Lambert has found himself increasingly in the spotlight as he is called upon to defend... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Keira Keogh

The Young Bloods

YOUNG BLOOD: KEIRA KEOGH

Guaranteeing the succession is always a fraught task in politics but 37-year-old Keira Keogh managed to climb back from a poor local election outing... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Deirdre Veldon

Fit to Print?

CONFLICTS AT DE PAPER(S)

CORK’S ATTACHMENT to ‘de paper’ may soon be realised literally as one of de two newspapers, the Irish Examiner and the Echo, could be facing extinction. That’s what some analysts... Read more »
Oliver Sears

Fit to Print?

‘IRISH TIMES’ CRIES HALT IN GAZA

AMONG THOSE scrambling to get onside with the increasing revulsion at the slaughter in Gaza is the Irish Times, which recently editorialised against Israel’s now openly genocidal attacks on Palestinians.... Read more »

Last Refuge

Gabriel Makhlouf

Last Refuge

MARTIN WRONG ON ISRAELI WAR BONDS

HEATED POLITICAL polemic on the Occupied Territories Bill (OTB) a fortnight ago saw the Government contradicted on the legal front, at home and abroad, over its excuse to delay the... Read more »
Timmy Dooley

Last Refuge

COUNTER-COLONIAL CATHAL CROWE

FIANNA FÁIL TD Cathal Crowe has been making strident statements about the global issues of the day but all politics is local. Last February, on the third anniversary of Russia’s... Read more »
Madeleine Johansson

Last Refuge

THE FIRST ITEM

RED NETWORK, a far-left group claiming around 40 members, announced this week that it had voted “unanimously” to leave Richard Boyd Barrett’s People Before Profit and “set up a non-dogmatic... Read more »
Gerry Adams

Last Refuge

OOH AH, YOU’RE IN THE ’RA, SAID THE BBC

THE BBC must cough up millions and lose face over its astonishing decision to broadcast an allegation of murder against Gerry Adams, citing on television just one anonymous source. But... Read more »

Northwind

Winston Irvine

Northwind

NOD IS AS GOOD AS A WINK

Last month Winston ‘Winkie’ Irvine, the top UVF boss in Belfast’s Shankill district, was jailed for 30 months, half on licence. That sentence, for possession of a haul of guns... Read more »

Hush Hush

Niall McConnell

Hush Hush

PATRIOT GAMES IN DONEGAL

Donegal man Niall McConnell has been central to anti-immigration protests in Monaghan and Donegal over the last two months. His links to loyalists and British fascists may help explain why... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS

TIOCFAIDH ÁR LAW Derry Magistrate’s Court heard the case of a young woman who, on May 29, was found in an intoxicated state, lying on the road and yelling republican... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Micheál Martin

Fowl Emissions

GOVERNMENT DATA BULLIES

In a chilling public display of loyalty to our Big Tech overlords, Fianna Fáil heavyweights have been putting the boot into a senior civil servant who dared to question the... Read more »
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Fowl Emissions

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S ROADWORKS

“Roads are also important for environment, this doesn’t get said often enough.” That was Micheál Martin’s hot take in Galway last week as he pledged support for the city’s planned... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

John Magnier

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

“Money doesn’t mean much to me. It’s just to keep the score, that’s all.” Asked if he was a billionaire and not a millionaire, Magnier said: “I hope so.” John... Read more »

High Society

High Society

Dermot Desmond

High Society

DER KAISER’S TRUSTEES

DERMOT DESMOND’S favourite charity, the Chester Beatty Library (CBL) – where he is a trustee “for life” – is set to get some new... Read more »

High Society

IHT CHL The Lion in Winter Racing Royalty Le Brocquy City of Troy Fitzwilliam Square AIRO Dermot Smurfit Ballinacarrig Park Club Cosgrave Fitzpatrick Keith Jameson National Gallery Collection Marissa Carter VG Tom Higgins Neil Jordan Laura Bonner Paul Ward Variety Jones Dtat Eathos Sharon Keegan Angela Scanlon Desmond Canouan Bellair Estate Bobby Flay John O’Conor Portrait of Omai Eibhlín Ní Chonghaile Wedding NGI Board Rachel Flynn JP McMahon Ash Quinn Pamela Laird Abdullah Al Naboodah Boundless Ocean

High Society

HYLAND’S GRAVE CONCERN

THE ASSOCIATION of Irish Racehorse Owners (AIRO) held its recent AGM in the near empty Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association headquarters in Kill, Co Kildare,... Read more »

High Society

Roman and Chitra Stern

High Society

ROMAN STERN’S EXPENSIVE ADVENTURE

GOLDHAWK NOTES that number-cruncher Roy Scannell of Moore Ireland has just been installed as liquidator of a company called SWR Properties Ltd. This was once the entity behind the sprawling... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Rhoda Lane-O’Kelly

Behind the Scenes

IMMA’S HALF DOZEN

ARTS MINISTER Patrick O’Donovan is seeking applications from worthies looking to fill no less than six upcoming vacancies on the Ali Curran-chaired board of Imma. At the end of last... Read more »
Tailored Films Screen Ireland Perspectives DCCI Crescine Tarka Russell Lara Hickey Reality Check Sarah McInerney Irish Movies Paul Murray Arts Council Dublin Theatre Festival TWU Macdara Kelleher Richard Boyd Barrett DADC Cillian Murphy Terry McMahon Media Commission Ireland Kerlin Gallery Creative Ireland Section 481 Christine O’Donovan RTÉ Storyland NMI Board Vacancies IASCA Ossie Kilkenny RTÉ Original Programmes

Behind the Scenes

BEN BARNES’ BROADSIDE

WHILE THE Arts Council has been getting both barrels recently for rather obvious reasons (clue: €7m IT debacle), it is rarely criticised by its clients for equally obvious reasons. Certainly,... Read more »

Sport of Kings

John Magnier

Sport of Kings

MAGNIER’S NEW WORLD

DISCONTENT WITH Coolmore’s near stranglehold on Irish racing had been a talking point at bloodstock sales in recent seasons but that has all changed. But the result is a significant... Read more »
Ed Dunlop David Dunsdon Sarah Lynam Rebecca May Wayne Hassett Eoin O'Brien Michael Burke Aine O’Connor Ashroe Diamond Thomand O’Mara Peter Keatley Timmy Hyde Coolmore All About Sunday Colin Keane Ronan Whelan JP McManus Jessica Harrington Dundalk Racecourse Paul Hensey Irish National Hunt Horse-racing Doping Paddy Walsh Tom Kelly Suspension

Sport of Kings

CURRAGH’S HEAVY GOING

CURRAGH RACECOURSE head honcho Brian Kavanagh struggled to find some good going wherever he could among the attendance figures after the recent underwhelming Tattersalls Guineas Weekend Festival. Overall numbers for... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Tim McCutcheon

Moneybags

OVOCA BIO TRANSFORMATION WILL BOOST MARKET ACTIVITY

IN WHAT is still called Ovoca Bio, CEO (for the second time) Tim McCutcheon – who is also the largest shareholder with 22% –... Read more »

Moneybags

Eamonn Rothwell

Moneybags

SMOOTH SAILING FOR ICG BOSS EAMONN ROTHWELL

PROBABLY THE most noteworthy aspect of the accounts for Irish Ferries owner Irish Continental Group (ICG) in recent times has been CEO Eamonn Rothwell’s... Read more »

Brief Cases

Eric Turner

Brief Cases

WOLFPACK STUBBED OUT

WITH VAPING very much on the rise here and around the world, Goldhawk was interested to see that a company called Wolfpack Wholesale Group Ltd (WWG) had come a cropper... Read more »
Alan Clancy

Brief Cases

ALAN CLANCY’S TAXING MATTER

ONE OF the most high-profile players in the club and bar scene in Ireland, and especially Dublin, in recent years has been Alan ‘House’ Clancy, who is associated with numerous... Read more »
Stuart Switzer

Brief Cases

TV PRODUCERS’ UNSCRIPTED CREDIT

LAST WEEK the EU’s competition directorate approved the plan announced in Budget 2025 by then finance minister Jack Chambers to introduce a new tax break for “unscripted” TV productions. In... Read more »
Kevin Branigan

Brief Cases

BRANIGAN’S UNCOMFORTABLE SEATS

WITH THE deadline of June 16 for phase-one submissions to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, high-flying radio boss Kevin Branigan will be keeping his fingers crossed that there are... Read more »