Affairs of the Nation

Michael Noonan

Affairs of the Nation

MICHAEL NOONAN BLOWS IT

ENDA KENNY’S special talent for scapegoating officials and handlers will have to be refined after the worst Fine Gael election campaign since the 2002 campaign, when Michael Noonan was leader;... Read more »
Maurice Buckley

Affairs of the Nation

MAURICE BUCKLEY’S RETURN

INTERESTING to see Maurice ‘TMG’ Buckley pop up as a director and shareholder in a Kildare-registered company called Hytech Energy Europe Ltd that supplies assorted fuel-saving devices. Buckley is a... Read more »
eamon-delaney

Affairs of the Nation

ENDA KENNY AND THE WHINGERS

ENDA KENNY’S gaffe, in which he described people in Castlebar as “All Ireland champion” whingers, has proved a significant setback for Fine Gael. Goldhawk wonders if the Taoiseach’s head has... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

Stephen Rae

Affairs of the Nation

STEPHEN RAE FOR RTÉ DG

WHAT a perspicacious article appeared in the Sunday Independent recently informing readers that in the race for the RTÉ director general’s job, Rory Coveney, brother of agriculture minister, Simon, is... Read more »
Diarmuid Wilson

Affairs of the Nation

€2M JUDGMENT AGAINST FF SENATOR

A JUDGMENT for almost E2m has just been registered against Fianna Fáil senator Diarmuid Wilson, courtesy of AIB. The judgment was in connection with a pub investment in Cavan that... Read more »
Ulick McEvaddy

Affairs of the Nation

THE McEVADDYS’ TOUGH MEDICINE

NO SIGN of the McEvaddy brothers, Ulick and Des, in last weekend’s Sindo Rich List. This may not come as a big surprise, as the boys have been struggling recently,... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

GANG FEUD: THE POLISH CONNECTION

EASTERN Europe has more to do with the feuding gangs’ military fire power and proficiency than West Belfast, despite what certain media and even the Taoiseach have been claiming about... Read more »
Markus and Ingrid Jooste

Affairs of the Nation

MARKUS JOOSTE’S TAXING MATTERS

THE announcement that John Magnier’s Coolmore Stud has agreed a partnership with South African tycoon Markus Jooste is good news for the Coolmore thoroughbred breeding operation. However, the Cape Town... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Lenny Abrahamson

Pillars of Society

Lenny Abrahamson

SOMETIME mid-afternoon on Sunday February 28, this year’s Academy Award nominees will amble along the expanse of red carpet to the entrance of the... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Emmett O’Brien

The Young Bloods

Emmett O’Brien

LIMERICK barrister and general election candidate Emmett O’Brien (36) had a nasty falling out with Fianna Fáil in 2013, after he failed to win... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Brian Hayes

Fit to Print?

RTÉ FACE DOWN FINE GAEL TROIKA

INCANDESCENT Fine Gael handlers marched into Montrose in the first week of the election quivering with indignation at a Prime Time special that debunked Michael Noonan’s fiscal space bonanza of... Read more »
Fionnan Sheahan

Fit to Print?

(S)INDO BASHES SINN FÉIN SHOCK!

IS the Irish and Sunday Independent’s onslaught against Sinn Féin finally bearing fruit? The (S)Indo coverage of SF during the election is surely worth a PhD by some media academic:... Read more »
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Fit to Print?

Kenny V RTÉ

THERE is quiet fury among RTÉ broadcasters at DCU media professor Colum Kenny’s attack on the station in The Irish Times last week. Kenny said RTÉ is failing as a... Read more »

Last Refuge

jim-ocallaghan

Last Refuge

O’Callaghan AG?

HAS Jim O’Callaghan’s time come at last? The Fianna Fáil legal advisor’s election record is not a happy one but he has had the ear and the support of three... Read more »
Darragh O’Brien

Last Refuge

FIANNA FÁIL’S CABINET MEMBERS

IF the Dáil arithmetic breaks down the way the polls predict and if Micheál Martin can persuade Fianna Fáil delegates to support a coalition arrangement with the hated pro-Treatyites, then... Read more »
Marcella Corcoran Kennedy

Last Refuge

ENDA’S NEXT CABINET

IF Enda Kenny only has eight places to fill in a Fine Gael/Fianna Fáil cabinet, then who are the winners and losers, and how will he negotiate the gender/youth/geographic imperatives,... Read more »
Mary Moran

Last Refuge

Sexist Labour

WOMEN voters in Louth will surely flock to support Senator Mary Moran following her persecution by Labour’s ‘sexist old boys’ club’. Moran’s running mate, Ged Nash – a former PR... Read more »

Last Refuge

INTRIGUING SCENARIO AHEAD FOR SENATE

THE most intriguing scenario will transpire should Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil TDs not form a joint majority in the Dáil and a consequent coalition government. The electoral arithmetic will,... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

bog cuttings

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

CAR THEFT SUSPECT FOUND HIDING ON BUS DEPOT ROOF, COURT TOLD A YOUTH accused of fleeing from a stolen car that rammed into two police vehicles was found hiding on... Read more »

Bird's Eye View

Bird's Eye View

BREXIT UNIONISTS

THE North’s First Minister, Arlene Foster, caused some astonishment last weekend, when she announced the DUP was recommending people vote ‘leave’ in June’s UK referendum on the EU. The fact... Read more »

Beyond the Pale

william moran

Beyond the Pale

WILLIAM MORAN’S FAMILY FORTUNES

GALWAY businessman William Moran and his wife, Sheila – of the famous seafood restaurant in Kilcolgan, Co Galway, known as Moran’s on The Weir – have some explaining to do... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Amanda Brunker

The Hot Air Brigade

The Hot Air Brigade

It’s not easy being me. Being gifted with a pretty face has been a curse at times. A burden even. Amanda Brunker, Irish Independent To me, a sonorous f-bomb from... Read more »

High Society

High Society

Chitra and Roman Stern

High Society

ROMAN STERN’S CORK ESTATE

THE apparently wealthy owners of the Liss Ard estate outside Skibbereen, Roman and Chitra Stern, are packing their bags and have put it on... Read more »

High Society

Anne-Marie Dermody

High Society

ANNE-MARIE’S GARDEN

OUTSPOKEN Rathfarnham lawyer and councillor, Anne-Marie Dermody, is hoping to land a seat for Fine Gael in the general election and has boasted of... Read more »

High Society

Catherine and Kevin Dundon

High Society

KEVIN DUNDON’S FINANCIAL RECIPE

TELEVISION chef Kevin Dundon had plenty to smile about this month when it was announced that his Dunbrody House Hotel in Co Wexford had bagged an award for best luxury... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

brian-spollen

Behind the Scenes

BRIAN SPOLLEN’S MOMENTUM

INTERESTING TO see MCD promoter Brian Spollen setting up a company to run the Life dance music festival in Belvedere House, Co Westmeath, this year. He will be hoping the... Read more »
Áine Moriarty

Behind the Scenes

The Other awards ceremony

THERE WAS a time when a relatively brief eruption of showbiz excess appeared in the press to coincide with the BAFTAs and the Oscars. Now, it’s a full three-ring gushing circus,... Read more »
Bernard Hanratty

Behind the Scenes

YET ANOTHER NCAD DIRECTOR

STILL NO sign of the 2013 accounts for the National College of Art and Design (NCAD), but at least the latest interim director is now in place. It will be... Read more »
emma-donoghue

Behind the Scenes

IRISH NEED NOT APPLY

WITH THE Oscar hype keeping the Irish film sector centre stage (well, just behind the election), the absence of females in Irish Film Board-funded films has now been raised with... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Breon Corcoran

Sport of Kings

BETFAIR BLUES

AFTER THE Isolde Goggin-chaired Competition and Consumer Protection Commission approved the €10bn Paddy Power merger with Betfair two months ahead of schedule, the betting exchange has seen an increase in... Read more »
Ruby Walsh

Sport of Kings

RUBY WALSH’S ROUGH RIDES

CHAMPION National Hunt jockey Ruby Walsh has come in for plenty of criticism after a number of high profile exits on board Willie Mullins-trained hot pots recently. All of the... Read more »
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Sport of Kings

TIM HIGGINS’S TWO HORSES

IN THE gloomy 2015 Irish thoroughbred industry statistics released by Horse Racing Ireland’s Brian Kavanagh last month, a sector that seems to be heading for the knackers yard, is the... Read more »
Meta Osbourne

Sport of Kings

RUNNERS READY FOR NEW HRI

MAKING IT just in the nick of time, Simon Coveney’s game changing Horse Racing Ireland Act 2015 is now the legislation that will govern Irish racing when the new Horse... Read more »

Reviews

stephen-rae

Reviews

REVIEW – CYPRUS AVENUE

PEACOCK THEATRE THE ABBEY decided that O’Casey could wait. For the first full production of its 1916 centenary season, which aims to explore the meaning of Irish identity, it decided... Read more »
the-gull

Reviews

REVIEW – GULL

GLENN PATTERSON (HEAD OF ZEUS) IN RECENT years, Glenn Patterson has made his name as a reliable chronicler of ordinary life during and after the Troubles. His tenth novel is also... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Kevin Nowlan

Moneybags

Audacious ‘internalisation’ deal at Hibernian Reit

IN RECENT times, Kevin and Bill Nowlan – and the latter’s one-time Irish Life colleague Frank J Kenny, along with Frank O’Neill, Tina Brady,... Read more »

Moneybags

Michael O’Leary

Moneybags

Why Ryanair shares could be flying at €26

MONEYBAGS has been watching Ryanair closely in recent months due to its fast rising share price and a rapidly dropping oil price. Given the... Read more »

Brief Cases

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Brief Cases

‘Technical Glitch’ Costs Taxpayer

A TECHNICAL screw-up involving video-link evidence in a case before Galway Circuit Court last December has resulted in the taxpayer being left out of pocket. The case was before Judge... Read more »
Conrad Gallagher

Brief Cases

Knives Out For Conrad Gallagher

NOTORIOUS chef Conrad Gallagher is based in South Africa these days, having left a trail of debt in Ireland and the US, where a judgment of $137,000 was granted against... Read more »
Dan O’Neill

Brief Cases

John Flynn’s Lawyer

DEVELOPER John Flynn is currently involved in a well-publicised shareholders’ dispute concerning the Blackrock Clinic, while in the US, the businessman has recently filed an appeal in a fraud action... Read more »
Pia Bang Stokes

Brief Cases

Pia Bang Stokes’s Kitchen Nightmares

BUSINESSWOMAN Pia Bang Stokes is currently facing the threat of bankruptcy, along with her husband, Jeff Stokes, while elsewhere a company she owns has recently come a cropper at the... Read more »
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Brief Cases

Ray Bolger Cornered

AIB has just installed receivers to an Irish registered property development company, Cornerstone Property Ltd (CPL), which was active in the UK and where the principal is Irish operator, Ray... Read more »
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Brief Cases

Battle Of The Liquidators

THERE’S more trouble afoot for well-known liquidator Barry Forrest, of Forrest & Co, whose adventures will be familiar to fans of Goldhawk (see The Phoenix 24/10/14). Last week, High Court... Read more »
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Brief Cases

Sean Rainey’s Tax Troubles

NOT long after a partnership he is involved in appeared on the Revenue’s list of tax defaulters, Cork developer Sean Rainey has had more tax trouble. Earlier this month, the... Read more »
Edmond O’Reilly

Brief Cases

Edmond O’Reilly Vs The Minnesota O’Shaughnessys

THINGS have gone horribly wrong for highflying Tipperary businessman Edmond O’Reilly, who made millions when he sold his recycling business Clearpoint to Mr Binman in 2007, but who has been... Read more »