Affairs of the Nation

Affairs of the Nation

“ZAPPER” ZAPPONE FOR NEXT CABINET?

KATHERINE ZAPPONE TD, liberal media darling, former beneficiary of Labour Party patronage and probably the most politically correct person in the western world, has shown unexpected political dexterity and ambition... Read more »
Ibrahim Halawa

Affairs of the Nation

HALAWA: CAIRO TWO FINGERS TO FLANAGAN

HAS the penny not yet dropped with foreign minister Charlie Flanagan that the Egyptian government has contempt for the Irish government’s cap-in-hand approach to the incarceration of Dublin teenager, Ibrahim... Read more »
Joe Lewis

Affairs of the Nation

PANAMA PAYDAY FOR JOE LEWIS

WHILE A couple of high profile Irish names have been appearing in the ‘Panama Papers’ revelations of offshore company activity, including the likes of Dermot Desmond and JP McManus, the... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

Ken Murphy

Affairs of the Nation

LAWYERS FOR BIG TOBACCO

A LITTLE noticed part of Fine Gael’s health programme for government as pitched to Independent TDs recently was to reduce the number of smokers in Ireland to fewer than 5%... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Martin McDonagh

Pillars of Society

Martin McDonagh

AN IRISH playwright (well London-Irish but that has never seemed to matter before) picked up one of the most prestigious awards in UK theatre... Read more »

The Young Bloods

LisaChambers

The Young Bloods

Lisa Chambers

ONE of the high points in a good election for Fianna Fáil was undoubtedly 29-year-old Lisa Chambers’ securing of a seat in Mayo. Not... Read more »

Fit to Print?

michaella-mccollum

Fit to Print?

LYING DRUG MULE OR MISSIONARY?

THE Indo and Sindo managed to transform Michaella McCollum from an Aids charity worker to lying drugs pusher and back again to charity worker in the space of eight days... Read more »
James Sheehan

Fit to Print?

SEAN O’CALLAGHAN’S EVIDENCE

WHAT a spoilsport the Irish Examiner has turned out to be with its failure to defend a libel action from Tralee’s James Sheehan, former director of elections for Sinn Féin... Read more »
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Fit to Print?

Vincent Browne to Retire?

LOOKS as though not just Ivan Yates but also that other big broadcasting beast, Vincent Browne, is on his way out of the media scene. Yates is off to the... Read more »

Last Refuge

charlie-mcconalogue

Last Refuge

McCONALOGUE MARTIN’S MAN

FIANNA FÁIL’S team negotiating with Fine Gael is a little lopsided, with big beasts Michael McGrath and Jim O’Callaghan alongside second team players Barry Cowen (nothing like as sharp as... Read more »
enda-kenny01

Last Refuge

Enda Kenny’s Ace Card

GOLDHAWK predicted recently that Enda Kenny would not easily be dislodged from his perch as Taoiseach and Fine Gael party leader (see The Phoenix 11/3/16) and despite noises about his... Read more »
Joan-Burton

Last Refuge

JOAN BURTON CLINGS TO POWER

LABOUR leader Joan Burton and most of her TDs, supported by a growing number of ever so sensible media voices, want the party to re-enter coalition with Fine Gael because... Read more »
Michael McDowell

Last Refuge

MICHAEL McDOWELL ON THE GO AGAIN

HE’S BACK. The notion that Michael McDowell is running for the Senate merely to secure a platform was never an adequate explanation for the man whose appetite for politics on... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

bog cuttings

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

CORK ON THE WILD SIDE TWO men were bound to the peace in a case where one claimed he was headbutted and the other was left with a broken jaw.... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Fowl Emissions

TONY McLOUGHLIN TD AND FRACKING

“THE EPA Research Study on Fracking is now stopped,” declared the Good Energies Alliance Ireland (GEAI) on its website on February 3, in what appeared to be one of those... Read more »

Bird's Eye View

colum-eastwood

Bird's Eye View

SDLP FACING LOSSES IN ASSEMBLY ELECTION

THE North goes to the polls on May 5 in what will be, as usual, two elections, one in each politico-ethnic camp. Anyone watching the leaders’ debates on UTV and... Read more »
Peter Kelly

Bird's Eye View

PETER KELLY’S BIBLE BELT

THERE has been an interesting encounter between the President of the High Court, Peter Kelly, and a couple of solicitors over the importance of the Bible. It may surprise lay... Read more »

Bird's Eye View

RED FLAG BUT NO WHITE FLAG

DOES Red Flag possess the financial resources to fend off telecom and media mogul, Denis O’Brien, as he pursues them through the courts for alleged defamation and conspiracy via that... Read more »

Foreign Frolics

Hillary Clinton

Foreign Frolics

HILLARY CLINTON’S NEOCON PROBLEM

by Gerald Sussman HILLARY Clinton has a dark history in foreign policy. She is a product of her husband’s alignment with the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) and the right wing... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Camille O’Sullivan

The Hot Air Brigade

The Hot Air Brigade

Sitting in a sunlight-filled room in Portobello, this woman from Passage West in Co Cork looks and sounds like a very glamorous and beautiful mix of Ophelia, Lady Macbeth and... Read more »

High Society

High Society

ann-reihill

High Society

ANN REIHILL’S RETIREMENT

THE CHANGES continue at Image magazine, where Ann Reihill has now stepped down as a director of Image Publications Ltd, and has been replaced... Read more »

High Society

Carmel Naughton

High Society

Niall Scott’s pad

THE write-up in The Irish Times for an impressive townhouse on Percy Place overlooking the Grand Canal was suitably effusive, given the €2.2m asking... Read more »

High Society

sue-raethorne

High Society

DAVID RAETHORNE’S BIG PLANS FOR HAZELWOOD

THERE WAS some coverage in the business pages last week of the doubling in profits to E12m at Brentwood Investments Ltd, the private investment operation owned by low-profile moneybags David... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Elizabeth Garrahy

Behind the Scenes

ELIZABETH GARRAHY’S DURROW DRAMA

FOLLOWING A trip to the District Court to get an extension to file its overdue accounts, the charity Arts For Peace (AFP) has got its house in order, with the... Read more »
Trish Long

Behind the Scenes

LIMERICK’S TROJAN HORSE

WHEN plans were being hatched to turn Limerick’s former Dell plant into a film studio, there was plenty of PR guff about Ireland’s drastic shortage of studio space and the... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Barry Connell

Sport of Kings

CONNELL’S ITCHY BRITCHES

ONE TIME hedge fund supremo Barry Connell is obviously a hard man to please when it comes to jockeys. He recently announced his split from his retained jockey Adrian Heskin... Read more »
Tony Martin

Sport of Kings

KEVIN BLAKE’S CRITICISM

THE DECISION by the Turf Club’s Appeals and Referrals Committee to reverse the hefty 30-day ban imposed on Barry Geraghty for the ‘running-and-riding’ of Tony Martin’s favourite at Limerick earlier... Read more »
Mubarak Al Naemi

Sport of Kings

AL NAEMI’S ASSETS

THE ARRIVAL of Qatari moneybags Mubarak Al Naemi to these shores continues to bring dividends to Horse Racing Ireland who have been eager to up the amount of Qatari money... Read more »

Reviews

Philip Boucher Hayes

Reviews

WHAT ARE YOU EATING? – RTÉ ONE

OVER RECENT years Philip Boucher-Hayes has spent a lot of time on television peeking into school lunch-boxes or people’s supermarket trolleys – and drawing damning conclusions. This latest six-part series... Read more »
Flawed

Books

FLAWED – CECILIA AHERN (HARPER COLLINS)

GRIM ALLEGORICAL tales about dysfunctional futuristic societies have become staples in youth fiction over the past decade. ‘Young Adult’ novels – predominantly written by women – have enormous appeal for... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Pat McCann

Moneybags

Massive margins at Dalata hotels

PAT MCCANN must be feeling pretty lucky, having raised €265m cash in new equity in March 2014 when he floated off his Dalata hotels... Read more »

Moneybags

Albert Manifold

Moneybags

Manifold impact pushes CRH shares sky high

ALBERT MANIFOLD has had a significant impact on CRH since he was appointed CEO in January 2014. He immediately grasped that CRH needs to... Read more »

Brief Cases

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Brief Cases

Eleanor McEvoy’s Good Timing

ONE OF the new faces on RTÉ’s Dragons’ Den is Limerick woman and serial entrepreneur Eleanor McEvoy, currently cleaning up in the electricity market in Northern Ireland. Whatever about switching... Read more »
Domini Kemp

Brief Cases

Domini Kemp’s Recipe Book

CELEBRITY CHEF Domini Kemp, of RTÉ’s Recipe For Success, and her business partner in the Hatch & Sons restaurant on St Stephen’s Green – food consultant and former Irish Times... Read more »
sean-melly

Brief Cases

Sean Melly’s Campaign

WITH JUST days to the Seanad poll closing, outspoken venture capitalist Sean Melly, running for a Trinity College seat, was keeping his profile as high as he could. Meanwhile, one... Read more »
Mary Upton

Brief Cases

Ciaran Larkin’s Shoeboxes

WITH NAMA having appointed a receiver to a company called Player Square Ltd (PSL), which was set up to redevelop the old Players cigarette factory site on Dublin’s South Circular... Read more »
Derek O’Neill

Brief Cases

Derek O’Neill’s Wellness Bonanza

HAVING decamped this week to the Provost’s House at Trinity College in order to try to secure a breakthrough in the negotiations, the boys and girls from Leinster House might... Read more »