Affairs of the Nation

Enda Kenny

Affairs of the Nation

NEUTRALITY: SEE NO EVIL

DESPITE Ireland facing one of the most fundamental issues in our history, the virtual silence surrounding our accelerating involvement in the militarisation of the EU is deafening. At the recent... Read more »
Mick O’Leary

Affairs of the Nation

O’LEARY’S TURBULENCE IN D4

WHILE RYANAIR boss Mick O’Leary is clearly annoyed at objections to the planned new Dublin Airport runway, he is also facing an objection to his latest personal property project in... Read more »
jeffrey-hecktman

Affairs of the Nation

HILCO’S ‘GANGSTER CAPITALISM’ IN HMV

THE SUDDEN closure of Clery’s generated plenty of media criticism given the manner in which the hapless staff were treated. Now over in HMV, a rather different winding up has... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

kevin-mcgarry

Affairs of the Nation

KEVIN McGARRY’S VERY PRIVATE SECURITY

INTERESTING to see an apology in The Irish Times earlier this month to company KTech Security and its owner Kevin McGarry, who turns out to be doing rather well for... Read more »
gerry-callaghan

Affairs of the Nation

GERRY CALLANAN’S HORSE TRADING

WITH AN appeal lodged by Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) against a recent Small Claims Court ruling, it appears the innocuous looking challenge by Gerry Callanan of Nanallac Stud in Kildare... Read more »
charles-pickard

Affairs of the Nation

PICKARD’S CRIME BACKGROUND

THE mystery of just who murdered Charles Brooke Pickard – whose remains the gardaí hope to find in Kerry’s Ballaghisheen mountain pass – may never be solved. But the bafflement... Read more »
john-burns

Affairs of the Nation

JOHN BURNS’S COMRADES

WHAT a cheeky chappie Sunday Times associate editor John Burns is. He penned a wry sarcastic article last weekend about junior minister and Fine Gael critic John Halligan, a current... Read more »
four_courts_dublin_ireland

Affairs of the Nation

TIME WARP IN THE HIGH COURT

GOLDHAWK recently spotted a very odd High Court judgment in a case initiated in 1996 but, bizarrely, only heard in court this year. Despite a 19-year gap between the initial... Read more »
Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy

Affairs of the Nation

KENNEDY: A BRIDGE TOO FAR?

HAS Ireland, and even Wexford, finally been overcome by ennui with the cult of the dead Kennedys? A row has broken out in New Ross over the proposed name –... Read more »
obriens

Affairs of the Nation

BLUESHIRT TICKET TROUBLE

FINE GAEL ladettes Senators Michelle Mulherin and Catherine Noone walked into an accidental ambush in O’Brien’s, the sporty Dublin 2 pub, on the eve of the All-Ireland football final. There... Read more »
john-griffin

Affairs of the Nation

JOHN GRIFFIN’S TV STATION

DOCUMENTS released to Goldhawk by the Department of Communications reveal the strategy being adopted by the Irish TV channel to reduce fees being demanded of it and even get a... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Max Barrett

Pillars of Society

Max Barrett

The news that justice minister Frances Fitzgerald intends appealing last month’s High Court ruling by Mr Justice Max Barrett, allowing retired judge Barry White... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Anne Marie McNally

The Young Bloods

Anne Marie McNally

Stephen Donnelly’s departure has rent apart the Social Democrats’ ruling triumvirate and made visible some previously well-disguised cracks within the party. Soc Dem supporters... Read more »

Fit to Print?

suzanne-lynch

Fit to Print?

‘IRISH TIMES’ AND AN EU ARMY

COVERAGE OF post Brexit developments by The Irish Times, whose own appetite for Irish involvement in an EU army has been consistently enthusiastic, was marked by a front page article... Read more »

Fit to Print?

PAUL WILLIAMS DUMPED BY NÓIRÍN

LIKE some unresolved lovers’ tiff, the Indo’s ace cops’n’robbers hack, Paul Williams (now also in Newstalk’s Breakfast line-up) and garda commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan continue their squabbling. The day after Irish... Read more »
UNA MULLALLY

Fit to Print?

UNA MULLALLY’S SURPRISING RANT

WOW! Irish Times columnist Una Mullally socked it to Apple, the “tech sector” and international corporations following the recent Apple tax scandal. These all-powerful entities are capable of influencing vast... Read more »

Last Refuge

Paschal Donohoe

Last Refuge

MAYO MAN’S MOJO IS MELTING

IT IS paralysis at the top and the bottom of the Fine Gael parliamentary party, and not Enda Kenny’s rejuvenated mojo, that is keeping the Taoiseach in situ. But if... Read more »
Finian McGrath

Last Refuge

GOVERNMENT’S ABORTION BUDGET DEAL

ANOTHER political crisis is creeping up on the coalition government as AAA/PBP TD Ruth Coppinger’s cunningly timed bill to repeal the eighth Amendment is likely to reach a vote in... Read more »

Last Refuge

FG’S HAPPY FAMILY IN NEWCASTLE WEST

THE political and enterprising activities of sport and tourism junior minister Patrick O’Donovan’s extended clan in Limerick brings a whole new meaning to the concept of the Fine Gael family.... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

FISHY GOINGS-ON IN KERRY THREE members of the same Kerry family have been fined for poaching on the Blackwater salmon fishery near Kenmare. Jack Clifford of Derrendarragh, Blackwater, his brother... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Muammar Gadafy

Fowl Emissions

IRELAND EXPORTS FRACKING OPS

IRELAND HAS been mostly quiet on the fracking front, but last month Goldhawk’s attention was caught by reports of an Irish company having to suddenly close some of its fracking... Read more »

Bird's Eye View

frank-cushnahan

Bird's Eye View

FRANK CUSHNAHAN AND THE DUP

AT STORMONT’S finance committee last week Jim Allister QC, the hardline Traditional Unionist Voice leader, tried to raise the committee’s stalled inquiry into NAMA’s sale of all its northern loans... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Michael D Higgins

The Hot Air Brigade

The Hot Air Brigade

“Far from being airy-fairy, his highly intellectual approach has allowed him to take on the biggest global issues.” Fintan O’Toole on Michael D Higgins, Irish Times, Submitted by reader “Possibly... Read more »

High Society

High Society

oreillys-national-treasure

High Society

O’REILLY’S NATIONAL TREASURE

THE ONGOING bankruptcy of Bahamas-based Tony O’Reilly continues to generate plenty of media interest much to the chagrin of the hapless former moneybags. The... Read more »

High Society

ferrari

High Society

DOC O’DONNELL’S FERRARI

INTERESTING to see a Waterford hospital consultant heading to the Four Goldmines over the sale of his Ferrari. He has made headlines before for... Read more »

High Society

Aisling Holly and Paul Garrett

High Society

AISLING HOLLY’S COSMETIC CLINICS

LISA MURPHY, former fiancée of legal eagle Gerald Kean, featured on the cover of VIP magazine last month, where she told readers she was “rediscovering my passions in life”. It... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

jim-sheridan

Behind the Scenes

SHERIDAN’S SECRET STINKER

THE REVIEWS of Jim Sheridan’s adaptation of Sebastian Barry’s The Secret Scripture have already attracted attention to the movie for all the wrong reasons. Noel Pearson’s production was heavily backed... Read more »
Eugene Downes

Behind the Scenes

EUGENE DOWNES’S WARNING SHOT

WHEN THE Joint Committee on Regional Development, Rural Affairs, Arts and the Gaeltacht, chaired by Meath Sinn Féin TD Peadar Tóibín, met on September 7 to discuss Heather Humphreys’s Culture... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Henry Beeby

Sport of Kings

GOFFS CHAMPIONS DAMP SQUIB

MUCH HAS been written about the success of Irish Champions Weekend and how the main race – the QIPCO Irish Champion Stakes – can now be regarded as one of... Read more »
Ruby Walsh

Sport of Kings

Ruby Jockying for Position

WITH Sir Anthony McCoy not in the running for a position in the ITV racing team (or else not interested in a position) it would appear there may be a... Read more »
danny-grant

Sport of Kings

DANNY GRANT UNSADDLED YET AGAIN

JOCKEY Danny Grant is in hot water again over his troublesome eczema. Grant was removed from his intended mounts at Navan and Dundalk recently by order of the stewards after... Read more »
joseph-obrien

Sport of Kings

JOSEPH O’BRIEN V COOLMORE

JOSEPH O’BRIEN cut a slightly fuller figure recently when he made a brief return to race riding at Doncaster. On the training front, he also made quite an impact …... Read more »

Reviews

the-father-at-the-gate

Reviews

THE FATHER – GATE THEATRE

ALZHEIMER’S disease has appeared frequently enough on stage and screen in the last few years. Arguably, The Father by French writer Florian Zeller led the way, scooping up a handful... Read more »
MINDS OF WINTER - ED O’LOUGHLIN

Books

MINDS OF WINTER – ED O’LOUGHLIN

BORN IN Toronto, Ed O’Loughlin grew up in Ireland and worked as a journalist before publishing his debut novel, Not Untrue and Not Unkind, which was long-listed for the Man... Read more »
THE YOUNG OFFENDERS - DIRECTED BY PETER FOOTT

Movies

THE YOUNG OFFENDERS – DIRECTED BY PETER FOOTT

ACCOMPANIED by the hype that’s now de rigueur for every Irish film, The Young Offenders – based on true events in Cork in 2007 – tells the story of two... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Gene Murtagh

Moneybags

Profitable Kingspan needs to avoid distractions

KINGSPAN has had a fantastic record over the last five years and is now one of a handful of Irish companies playing a dominant... Read more »

Moneybags

DERMOT STOPFORD SMURFIT

Moneybags

Dermot Smurfit’s high stakes gamble with GAN

DERMOT STOPFORD SMURFIT – the 41-year-old nephew of Mick Smurfit – invested and took management control of the gaming software development house, Game Account... Read more »

Briefcases

mike-edgeworth

Briefcases

End in sight for Edgeworth debacle

IT LOOKS like the Pilot Training College of Ireland Ltd (PTC Ireland) saga might be coming to an end now that the company’s liquidator is moving to have company boss... Read more »
Donal Caulfield

Briefcases

City Council gets tough over pyrite damage

INTERESTING to see Dublin City Council’s senior structural engineer Peter Finnegan admitting just how difficult it will be to recoup costs from developers who built faulty homes in North Dublin.... Read more »

Briefcases

High-flying Stritch’s crash landing

SPARE a thought for Goldhawk’s old pal, Peter Stritch, the colourful Clare farmer who has had several high profile run-ins with the authorities over the years. Documents filed with the... Read more »
elliot-hughes

Briefcases

Elliot Hughes’s Porterhouse profits

QUIET congratulations are in order for Elliot Hughes who, under tragic circumstances, looks set to take over the Porterhouse network of pubs and restaurants. Documents filed with the Companies Office... Read more »
geoff-wycherly

Briefcases

Geoff Wycherley misses the fairway

SPARE a thought for Co Cork builder and businessman Geoffrey “Geoff” Wycherley whose company Totus Developments Ltd had a receiver appointed to it last week. Rosscarbery native Wycherley is a... Read more »