Affairs of the Nation

Leslie Buckley

Affairs of the Nation

FEAR AND LOATHING AT INM

THE Irish Independent innocently wondered this week about how it was “unclear” why deputy editor of the Sunday Independent, Brendan O’Connor, should be one of the four journalists named among... Read more »
Triona Mullane

Affairs of the Nation

INM’s sub-committee

AN AWFUL lot has been written about the extraordinary events that are alleged to have unfolded at Independent News and Media (INM) in October 2014 but little has been said... Read more »
Simon Coveney

Affairs of the Nation

Reds under the bed

FOREIGN minister Simon Coveney’s statement justifying the expulsion of a Russian diplomat does not bear scrutiny and indicates a subservience to British foreign policy matched only by the EU’s tactic... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

Olga Shajaku

Affairs of the Nation

Olga Shajaku v Crystal Li

WHILE THE expulsion of a Russian diplomat here created waves, another Russki known to fans of Goldhawk – legal eagle Olga Shajaku – has been stirring things up in the... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

Justin McAleese’s mentor

BEING progressive on one issue is no guarantee of a broader political enlightenment. Mary McAleese’s son Justin, who came to prominence as a campaigner for same-sex marriage, has declared his... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Barry Andrews

Pillars of Society

Profile: Barry Andrews

IF Fianna Fáil has a royal family it is the extended Andrews clan and former minister Barry Andrews was once seen as its crown... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Killian Foley-Walsh

The Young Bloods

Young Blood: Killian Foley-Walsh

FINE GAEL’s cosmopolitan leaders must have spat out their morning lattes when they heard the news that pro-life conservative Killian Foley-Walsh (23) had been... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Natasha Murtagh

Fit to Print?

O’BRIEN CRIES ETHICAL FOUL

DENIS O’BRIEN and his spin doctor James Morrissey are engaged in an artful stratagem against The Irish Times by implying that its correspondent Peter Murtagh has a vested interest in... Read more »
Frank Fitzgibbon

Fit to Print?

RUSSIAN MEDIA GAS

THE Irish media got right onside with HMG in deciding that the Ruskies carried out a nerve gas attack on two Russians in Salisbury a month ago. Some of the... Read more »
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Fit to Print?

MI5 Man tied up

SINDO columnist Ruth Dud Edwards recently penned a touching eulogy to her long-time pal, MI5 and special branch IRA informer, Sean O’Callaghan, following a memorial service to him in London.... Read more »

Last Refuge

Lisa Chambers

Last Refuge

MARTIN’S DECK CHAIRS

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S last throw of the dice in the gambling den of electoral politics now approaching end game has as much to do with internal pressures as Fine Gael and... Read more »
Justin McAleese

Last Refuge

JUSTIN McALEESE FALTERS

THE prospects of Justin McAleese taking a seat for Fianna Fáil in the lush pastures of Dublin Rathdown have been talked up a lot but if former president Mary McAleese’s... Read more »
Kate O'Connell

Last Refuge

Kate O’Connell’S Choir Girls

KATE O’CONNELL, Simon ‘Covetous’ Coveney’s altar girl in the Fine Gael leadership contest, famously described Leo Varadkar’s supporters as “choir boys singing for their supper”. But the sororal Kate is... Read more »

Hush Hush

Diathi O'Ceallaigh

Hush Hush

MORE EVIDENCE OF COLLUSION

THE significance of a secret paper confirming collusion between British security and Loyalist murder squads, part of the government’s raft of state paper released under the 30 year disclosure rule... Read more »
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Hush Hush

Edward Burke’s CV

A good example of crisis bringing opportunity was The Irish Times publication of Dr Edward Burke’s polemic in favour of Ireland expelling a Russian diplomat and also deriding Irish neutrality... Read more »

Student Life

Wilbur Ross

Student Life

DCU students’ landlord blues

THE student union (SU) in DCU has caught the protest bug and is fighting back against rent increases at accommodation centres. Stark price hikes at the Shanowen Hall and Shanowen... Read more »

Fowl Play

Jamie Heaslip

Fowl Play

The Chronicles of Jamie Heaslip

Former Irish Rugby captain Jamie Heaslip must have been delighted with the send-off he got at the Aviva last weekend at Leinster’s Champions Cup quarter-final. The retired rugger bugger can... Read more »
Omar Hassanein

Fowl Play

BLAZERS GET DOUBLE-TEAMED

SOME WRINKLES to the IRFU’s annus mirabilis have begun to appear with the official arrival in Dublin of the players’ organisation, International Rugby Players (IRP). This brings the increasingly bolshy... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

Defendant’s rubbish claim A LETTERKENNY woman who took her neighbour’s camping gear claimed she thought it was rubbish. Maria Siataru appeared in court charged with taking the items from Amy... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

David Attenborough

Fowl Emissions

PLASTIC PADDIES

THE dutiful consumers of Ireland are being enlisted as (polite) eco-warriors for one day this month in the escalating global war against plastic. Such is the public mood of disgust... Read more »

Bird's Eye View

Bird's Eye View

BACK TO THE FUTURE

SINN FÉIN have been shocked and dismayed by the proposals of the north’s Boundary Commission for new constituencies published in January. The party says the proposals are an obvious gerrymander... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Louise O'Neill

The Hot Air Brigade

The Hot Air Brigade

I didn’t have access to my usual methods of stress relief either, I couldn’t make it to Inchydoney gym, I couldn’t get to the city to see my therapist, my... Read more »

High Society

High Society

Dylan McGrath

High Society

DYLAN McGRATH’S SHARE OF THE ACTION

ONE TIME “bad boy of haute cuisine”, former Masterchef presenter Dylan McGrath, is preparing to open his latest venture, this time in Ballsbridge at... Read more »

High Society

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High Society

Stormy Daniel’s ride

FOR A man who likes to keep a low profile, Wicklow event horse dealer Richard Sheahan sure knows how to pick the owners. In... Read more »

High Society

Dargle Lodge

High Society

FIONA FITZPATRICK’S “COLONIAL LIFE”

THERE was plenty of gushing prose to be found in last week’s Irish Times’s property write-up for the Dargle Lodge estate in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, which offers would-be purchasers the... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Selina Cartmell

Behind the Scenes

SELINA CARTMELL’S NEW TEAM

ATHOUGH there has been lots of talk of transparency at the Gate Theatre (“I will not waver in our search for trust and transparency” director Selina Cartmell told the theatre... Read more »
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Behind the Scenes

‘Appalling waste’

LAST MONTH, Minister for Culture Josepha Madigan was in the Dáil outlining the manner in which the huge Project Ireland 2014 cultural spend would be managed. The shadow of the... Read more »
Heather Humphreys

Behind the Scenes

HEATHER HUMPHREYS’S €7M PLOT SPOILER

ON THE last Dáil sitting day before Easter, March 29, the five members present cut lonely figures and, despite questions on the matter, there was no light shone on the... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Success Days

Sport of Kings

KEN CONDON SEEKS WINX CHINKS

WITH ALL that ‘will she or won’t she’ speculation surrounding Australian superstar Winx’s potential Royal Ascot challenge now over and done, it’s good to see an Irish player taking the... Read more »
Paul Nolan

Sport of Kings

PAUL NOLAN’S COMEBACK

TWO FORMER leading lights of the Irish jumps scene – Bryan Cooper and Paul Nolan – have joined forces and are beginning to help each other return to the fray.... Read more »
Denis Egan

Sport of Kings

Handicapping tyro trainers

AT A time when the number of active Irish trainers is reducing, it is ironic that the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) has cancelled its spring trainers’ course, after only... Read more »
Gordon Elliott

Sport of Kings

DÉJA VU FOR MULLINS AND ELLIOTT

THIS TIME last year Gordon Elliott and Willie Mullins were locked in a duel for the champion Irish jumps trainer’s title and this time around things aren’t any different. Before... Read more »

Reviews

ALMOST LOVE - LOUISE O’NEILL (RIVERRUN)

Books

ALMOST LOVE – LOUISE O’NEILL (RIVERRUN)

FOLLOWING THE success of her two Young Adult novels, Only Ever Yours and the hugely hyped Asking For It, Co Cork writer Louise O’Neill’s latest book – which also explores... Read more »
Aisling O’Neill and Isobel Mahon

Reviews

BOOM? – GAIETY THEATRE

THE CELTIC Tiger should still give Irish playwrights plenty to write about. The depths of personal consumption and bad taste may be overly familiar. But most writing in recent years... Read more »
Hugh Bonneville

Reviews

COUNTDOWN TO CALVARY – RTÉ One

ON EASTER Sunday, RTÉ broadcast an impressive documentary focusing on the final six days of the life of Jesus Christ. Fronted by actor Hugh Bonneville, the show maybe surprised viewers... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Mark Sutton

Moneybags

Smurfit Kappa board wrong to reject €9bn bid

HAVING HAD its €8.6bn bid for Smurfit Kappa rejected, International Paper’s Mark Sutton tried to engage with the Irish company’s chairman Liam O’Mahony and... Read more »

Moneybags

Paul McDade

Moneybags

Tullow board needs to bite the bullet on Heavey

AIDAN HEAVEY retired as Tullow Oil CEO last year on April 26 2017, after 31 years in situ. But, instead of leaving the field... Read more »

Brief Cases

Brief Cases

Ryco Book seeks protection

BRAY-based Ryco Book Protection Services Ltd has had to go to the Circuit Court to seek protection from its creditors. Ryco, where Dublin accountant Alan Torpey is listed as a... Read more »
Alan Hynes

Brief Cases

Alan Hynes’s lucky break

CONGRATULATIONS to Goldhawk’s old pal, long-suffering former accountant Alan Hynes, who recorded a rare win in the Four Goldmines last month. The Wexford-based number cruncher – best known for his... Read more »
Nicholas O’Connor

Brief Cases

End of the line for Nicholas O’Connor

CHARTERED Accountants Ireland (CAI) has finally run out of patience with Goldhawk’s old pal Nicholas O’Connor. The troubled Wexford number cruncher has been excluded from membership of CAI after numerous... Read more »
Ben Gilroy

Brief Cases

Ben Gilroy’s ‘interference’

GOLDHAWK spotted a High Court judgment recently relating to an interesting case involving Monaghan businessman Seamus McQuaid and Direct Democracy founder Ben Gilroy. McQuaid has been involved in a scrap... Read more »
Carly Bailey

Brief Cases

Carla Bailey’s Bankruptcy

SPARE a thought for vice chairperson of the Social Democrats Carly Bailey who has just been declared bankrupt in the High Court. Bailey, former mature students officer of Trinity College’s... Read more »
Shane Corry

Brief Cases

Shane Corry’s bad publicity

INTERESTING to see that Creative Nation MCN Ltd, the digital talent agency and multi-channel network (MCN) behind the popular YouTube channel Facts is in the process of being sold. Happily... Read more »
Ray Foley

Brief Cases

Red ink at RedFM

CONGRATULATIONS are in order to Cork radio station RedFM, which was celebrating a few major wins after the JNLR figures were released recently. Things are also looking up for Siteridge... Read more »
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Brief Cases

Olga Shajaku’s business rival

Goldhawk reports that an action involving the state and legal eagle Olga Shajaku’s Word Perfect Translation Services company is about to kick off in the High Court. One of Shajaku’s... Read more »