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June 29 — July 12, 2018
Affairs of the Nation
FINE GAEL’S WAR GAMES
CAREFULLY crafted PR spin on Tánaiste Simon Coveney’s attendance at the EU foreign affairs council this week referred to Ireland’s active role in shaping the EU’s security and defence policy.... Read more »
MIRIAM O’CALLAGHAN’S TV SLOT
RSVP magazine’s current edition gives a two-page spread to Miriam O’Callaghan NOT hosting her Saturday Night with Miriam show for the first time since 2005. Murrium explained that she dropped... Read more »
FIVE GUYS, ONE CRITIC
GOLDHAWK certainly enjoyed Catherine Cleary’s demolition of the new Five Guys burger joint in her Irish Times review earlier this month. It turns out that she has form when it... Read more »
Sponsored Content
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COMMISSIONER DREW HARRIS AND MI5
THE APPOINTMENT of PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Drew Harris as the new Garda Commissioner – flagged by Goldhawk (see The Phoenix 15/6/18) – may be politically correct in that he... Read more »
PETER O’BRIEN’S ‘HAPPENINGS’
ONE PERSON benefiting from the sweltering summer weather is ‘socially conscious’ entrepreneur Peter O’Brien, who is behind the Happenings event business that has recently been packing in punters. One of... Read more »
JIM GIBNEY’S JUBILATION
ANY DOUBTS about Sinn Féin’s lustful intentions towards Fine Gael and a possible coalition partnership will have been allayed by longtime SF strategist Jim Gibney writing in The Irish News... Read more »
SHERLOCK’S BOOZY CONSTITUENCY
SOME of Labour deputy Sean Sherlock’s parliamentary colleagues wondered if the Cork East TD had drink taken when he moved his unusual amendments to the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill undermining... Read more »
MEL GIBSON V MACDARA KELLEHER
CONGRATULATIONS to filmmaker Macdara Kelleher who received good news from the Superior Court of California last week in relation to an expensive row concerning a new $25m Mel Gibson film.... Read more »
GUNBOAT DIPLOMACY
THAT cordial encounter between Sinn Féin TD Martin Ferris and British royal Prince Charles in Kerry allowed the former IRA commander an opportunity to exhibit his particular brand of gunboat... Read more »
Pillars of Society
EAMONN ROTHWELL
THE BOTCHED arrival of the giant WB Yeats car ferry represented a bloody nose for Eamonn “Rottweiler” Rothwell, the loaded chief executive of Irish... Read more »
The Young Bloods
ANGELA NAGLE
IRISH WRITER and self-promoter extraordinaire Angela Nagle (34) has been fighting for her reputation recently. After a remarkable 12 months that saw her career... Read more »
Dublin Unites to Promote Foreign Investment and Economic Growth
Dublin has long been a hub for global business. But now, a new campaign, “Invested in Dublin: Local Ambition, Global Success”, is showing the world exactly why Dublin is... Read more »
Fit to Print?
ROMAN FEUD AT THE IRISH TIMES
IRISH TIMES efforts to dispense with longtime Rome correspondent Paddy Agnew without decent recompense are developing into a legal saga in Rome with Judge Baroncini apparently unimpressed by management at... Read more »
THE FAMINE HACK
FRETTING recently over the possible erosion of Irish devotion to Britain and its royal family engendered by Brexit, Irish Times columnist Stephen Collins engaged in a spectacular display of revisionism... Read more »
JODY CORCORAN PROTESTS (TOO MUCH)
BARRISTER and ex-politician Noel Whelan’s weekly Irish Times columns do not normally provoke much angst but a recent reference to a Sunday Independent story being “political spin” appears to have... Read more »
Last Refuge
HELEN McENTEE FOR EUROPE
LOOKS as though Fine Gael’s junior Europe Minister Helen McEntee has seen the writing on the wall in Meath East as well as the ministerial stakes given that her constituency... Read more »
FG AND JUDGES STILL FIGHT SHANE ROSS
THE rearguard action by judges and their Fine Gael supporters against Shane Ross’s Judicial Appointments Bill has reached the stage of political and legal hand-to-hand fighting with several strikes against... Read more »
SINN FÉIN COALITION SPLITS
A SINN FÉIN ard fheis campaign by front bench housing spokesperson Eoin “Brainiac” Ó Broin TD to unseat longtime apparatchik Dawn Doyle as general secretary was perhaps more significant than... Read more »
O’CONNELL RED FLAG
KATE O’CONNELL’S spin machine scored a hit with a recent Mail on Sunday splash – Minister Faces Revolt Led By Kate O’Connell, screamed the ‘special report’ on the front page.... Read more »
Bog Cuttings
BOG CUTTINGS
Bog Road resident’s dangerous driving AT HIS four-day trial at Galway Criminal Court, John Conroy (23), of 2 Bog Road, Ballinrobe denied 13 counts of dangerous driving including breaking red... Read more »
Fowl Emissions
NAUGHTEN’S REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY
“PLEASE IGNORE the email you received earlier!” It’s a subject line that’s guaranteed to make you go back and actually read the email you ignored earlier. Denis Naughten came up... Read more »
Bird's Eye View
NEW FACE FOR ARLENE FOSTER
ARLENE FOSTER has thrown herself into an outreach campaign in the last month. In rapid succession she visited Muslims in Belfast for the festival of Eid complete with respectful shawl... Read more »
Wigs on the Green
HELEN LUCEY’S LUCRE
LISTOWEL solicitor and coroner for Kerry North and West Helen Lucey awaits her sanction from High Court President Peter Kelly, who may decree next week that she must pay restitution... Read more »
OLAF TYARANSEN’S LIBEL LETTERS
IT WAS interesting to see music journalist Olaf Tyaransen post on his Facebook page recently about being “cast out of several realms that [he’s] used to operating in”. One realm... Read more »
The Hot Air Brigade
THE HOT AIR BRIGADE
I could hear someone quietly sobbing, and jolted when I realised it was me. Louise O’Neill attends a stage adaptation of her own book, Asking For It, Irish Examiner, Submitted... Read more »
High Society
JACK BRABAZON GETS IN THE GROOVE
PRESUMABLY Anthony Brabazon and his wife, Fionnuala (aka Lord and Lady Ardee) were delighted with the glowing coverage of Killruddery House in the Sunday... Read more »
MICHAEL DUFFY’S RDS REWARDS
THERE IS the usual backslapping in the latest annual report of the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) where things are looking good – especially for... Read more »
LISA DUFFY’S MALTESE FASHION
INTERESTING TO see the name of Lisa Duffy pop up in relation to an online row with the mysterious Instagram account Bloggers Unveiled. This has resulted in all manner of... Read more »
Irish National Opera Placing Irish culture On The World Stage
Irish National Opera continues to expand its impact by showcasing outstanding performances across Ireland and internationally. Since its inception in 2018, INO has presented 184 live performances in 35... Read more »
Behind the Scenes
WILLIE WHITE’S WOES
THE OFF-STAGE drama for the Dublin Theatre Festival has seen an Arts Council cut in funding for 2018. It looks like the writing was on the wall for the board,... Read more »
HARRY’S NEW GAME
HARRY CROSBIE (OBE) has been keeping busy with plans for his own gaff and the Vicar Street venue. He has also been fighting yet another legal action. Last weekend, the... Read more »
ANNIE DOONA’S BALANCING ACT
LIONEL SHRIVER’S outburst in The Spectator rubbishing publisher Penguin’s diversity policies (ie taking into account the gender, sexuality, etc of those to be published) led Goldhawk to take a look... Read more »
Sport of Kings
KEN BOLGER’S TAX BILL
KEN BOLGER, a nephew of trainer Jim Bolger, found himself on the receiving end of some unwanted attention from the dreaded taxman. As a result of a non-declaration of income,... Read more »
FRANKIE DETTORI’S CONTRACT
THERE IS little love lost between Frankie Dettori and his previous employers at Al Shaqab Racing. Dettori was retained by Sheikh Joaan Al Thani’s Qatari outfit for the last five... Read more »
GOOD AND BAD AT GOFFS
HUGE SUMS of money were again being splashed around for national hunt ‘playthings’ at the Goffs Land Rover Sale earlier this month and a similar scenario is quite likely at... Read more »
AMER ABDULAZIZ CHALLENGES JOHN MAGNIER
THE LUXEMBOURG registered thoroughbred investment fund Phoenix Thoroughbreds and its associated personnel have been generous in providing newsworthy snippets this year – and the long-running saga with their horses and... Read more »
PHILIP BYRNES’S APPEAL
HAVING HAD a recent four-day Navan ban for careless riding overturned on appeal, jockey Philip Byrnes again returned to the IHRB to appeal his latest ban for the same offence.... Read more »
Moneybags
LOTS OF ROOM FOR GROWTH AT YEW GROVE
ON THE one hand it is not surprising that another Irish property REIT has been launched on the Irish-UK stock markets given the huge... Read more »
DUDS AND DITHERING AT AMINEX PLC
GIVEN THAT Aminex went into production in Tanzania for the first time in April 2016, the first full year figures from the gas field... Read more »
Gold’s $3,000 Breakthrough: A Financial Call to Arms
GOLD’S EXPLOSIVE surge past $3,000 per ounce last week is more than just a price milestone – it’s a wake-up call. We are entering the centre of an economic... Read more »
Brief Cases
DAVID MILLER FEELS THE BURN
IT LOOKS like the company behind the Énergie Fitness gym in Parkwest has run its last race. Fitness guru David Miller and his wife Linda Miller are the largest shareholders... Read more »
MICK BEIRNE’S ROCKY ROAD
BAD news for Royal County businessman Mick Beirne of engineering company Embassy Contractors Ltd, who was named on the Revenue’s latest list of tax defaulters recently. The Leitrim native, based... Read more »
FRANCIS DOOLEY’S ‘UNSATISFACTORY DOCUMENT’
CONGRATULATIONS to Wexford businessman Francis Dooley who got some rare good news from the High Court earlier this month. Dooley has had his share of court dates since 2010 and... Read more »
AIB WHACKS TOM FURLEY
MORE hard cheese for troubled Dublin businessman Tom Furley, who has just been slapped with a hefty €3.5m judgment courtesy of AIB. Castleknock-based Furley has been embroiled in a scrap... Read more »
DAVIS BROTHERS SNOWED UNDER
AN INTERESTING little company called Après Entertainment Ltd has just gone to the wall after running out of dosh. At a recent creditors’ meeting, accountant Christopher Harmer was appointed liquidator... Read more »
LAST ORDERS AT HANGAR
A COMPANY called Mahned Ltd has just had a tax judgment for €64,000 registered against it. This turns out to be the entity behind the popular Hangar music venue and... Read more »
RUPERT MURDOCH’S CASH INJECTION
THE Dirty Digger has given Dublin-anchored Storyful Ltd another dig-out. Documents just filed with the Companies Office show Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation pumped €12m into Storyful at the end of... Read more »
BAGOTS HUTTON WHINE BAR
THE owners of Bagots Hutton ‘wine emporium’ on Ormond Quay in D1 have gone to the High Court to challenge the redevelopment of the neighbouring Ormond Hotel. They were much... Read more »
Dublin Through the Eyes of its Artists at The Oriel Gallery
“Dublin Through the Eyes of its Artists” Exhibition Opens at The Oriel Gallery Dublin, Ireland – Thursday 10th April 2025 The Oriel Gallery is proud to announce the opening... Read more »
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