Affairs of the Nation

Fred Barry

Affairs of the Nation

WHAM BAM THANK YOU KERRY

WHAT an interesting story Kerry’s Eye sleuth Aidan O’Connor had recently about BAM, the construction firm at the centre of the National Children’s Hospital contract increase from €983m to €1.7bn.... Read more »
Dearbhail McDonald

Affairs of the Nation

TROUBLE AT INM SHOCK!

AS IF there were not enough industrial relations problems at the Irish Independent and other INM titles (slashed budgets, compulsory redundancies etc), a serious clash has occurred between the Indo’s... Read more »
Simon Coveney

Affairs of the Nation

SIMON COVENEY’S PRIORITIES

WITH THE children’s hospital overrun grabbing headlines for the last month, the contractors, BAM, are at the centre of a media storm. This is uncomfortable for Simon Coveney, who has... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

Claire Loftus

Affairs of the Nation

CLAIRE LOFTUS’S CRITICS

SPARE A thought for poor Claire Loftus, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), who has had a bruising couple of weeks. Criticism of the DPP by judges is rare enough,... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

DEALING WITH CYRIL BURKE

FINE GAEL’S executive council must grapple with a delicate issue in the next few weeks as controversial Mayo county councillor, Cyril Burke, requires to be dealt with on two fronts.... Read more »
Mary Hanafin

Affairs of the Nation

STOP THAT WOMAN HANAFIN!

BARRY ANDREWS’S formidable, family political machine was a big factor in his Fianna Fáil convention victory for the Dublin Euro ticket last Sunday, but Mary Hanafin played an unintentional part... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

RONAN KEATING’S CORPORATE PAL

WITH BOYZONE winding down their farewell tour, which concludes in Dubai (natch) in April, hopefully lead singer Ronan Keating will not be overly distracted by news that his pal, Andrew... Read more »
Rachel Weisz

Affairs of the Nation

THE OIRISH FAVOURITE

SUNDAY’S OSCARS look certain to feature The Favourite heavily and the green jersey has been very much in evidence in recent weeks, especially given the estimated $76m (and counting) at... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Helen McEntee

Pillars of Society

PROFILE – FG’S HELEN MCENTEE

THE PRESENTABLE and quietly assured woman seen accompanying Taoiseach Leo Varadkar at almost every meeting with EU power brokers is minister for Europe Helen... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Rob Lipsett

The Young Bloods

YOUNG BLOOD: ROB LIPSETT

FITNESS FREAK Rob Lipsett (27) is one of the beautiful people. In the era of Instagram models and unrealistic body standards, the lantern-jawed former... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Vincent Browne

Fit to Print?

VINCENT BROWNE’S LIBEL FEUDS

FORMER justice minister Paddy Cooney (88 next month) has received comforting financial compensation and a measure of vindication arising from his serial litigation involving stories penned by provocative journalist Vincent... Read more »
Diageo Dana An Garda Síochána IT Trust No Stone Unturned Irish Times Black Friday Vicky Conway

Fit to Print?

BOYCOTTING BETHANY

THE VIRTUAL boycott of the Bethany Homes scandal (over 200 babies died there in the first 27 years of the state) by the media, the Irish Times in particular, is... Read more »
Paddy Agnew

Fit to Print?

‘IRISH TIMES’ HUBRIS

THE TRIUMPHAL tone of Irish Times managing director Liam Kavanagh’s recent message to staff declaring victory over its Rome correspondent Paddy Agnew’s unfair dismissal case may be a bit previous.... Read more »

Last Refuge

Last Refuge

SINN FÉIN GOES BACK TO BASICS

SINN FÉIN is still struggling in the polls following its disastrous presidential campaign and appears to have reverted to harder, more Republican and leftist policies following a fractious post mortem.... Read more »
Frank O'Rourke

Last Refuge

FRANK O’ROURKE TD: SIMPLY THE BEST

“IF A cow calved in Ardclough, Frank would claim to be its father” is how Kildare Independent councillor Bernard Caldwell described Kildare North Fianna Fáil TD Frank O’Rourke’s inimitable public... Read more »
Willie O'Dea

Last Refuge

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S STRATEGY

SIGNS OF establishment anxiety about the government’s durability were visible last weekend and they were not eased with a poll that showed Fine Gael holding on 30%, but Leo Varadkar... Read more »
Danny Healy-Rae

Last Refuge

FINE GAEL FLEES FROM HEALY-RAES

DANNY HEALY-RAE’S clownish antics on climate change and sundry issues are beginning to wear thin, even amongst the family’s large fan base in the Kingdom, but Fine Gael is still... Read more »

Hush Hush

Freddie Scappaticci

Hush Hush

STAKEKNIFE AN RUC CONSTRUCT

THE EPIC John Le Carré-type tale about super spy ‘Stakeknife’, aka Fred Scappaticci, was last week seriously challenged by Operation Kenova, the team tasked to investigate the Stakeknife saga. Kenova’s... Read more »
Jeremy Corbyn

Hush Hush

BRITISH SPOOKS TARGET VARADKAR

The anarchist ‘Hacktivist’ group Anonymous continues to leak details of a disinformation campaign run jointly by the UK’s Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence, known as the ‘Integrity Initiative’. Its... Read more »

Student Life

Louis Hoffman

Student Life

THE ‘BURKEAN JOURNAL’S’ GENETICS PROBLEM

Oh dear, it looks like the Burkean Journal has lost its way. The right-wing journal – founded by Trinity College students to combat the supremacy of the damn blasted left... Read more »
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Student Life

SORCHA RYDER’S HEADACHES

TRINITY debating society president Sorcha Ryder is having a term of office to forget. Fresh from the controversy over the sudden decision to disinvite prominent Israel critic Norman Finkelstein (see... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS

RANTED AT OFFICERS A SON of a garda called gardaí “cunts”, “bastards” and “faggots” in the seaside resort of Lahinch last November. At Ennis District Court, Judge Patrick Durcan described... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Greta Thunberg

Fowl Emissions

KIDS 4 CLIMATE

MINISTERS HAVE been talking a good fight on tackling climate change recently. On the other hand, actual policies to make this happen are as transparently threadbare as the emperor’s new... Read more »
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Fowl Emissions

OIL PAINTINGS

An interesting sidebar to the ongoing debacle over the National Children’s Hospital has been the state’s decision to turn down giving naming rights to the Ronald McDonald charity to help... Read more »

Bird's Eye View

Declan O’Loan

Bird's Eye View

TOWN HALL BUN FIGHTS

Simon Coveney had to travel north from the All-Island Civic Dialogue on 15 February to participate in what Mary Lou McDonald called a “sham” at Stormont. The northern secretary, Karen... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

But what the congresswoman’s post shows is how, in the past two years, the concept of skincare has changed beyond all recognition. The Irish Times on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s skin routine... Read more »

High Society

High Society

Ali Barker

High Society

ALI BARKER’S DAY IN COURT

THERE WERE sighs of relief last week when a long-running, high-stakes legal action between a separated couple was settled after the opening day in... Read more »

High Society

Consuelo O’Connor

High Society

MARTIN JOYCE’S PILE

AN IMPRESSIVE pile in Sandymount D4, previously owned by TP McKenna, has gone on the market with a hefty €3m price tag. The vendors... Read more »

High Society

Ruthie Heatherington

High Society

RUTHIE H’S SKINNY TEA

SPARE A thought for super fit entrepreneur Ruth Hetherington, whose health and fitness brand of teas and coffees has fallen foul of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI). She... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Sheila Pratschke

Behind the Scenes

REGIME CHANGE ON MERRION SQUARE

WATCH OUT for an advert seeking to fill vacancies in the Arts Council. Given that the most important seat to be filled on Merrion Square is that of chair Sheila... Read more »
Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

Behind the Scenes

NEIL MURRAY’S TACTICS

ALMOST A month after the Abbey Theatre found itself the star of yet another offstage drama, courtesy of a critical letter signed by hundreds of disgruntled luvvies, progress has proved... Read more »
Fionnuala Flanagan

Behind the Scenes

TAXMAN STARS IN ARTHOUSE DRAMA

JUST WHEN the dust seemed to have settled on Galway’s dalliance with ‘cultural cinema’ – the bijou Pálás art house having been folded at considerable public cost into Ed Guiney... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Bryan Cooper

Sport of Kings

COOPER CUT LOOSE

BRYAN COOPER’S stint as first jockey to Chris Jones was certainly short-lived, with the association coming to an end just before the Dublin Racing Festival. Cooper had only joined forces... Read more »
Sean Mulryan

Sport of Kings

MULRYAN TARGETS BALLYMORE

COMEBACK KID Sean Mulryan – once again a major player in the national hunt owners’ league – took another step forward recently when he enjoyed a weekend double at his... Read more »
jim-bolger

Sport of Kings

JIM BOLGER’S TWO YEAR OLDS

SOME EYEBROWS were raised a few years ago when Jim Bolger sent around 20 of his mares to be covered by little-known stallion Fracas, who stands at Joe Joyce’s Cahermorris... Read more »
Jimmy Long

Sport of Kings

ANDREW HUGHES’S HICCUP

THE BRITISH Horseracing Authority (BHA) offered little room for manoeuvre to a nonplussed Andrew Hughes when he made the trip to Scotland recently. He needs some good news and fast.... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Michael O'Leary

Moneybags

TIME FOR O’LEARY TO DISEMBARK AT RYANAIR

RYANAIR INVESTORS can’t be happy with the company tailspinning into pre-tax losses of U84m for its quarterly three-month trading to the end of December... Read more »

Moneybags

Kathryn Purves

Moneybags

EXCEPTIONAL COSTS MEAN IFG SHARES ARE OVERVALUED

IT IS difficult to know exactly how IFG got involved in the £200m Elysian bioethanol plant scandal that kicked off a few years ago,... Read more »

Briefcases

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Briefcases

LIAM HAZEL’S ‘NIGHTMARE’

GOLDHAWK got a blast from the past recently when he saw old pal Alex Gibbons pop up in the Court of Appeal. The rogue Clonakilty solicitor will be familiar to... Read more »
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Briefcases

JACKIE GREENE’S PROFIT SPLIT

A DUBLIN-based building company, Jackie Greene Construction (JGC) Ltd, had a bad time of it in the Supreme Court last month in a long-running scrap with the IBRC. The judgment... Read more »
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Briefcases

THOMAS FLANAGAN’S ITALIAN PALS

CONNEMARA aeuronautics business Éirecomposites Teoranta (ET) has finally gotten around to filing its 2017 accounts. And there was some good news at last for its largest shareholder, Tuam businessman Thomas... Read more »
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Briefcases

JOHN SWAN’S ROTTEN FRUIT

INTERESTING to see that accountant John Healy has just been appointed provisional liquidator to Carlow wholesaler Bestwell Ltd. The largest shareholder here is Palatine businessman John Swan (80%), who has... Read more »
Barry and Bernard Broderick

Briefcases

NOT SO TASTY FOR BRODERICKS

NEWLY filed accounts suggest the brothers behind Broderick’s cakes and bars could do with sweetening their mix. Although sales were up slightly at Ina’s Kitchen Desserts (IKD) Ltd, the company... Read more »
Consuelo O’Connor

Briefcases

DÉJÀ VU FOR NICHOLAS CUSHNAHAN

For a second time in as many years, Dublin bean counter Nicholas Cushnahan, a partner at Houlihan Cushnahan chartered accountants in Glasthule, has found himself on the wrong side of... Read more »
Des Coffey

Briefcases

DES COFFEY’S NEW JUDGMENTS

MORE hard cheese for restaurateur Des Coffey, who has just had two small tax judgments registered against him, less than a month after the Revenue wound up one of his... Read more »
Nicholas Krivenko

Briefcases

WINDING UP NICHOLAS KRIVENKO

STRANGE to see that a winding-up petition has been filed against a dissolved Co Limerick property vehicle, Riverhall Ltd, by a New York-based creditor. The company was struck off the... Read more »