Affairs of the Nation

Micheál Martin

Affairs of the Nation

MICHEÁL MARTIN IN DEEP TROUBLE

THE GENERAL election drama is only beginning and the desolation of Fianna Fáil TDs is turning from shock and trauma to anger with their leader, Micheál Martin, whose position is... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

NO SWEAT

THE RECENT judgment by High Court Judge Mark Heslin in favour of the Church of Scientology’s drug rehab centre in the Meath village of Ballivor makes it clear that there... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

W2’S ‘VIKINGS’ RAID

THE LATEST plot development in the blockbuster courtroom drama playing at the Four Goldmines between producers Morgan O’Sullivan and James Flynn, and plaintiff, German moneybags Winni Hammacher is an offer... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

Alan Kelly

Affairs of the Nation

AK47 HOVERS AGAIN

IT’S NOT just Micheál Martin and Leo Varadkar that face career-ending prospects in the coming weeks or months. Labour leader Brendan Howlin is also fretting as the political dance plays... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

JOE RYAN’S SKILLS

GOLDHAWK was interested to read the press release on the five-year plan published last month by the Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA). It notes that among the attendees were... Read more »
Kathryn Byrne

Affairs of the Nation

KATHRYN BYRNE’S BAD PR

GOLDHAWK WAS surprised to see in Stubbs Gazette that a judgment was registered against high-profile public relations outfit Limelight Communications, where Fianna Fáiler Kathryn Byrne calls the shots. It is... Read more »
IRFU new logo

Affairs of the Nation

IRFU: THE WEST’S AWAKE

THE IRISH rugby team has shown renewed fighting spirit in the Six Nations Rugby Championship competition so far, but there are allegations of rough play at inter-provincial level. The Club... Read more »
Paul O'Neill

Affairs of the Nation

PRESS COUNCIL VS ‘IRISH TIMES’

HAS THE Press Council become the editorial arbiter between the Irish Times and complainants who demand fairness and transparency in the ‘paper of reference’, as its journalists now like to... Read more »
Petit Mouchoir

Affairs of the Nation

JOHNNY COLLINS DISMOUNTS

HAVING HAD a very successful 2019, this year has not proved quite so memorable for Carrigtwohill, Co Cork, racehorse trainer John Collins, who found the going heavy in the Circuit... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Mary Lou McDonald

Pillars of Society

PROFILE: MARY LOU MCDONALD

SINCE BECOMING Sinn Féin president two years ago, Mary Lou McDonald has endured opprobrium and adulation from party members in almost equal measure. Two... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Gavan Reilly

The Young Bloods

YOUNG BLOOD: GAVAN REILLY

As the previous generation of veteran broadcasters fades away, new faces of Ireland’s political coverage are beginning to come into focus – including that... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Regina Doherty

Fit to Print?

‘INDO’ ATTACKS POLITICAL BIAS

MEDIA REACTION to Fine Gael’s election meltdown plunged to further depths the day before the general election when the Irish Independent front page “revealed” that Fianna Fáil’s Jim O’Callaghan had... Read more »
Diageo Dana An Garda Síochána IT Trust No Stone Unturned Irish Times Black Friday Vicky Conway

Fit to Print?

CONOR LENIHAN’S PREDICTION

FORMER MINISTER Conor Lenihan was introduced, humorously, to RTÉ’s Election 2020 programme last Sunday as personifying the only Russian influence in the general election. (Lenihan was for some years VP... Read more »
Boris Johnson

Fit to Print?

BORIS’S AWRISH PAL

THE NOW-stateless author, journalist and former spokesman for EU Commissioner Ray MacSharry, Scottish-born John Cooney has refused to renew his British passport in protest at Britain’s withdrawal from the EU.... Read more »

Last Refuge

Simon Coveney Cerrejon

Last Refuge

COVENEY LURKS

TÁNAISTE and foreign minister Simon Coveney recently spoke in disarming, even endearing terms about how close he was to his leader, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. He also made no bones about... Read more »
Vincent P Martin

Last Refuge

GREEN BLUESHIRT ALLIANCE

THE HIGHEST vote getter of those Green Party candidates that nearly won a seat was Vincent P Martin SC, who came fifth in four-seat Kildare North. But the silver-tongued barrister... Read more »
Danny McCoy

Last Refuge

IBEC VS SINN FÉIN

IBEC HEADS were in shock when the Shinners came top of the Irish Times pre-election poll. After decades of lecturing workers on the need “to embrace change and workplace flexibility”,... Read more »
Eoghan Murphy

Last Refuge

EOGHAN MURPHY’S FIGHT BACK

A panic-stricken Eoghan Murphy spent a fortune over the last two weeks of the election campaign stuffing the letter boxes of Dublin Bay South (DBS) with extravagant election literature –... Read more »

Hush Hush

Freddie Scappaticci

Hush Hush

WHO WIELDED THE STAKEKNIFE?

Operation Kenova’s investigations into the so-called Stakeknife affair have now, inevitably, led it to turn its gaze upon RUC Special Branch. Given that head of Kenova Jon Boutcher made an... Read more »
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Hush Hush

ARC’S ADVERTISING BUDGET

ACCOUNTS JUST filed for the Abortion Rights Campaign (ARC) show a significant increase in spending in the year to the end of March 2019, the period that included the May... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS 3803

Swapped Urine For Toilet Water A Thurles resident was disqualified from driving for four years and fined €250 after interfering with a urine sample. Teresa Byrne of 3 Maple View,... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Eamon Ryan

Fowl Emissions

GREEN ON GREEN

It was supposed to be the climate election, but the shade of green that came to dominate Election 2020 was that of republicanism rather than ecology. Amid all the understandable... Read more »
Climate Disinformation Coillte Climate Action EU Livestock NDC Claude Etchelamendy Ed Brophy Richard Boyd-Barrett Kish Dale Crammond Frank Mitloehner Shell Greenwashing Meta Data Centres Ireland

Fowl Emissions

JOHN FITZGERALD’S EMISSIONS

Has veteran economist Prof John FitzGerald been outfoxed by the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA)? FitzGerald, who chairs the government-appointed Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC), perhaps unwisely accepted an invitation to... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Rory McEIlroy

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE 3803

In the year 170, at night in his tent on the front lines of the war in Germania, Marcus Aurelius, the emperor of the Roman Empire, sat down to write.... Read more »

High Society

High Society

Domini Kemp

High Society

DOMINI KEMP’S MENU CHANGE

IT HAS been hard to pick up a magazine or TV listings supplement in recent weeks without reading about the new television series fronted... Read more »

High Society

Consuelo O’Connor

High Society

ROPEY CARRY-ON IN ELM PARK

THE MEMBERS of D4 golf club Elm Park received an interesting email from course director and chairman Tom Ryan pointing to the activities on... Read more »

High Society

Arthur Ffrench O'Carroll

High Society

FFRENCH O’CARROLL’S D4 PILE

A DISTINCTIVE pile on Wellington Place in the heart of Dublin 4 being plugged in the property supplements should attract plenty of interest, despite its €3m price tag. No 9... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

John Banville

Behind the Scenes

JOHN BANVILLE’S ROYAL FLUSH

THE ANNOUNCEMENT of a new annual Irish literary award last week came as a pleasant surprise to Irish writers, who have had limited opportunities to make real moolah. With the... Read more »
Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

Behind the Scenes

SCREEN IRELAND AUDITIONS

THE CLOSING date has now passed for those interested in joining the board of the National Museum of Ireland (see The Phoenix, 31/1/20) and it will be interesting to see... Read more »
Áine Moriarty

Behind the Scenes

ÁINE MORIARTY’S FIVE-YEAR PLAN

FANS OF Goldhawk were previously alerted to the disappearance from the 2019 red-carpet calendar of the annual IFTA awards ceremony (see The Phoenix, 31/5/19). The academy – run by Áine... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Philip Fenton

Sport of Kings

FENTON’S FALSE START

PHILIP FENTON has been working hard to rebuild his training career after spending three years on the sidelines serving a ban for possessing animal steroids – and he could do... Read more »
Charles Byrnes

Sport of Kings

BYRNES GETS BURNED

AS SOMEONE partial to pulling off the odd monster gamble, Charles Byrnes’s horses are often the subject of extra scrutiny by race-day stewards. Those on duty at Naas recently came... Read more »
Brendan Duke Adrian Murray Mick Bailey

Sport of Kings

NOT QUITE A DUNNE DEAL

WHEN TRAINER David Dunne received a €3,000 fine (including €1,000 towards Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board’s costs) after his 2019 Ballinrobe winner Druim Samhraidh tested positive for the anabolic steroid boldenone,... Read more »
Liz Doyle IRTA

Sport of Kings

CHRIS GORDON’S HIGH-PROFILE CASE

AFTER THE Association Of Irish Racehorse Owners saw it doing battle with a lawsuit brought about by Jimmy Gough (see The Phoenix, 6/9/19), the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association (IRTA) is... Read more »

Reviews

Muireann O’Connell

Reviews

THE LINE-OUT – VIRGIN MEDIA ONE

VIRGIN MEDIA has been making a lot of noise out of its exclusive (men’s) Six Nations rugby coverage and inevitably added one of those fun shows to “get you in... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Stephen Glancey

Moneybags

QUESTION MARK OVER C&C AFTER GLANCEY’S EXIT

STEPHEN GLANCEY surprised the market last month when C&C announced on January 16 that he was to step down as CEO “with immediate effect”.... Read more »

Moneybags

Cathal Friel

Moneybags

OPEN ORPHAN’S STOCK MARKET PRESCRIPTION

CATHAL FRIEL has been putting together a group of companies in the clinical research organisation sector. Rather than competing with the multi-billion euro Icon... Read more »

Brief Cases

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Brief Cases

MCKILLEN’S ISLE OF MAN FUSION

IT IS interesting to see that 73 North Wall Quay, Dublin 1, a protected structure purchased by developer and hospitality tycoon Patrick McKillen Jnr, has quietly changed ownership. McKillen purchased... Read more »
Jim Wallace

Brief Cases

DROPPED STITCH FOR JIM WALLACE

GOLDHAWK spotted a petition by Revenue to wind up Wexford textile firm JW Fashions Ltd, which listed local tailor Jim Wallace (cousin of Wexford-born MEP Mick Wallace) as a director... Read more »
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Brief Cases

FEELEY’S HARD FEELINGS

Accountant John Feeley, the recently appointed CEO of troubled company Maximum Media (MM), has a lot on his plate. Morale among the ranks is low in the wake of a... Read more »
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Brief Cases

FASTNET SLOWS DOWN

CORK-BASED Fastnet Mussels Ltd, which lists John Murphy and Shane Murphy as its directors, was once considered one of the largest shellfish producers and processors in the state. Its fish... Read more »
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Brief Cases

TAX CASES NOT THEIR FORTE

More tax trouble for Wexford café owner Annino Forte. A judgment for no less than €2.7m was registered against him by the Revenue last month. Revenue first applied for this... Read more »
Pat Crean

Brief Cases

PAT CREAN’S PLAN

Fresh-faced developer Pat Crean has lobbed in a planning application for the demolition of properties at Dublin’s Sir John Rogerson’s Quay. The south docks waterfront site was the subject of... Read more »
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Brief Cases

ADIOS TO RIOS

RIOS PROPERTIES (Cork) Limited, a company that lists Cork-based Denis O’Sullivan and James Rigby as directors, fell into liquidation last month, with accountant Finbarr Buckley of Buckley Scriven O’Regan appointed... Read more »
WAVF Castleknock Hospitality BAL Susan Bergin Tixserve EOG Fergal Naughton hot-water-brigade def

Brief Cases

IN THE SWAMP

Ireland’s fashionistas were no doubt devastated last month at the revelation that indigenous clothing brand Swamp, owned by husband-and-wife team Kieran Coogan and Donna Coogan, had ceased trading after more... Read more »
Knightsbrook Hotel

Brief Cases

CALLING UP CUSACKS’ DEBTS

THE LIQUIDATION of Navco Ltd, the company behind Navan’s Newgrange Hotel in Co Meath, is gathering pace. PWC liquidator Michael O’Regan, who was appointed in April 2019, has asked creditors... Read more »
Twitter Carl Kinsella

Brief Cases

HUGH GETS HOT AND BOTHERED

JOE.ie reporter Carl Kinsella got more than he bargained for when he took at pop at the Twitter habits of certain Irish journalists. Using Indo pol corr Hugh O’Connell as... Read more »