Affairs of the Nation

Micheál Martin

Affairs of the Nation

MARTIN AGAINST THE WALL

MICHEÁL MARTIN may have thought he had performed the U-turn of the millennium – the Fianna Fáil leader opened the door to Sinn Féin on the day of the election... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

HISTORY LESSON

CONGRATULATIONS TO the Ireland Institute for Historical & Cultural Studies (IIHCS), which now boasts an historically good balance sheet. The institute – located at 27 Pearse Street in the family... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

NIALL QUINN’S LOADED PAL

WHILE THE FAI focuses on trying to qualify for Euro 2020 in play-off games in empty stadiums in Bratislava and (hopefully) either Belfast or Sarajevo, the recent changing of the... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum

Affairs of the Nation

SHEIKH MOHAMMED’S KIDNAP CONUNDRUM

GIVEN THE influence of the Dubai ruling Al Maktoum family here, the silence to date of the authorities on the explosive court ruling in London in the case between Princess... Read more »
Dermot Desmond

Affairs of the Nation

DESMOND TO SOLVE HOUSING CRISIS

BILLIONAIRE FINANCIER Dermot Desmond offered his solution to the housing crisis last weekend, in a 4,400-plus word address to the nation, facilitated by a most obliging Irish Times. Hopefully this... Read more »
Éamon Ó Cuív

Affairs of the Nation

COVID-19: FF ARD FHEIS 20/21

JUST ONE of Micheál Martin’s problems in securing a coalition deal is the requirement in Fianna Fáil party rules for a special ard fheis to sanction any such move. This... Read more »
Hugo MacNeill

Affairs of the Nation

HUGO MACNEILL AND THE ‘VAMPIRE SQUID’

FOLLOWING THE recent election of Fine Gael’s Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, her hubby, Hugo MacNeill, is seeking to land a seat in the Seanad courtesy of Trinity College. Goldhawk was impressed... Read more »
Drew Harris

Affairs of the Nation

‘LET’S GET BREXIT DONE’

GARDA COMMISSIONER Drew Harris drew fire from Sinn Féin over his IRA army council statement and he made another, em, forthright statement last weekend about the forced detention of people... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

FRANCES RUANE’S NEW FACES

AFTER AN unusually long hiatus, the Abbey Theatre has finally got around to filling four vacancies on its board that have lain vacant for over a year. The deadline for... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Roy Barrett

Pillars of Society

PROFILE: ROY BARRETT

THESE ARE interesting times for the FAI and Goodbody Stockbrokers, where the common factor is Roy Barrett. Without any previous involvement in Irish soccer,... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Marie Sherlock

The Young Bloods

YOUNG BLOOD – MARIE SHERLOCK

ALTHOUGH THE Labour Party’s general election result fell short of its own expectations and proved disappointing, the impending Seanad race will likely bear more... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Rory Best

Fit to Print?

LEGAL MAUL

EX-IRELAND rugby legend and captain Rory Best may have to shortly tog out for an off-field scrummage of far greater significance – legally and financially – than any Six Nations... Read more »
Diageo Dana An Garda Síochána IT Trust No Stone Unturned Irish Times Black Friday Vicky Conway

Fit to Print?

SISI’S SUPPORT

A THUNDERING Irish Times editorial marking the recent death of the Egyptian “dictator”, President Hosni Mubarak, sympathised with the Egyptians who had lived under his tyranny. A concerned editorial writer... Read more »
Allison Morris

Fit to Print?

JOURNALIST STALKED

THE “abominable” stalking of Irish News security correspondent Allison Morris, whose life and that of her family was rendered unbearable for three years, has been well aired in numerous broadcast... Read more »

Last Refuge

Hazel Chu

Last Refuge

GREEN POWER PLAY

TWO PUTATIVE Green Party dynasties had their wings clipped during and after the general election and party leader Eamon Ryan showed that he learned a thing or two from his... Read more »
Simon Coveney

Last Refuge

COVENEY RETREATS

DESPITE SIMMERING anger at grassroots level following Fine Gael’s electoral panning, the parliamentary party is unlikely to see a leadership challenge from Simon Coveney any time soon. The main reason... Read more »
Janice Boylan Irish Military Mali Coolock Says No IFP Hermann Kelly Timmy Dooley Aontú Mal O’Hara Fintan O’Toole Josepha Madigan Eoghan Harris Ukraine War Micheál Martin Middle East Philip Ryan Seán Clancy Simon Coveney Hugo MacNeill Mountbatten Neasa Hourigan Green Party Martin NPT Ivana Bacik Independents Limerick Hospital Overcrowding Barry Cowen

Last Refuge

EOGHAN MURPHY’S NEW PARTNER

HOUSING MINISTER Eoghan Murphy TD’s replacement of Kate O’Connell as his new Fine Gael ‘partner’ in Dublin Bay South (DBS) is likely to be Cllr James Geoghegan. The smooth barrister... Read more »
Alan Kelly

Last Refuge

LABOUR CONTEST: AK47 VS PC 2020

LABOUR’S LEADERSHIP election – Guns vs Roses – is already over bar the counting; Alan Kelly is home and dry and the only question is the margin of victory. Apart... Read more »

Student Life

Micheal Ganley

Student Life

THE ‘BURKEAN’ BUNCO

IT HAS emerged that an online activist group purporting to be exposing far-right and fascist activity on third-level campuses in Ireland, Irish Students Against Fascism (ISAF), was in fact a... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS 3805

‘The Fuck Word’ Gavin Tierney (43) of The Park, Grange Rath, Drogheda pleaded not guilty to using threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour with the intention of causing a breach of... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Prince William

Fowl Emissions

IMPRESSING OUR GREEN CREDENTIALS ON THE ROYALS

No celebrity visit to Ireland would be complete without the now-mandatory photo op involving a pint of Guinness. And so it was when Prince William and Kate Middleton came to... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Bob Geldof

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE 3805

You’re listening to Radio Luxembourg and the improbable microstate lowers down the golden thread and I grabbed hold of it. Bob Geldof reminisces about a radio station, Irish Times, submitted... Read more »

High Society

High Society

Pat and Dermot Desmond

High Society

THE DESMONDS IN DUBLIN 4

NOT SURPRISINGLY, billionaire Dermot Desmond’s cunning plan to fix the housing problem attracted plenty of attention, including a fawning interview on Radio 1 with... Read more »

High Society

Consuelo O’Connor

High Society

DOMHNAL SLATTERY’S AWARD

AVIATION moneybags Domhnal Slattery of the Avolon leasing group must have been delighted with the Glucksman Award for Leadership that he picked up last... Read more »

High Society

Mark O'Neill

High Society

MARK O’NEILL’S NEW TAX BILL

IT LOOKS like artist Mark O’Neill has been just a little careless, given that he has ended up on the list of tax defaulters for a second time. This time,... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Maureen Kennell

Behind the Scenes

MAUREEN KENNELLY’S TOP JOB

THE APPOINTMENT of Maureen Kennelly as director of the Arts Council – to succeed Orlaith McBride, who was in situ for nine years – has been generally welcomed. This marks... Read more »
Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

Behind the Scenes

CULTURE NIGHT RECORDS

LAST WEEK, the Irish Heart Foundation kicked up over the alleged failure of certain public officials to keep records of meetings with lobbyists (Ibec) seeking to influence health policy. It... Read more »
Eleanor McEvoy

Behind the Scenes

PICKING UP THAT BAI BOUNTY

WHILE THE spotlight turns regularly on the winners in Michael O’Keefe’s generous Sound & Vision funding rounds at the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), the agency’s other funding streams tend... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Douglas Taylor

Sport of Kings

DOUG TAYLOR’S JET SET

DUBLIN SUIT Douglas Taylor enjoyed five minutes of fame 10 years ago when he orchestrated a well-executed gamble on his horse, D Four Dave, at Kilbeggan. Taylor, the chief executive... Read more »
Brendan Duke Adrian Murray Mick Bailey

Sport of Kings

CROSSED WIRES FOR DENIS HOGAN

THE ACTIONS of senior management at the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) – where chief executive Denis Egan calls the shots – are coming under intense scrutiny at the moment... Read more »
Rachael Blackmore

Sport of Kings

BANKING ON BLACKMORE

THIS TIME last year, Rachael Blackmore was being tipped to make her Cheltenham Festival breakthrough. She duly delivered in style, booting home two winners, including her first at Grade 1... Read more »
Nicky Hartery

Sport of Kings

HRI FOLLOWS THE MONEY

THE five-year strategic plan up to 2024 was recently launched by Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) and it contained no real surprises. The development of a new all-weather circuit at Tipperary... Read more »

Reviews

Apeirogon

Books

APEIROGON – COLUM McCANN (BLOOMSBURY)

BEST KNOWN for his hugely successful Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann’s inventive fiction ranges widely and is generally international in scope. His latest book has resurrected jaded questions... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Margaret Sweeney

Moneybags

I-RES REIT NEEDS TO ACT ON BIG CANADIAN FEES

THE GIANT Canadian Capreit residential investment group manages 50,000 apartments across the Atlantic and has being doing rather nicely out of the Irish market... Read more »

Moneybags

Pat McCann

Moneybags

DEPRESSED DALATA FACES DOUBLE WHAMMY

WITH A likely hard Brexit coming down the tracks at the end of this year and Ireland’s tourist trade hugely dependent on the 40%... Read more »

Brief Cases

Margaret and Anna Saccone

Brief Cases

SACCONE’S BILL

SOME BAD news for Margaret Saccone, mother of American-Irish mummy YouTube blogger Anna Saccone. Margaret, whose listed address is in Rochestown in Co Cork, was on the Revenue’s list of... Read more »
WAVF Castleknock Hospitality BAL Susan Bergin Tixserve EOG Fergal Naughton hot-water-brigade def

Brief Cases

CORCORAN’S TAX RETURNS

MORE ON Cork solicitor Ger Corcoran, who has been fined €3,750 by the Revenue for failing to submit income tax returns on time, according to the list of tax defaulters... Read more »
Eamonn Gibney

Brief Cases

GIBNEY’S GUARDEX LOANS

IT IS interesting to see that Eamonn Gibney, a former Army ranger and founder of the Kildare security firm GuardEx Limited, has taken out relatively large interest-free loans from his... Read more »
Kevin Warren

Brief Cases

STOKES IS NOT STOKED

THE WICKLOW bar and gastropub belonging to serial entrepreneur Brian Stokes, Dante Catering Ltd (trading as Ashford House), has had Declan Taite of Duff & Phelps Chartered Accountants appointed as... Read more »
WAVF Castleknock Hospitality BAL Susan Bergin Tixserve EOG Fergal Naughton hot-water-brigade def

Brief Cases

GERRY COSGRAVE’S JUDGMENT

KBC BANK Ireland has registered a judgment against Donnybrook developer Gerry Cosgrave for an eye-watering €2.3m. Cosgrave, the cousin of well-known Dublin property developers Michael Cosgrave and Peter Cosgrave, was... Read more »
Umi Falafel

Brief Cases

TAXMAN BITES BACK

IT SEEMS as if two popular Dublin eateries have had a bite taken out of their finances, according to the Revenue’s list of tax defaulters published last week. Dublin New... Read more »
Robyn's Nest

Brief Cases

CALLAN AND HIS CHARGES

NORTH COUNTY Dublin businessman Joe Callan was hit was a €100,000 judgment from the taxman this week, although he has already moved to pay of €7,000. Only €93,000 to go.... Read more »
Knightsbrook Hotel

Brief Cases

ROOF COLLAPSE FOR CUSACK HOMES

THERE’S MORE bad news for the Cusack group, the troubled Meath property and hotel development group led by the Cusack family. Cusack Homes Ltd (CHL), the group’s residential property development... Read more »
Kenneth Greene

Brief Cases

GREEN FARM GOOSE IS COOKED

GOLDHAWK IS intrigued by the latest developments at Green Farm Foods Limited (GFF), which was stung by the taxman for almost €500,000 for under-declaring corporation tax. As of the end... Read more »