Affairs of the Nation

Eamon Ryan

Affairs of the Nation

THE GREENS AND MILITARISM

THE DEFENCE section in the programme for government is littered with references to Ireland’s military neutrality — five mentions in just over half a page — and a final sentence... Read more »
article-default

Affairs of the Nation

DINNY’S REALIGNMENT

HIGH COURT judge Brian Cregan got knocked back by Leo Varadkar earlier this year when asking for an extension to the deadline for delivering his report on the sale of... Read more »
Francesca McDonagh

Affairs of the Nation

FRANCESCA’S ‘LIVELINE’ LASHING

PRESUMABLY, THE chief executive of Bank of Ireland, Francesca McDonagh, knew she was in trouble when Joe Duffy dismissed her “blasé” comments about the bank’s customers being responsible themselves for... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

Montague Hotel

Affairs of the Nation

LYONS’S SHARE OF ASYLUM LOLLY

WHILE MUCH of the focus relating to the midlands lockdown has been on the meat plants, clusters in direct provision centres have also featured, as is the case with the... Read more »
Leo Varadkar

Affairs of the Nation

DAMN POLLS AND…

THE LATEST political poll – by Behaviour & Attitudes for the Sunday Times – was headlined, “Varadkar and Fine Gael soar in polls”. It added that Sinn Féin had “climbed... Read more »
John Hume Jnr.

Affairs of the Nation

HUME’S PR PROCESS

JOHN HUME Jnr, a public relations and lobbying consultant, is hardly in the same line of business as his late father, to whom he paid tribute at his funeral recently.... Read more »
Richard Humphreys

Affairs of the Nation

HUMPHREYS CALLS IN THE TAXMAN

A RIVETING judgment emerged out of the High Court last month when Judge Richard Humphreys ruled that a food company, CGI Food Services, must continue to pay ex-financial controller John... Read more »
John Hume

Affairs of the Nation

HUME/MALLON AXIS

MUCH HAS been made of the two ‘big beasts’ of the SDLP, John Hume and Seamus Mallon, both now dead, whose perseverance helped to enable the peace process. In fact,... Read more »
John Arkins

Affairs of the Nation

ARKINS VS ELEMENT

NEARLY A year ago – following a joint request by ICTU, SIPTU and the lobby group Screen Producers Ireland – an audit of the independent film and TV drama production... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Paul Gallagher

Pillars of Society

PROFILE: PAUL GALLAGHER

CHIEF LAW officer in the state – for the second time – is senior counsel Paul Gallagher, whose reverential sycophants in the Law Library... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Lorna Bogue

The Young Bloods

YOUNG BLOODS: LORNA BOGUE

AN EXPLOSION of environmental awareness has brought opportunities as well as challenges for the Green Party. Dáil rivals are responding to voter concerns by... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Eamon Dunphy

Fit to Print?

‘SINDO’ REVISIONISM ON JOHN HUME

NEWLY ENSCONCED Sunday Independent editor Alan English oversaw a well-crafted but highly revisionist special section last weekend on his newspaper’s diatribes against the late John Hume during the 1990s because... Read more »
Diageo Dana An Garda Síochána IT Trust No Stone Unturned Irish Times Black Friday Vicky Conway

Fit to Print?

SUNDAY TIMES PLAYBOOK

NO FAFFING around at the Sunday Times (unlike the Sindo) this weekend, where MI5’s favourite newspaper played it straight from the British political and military playbook. Unionist supporter Newton Emerson... Read more »
Vincent Crowley

Fit to Print?

VINCENT CROWLEY’S CV

THE SPECTACLE of a former chief executive suing his former employer for breaches of data protection and privacy makes for compelling viewing and there will be much interest in the... Read more »

Last Refuge

Richard Bruton

Last Refuge

VLADIMIR BRUTON’S VIRILITY

RICHARD BRUTON’S macho triathlon through his Dublin Bay North constituency grabbed the headlines, as intended, but not so much for its stated goal – the government’s initiative to promote staycations... Read more »
Micheál Martin

Last Refuge

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S PARTY PLEDGE

HAS MICHEÁL MARTIN become utterly detached from rank-and-file members and even TDs of the party he leads or is he simply disinterested in their opinion of him? The interview he... Read more »
Neasa Hourigan

Last Refuge

TROUBLESOME GREENS

THAT DISSENTING abstention by Green junior minister Joe O’Brien signifies more than just a temporary wobble by the Dublin Fingal TD. It challenges the view that a large majority of... Read more »

Hush Hush

Boris Johnson

Hush Hush

BOYS AND GIRLS OF THE OLD BRIGADE

Boris Johnson’s bestowal of peerages to a former militant supporter of the IRA’s armed struggle, along with the DUP’s Nigel Dodds and the DUP-supporting Kate Hoey, did not get the... Read more »
HushHush-def

Hush Hush

JAMES MYLER’S PILE

DESPITE THE pandemic, some owners of substantial properties have not been deterred from sticking them on the market. One of those happy to venture out is high-flying James Myler and... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS

‘STEAMERS AND SCUMBAGS’ Gavin Rainbow (36) of Crawford Street, Bruff, pleaded guilty to using threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour and to public intoxication following an altercation late last year. Gardaí... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Darragh O'Brien

Fowl Emissions

COOL COURT CLIMATE

Imagine ordinary citizens being able to take the government to court to hold them to account for their climate inaction. That was the appalling vista painted by barristers for the... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Bono

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

We were looking for a giant and found a man whose life made all our lives bigger. Bono commemorates John Hume, Irish Times John was a source of wisdom about... Read more »

High Society

High Society

Sonya Lennon

High Society

SONYA LENNON’S QUALITY ASSURANCE

AN ARTICLE in the Irish Times last week highlighted the call for a state-backed quality assurance mark for entities that commit to making progress... Read more »

High Society

Consuelo O’Connor

High Society

GERARD MAGUIRE’S FINE WINE

GERARD MAGUIRE has just picked up a number of shares in his Almax Wines Ltd, the company behind the high-profile 64 Wine shop and... Read more »

High Society

Rebecca Winckworth

High Society

THE WINCKWORTHS’ CLOUDS

WHILE BUSINESSES continue to monitor the impact of Covid-19, the online sector has been best protected to date. A company that appears well suited to trading via the internet is... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Katie Holly

Behind the Scenes

MOOLAH FOR SI BOARD MEMBERS

THE RELEASE date for Screen Ireland’s annual report is always unheralded and slow to arrive. While Goldhawk is regularly told to wait for the report to get answers to questions... Read more »
Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

Behind the Scenes

THE GREAT BOOK’S BENEFICIARIES

WITH RTÉ preparing to broadcast a documentary next week on The Great Book of Ireland (GBI), maybe some light will be thrown on the divvying up of the proceeds from... Read more »

Sport of Kings

JP McManus

Sport of Kings

McMANUS DOUBLES DOWN

DESPITE THE absence of spectators, the allure of ‘setting one up’ for Galway remains strong and one man experienced in pulling off a successful Galway gamble is Swiss-based moneybags JP... Read more »
Brendan Duke Adrian Murray Mick Bailey

Sport of Kings

EMMETT MULLINS’S ID ISSUE

EMMETT MULLINS will be glad to see the back of this summer. The talented young trainer recently found himself in the headmaster’s office again, after one of his horses could... Read more »

Reviews

Trveller gates of wisdom

Books

A TRAVELLER AT THE GATES OF WISDOM – JOHN BOYNE

JOHN BOYNE’S 12th novel for adults takes place across more than 2,000 years and 50 countries. The sprawling, 430-page story addresses familiar social issues at pivotal moments in history, but... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

David Forde

Moneybags

C&C SHAREHOLDERS DESERVE EXPLANATION FOR CEO EXIT

THE UNPLANNED departure of a CEO, requiring the chair to step in as temporary boss, is rarely a sign that things are going well.... Read more »

Moneybags

Lorenzo Donadeo

Moneybags

VERMILION ENERGY’S CORRIB EXPERIENCE

OFFSHORE OIL and gas exploration have been attracting plenty of attention, with the Greens (and Sinn Féin) pushing a ban on this activity and... Read more »

Brief Cases

Ramona Nicholas

Brief Cases

RAMONA NICHOLAS’S BAD MEDICINE

GOLDHAWK WAS surprised to see one of the many companies in the Cara Pharmacies group, fronted by the former Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist Ramona Nicholas, ending... Read more »
Amer Abdulaziz

Brief Cases

AMER ABDULAZIZ’S EXIT

PHOENIX Thoroughbreds – the so-called regulated fund run by the bolshy Bahrain entrepreneur Amer Abdulaziz that has millions of euro invested in the international racing and bloodstock industry – has... Read more »
Kathryn Foley

Brief Cases

SLIPPING AND SLIDING IN SLIGO

FOR THE second time in three years, the racing surface at Sligo racecourse has been deemed unfit for purpose, with racing abandoned after four races there last week. This is... Read more »
Pete Queally

Brief Cases

PETE QUEALLY’S PET FOOD

WITH THE midlands undergoing lockdown, it is interesting to see that accounts have just been filed for one of the operations that recently succumbed to a Covid-19 outbreak – Irish... Read more »