Affairs of the Nation

Jeffrey Donaldson

Affairs of the Nation

EVEN-STEVENS AS JEFFREY CATCHES UP

THE DUP leadership election is shaping up to be more of a contest than many expected. Edwin Poots, the north’s agriculture minister, widely seen as the instigator behind the heave... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

SHAUN MURPHY’S SNOOKERS

IRISH SPORTING heavyweights are rare enough these days and snooker supremo Shaun ‘the Magician’ Murphy has been claimed as an honorary Irishman. Earlier this week he narrowly lost out in... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

ROSE HYNES’S TURBULENCE

THE IRISH Aviation Authority (IAA) has just published its annual report, which doesn’t make for easy reading. As a result of a 21% drop in revenue, operating profits at IAA... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

George Lees

Affairs of the Nation

RTÉ AND ITS ‘COLD’ CLIMATE FORECAST

THERE ARE, to say the least, some very mixed messages emanating from Montrose on climate change, a topic that has long been a problem child for the national broadcaster. Managing... Read more »
Enda O’Coineen

Affairs of the Nation

ENDA O’COINEEN’S PARTNER

DOCUMENTS FILED in the Companies Office recently give an insight into the valuations attached to the Business Post, where flamboyant investor Enda O’Coineen rules the roost. The documents relate to... Read more »
Eilis O'Hanlon

Affairs of the Nation

EOGHAN VS ÉILIS IN ‘SINDO’ BORDER SPLIT

THE EFFORTS of Sunday Independent editor Alan English to soften the neo-unionist tone of the paper has caused convulsions within the camp. With the debate about a border poll hotting... Read more »
Robert Watt

Affairs of the Nation

ROBERT WATT’S LOT

IF OPPOSITION politicians, the public and health service employees are aggrieved at the happy lot of mandarin extraordinaire Robert Watt, they can’t say they weren’t given due warning way back.... Read more »
Bertie Ahern

Affairs of the Nation

IRISH MEDDLE IN BRITISH POLITICS!

IN THE aftermath of the Scottish Independence and Brexit referendums there were calls by many British politicians for an investigation into Russian interference in both votes. Since then, an allegation... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

VLAD’S THINK TANK CRITIC

IT IS unusual to see the tánaiste responding to criticism by penning a letter to the Irish Times but that is exactly what Leo Varadkar did last month on foot... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Richard Humphreys

Pillars of Society

PROFILE: RICHARD HUMPHREYS

NOTHING REFLECTS the growing conversation about a united Ireland and a border poll more than the involvement of High Court judge Mr Justice Richard... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire

The Young Bloods

YOUNG BLOOD: DONNCHADH Ó LAOGHAIRE

WITH SINN Féin riding high in the polls, especially among the younger 18-34 cohort, and with its leading spokespeople commanding grudging respect even from... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Peter Vandermeersch

Fit to Print?

BELGIAN PETE SETS UP ‘INDO’ FACE-OFF

A KEEN rivalry has developed at Talbot Towers where editors of Mediahuis Ireland’s two main titles the Irish Independent and Sunday Independent – Cormac Bourke and Alan English, respectively –... Read more »
Diageo Dana An Garda Síochána IT Trust No Stone Unturned Irish Times Black Friday Vicky Conway

Fit to Print?

BATTING FOR MOUNTBATTEN

MI5’S FAVOURITE newspaper, the Sunday Times, certainly confirmed its reputation recently with a story about Lord Mountbatten’s assassination, written by Andrew Lownie – author of The Mountbattens: Their Lives &... Read more »
Hans Kung

Fit to Print?

‘BACKWARD SECULARISM’

LETTERS TO the editors of the three main Irish newspapers from Brendan Butler, the well-known progressive Catholic activist, deploring their lack of coverage of the recent death of Hans Küng,... Read more »

Last Refuge

Kate O'Connell

Last Refuge

KATE O’CONNELL COMEBACK?

THERE IS a perception abroad that former Fine Gael TD Kate O’Connell is a busted flush and that any residual delusions of ministerial power or even a return to the... Read more »
Hazel Chu

Last Refuge

HAZEL CHU’S CUL-DE-SAC

THE POINTED reference last weekend by Green councillor Claire Byrne to her status as “not a stranger” to the constituency was actually a dig at her party ‘colleague’ Hazel Chu,... Read more »
Claire O'Connor

Last Refuge

DUBLIN BAY SOUTH FF SHOOT-OUT

THE REAL battle in the Dublin Bay South byelection will be the effort by Micheál Martin’s favoured candidate, barrister and councillor Claire O’Connor, to assert herself with a credible performance;... Read more »

Hush Hush

Caolan Robertson

Hush Hush

IT’S A LONG WAY FROM KILKENNY

WELL-TRAVELLED Kilkenny emigrant, young Caolan Robertson, has also had some interesting ideological journeys over the past decade as his recently launched media campaign explains. It has seen him interviewed by... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS

‘KISS MY HOLE’ A young man who dropped his trousers on a snowy night, bared his backside to a garda and told him “you can kiss my hole” was told... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Ciaran Fitzgerald

Fowl Emissions

‘NATIONAL’ DAIRY COUNCIL’S PR FROTH

IS IT a sign of growing confidence or blind panic that Ireland’s dairy industry has just unveiled yet another major marketing blitz to woo and reassure the increasingly wary public... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Jamie Dornan

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

And I think it’s easy to say this about work when you’re promoting it, that you’ve never read anything like it before, but I really hadn’t read anything like Wild... Read more »

High Society

High Society

Wissam Al Mana and Janet Jackson

High Society

WISSAM’S GOOD PANDEMIC

QATARI MONEYBAGS Wissam Al Mana’s case against Facebook Ireland and a number of other defendants is back in the High Court next week. Meanwhile,... Read more »

High Society

Consuelo O’Connor

High Society

JOHN MALONE’S BREEDING BILLS

THE BREEDING of thoroughbred horses is an expensive business, though this is not the sort of thing to concern the excruciatingly wealthy owner of... Read more »

High Society

Mark O'Keefe

High Society

MARK O’KEEFFE’S TANGLES

DUBLIN STYLIST Mark O’Keeffe of Brown Sugar was given some space in the Sindo’s ‘Life’ magazine last month to hype up the hairdressing industry here and give himself a few... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Catherine Martin

Behind the Scenes

CATHERINE MARTIN’S COLLECTION

THE ARTS minister Catherine Martin has added a “significant body of artworks” to the national collection, having allocated €1m to IMMA and the Crawford Art Gallery to fund purchases directly... Read more »
Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

Behind the Scenes

ARTS COUNCIL TIGHTENS UP

THE CHARITIES Regulatory Authority (CRA) has just published a notice relating to a move by the Arts Council to combine nine trust funds where it acts as trustee (having received... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Amer Abdulaziz

Sport of Kings

ABDULAZIZ’S IRISH FRIENDS

THE CONTROVERSIAL Phoenix Thoroughbreds CEO Amer Abdulaziz has quite the neck and the Bahraini came out fighting again after the group saw all the prize money it earned in Australia... Read more »

Sport of Kings

MAHON’S HEAVY GOING

IT LOOKS like Stephen Mahon’s often turbulent career as a trainer may be coming to the final fence. Now based in Galway, it has been reported that the trainer has... Read more »
Regina Byrne

Sport of Kings

OWNERS ON THE OUTSIDE

WITH THE country gradually opening up, there seems to be only radio silence when it comes to the matter of getting racehorse owners back onto the racecourse. Having made a... Read more »
Betting ring at the Curragh

Sport of Kings

PLACE YOUR BETS

WHEN THE pandemic recovery gets going, it is clear that some things may never return to the old ways. The betting landscape has already changed drastically in the past 10... Read more »

Reviews

GUNPLOT

Reviews

GUNPLOT – RTÉ ONE

RTÉ HAS come to its ambitious Gunplot project bearing a horrendous burden of quisling-like reverence for the great political princes of the state. A good example was the head-down, backside-up... Read more »
Rock of ages

Books

RO’CK OF AGES – ROSS O’CARROLL KELLY

LAST MONTH, Paul Howard did a very clever thing. He beat his critics to the punch. In an article in the Irish Times, he wrote about his near quarter century... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Rita Rose Gagne

Moneybags

HAMMERSON SHARES GROSSLY UNDERVALUED

THE GIANT British Hammerson retail property group – the largest such investor in Ireland, controlling the biggest shopping centre here (Dundrum Town Centre) –... Read more »

Moneybags

Michael Carvill

Moneybags

KENMARE RESOURCES NOW A CASH MACHINE

THE NEW Sultan of Oman, Haitham Bin Tarik Al Said, must be pleased with Kenmare Resources, which was saved from going under in July... Read more »

Briefcases

Matt Mullenwegg

Briefcases

POLLDADDY RETIRES

SO IT’S farewell then to Polldaddy Ltd, which is being officially dissolved, 13 years after it was bought over by the Yanks, who, it turns out, have been spending quite... Read more »
Graham Spurling

Briefcases

GRAHAM SPURLING’S SCREENPLAY

WITH CINEMAS having been rightly banjaxed by Covid-19, it is not surprising that there have been closures but Graham Spurling and his family look set to buck the trend, moving... Read more »
WAVF Castleknock Hospitality BAL Susan Bergin Tixserve EOG Fergal Naughton hot-water-brigade def

Briefcases

JOHN WYSE’S HOUSE

AN IMPRESSIVE pile on Rathgar’s Bushy Park Road has just gone on the market with a price tag of €2.1m. This is the abode of one-time well-known hotelier and restaurateur... Read more »
Elaine Geraghty

Briefcases

STUDIOS’ LATEST BLOCKBUSTER

THERE’S NOTHING the film and TV business likes more than a good story. And so we have The Film/TV Industry & Ireland’s Economy, the second iteration of what is starting... Read more »
Macau Casino Club

Briefcases

FINBARR CORKERY’S BAD BETS

GOLDHAWK SEES that one of the casino companies associated with his old pal, Cork-based Finbarr Corkery Jr, has been wound up. This should be a familiar feeling for him. Aungier... Read more »