Affairs of the Nation

Simon Coveney

Affairs of the Nation

APOLOGIES … AND OUR MAN IN TEL AVIV

SIMON COVENEY’S purported concern for “freedom of expression”, manifest by Katherine Zappone’s appointment as UN special envoy in pursuit of this laudable goal, was hardly in evidence in the occupied... Read more »
Budget Jack Chambers Nicki Minaj B’Tselem Phil Hogan UCD IRTA DIGI Katy Brown Rory Godson Pallonji Mistry Shark Hanlon Frances Ruane Taste of Dublin Listowel Writers’ Week Paddy Curran Harvey Norman Anton Savage Paul Hourican Enda O’Coineen PfP Red C Poll IFTA Ben Gilroy Luke Comer Sue Spence Fingleton Aubrey McCarthy Matt Cooper Parker Green Danny McConnell Gayle Killilea Maura Derivan Ed Honohan INS Arts Council EDAF Emuse Rosslare Golf Club Mairead Casey Colm O’Rourke Stephen Connolly Peter Aiken John Malone Tom Barry Anthony Halpin Ian Kehoe Kevin Bakhurst Geraldine O’Leary Dennis Horgan RUSI Gareth McAllister Ryevale House Joe Macken RUC Omagh Patrick Connolly Paddy Cosgrave The Ditch Newstalk Fake Tan Fred Logue Ian Paisley Sean O’Riordan Margaret Sweeney Jay Bourke Ellie Kisyombe Francesca McDonagh Ted Cunningham National Space Centre An Irish Goodbye Oscar Robert Quirke Ciara Kelly Executive Women Gathering Doug Taylor Florian Haufe Robbie Henshaw Bill Shipsey Breaking the Silence L’Ecrivain Ronan McNally National Lottery Michael Roche Energy Action Balls.ie Newspapers VAT Abbey Theatre Patricia Madden Irish Banking Culture Board Randox Aoife Gallagher Book Dalai Lama Trinity Trevor White RTÉ Chairperson Shane Houlihan Noel Smyth IKC Bob Geldof Landlord Ireland Neutrality Ukraine

Affairs of the Nation

IAN MADIGAN’S TACTICS

FORMER LEINSTER and Ireland outhalf Ian Madigan has had a mixed few years in professional rugby having exited France and being deemed surplus to requirements at Bristol before ending up... Read more »
Budget Jack Chambers Nicki Minaj B’Tselem Phil Hogan UCD IRTA DIGI Katy Brown Rory Godson Pallonji Mistry Shark Hanlon Frances Ruane Taste of Dublin Listowel Writers’ Week Paddy Curran Harvey Norman Anton Savage Paul Hourican Enda O’Coineen PfP Red C Poll IFTA Ben Gilroy Luke Comer Sue Spence Fingleton Aubrey McCarthy Matt Cooper Parker Green Danny McConnell Gayle Killilea Maura Derivan Ed Honohan INS Arts Council EDAF Emuse Rosslare Golf Club Mairead Casey Colm O’Rourke Stephen Connolly Peter Aiken John Malone Tom Barry Anthony Halpin Ian Kehoe Kevin Bakhurst Geraldine O’Leary Dennis Horgan RUSI Gareth McAllister Ryevale House Joe Macken RUC Omagh Patrick Connolly Paddy Cosgrave The Ditch Newstalk Fake Tan Fred Logue Ian Paisley Sean O’Riordan Margaret Sweeney Jay Bourke Ellie Kisyombe Francesca McDonagh Ted Cunningham National Space Centre An Irish Goodbye Oscar Robert Quirke Ciara Kelly Executive Women Gathering Doug Taylor Florian Haufe Robbie Henshaw Bill Shipsey Breaking the Silence L’Ecrivain Ronan McNally National Lottery Michael Roche Energy Action Balls.ie Newspapers VAT Abbey Theatre Patricia Madden Irish Banking Culture Board Randox Aoife Gallagher Book Dalai Lama Trinity Trevor White RTÉ Chairperson Shane Houlihan Noel Smyth IKC Bob Geldof Landlord Ireland Neutrality Ukraine

Affairs of the Nation

BARRY WHITE’S LEGAL BILL

IT HAS taken quite a while but the final chapter is being written in the saga of former High Court judge Barry White’s 2015 legal challenge to the state and... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

Darragh O'Brien

Affairs of the Nation

DARRAGH AND VLAD’S HOUSING STAND-OFF

POSTPONEMENT OF the ‘Housing for All’ plan was surrounded with gobbledygook, civil service jargon as well as pious editorials about the need for clarity in face of the revised National... Read more »
Martin Fraser

Affairs of the Nation

FRASER UNDERSTUDY SET FOR SUCCESSION?

SECRETARY GENERAL at the taoiseach’s department, Martin Fraser, is most unusual in that top civil servants outside the Department of Foreign Affairs do not normally get to be ambassadors to... Read more »
Budget Jack Chambers Nicki Minaj B’Tselem Phil Hogan UCD IRTA DIGI Katy Brown Rory Godson Pallonji Mistry Shark Hanlon Frances Ruane Taste of Dublin Listowel Writers’ Week Paddy Curran Harvey Norman Anton Savage Paul Hourican Enda O’Coineen PfP Red C Poll IFTA Ben Gilroy Luke Comer Sue Spence Fingleton Aubrey McCarthy Matt Cooper Parker Green Danny McConnell Gayle Killilea Maura Derivan Ed Honohan INS Arts Council EDAF Emuse Rosslare Golf Club Mairead Casey Colm O’Rourke Stephen Connolly Peter Aiken John Malone Tom Barry Anthony Halpin Ian Kehoe Kevin Bakhurst Geraldine O’Leary Dennis Horgan RUSI Gareth McAllister Ryevale House Joe Macken RUC Omagh Patrick Connolly Paddy Cosgrave The Ditch Newstalk Fake Tan Fred Logue Ian Paisley Sean O’Riordan Margaret Sweeney Jay Bourke Ellie Kisyombe Francesca McDonagh Ted Cunningham National Space Centre An Irish Goodbye Oscar Robert Quirke Ciara Kelly Executive Women Gathering Doug Taylor Florian Haufe Robbie Henshaw Bill Shipsey Breaking the Silence L’Ecrivain Ronan McNally National Lottery Michael Roche Energy Action Balls.ie Newspapers VAT Abbey Theatre Patricia Madden Irish Banking Culture Board Randox Aoife Gallagher Book Dalai Lama Trinity Trevor White RTÉ Chairperson Shane Houlihan Noel Smyth IKC Bob Geldof Landlord Ireland Neutrality Ukraine

Affairs of the Nation

‘COROPRATE HEROES’

FOR ASSORTED grey suits, there was no little interest in the announcement that the Institute of Management Consultants and Advisers ((IMCA) and the Corporate Governance Association of Ireland (CGAI) are... Read more »
John Farrell

Affairs of the Nation

SUPER MISS MURPHY

HIP RESTAURATEUR John ‘777’ Farrell has adopted restricted status under the Companies Act, which means he cannot act as a director for five years. Happily, his business partner in the... Read more »
Budget Jack Chambers Nicki Minaj B’Tselem Phil Hogan UCD IRTA DIGI Katy Brown Rory Godson Pallonji Mistry Shark Hanlon Frances Ruane Taste of Dublin Listowel Writers’ Week Paddy Curran Harvey Norman Anton Savage Paul Hourican Enda O’Coineen PfP Red C Poll IFTA Ben Gilroy Luke Comer Sue Spence Fingleton Aubrey McCarthy Matt Cooper Parker Green Danny McConnell Gayle Killilea Maura Derivan Ed Honohan INS Arts Council EDAF Emuse Rosslare Golf Club Mairead Casey Colm O’Rourke Stephen Connolly Peter Aiken John Malone Tom Barry Anthony Halpin Ian Kehoe Kevin Bakhurst Geraldine O’Leary Dennis Horgan RUSI Gareth McAllister Ryevale House Joe Macken RUC Omagh Patrick Connolly Paddy Cosgrave The Ditch Newstalk Fake Tan Fred Logue Ian Paisley Sean O’Riordan Margaret Sweeney Jay Bourke Ellie Kisyombe Francesca McDonagh Ted Cunningham National Space Centre An Irish Goodbye Oscar Robert Quirke Ciara Kelly Executive Women Gathering Doug Taylor Florian Haufe Robbie Henshaw Bill Shipsey Breaking the Silence L’Ecrivain Ronan McNally National Lottery Michael Roche Energy Action Balls.ie Newspapers VAT Abbey Theatre Patricia Madden Irish Banking Culture Board Randox Aoife Gallagher Book Dalai Lama Trinity Trevor White RTÉ Chairperson Shane Houlihan Noel Smyth IKC Bob Geldof Landlord Ireland Neutrality Ukraine

Affairs of the Nation

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S FF CRITICS

‘RETROSPECTIVE, BELATED, political cover’, these were just a few of the taunts thrown at the government for securing the comforting advice of attorney general Paul Gallagher on the complicated regulations... Read more »
Catherine Martin

Affairs of the Nation

CATHERINE MARTIN’S GENDER BALANCE

WITH IRELAND’S athletes returning form Tokyo, sports minister Catherine Martin finally got around to filling the vacancies on the board of Sport Ireland (SI), which had existed for nearly a... Read more »
Tom Arnold

Affairs of the Nation

ARNOLD’S FOOD PLAN CAUSES INDIGESTION

THE GROUP photo at government buildings for the unveiling of the grandly titled ‘Food Vision 2030 – a world leader in sustainable food systems’ saw Green party ministers Eamon Ryan... Read more »
Bono

Affairs of the Nation

FOUL FEEDBACK TO KILDARE WIND FARM

HACKLES HAVE been raised in the townlands of Quinnsboro/Coolsicken in south Co Kildare where Norwegian giant energy company Statkraft was refused planning permission for a five-turbine wind farm by Kildare... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Katherine Zappone

Pillars of Society

PROFILE: KATHERINE ZAPPONE

FOR YEARS Katherine Zappone was revered by Irish liberals as the most civilised, gender positive politician in 21st century Ireland. But, suddenly she is revealed... Read more »

The Young Bloods

James Patrice

The Young Bloods

YOUNG BLOOD: JAMES PATRICE

THE HALLS of Montrose are littered with broadcasters who are either irredeemably anodyne or lamentably past it, but change may be afoot now that... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Emma Tucker

Fit to Print?

BURNS SWEATS AS EMMA EYES SUITORS

IT HAS been 10 months since Frank Fitzgibbon vacated the editor’s post at the Sunday Times (and Times Ireland) and his successor has still not been named. It had been... Read more »
Ivan Yates Nell McCafferty RTÉ Lord Laird Intro Matchmaking NewsBrands Martin McGuinness Dún Laoghaire Pat Leahy Cormac Lucey John Cooney Irish Journalism Awards Steve Aiken Anton Savage John Downing Lucinda Creighton Marina Sologub Eilis O'Hanlon Ian Kehoe Danny McConnell Sindo O'Connor Mediahuis Stephen Collins Book Justine McCarthy Rewriting the Troubles Lynn Ruane Sinn Féin

Fit to Print?

HAS MYERS FOUND GOD?

FOLLOWING THAT chastening experience over his anti-Semitic remarks about two Jewish BBC women, former ST columnist Kevin Myers appears to have retreated to religious commentary. Kevin was, by all accounts, the... Read more »
Sam McBride

Fit to Print?

NORTHERN INVASION AS SAM JOINS ‘SINDO’

LAST MAY Goldhawk advised readers north of the border that they could expect a concerted effort by the Sunday Independent to reintroduce the newspaper to the northern market (see The... Read more »

Last Refuge

Katherine Zappone

Last Refuge

ZAPPONE’S FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

KATHERINE ZAPPONE’S title of special envoy for freedom of expression was bestowed on her by the minister for foreign affairs, Simon ‘Covetous’ Coveney, a designation that implies a commitment to... Read more »
Ivana Bacik

Last Refuge

HOTEL CALIFORNIA, DUBLIN 2

ZAPPER’S MERRION hotel guests included tánaiste Leo Varadkar, for obvious reasons, ie, Vlad is leader of the party to which Simon Coveney – the foreign minister who selects diplomatic envoys... Read more »
Leo Varadkar

Last Refuge

VARADKAR TO FACE DPP SCRUTINY?

IT HAS been said that former FF agriculture minister Dara Calleary, was not big enough to be given a free pass for his Golfgate indiscretion but that former taoiseach and... Read more »
Helen McEntee

Last Refuge

LEADERLESS BLUESHIRTS

GENERAL EOIN O’DUFFY must be gyrating in his grave as Fine Gael resembles a rudderless, high-born rabble with neither its most capable nor patrician standing up to lead against adversity.... Read more »

Hush Hush

Simon Coveney

Hush Hush

HAS SYRIA BEEN ZAPPED?

SURELY KATHERINE ZAPPONE doesn’t need to suffer the carping of the Shinners or Social Democrats? Sure as special envoy didn’t she take Ireland from the margins of world politics and elevate... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS

‘Heat Of The Moment’ Two Killarney brothers who were abusive towards gardaí, telling them to “fuck off” were convicted and fined at Killarney District Court. Patrick Dooley (36) and James... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Antonio Guterres

Fowl Emissions

GREEN LIGHT FOR ENNIS’S ‘CODE RED’ DATA CENTRE?

“THE SAME as having a goldmine,” was how former Fianna Fáil councillor Tom McNamara described the vast data centre Clare County Council wants to build in a field just outside... 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

THE DELANEYS’ DATA CENTRE

BUILDING AND running a data centre is a complicated business. So it’s just as well the directors of the company applying to build Ennis Data Centre have so much experience.... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Pat Spillane

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

If Tinder did provincial championships, I’d be swiping right to Ulster. Pat Spillane, The Saturday Game Live, RTÉ Two Curves are the new angles… After 18 months of pandemic living... Read more »

High Society

High Society

Jay Krehbiel

High Society

KREHBIEL’S KERRY PLAN

FOLLOWING THE generally underreported death in June of Chicago moneybags Fred Krehbiel, there have been some changes on the board of the Ballyfin Demesne... Read more »

High Society

IHT CHL The Lion in Winter Racing Royalty Le Brocquy City of Troy Fitzwilliam Square AIRO Dermot Smurfit Ballinacarrig Park Club Cosgrave Fitzpatrick Keith Jameson National Gallery Collection Marissa Carter VG Tom Higgins Neil Jordan Laura Bonner Paul Ward Variety Jones Dtat Eathos Sharon Keegan Angela Scanlon Desmond Canouan Bellair Estate Bobby Flay John O’Conor Portrait of Omai Eibhlín Ní Chonghaile Wedding NGI Board Rachel Flynn JP McMahon Ash Quinn Pamela Laird Abdullah Al Naboodah Boundless Ocean

High Society

JOHN COLLISON’S COUNTRY TAB

IT WAS reported last weekend that John Collison paid a little more than half the asking price of €20m for the impressive AbbeyLeix House,... Read more »

High Society

Joanna Sloan

High Society

JOANNA SLOAN’S GARDEN OF LIFE

VIEWERS OF RTÉ’s latest hit show, Ireland’s Garden Heroes, were given a glimpse of the splendid garden at the Old Rectory in Dunganstown, Co Wicklow, where one Joanna Sloan described... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Justin Green

Behind the Scenes

JUSTIN GREEN’S GIGS

THE REFUSAL to grant Electric Picnic a licence led to an immediate reaction from promoter extraordinaire Denis Desmond of MCD, who said he was gobsmacked, while partner Caroline Downey chose... Read more »
Tailored Films Screen Ireland Perspectives DCCI Crescine Tarka Russell Lara Hickey Reality Check Sarah McInerney Irish Movies Paul Murray Arts Council Dublin Theatre Festival TWU Macdara Kelleher Richard Boyd Barrett DADC Cillian Murphy Terry McMahon Media Commission Ireland Kerlin Gallery Creative Ireland Section 481 Christine O’Donovan RTÉ Storyland NMI Board Vacancies IASCA Ossie Kilkenny RTÉ Original Programmes

Behind the Scenes

TAXMAN PLOT DEVICE

IN A bumper year for the country’s ‘independent’ film and TV producers, 33 were given the green light by the Revenue in the second quarter of 2021. An increasing proportion... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Alvaro Odriozola Arzalluz

Sport of Kings

REAL MADRID’S BIG SPENDER

WHEN SWISS billionaire Georg Von Opel emerged from relative obscurity at Goffs two years ago and splashed a few million on some yearlings in partnership with John Magnier’s Coolmore operation,... Read more »
Paul Murtagh

Sport of Kings

AFTER DENIS EGAN?

HAVING BEEN compared in recent oireachtas hearings to an old boys’ club, and coming under fire over transparency and corporate governance issues, it is rather surprising that there has not... Read more »
Barry O'Neill

Sport of Kings

NEW RUNNER ENTERS THE FIELD

A NEW entry in the online auction business looks set to shake up the old guard of Tattersalls and Goffs. The British outfit Thoroughbid – where Peter Walsh is in... Read more »
Oliver St Lawrence

Sport of Kings

ST LAWRENCE’S LAW

THE BUSINESS of bloodstock agents involves the pounding of the sales grounds hoping to earn an honest or, now and again, a dishonest wage. For decades the matter of ‘luck... Read more »

Reviews

THE GARDEN - PAUL PERRY

Books

THE GARDEN – PAUL PERRY

DUBLIN-BASED Paul Perry’s first solo novel is a modern-day morality tale of obsession, outsiders and uncertainty about the future. The orchid farm setting with the sweltering Florida Everglades as its... Read more »
Reconstruction from ‘The Ballymurphy Massacre’

Reviews

THE BALLYMURPHY MASSACRE – RTÉ ONE

THIS AUDACIOUS documentary, directed by award-winning film maker Callum Macrae with no little elan and produced in association with Channel 4, is powerful stuff. The ‘Ballymurphy Massacre’ occurred in West... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Paschal Donohoe

Moneybags

PASCHAL DONOHOE’S BANK OF IRELAND BLUNDER

IN ANNOUNCING on June 23 that he was planning to sell the state’s 14% stake in Bank of Ireland (BoI), finance minister Paschal Donohoe... Read more »

Moneybags

Mohammed Al Zubair

Moneybags

HAPLESS AMINEX INVESTORS LEARN TO BE VERY PATIENT

THE HOPE that there could be a rapid development of Aminex into a profitable gas producing business on the back of Brian Hall’s big... Read more »

Briefcases

Thierry Artaud

Briefcases

M-BIRR’S FADING EMBERS

GOLDHAWK WAS surprised to see a creditors’ meeting called for a company called M-Birr Ltd. It operates in the mobile money sector, focusing on the Ethiopian market and in recent... Read more »
Michelle Hetherington

Briefcases

DJI’S €25,000 DESIGN FLAW

THE HIGH-profile design company David James Interiors Ltd (DJI) has been hit with a judgment for a paltry €25,000 by Reefer Tech Refrigeration. Maybe the principals have just been too... Read more »
ZMG Cyril Murphy Newbridge College Peter Wilson Sporting Emporium Chris Wholey O'Kane God’s Creatures Film Tax Relief Anne Rossi Desmond Live Nation ESCADIA LTD Al Porter Comeback Gordon Elliott Clayton Love Ivan Wilde hot-water-brigade Parnells GAA Lawsuit

Briefcases

OFF THE MENU

FILINGS BY John Healy, liquidator of Super Miss Sue Ltd (SMS) – which was behind the restaurant of the same name and also the trendy Luna – reveal that unsecured... Read more »
ZMG Cyril Murphy Newbridge College Peter Wilson Sporting Emporium Chris Wholey O'Kane God’s Creatures Film Tax Relief Anne Rossi Desmond Live Nation ESCADIA LTD Al Porter Comeback Gordon Elliott Clayton Love Ivan Wilde hot-water-brigade Parnells GAA Lawsuit

Briefcases

HERBIE BOYLE’S JUDGMENT

NUMBER CRUNCHER Herbie Boyle found himself on the end of a €100,000 judgment last month from Shankill-based Dermot Fahy, who was for many years the face of the Black and... Read more »
ZMG Cyril Murphy Newbridge College Peter Wilson Sporting Emporium Chris Wholey O'Kane God’s Creatures Film Tax Relief Anne Rossi Desmond Live Nation ESCADIA LTD Al Porter Comeback Gordon Elliott Clayton Love Ivan Wilde hot-water-brigade Parnells GAA Lawsuit

Briefcases

GEORGINA APPELBE’S APPEAL

THERE WAS good and bad news for one Georgina Appelbe in the Court of Appeal on July 26 when she was allowed to have a full hearing in relation to... Read more »