Affairs of the Nation

Sue Gray

Affairs of the Nation

SUE GRAY ‘RUNS UK’

BORIS JOHNSON clearly has good reason to fear top British mandarin Sue Gray, given her reputation as perhaps the most powerful person in Britain. However, despite or perhaps because of... 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

JAMES MACGUILL’S ELECTION

CONGRATULATIONS TO legal eagle James MacGuill SC, who has just taken up the prestigious role of president of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE). The lawyer,... 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

THE WORKERS ARE REVOLTING

THE LATEST lobbying returns reveal that the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association (CSNA) lobby group has been busy trying to put some manners on the workers employed (or rather not... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

Simon Coveney

Affairs of the Nation

ARMY SEX ASSAULTS COVER-UP

BROADCASTER KATIE Hannon’s RTÉ report on sexual assaults against women in the Defence Forces can’t be swept under the carpet, said retired army captain Deirdre Byrne, one of the Women of Honour who... 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

THE RATHGAR INQUISITION

THE STRANGE case of the disappearing priest and other Church activists from the Church of Three Patrons in Dublin’s Rathgar in recent months has perplexed parishioners there. They were further... Read more »
Michael O'Keeffe

Affairs of the Nation

MICHAEL O’KEEFFE’S NEW CASTING

HAVING PRESIDED at the top of the broadcasting regulatory and funding regime for decades, Michael O’Keeffe retired as chief executive of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) last year. He... 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

KATE O’CONNELL’S STRATEGY

KATE O’CONNELL’S kite-flying stunt in the Irish Mail on Sunday about running as an Independent in the Trinners byelection can’t be dismissed, but it does not change her real ambition,... Read more »
Jackie Cahill

Affairs of the Nation

JIHAD’ AGAINST FARMERS

TAOISEACH MICHEÁL Martin recently welcomed the setting up of the Climate Bar Association as a step towards improved legal expertise on environment and climate issues. These are, he reminded the... Read more »
David Collier

Affairs of the Nation

ISRAEL’S IRISH CAMPAIGN

FRESH FROM his assault on the Republic of Ireland, its body politic and media for being thoroughly antisemitic, Israeli polemicist David Collier (see The Phoenix, 17/12/21) has been explaining to Revelation... Read more »
Sarah Ryan

Affairs of the Nation

SARAH RYAN’S RIGHT-ON JOURNEY

IT IS perhaps not too surprising to see that one Sarah Ryan has now joined the board of the conservative ‘think tank’ founded by Richard Miller in the late 1980s... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Oonagh O'Hagan

Pillars of Society

PROFILE: OONAGH O’HAGAN

TWO DECADES after buying Meagher’s Pharmacy, Oonagh O’Hagan has been engaging in a publicity blitz. This will come as no surprise given her uncanny... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Ursula Quill

The Young Bloods

YOUNG BLOODS: URSULA QUILL

IVANA BACIK’S victory in the Dublin Bay South (DBS) Dáil byelection was proclaimed at the time as heralding a return of the Labour party... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Michael McDowell

Fit to Print?

‘IRISH TIMES’ STANDS FIRM

HAS THE Irish Times taken on the responsibility of confronting the forces of republican darkness in these dangerous times now that its own polls show a chunk of its ABC target market... Read more »
Katy Hayes

Fit to Print?

KATY HAYES AND THE WOMEN

TIMING IS, as they say, everything. But while most British readers may not have been outraged at last week’s Sunday Times critical tract, “too many Irish plays depict violence against women” –... 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?

FILM CENSORED

FILM-MAKER Teresa Lavina says film festivals and cinemas have been unwilling to screen her documentary ‘Untold Secrets’ centering on a survivor of the Tuam Mother and Baby Home – after... Read more »

Last Refuge

Sorca Clark

Last Refuge

SINN FÉIN APPEASES FIANNA FÁIL

IT HAS taken Micheál Martin, or should that read Leo Varadkar (with help from Simon Coveney), the best part of two years but Fianna Fáil has now caught up with... Read more »
Leo Varadkar

Last Refuge

‘CHE’ VARADKAR

FORMER FIANNA Fáil handler and Sunday Times columnist Gerry Howlin put it well at the weekend when calling Fine Gael under Leo Varadkar as a big spending party that talks... Read more »
Brian Fitzgerald

Last Refuge

MEATH MATTERS

WEXFORD COUNTY councillors may love their chief executive Tom Enright despite (or perhaps because of) him leaning heavily on the local radio station, but nine Meath councillors have just scored... Read more »
Jim O'Callaghan

Last Refuge

O’CALLAGHAN’S ELECTION MANIFESTO

JIM O’CALLAGHAN’S offering to Fianna Fáil’s commission on the party’s “aims and objectives” – the title says much about the party’s problems – is really a leadership statement of claim... Read more »

Hush Hush

Aengus O'Snodaigh

Hush Hush

ETHICAL ARMS DEALERS?

A QUICK look at the ‘Purchase Orders’ of the Department of Defence and the Defence Forces published each quarter shows that a large amount of money is being paid out... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS

‘F**king Muppets’ Two neighbours who pleaded guilty to charges of using abusive language towards gardaí seizing a car at the side of the road were each sentenced to 150 hours... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

John FitzGerald

Fowl Emissions

FITZGERALD LOOKS UP

NETFLIX VIEWING records were broken this month by ‘Don’t Look Up’, a meteorite disaster movie that brilliantly satirises political and media indifference to the threat of climate apocalypse. Some film critics have... 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

NOT SO GREEN HYDROGEN

“A WORLD first that would make Australia a global leader,” was how Australian prime minister Scott Morrison described a historic shipment of liquid hydrogen to Japan last week. While this... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Lorraine Barry

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

I was praying Dancing With The Stars would come back this year because the whole country needs it in these months. Lorraine Barry on the return of DWTS, RSVP Live... Read more »

High Society

High Society

Bruce Stanley

High Society

STANLEY’S OPERA ROLE

THE LATEST member of the cast at Irish National Opera is accountant and tax expert Victor ‘Bruce’ Stanley who is something of the culture... 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

JONATHAN BEWLEY’S FOUNDATION

ONE OF the lower-profile charities here is the Bewley Foundation, overseen by Jonathan Bewley, the great grandson of the founder of the Jacob’s biscuit... Read more »

High Society

Cyril Camus

High Society

BARON RAVELSTOKE’S BRANDY BUDDY

WITH RESTRICTIONS being lifted globally, it is expected that there will be a post-pandemic boost to the sales of expensive liquor. At least that is what Cyril Camus, the minted... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Colm Tóibín

Behind the Scenes

COLM TÓIBÍN GETS THE GIG

THE ANNOUNCEMENT by the Arts Council of scribbler Colm Tóibín as the new Laureate for Irish Fiction is unlikely to surprise too many people given his impressive record as a... 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

GER CONNOLLY’S HEADACHE

THERE WAS a bit of a plot twist for Ger Connolly, director of the Irish Film Classification Office, whose operation has suffered an income drop of a third due to... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Jim Balfry

Sport of Kings

JIM BALFRY’S COMEBACK

THERE WAS an interesting face in the winners’ enclosure at Punchestown last week. Jim Balfry – the former manager of the controversial ownership syndicate Supreme Racing – appeared in the... Read more »
Craig Suann

Sport of Kings

SUANN DRUGS REPORT

THE ANTI-DOPING protocols of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) were given a seal of approval following that comprehensive review undertaken by the oireachtas agriculture committee, published late last year.... Read more »
Ed Dunlop David Dunsdon Sarah Lynam Rebecca May Wayne Hassett Eoin O'Brien Michael Burke Aine O’Connor Ashroe Diamond Thomand O’Mara Peter Keatley Timmy Hyde Coolmore All About Sunday Colin Keane Ronan Whelan JP McManus Jessica Harrington Dundalk Racecourse Paul Hensey Irish National Hunt Horse-racing Doping Paddy Walsh Tom Kelly Suspension

Sport of Kings

NOT SO APPEALING

TWO SIGNIFICANT ‘non-trier’ cases from late in 2021, in which the IHRB dished out a hefty €12,000 in fines, came before the appeals panel last week and there were mixed... Read more »
Tim Husbands

Sport of Kings

HUSBANDS’S DRY JANUARY

WITH THE Dublin Racing Festival on the horizon, Leopardstown boss Tim Husbands is dealing with the unusual scenario of more or less a full house of punters passing through the... Read more »

Reviews

Belfast poster

Movies

BELFAST – DIRECTED BY KENNETH BRANAGH

KENNETH BRANAGH’S autobiographical Belfast has been on a strategic path to the awards red carpet since it launched on the festival circuit last September. It picked up the People’s Choice... Read more »
DID YE HEAR MAMMY DIED? - SÉAMAS O’REILLY

Books

DID YE HEAR MAMMY DIED? – SÉAMAS O’REILLY

THIS AFFECTIONATE childhood account about growing up on the Derry-Donegal border during the 1990s is one of several recent memoirs set during the Troubles in the north. The author is... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Keith McGrane

Moneybags

CORRE ENERGY’S VERY LONG TERM SCHEDULE

ALONG WITH HealthBeacon, another recent arrival on the Dublin Stock Euronext Growth Market is Corre Energy, helping to partly reverse the defections over the... Read more »

Moneybags

Margaret Sweeney

Moneybags

I-RES REIT FINALLY DUMPS COSTLY CONTRACT

IRISH RESIDENTIAL Properties(I-Res) REIT floated in 2014, at which stage Capreit, the Canadian company behind the group, signed itself up to a lucrative management... Read more »

Briefcases

Joseph O'Brien

Briefcases

JOSEPH O’BRIEN’S TV RUN

INTERESTING to see the Sindo reporting that Box to Box Films – the producers of the hit Netflix series Drive to Survive (about Formula One racing) – has turned its... Read more »
Colm Toibin

Briefcases

COLM TÓIBÍN’S FINANCIAL PLOT TWISTS

THIS MONTH Ireland’s most prolific and prestigious living writer (© The Guardian) Colm Tóibín picked up yet another accolade when he was named as the new Laureate for Irish Fiction... Read more »
Kilcoran Lodge Hotel

Briefcases

PAUL BOWES’S HOTEL BILLS

AN OLD pal of Goldhawk’s popped up just before Christmas with a circuit court application to appoint an examiner to the company that owns the Kilcoran Lodge hotel in Cahir,... Read more »
James McCarthy

Briefcases

FLIPDISH’S RED INK

THERE WAS plenty of hype for food delivery company Flipdish this month when it was announced that the company has raised an €85m investment from Chinese conglomerate Tencent, valuing the... Read more »