Affairs of the Nation

Micheál Martin

Affairs of the Nation

MARTIN’S NUCLEAR HAND-WRINGING

AN TAOISEACH Micheál Martin, emitted obligatory outrage at Vladimir Putin’s recent move to put Russia’s nuclear deterrent forces on high alert – “extremely reckless and irresponsible” – given the aggressive... 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

ARAMARK’S ‘AMBASSADORS’

WHILE THE National Gallery of Ireland (NGI) has come in for an awful lot of flak for contracting US company Aramark (owners of Avoca) to run its catering outlets, it... 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

ASHFORD STUDIO PLOT TWIST

WITH A new series of Vikings: Valhalla getting ready to start rolling at Ashford Studios (albeit a little late in the day) it looks like the biggest plot twist concerns... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

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

WAITING ON CATHERINE MARTIN

MORE THAN a year after former chairman Pauric Travers exited the board of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI), there still remains a vacancy, given that Travers’s position was (eventually)... Read more »
Charlie McConalogue

Affairs of the Nation

McCONALOGUE AND THE KULAKS

CHARLIE McCONALOGUE’S pitch for farmers to produce more grain sounds, ironically, like a Russian five-year plan from the Soviet era. But for the government over the past decade, the dominant... Read more »
Paul Kimmage

Affairs of the Nation

PAUL KIMMAGE’S ROUGH RIDE

PAUL KIMMAGE’S second four-page ‘special’ on Irish horseracing’s dirty secrets might have been expected to include some real juice but the 7,000 words proved anti-climactic. Indeed, readers may have been... 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

BERNARD MCCAULEY’S MOOLAH

A CLEANING company called Grosvenor Cleaning Services (GCS) has just been ordered by the Workplace Relations Commission to pay a former employee €21,000 in compensation for transferring her on foot... Read more »
Bernard Caldwell

Affairs of the Nation

CALDWELL’S HORSE SENSE

OUTSPOKEN RACEHORSE trainer Jim Bolger has been stirring things up in the sport of kings by claiming a ‘Lance Armstrong’ figure is set to emerge and throw the sport into... Read more »
Vladimir Putin

Affairs of the Nation

IT’S THE PIPELINE, STUPID

GOLDHAWK IS indebted to US journalist Mike Whitney and other players in the United States for explaining what has really happened in Ukraine and how the gameplan, if not the... Read more »
Archbishop Dermot Farrell

Affairs of the Nation

RATHGAR PARISH INQUISITION: PART II

ALREADY PUZZLED Rathgar parishioners at the Church of Three Patrons will be scratching their heads at the contents of last week’s parish newsletter. Under the headline ‘Thank You’, newly installed... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill

Pillars of Society

PROFILE: JENNIFER CARROLL MACNEILL

JENNIFER CARROLL MACNEILL is the latest female Fine Gael TD to emerge as a possible party leadership candidate – in the medium term, at... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Two Johnnies

The Young Bloods

YOUNG BLOODS: THE 2 JOHNNIES

THE 2 JOHNNIES embarked on their shiny new RTÉ 2fm show by saying, “We look forward to trying not to crash every day.” Even... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Douglas Gaegby

Fit to Print?

DOUGLAS GAGEBY’S LEGACY

THE ENTIRE Irish media has wrapped the Nato flag around itself and exhorted an unwilling population to back membership of either Nato or an EU military formation in light of... Read more »
Michael McDowell

Fit to Print?

MCDOWELL’S WAR ON COUGHLAN

IT’S NOT just the media – the Irish Times as well as tabloid titles – that have reduced polemic about Russia, Ukraine, the EU and Nato to abusive hysteria against... Read more »

Last Refuge

Ivana Bacik

Last Refuge

PRINCESS IVANA TAKES THE CROWN

GOLDHAWK AS well as the few remaining old Labour types in the party were surprised at the omission of Ged Nash TD from media coverage of the ever-so-civilised coup that... Read more »
Joan Burton

Last Refuge

LABOUR’S FEMINIST ALBATROSS

JUSTIFICATION FROM Alan Kelly’s assassins relied greatly on the view that the former minister’s role in government hung like an albatross around his neck and that of the party. His... Read more »
John Carroll

Last Refuge

FG’S ‘GENDERGATE’ PAY-OFF

IT IS indeed heartening for Goldhawk to know that senior Fine Gael persons not only read his scribblings but, from time to time, even take the advice of the wise... Read more »
Phil Hogan

Last Refuge

BIG PHIL AND FINE GAEL’S NEXT LEADER

CONTRADICTORY POLL messages indicating that Simon Coveney is still the favourite to take the Fine Gael leadership will have surprised the media cognoscenti, most of whom had written off the... Read more »

Hush Hush

Simon Coveney

Hush Hush

UKRAINIAN FASCISTS?

LAST SEPTEMBER Simon Coveney was visiting the USA for the start of the 76th Session of the UN, when he made time to call over to the Atlantic Council (AC)... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS

‘Waddle, Waddle, Waddle’ A Borrisoleigh man who shouted insulting comments at a brother and sister about their weight was fined €250 at Thurles District Court. Judge Elizabeth MacGrath was told... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Tim Cullinan

Fowl Emissions

‘DEMONISING MEAT’

IT ISN’T often that a letter published in a specialist medical journal prompts a press release from the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) and two articles in its in-house paper, the... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Linda Coogan Byrne

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

She is a legendary activist, a thought leader, a culture changer and one of the most well-known music industry publicists there is. New Arts Council member Linda Coogan Byrne, as... Read more »

High Society

High Society

Laura Whitmore

High Society

LAURA WHITMORE’S PURPOSE

IT LOOKS like bolshy blonde broadcaster Laura Whitmore had a hectic International Women’s Day, with an interview for something called the Executive Institute “in... Read more »

High Society

Rena Maycock

High Society

MAYCOCK’S MANY HATS

WHILE FORMER justice minister Michael McDowell is probably the most interesting name connected to The Currency media site courtesy of his loan to the... Read more »

High Society

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

High Society

D6 ‘BARGAIN’

A VICTORIAN five-bedroom detached house on leafy Temple Road in Rathgar has just been sold albeit at a significant discount to the asking price. The new owner could be a... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Denis Desmond

Behind the Scenes

MCD’S RIGHT NOTES

LAST MONTH concert promoter extraordinaire Denis Desmond announced that it was “great to be back open”, promising to sell around 1.7 million tickets this year, including 70,000 for Electric Picnic... 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

Behind the Scenes

GERRY O’BRIEN’S GRIPES

THE ACTORS keep threatening to act up as evidenced by a cross border union initiative this week. Whether a predictable ending is in store is the question the luvvies are... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Simon Kerins

Sport of Kings

TOPSY TURVY AT TATTS

SINCE THE turn of the year, there have been a lot of comings and goings at the Tattersalls Ireland headquarters in Fairyhouse. Within a short space of time, former finance... 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

THE CHELTENHAM SHOWDOWN

AFTER LAST year’s total domination by Irish trainers at Cheltenham, when they claimed 23 of the 28 races, the question this year is which Irish trainer will end up in... Read more »
JP McManus

Sport of Kings

McMANUS DERBY DREAM

WHEN A horse called Martinstown is registered with Horse Racing Ireland it should come as no surprise that there is a JP McManus connection. It turns out that the name... Read more »
Kia Joorabchian

Sport of Kings

JOSEPH O’BRIEN’S NEW GOAL

JOSEPH O’BRIEN can already list an international football star as one of his owners and recently he welcomed controversial UK-based football moneybags Kia Joorabchian into the fold at Carriganog Racing.... Read more »

Reviews

Again, Rachel

Books

AGAIN, RACHEL – MARIAN KEYES

THIS SEQUEL to the mega-selling Rachel’s Holiday (1998) received a level of hype on a par with that accorded to Sally Rooney. So does Marian Keyes deliver? The veteran crowd... Read more »
Katherine Lynch

Reviews

THE WAY WE WERE – RTÉ ONE

IT IS surely only a matter of time before Montrose execs commission a series in which talking heads reflect on RTÉ’s voluminous catalogue of nostalgia shows. To the national broadcaster’s... Read more »
Breaking Point

Books

BREAKING POINT – EDEL COFFEY

THE DEBUT novel from journo Edel Coffey arrived with a fairly rapturous fanfare as it climbed the Irish bestsellers list. The sensitive subject matter (infant death and societal attitudes towards working... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Kevin Nowlan

Moneybags

HIBERNIA REIT’S DEAL GIVES NOWLAN BREATHING SPACE

JUST BEFORE Christmas, Hibernia REIT chief executive Kevin Nowlan announced a truly impressive deal, with the pre-let sign-up of KPMG for a 20-year deal... Read more »

Moneybags

Henry Beeby

Moneybags

GOING IS GOOD AGAIN BUT GOFFS STILL HANDICAPPED

THE IRISH horseracing bloodstock sector is a huge earner and one of the players joining the gallop is Goffs auction house. The company, however,... Read more »

Briefcases

Wissam Al Mana

Briefcases

WISSAM’S IRISH PROFITS

WITH BROADCASTER Miriam O’Callaghan extracting a grovelling apology out of Facebook Ireland over “malicious” ads posted on the social media platform, Goldhawk wonders if Qatari moneybags and art collector Wissam... Read more »
Colm Wu

Briefcases

COLM WU’S BUSY SCHEDULE

BUSY PROPERTY owner Guoquing Wu (known here as Colm Wu) has started off this year as he ended the last, with a lot on his plate. Wu recently put two... Read more »
Skeffington Arms Hotel

Briefcases

JOHN CALLANAN SAVES THE SKEFF

GOLDHAWK WAS relieved to hear of some good news, finally, for John Callanan of Callanan Hotels – owner of the Skeffington Arms Hotel, Co Galway, the venue known locally as... Read more »
Myles Kirby

Briefcases

WILLIAM GOUGH’S WOES

INTERESTING TO see one that William Gough, with an address in Glynstown, Glanmire, Co Cork, has been adjudged a bankrupt. His name may ring a bell with fans of Goldhawk,... Read more »