Subscribe Now
Annual 2024
Affairs of the Nation
THE ‘REAL’ SPIES IN IRELAND
IT’S WHAT is behind that recent story in the Irish edition of the Sunday Times alleging that a current Oireachtas member is a Russian agent – a man they labelled... Read more »
NICK CAVE(MAN) PLAYS ISRAEL
IT WAS interesting but not surprising to hear adverts for Nick Cave’s concerts at Dublin’s 3Arena still being broadcast right up to the day before his two concerts on Tuesday... Read more »
DENIS DESMOND’S GUITAR BREAK
GOLDHAWK was struck by the outpouring of gratitude for Denis Desmond and his Live Nation business partners for the proposed “donation” of Rory Gallagher’s 1963 Fender Stratocaster guitar to the... Read more »
Sponsored Content
Progressive College Network
Attention: Minister for Further Education, Research, Innovation & Science Stop QQI’s Cash Grab from Ireland’s English Language Education Sector. Allow Sanity to Prevail. Progressive College Network (PCN) supports the... Read more »
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
FIANNA FÁIL junior minister James Brown finally guided the Gambling Regulation Bill 2024 around the track to the finishing line, despite intense opposition by assorted groups ranging from commercial giants... Read more »
CANCELLED CATHOLIC
APPOINTED CEO of Christian Blind Mission (CBM) Ireland – a disability rights organisation working predominantly in Africa and Asia – Dualta Roughneen claimed that, outside of work, he had limited... Read more »
SILENCE IN THE RANKS
US Vice president-elect JD Vance has argued that America could drop support for Nato if Europe tries to regulate Elon Musk’s platforms. Social media, and in particular X, are increasingly... Read more »
ANNUAL 2024: GOLDHAWK’S AWARDS FOR THE PASSING PARADE 2024
CLARE DALY THE AWARD for Persecuted Dissident of the Year (in the minority, non-Russian category) goes to former MEP Clare Daly, who lost her Dublin seat in the European Parliament... Read more »
Pillars of Society
ANNUAL 2024 – PROFILE: SIMON HARRIS
Heather Humphreys’ betrayal of Simon Harris on the cusp of his first electoral challenge as Taoiseach must have felt more like abandonment to the... Read more »
VIRGIN MEDIA BUSINESS – BACKING BUSINESS: RONNIE MOORE, WATERCOLOUR ARTIST, KILLARNEY, CO KERRY
In her studio overlooking the breath-taking Killarney National Park and the McGillicuddy Reeks, Ronnie paints her signature landscapes, marked by soft, misty colours that reflect the Irish countryside. Originally... Read more »
Fit to Print?
CORK WAGE SLAVES REBEL
LAST CHRISTMAS the south Dublin proletariat at the Irish Times made angry noises about the austerity imposed on them due to losses at The Irish Times DAC. These bolshie attitudes... Read more »
‘VEXATIOUS’ LITIGANTS
FOLLOWING THE Irish Times front-page story headlined “Vexatious claimants ‘making a mockery’ of courts”, the newspaper declined to give Cormac Butler, a consultant on banking regulation, a short rejoinder “to... Read more »
ANNUAL 2024: PRINT LEGACY HAUNTS IRISH PUBLISHERS
ESTABLISHED BEFORE the internet age, the lofty Irish Times Trust has long declaimed the newspaper as some sort of trailblazer for taking a baby step into online publishing in 1994.... Read more »
Last Refuge
HUTCH: ‘PUT HIM IN TO GET HIM OUT’
SOMEONE IN Hutch’s retinue appears to be aware of the famous 1917 by-election slogan in South Longford, when Sinn Féin candidate Joseph McGuinness achieved victory under the slogan, “Put him... Read more »
SLOWLY DOES IT
IN THE last edition of The Phoenix it was noted that Sinn Féin has for some years been guided by a comprehensive, 40-page child protection document with protocols and links... Read more »
LEST WE FORGET…
HAS SIMON HARRIS dropped his first clanger in Anglo-Irish matters with a deliberate failure to attend the annual Remembrance Sunday Commemoration in Enniskillen – a failure made infinitely worse given... Read more »
ANNUAL 2024: GOVERNMENT – SAME OLD GOVERNMENT AGAIN?
LAST YEAR ended and this year began with a chorus line that said then taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar would be going for a snap general election. Goldhawk... Read more »
ANNUAL 2024: OPPOSITION – CAN SINN FÉIN RECOVER?
HOW THE mighty have fallen! A year ago, Sinn Féin was riding high in the opinion polls at 35% and confidently expected to be in with a real chance of... Read more »
ANNUAL 2024: INDEPENDENTS/TROTS – DIVIDED LEFT TO STAY IN OPPOSITION
DESPITE THE decline in Sinn Féin’s vote, the minor left parties have failed to capitalise on SF’s drop in support and joining in the media frenzy against SF – as... Read more »
Wigs on the Green
ANNUAL 2024: PEACE BREAKS OUT IN FOUR COURTS
As the world around us descends not-so-slowly into a veritable state of chassis, it must have been a source of great comfort to the lords and ladies of the legal... Read more »
Foreign Frolics
ANNUAL 2024: MICHEÁL MARTIN’S UNIVERSE
“What planet are you living on?” is Tánaiste Micheál Martin’s response to questions on the state facilitating US arms deliveries through Shannon Airport in Nato’s proxy war against Russia in... Read more »
Clerical Errors
ANNUAL 2024: PAPAL RULE OK!
THE MARATHON Synod on Synodality convened in Rome recently by Pope Francis to update world Catholicism ended in the anticipated anti-climax. In his closing homily on Sunday October 27, the... Read more »
High Society
TONY SMURFIT’S FORM
ELSEWHERE IN this issue (see p124) Goldhawk profiles Tony Smurfit, the chief executive of Smurfit Kappa Group, who has just pulled off an audacious... Read more »
HEALTH CHECK
DOCUMENTS FILED in the Companies Office reveal that the grandly titled Institute of Health Sciences (IHS), which closed its doors last year, owed unsecured... Read more »
SARAH NEWMAN’S BARON
GOLDHAWK IS delighted to report that businesswoman-turned-celebrity-turned-bankrupt Sarah Newman has had a fairytale ending to 2024, marrying her titled beau, Lord Henry Digby, aka the Baron of Offaly. Having experienced... Read more »
ANNUAL 2024: 2024 GETS BOOMIER … FOR SOME
WHILE AROUND the world there were warning signs of the brakes being applied to the economy and a slowdown in spending at the luxury end of the market was becoming... Read more »
STATE OF THE ARTS 2024
The phrase ‘Steady as she goes’ best characterises the Irish art market in 2024, although there are several substantial auctions coming up in December that may add some lustre... Read more »
Behind the Scenes
ARTS COUNCIL ARRIVALS
ON OCTOBER 29, arts minister Catherine Martin announced the appointment of two new members to the board of the Arts Council (AC), although one has yet to appear. Last December,... Read more »
ANNUAL 2024: GENOCIDE, ROBOTS AND TAYLOR SWIFT
THIS YEAR the cultural arena was dominated by two rather different personalities – Taylor Swift and Benjamin Netanyahu – both of whom managed to cause mayhem, albeit for very different... Read more »
Moneybags
ANNUAL 2024: MONEYBAGS – SHARES SET TO THRIVE IN UNCERTAIN 2025
FOLLOWING ON from a decade of low interest rates running at nil or even negative percentages – the predictable fallout from the 2008 global... Read more »
ANNUAL 2024 – MONEYBAGS: TONY SMURFIT
NOW 60, it is gobsmacking that Tony Smurfit finds himself as the boss of the largest packaging company in the world, Smurfit Westrock, after... Read more »
MAJOR ART AUCTIONS IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER
There are a number of exciting paintings coming on the market between now and Christmas. Five works, including four by Jack B Yeats, from the Vincent & Jacqueline O’Brien... Read more »
Briefcases
ANNUAL 2024: FROM LOADED ADVERSARIES TO FLEEING RUGBY STARS
IN 2024 there was no shortage of excitement in the business world, with company collapses and expensive court outings aplenty. While some of the usual suspects popped up in a... Read more »
Arts & Entertainment
MADE LOCAL: CELEBRATING IRISH CRAFT, CREATIVITY, AND SUSTAINABILITY Design & Crafts Council Ireland’s (DCCI) Made Local campaign shines a spotlight on the remarkable quality, creativity, and sustainability of Irish-made... Read more »
Popular Stories
JP McMANUS’S ANNUS HORRIBILIS
THIS YEAR has turned out to be a forgettable one for Geneva-based ...
ALIAS TOM’S FASHION STATEMENT
THE PROPOSED High Court winding up of Alias Tom Ltd – the ...
SLOWLY DOES IT AT ABBBEYLEIX HOUSE
IT WAS reported recently that John and Patrick Collison purchased a nice ...
FIDGET FEET’S SHORTAGES
LAST MONTH saw the launch at the Irish World Academy of Music ...
GOLDHAWK IS delighted to report that businesswoman-turned-celebrity-turned-bankrupt Sarah Newman has had a ...
KATY BROWN’S ALL-CLEAR
THE BOWLER Hats of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) were kept ...
MARY MCCARTHY’S ADDITIONS
CONGRATULATIONS TO Mary McCarthy et al at the Crawford Gallery in Cork ...
ERIC McNAMARA’S GOOD BUY
HAVING SADDLED five winners at September’s Listowel Harvest Festival, Rathkeale trainer Eric ...
ELSEWHERE IN this issue (see p124) Goldhawk profiles Tony Smurfit, the chief ...
WHILE AROUND the world there were warning signs of the brakes being ...