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February 07 - February 20, 2025
Affairs of the Nation
AG v. FORMER CLIENT MICHAEL LOWRY
EVEN BY the cloistered circumstances of the Four Goldmines, the interaction between Attorney General Rossa Fanning and legal issues concerning Michael Lowry is unusual as highlighted by the case taken... Read more »
‘MAD’ MERRIGAN’S RETURN
GOLDHAWK’S FAVOURITE horseracing tipster Paddy ‘Mad’ Merrigan delighted his many followers with a surprise social media post last week, announcing the return of his live ‘Mad Merrigan Coldbeer Sports’ stream.... Read more »
VERONA SELL OUT?
WAS IT the main government parties, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael that capitulated to the growing public anger at the Rural Independent Group (RIG) trying to have it every way... Read more »
Sponsored Content
Gold’s accelerationbrings the metal back to the front pages
Gold’s acceleration through the $3,000 barrier has brought the yellow metal back to the front pages of financial newspapers and magazines in recent weeks. While there was an initial... Read more »
THE BIG APPLE
IT ONLY took four months but the department of finance finally agreed to detail the names of the barristers and solicitors as well as the payments they received for their... Read more »
PATRICK O’DONOVAN’S ART ATTACK
FANS OF Goldhawk will be familiar with the drama that has been unfolding in the Arts Council in recent months, as the scale of the overspend on a new IT... Read more »
XL BULLY CAMPAIGN CONTINUES
THE CAMPAIGN by assorted charities against the implementation of the ban on the dangerous XL Bully breed of dog here continues to gain momentum, most recently with a High Court... Read more »
RIVAL OMAGH BOMBING CLAIMS
David Rupert, the FBI-MI5 spy who sat on the Army Council of the Real IRA, has said he is prepared to testify at Lord Turnbull’s Omagh bomb inquiry and will... Read more »
TRULY LETHAL
THE CURRENT obsession with militarisation in Ireland and other EU states has more to do with stimulating armaments manufacturing in Europe than Ukraine. One company well placed to take advantage... Read more »
BAR COUNCIL TEA SHOCK
WHILE PLENTY of our learn’d friends in the Law Library are focused on recent activity over the the failure of the government to return the fees paid to barristers involved... Read more »
Pillars of Society
PROFILE: JIM O’CALLAGHAN
AMONG THE winners and losers of the general election it’s clear that Fianna Fáil’s Micheál Martin bested Fine Gael’s Simon Harris. But within FF... Read more »
The Young Bloods
YOUNG BLOOD: KAYLEIGH TRAPPE
FORMER PRIMARY school teacher Kayleigh Trappe is the latest example of RTÉ plucking someone with a modicum of talent and a healthy online following... Read more »
Forestry as a Smart Investment for 2025 and Beyond
As global markets continue to face uncertainty, many investors are seeking stable and reliable options that offer strong returns and long-term growth potential. In 2025, Green Belt Ltd is... Read more »
Fit to Print?
UNSIGHTLY SCENES AT IRISH TIMES
JIM O’CALLAGHAN, now the justice minister, led the charge against the tents housing asylum seekers that sprouted up outside the International Protection Office (IPO) on Dublin’s Mount Street last year.... Read more »
OFFIDE SUNDAY TIMES
THROUGH GRITTED teeth English rugby commentators conceded that their team was well beaten by the Aawrish last Saturday. Even MI5’s favourite newspaper, the Sunday Times’, in its main report was... Read more »
IRISH TIMES WARRIORS
THE PILE-ON against neutrality and for a serious increase in military expenditure is a sacred mission for the western jihadists in the Irish Times, and political editor, Pat Leahy, warmed... Read more »
Last Refuge
HOUSING MINISTER’S ANGST
DESPITE HIS elevation to the most challenging department in government (that’s a polite euphemism for the job of housing minister, the most arduous and politically life threatening job in politics)... Read more »
PRESIDENT O’TOOLE (POT)
THAT SECULAR Irish Times preacher, Fintan O’Toole, declined to rule himself out of the running for the presidency in the Sunday Independent last week indicates that the semi-retired writer is... Read more »
SVIATIANA’S CONFERENCE
Having spent many summers in Roscrea as part of the Chernobyl Children’s Project, Belorussian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, has been fêted by the Irish political establishment ever since the imprisonment... Read more »
LONESOME COWBOY TD, MATTIE
FOR SOME years Mattie McGrath was the archetypal rural Independent having left Fianna Fáil in 2010, partly over the EU-IMF bail-out and in recent years was seen as leader of... Read more »
Hush Hush
AUSSIE NAZIS’ IRISH LINKS
It’s not every day that seventeen neo-Nazis are arrested. So when members of the National Socialist Network (NSN) were rounded up at a rally in Adelaide over the Australia Day... Read more »
Bog Cuttings
BOG CUTTINGS
CROSS BEHAVIOUR CORK DISTRICT Court heard the case of a woman charged with engaging in threatening and abusive behaviour toward gardaí, as well as assault causing harm, when she punched... Read more »
Fowl Emissions
STORMY WEATHER WE’RE HAVING
Storm Éowyn elicited an array of knee-jerk reactions, but Independent Ireland leader Michael Collins’s was in a league of its own. “We need, as a state, to look at felling... Read more »
KEVIN MCPARTLAN’S LEXICON
Lobbyist Kevin McPartlan showed up in this magazine’s Hot Air Brigade in 2017, arguing against a sugar tax. “There is no such thing as a bad food – only inappropriate... Read more »
The Hot Air Brigade
THE HOT AIR BRIGADE
In Irish there is feminine and masculine and ‘Irish’ is feminine. I absolutely love that our language is basically a woman. It’s a real power play isn’t it? Síomha Ní... Read more »
High Society
DERMOT DESMOND’S SMASH
THERE COULD be quite the racket in Old Belvedere Rugby Club next week if a controversial plan to demolish the squash courts and replace... Read more »
DUNDON’S QUICK STEP
HAVING LASTED longer than most predicted, clunky Kevin Dundon’s participation in RTÉ’s Dancing With The Stars further boosted the profile of the so-called ‘celebrity... Read more »
DOIREANN GARRIHY’S U-TURN
ANOTHER FAMILIAR name from Dances With The Stars is Doireann Garrihy, who fronts the show alongside Jennifer Zamparelli. While DG’s presence in the line-out for this latest season of the... Read more »
Dublin Unites to Promote Foreign Investment and Economic Growth
Dublin has long been a hub for global business. But now, a new campaign, “Invested in Dublin: Local Ambition, Global Success”, is showing the world exactly why Dublin is... Read more »
Behind the Scenes
SLOWLY DOES IT IN KILKENNY
IT HAS taken quite a while for Design & Crafts Council Ireland (DCCI) in Kilkenny to get around to advertising for its new chief executive, but the relaxed process is... Read more »
VIRGIN MEDIA’S ‘VIDEO NASTY’
THE CRITICAL reaction to Virgin Media’s TV’s accomplished comedy/horror drama series set in the 1980s, Video Nasty, will have been toasted in Screen Ireland (SI) and Coimisiún na Meán, who... Read more »
Sport of Kings
NICHOLLS NOBBLED AGAIN
THE RECORD €740,000 purchase from the Alan and Gemma Brown’s dispersal sale at Tattersalls – Caldwell Potter – was a beaten odds-on favourite for the second time in three starts... Read more »
WILLIE MULLINS’S CHASER SUPREME
AT THE Dublin Racing Festival, where the target of 18,500 pre-booked tickets for each of the two days was not reached, the crowds were treated to another Willie Mullins masterclass,... Read more »
Moneybags
ORIGIN DIRECTORS SEND RIGHT SIGNAL TO SCEPTICAL MARKET
THE STOCK market usually regards directors buying shares in their own company as a positive signal and there has been some noticeable activity on... Read more »
CAIRN HOMES SHARES TO CLIMB IN SHORT TERM
IT IS hardly surprising that Darragh O’Brien is no longer housing minister. Despite the huge spend on housing and temporary abolition of levies, the... Read more »
Irish National Opera Placing Irish culture On The World Stage
Irish National Opera continues to expand its impact by showcasing outstanding performances across Ireland and internationally. Since its inception in 2018, INO has presented 184 live performances in 35... Read more »
Brief Cases
SHANE CORRY’S TAX BILL
INTERESTING TO report a chunky €427,000 tax judgment registered against one Shane Corry, with an address on Foxfield Road in Raheny, D5. It has certainly been a while since Corry... Read more »
JAMIE’S MYERSCOUGH SHAKE-UP
IT HAS been hard to avoid former Take That member Robbie Williams in recent weeks, as the hype machine has cranked up the gears to promote his Better Man biopic... Read more »
ÁINE MORIARTY’S IFTA PLOT
ÁINE MORIARTY’S annual publicly-funded IFTA gong show for the nation’s film and TV industry luvvies takes place fittingly on Valentine’s Day. The big question on the night will be whether... Read more »
HIBERGENE’S MEDICAL REPORT
THE LIQUIDATOR of the controversial HiberGene Diagnostics Ltd (HDL) has filed returns in the Companies Registration Office revealing the scale of the debts owed to unsecured creditors. HDL, which was... Read more »
FANCY THAT!
Yet that is not how Elon’s Nazi salute was framed in much of the media. It was variously described as “a hand gesture” which “draws scrutiny”, and which “ignites online... Read more »
Gold’s $3,000 Breakthrough: A Financial Call to Arms
GOLD’S EXPLOSIVE surge past $3,000 per ounce last week is more than just a price milestone – it’s a wake-up call. We are entering the centre of an economic... Read more »
Popular Stories
LOTTIE RYAN’S RADIO SILENCE
RADIO STATION 2FM unveiled yet another new schedule (yawn) to a largely ...
CHARLES NOELL III SELLS UP
THE SQUIRE of Ardbraccan House in Co Meath, US moneybags Charles E ...
PRESENCE PAY DAY
PR QUEENS Joanne Byrne and Sinéad Ryan are winding up their successful ...
ART ATTACK
COVERAGE OF the arts took a bit of a hit this week ...
MARY CANNON’S JOINT
AN IMPRESSIVE looking timber-clad pile on the salubrious Claremont Road in Howth ...
CATHERINE FULVIO’S HIDDEN RECIPE
SO-CALLED celebrity chef Catherine Fulvio’s latest dish was an undercooked offering served ...
CHELTENHAM CHALLENGES
THERE WERE plenty of interesting match-ups at Cheltenham last week, notably reigning ...
POOR PATRICK MULLINS
AMATEUR RIDER Patrick Mullins has had a few recent setbacks in his ...
NIALL DOYLE’S NEXT GIG?
AS GOLDHAWK revealed (see The Phoenix 7/3/25), Niall Doyle, the long-time head ...
MORE ARTS COUNCIL CONSULTANTS
AS THE Arts Council prepares for an eventual outing before the Public ...