Affairs of the Nation

Micheal Martin

Affairs of the Nation

OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR!

GOLDHAWK CANNOT recall any political campaign more hysterical, ill-informed and downright dishonest than that which in recent years has sought to drag Ireland into a hugely expensive and highly dangerous... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

A DOG’S LIFE

THE TIMING of last week’s High Court win for the six animal charities that have opposed the ban on the dangerous XL bully breed of dog could hardly have been... Read more »
Trump

Affairs of the Nation

TRUMP V MARTIN

WHILE MANY columnists and ‘opinion formers’ have been generously dispensing advice to An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, on how to evade a Zelenskyy-type thrashing when he meets Donald Trump at the... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

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Affairs of the Nation

LARA MARLOWE’S MESSAGE

LARA MARLOWE is the doyen of Irish foreign correspondents so her utterances on world matters of the moment must be taken seriously, yes? In a column in last Saturday’s Irish... Read more »
Marie Donnelly

Affairs of the Nation

IRELAND’S MEGA CLIMATE DEBT

This week’s bombshell report from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC) shows Ireland to be the worst-performing EU country per capita in terms of emissions reductions. The state now faces... Read more »
Muckross House

Affairs of the Nation

JAMES BROWNE’S KILLARNEY HOUSE

THE NEWLY appointed housing and heritage minister, James Browne, has bigger fish to fry but there are begrudging noises coming from Killarney with the appointment of Shane Treacy – son... Read more »
Gabriel Makhlouf

Affairs of the Nation

MAKHLOUF’S ISRAEL WAR BONDS

FLYING UNDER the radar, thanks to a most responsible media, is the arresting issue of the Central Bank of Ireland’s (CBI) enabling the sale of Israeli war bond to EU... Read more »
Declan Ganley

Affairs of the Nation

DECLAN GANLEY’S RENEWED AMBITION

DESPITE RECENT setbacks for Hermann Kelly and his Irish Freedom Party (IFP), the success of the party’s weekly X Space has brought a significant amount of attention to the IFP.... Read more »
Ned Garvey

Affairs of the Nation

MI5/6 AND THE DUB-MON BOMBS

DESPITE GOVERNMENT pledges to assist the Omagh Bombing Inquiry, two UK-based inquiries into the UVF’s Glenanne gang – Operation Denton and that of the Police Ombudsman NI – are still... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Maureen Kennelly

Pillars of Society

PROFILE: MAUREEN KENNELLY

IT IS possible that Maureen Kennelly could be the last director of the €140m-a-year Arts Council in its current form as the vultures circle... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Ciaran Ahern

The Young Bloods

YOUNG BLOOD: CIARÁN AHERN

LABOUR’S TALLY of 11 Dáil seats in the recent election surprised commentators – and probably the party itself – but can it hold on... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Alan English

Fit to Print?

GLOBAL TITLES FIGHT

THE HEAVYWEIGHT title contest between various media combatants will take place in London next month at the 2025 Newspaper Awards – open to UK and Irish print titles – and... 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?

GARY MURPHY’S HISTORY LESSON

AMIDST AN avalanche of war cries from otherwise sober columnists and academics about the need for Ireland to tool up and join the big boys in EU rearmament, some pretty... Read more »
Philip Ryan

Fit to Print?

‘SINDO’ EXODUS

THE EXIT of senior hacks from Mediahuis, or more particularly the Sunday Independent, has left the Sindo bereft of experienced editors at the level of news and political coverage. The... Read more »

Last Refuge

Cathal Crowe

Last Refuge

CATHAL CROWE’S STEPPING STONE

WHAT A dramatic speech, full of resonance with modern Irish history, Clare Fianna Fáil TD Cathal Crowe made last week during a Dáil session to mark the third anniversary of... Read more »
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill

Last Refuge

IRON LADY’S GAME PLAN

IRISH TIMES diarist Miriam Lord must have good sources in the health department or perhaps in health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill’s retinue. Last week Lord wrote in some detail about... Read more »
Janice Boylan Irish Military Mali Coolock Says No IFP Hermann Kelly Timmy Dooley Aontú Mal O’Hara Fintan O’Toole Josepha Madigan Eoghan Harris Ukraine War Micheál Martin Middle East Philip Ryan Seán Clancy Simon Coveney Hugo MacNeill Mountbatten Neasa Hourigan Green Party Martin NPT Ivana Bacik Independents Limerick Hospital Overcrowding Barry Cowen

Last Refuge

NASON BYRNE’S DIPLOMATIC GAFFE

A RECENT Sunday Times article on Alex Nason, son of top Irish diplomat Geraldine Byrne Nason – Irish ambassador to Washington – debated the pros and cons of young Nason’s... Read more »
Micheal Martin

Last Refuge

MARTIN’S NON-NORTHERN POLICY

THE SPLENDIDLY titled Ireland and Britain editor of the Irish Times, Mark Hennessy, told readers last November that Irish unity would occupy much greater attention from politicians in the new... Read more »

Hush Hush

Hermann Kelly

Hush Hush

LANIGAN’S BALL ON THE RIGHT

THE CONTRAST between the surge in support for the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in last month’s German election and the calamitous fortunes of Ireland’s new right-wing parties in recent... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS

REPEAT DEMANDS Drogheda District Court heard the case of a woman who was twice found drunk and disorderly in Drogheda last year. Sergeant John O’Hehir told the court that on... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

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

JOHN WILSON’S TOAST

In 2019 Leo Varadkar was rightly mocked for saying climate change had “benefits” as well as “downsides”. An early contender for this year’s Varadkar Award for a Glass-half-full Approach to... Read more »
Darragh O'Brien

Fowl Emissions

CLIMATE: NEW ERA

WITH COLOSSAL EU fines of €26bn coming down the tracks, it is at least comforting to look across the Atlantic at Elon Musk’s maniacal assault on government and to give... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Tanya Sweeney

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

I’m lucky enough to have a job in a workplace that prizes flexibility and understands that its employees are humans, with full lives and obligations beyond the workload. Tanya Sweeney,... Read more »

High Society

High Society

Coralee Freeney

High Society

PAMPERED POOCHES

IT TURNS out that some people spend an eye-watering amount of money on their pets these days, including, for example, €9,000 to have your... Read more »

High Society

Slevoir House

High Society

SLEVOIR’S LOW-KEY OWNERS

A RECENT update to the Land Registry records show that the impressive listed Slevoir House near Terryglass, Co Tipperary – which featured on Selling... Read more »

High Society

Sharon Smurfit

High Society

SHARON SMURFIT’S DRIVE

GOLF-MAD Sharon Smurfit must have been delighted with the big promotion for her latest adventure at the weekend – the purchase of a golfing free sheet called Talk Golf Ireland... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Gerry O'Brien

Behind the Scenes

ACTING THE MAGGOT

AS ALWAYS, the Oscars garnered plenty of media attention for the stars and producers but on this side of the Atlantic, at least, there was little to be said about... Read more »
Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

Behind the Scenes

SCANNER? WHAT SCANNER?

GOLDHAWK IS struck by the way the annual reports of the National Gallery of Ireland (NGI) – like those of the Arts Council – managed to avoid any reference to... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Gearoid Norris

Sport of Kings

ICY’S INSIGHTS

ONLINE PUNDIT Icy – aka Gearoid Norris – recently held court through his Point Blank Sunday podcast with on-course bookmaker Colm White. Thousands of punters signed in to hear their... 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

DOUG TAYLOR’S FORM BOOK

GOLDHAWK’S OLD pal Doug Taylor must have been watching the action at Fairyhouse closely last month when Great Attitude landed a monumental Fairyhouse gamble for Athlone trainer Tom Cleary in... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Fiona Dunlevy

Moneybags

MALIN SHARE OFFER 130% ABOVE ‘SERIOUSLY UNDERVALUED’ 2023 PRICE

MALIN FLOATED off in 2015 on the back of bucket loads of Kelly Martin hype at €10 a share before hitting a high of... Read more »

Moneybags

Tony Smurfit

Moneybags

SMURFIT WESTROCK ON ROCKY GROUND

It looks like a case of steady as she goes if you judge Tony Smurfit’s performance based on the share price of Smurfit Westrock... Read more »

Briefcases

Jenni Timony

Brief Cases

JENNI TIMONY’S SALES PITCH

GOLDHAWK spotted an old friend popping up in Letterkenny at a Mum Talks event (for women looking “to feel inspired”) at the Castle Grove Country House Hotel. For just €25... Read more »
Mick Smurfit

Brief Cases

MICK SMURFIT’S FAMILY TIES

ELSEWHERE IN this issue (see p18), Goldhawk looks at the latest adventure by Sharon Smurfit, daughter of moneybags Monaco resident Mick. She has just acquired the golfing free sheet Talk... Read more »
Thomas Musiol

Brief Cases

REVENUE’S SURGICAL STRIKE

THE TAXMAN has secured the winding up of a company called Vesalius (EU) Ltd, which turns out to have links to one Stephen Carway, son of Goldhawk’s very old pal... Read more »
Roisin Lyons

Brief Cases

CARTON HOUSE HANDICAP

CARTON HOUSE golf club in Co Kildare has been busy in recent months as host of the KPMG Women’s Open, where the organising committee includes Róisín Lyons, (lady captain from... Read more »