Article Category: Affairs of the Nation

GERRY O’BRIEN’S BUDGET PLOT

September 22, 2022

IN A flurry of recent social media publicity on Facebook and Instagram, Gerry O’Brien, the president of the Irish Equity actors and performers... Read more »

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UKRAINIAN SILVER LINING

September 8, 2022

WITH AROUND 50,000 Ukrainian refugees now in Ireland, accommodating them has obviously caused some headaches. What is interesting, however, is that millions of... Read more »

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VARADKAR’S NORTHERN PLOT

September 8, 2022

WHILE Taoiseach Micheál Martin mulls over his chances of surviving as Fianna Fáil leader until the next election, his replacement as leader of... Read more »

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GELDOF’S ‘TENANT’

September 8, 2022

WHEN MOTORMOUTH, and landlord, Bob Geldof paid a flying visit to Ireland this summer to visit Skibbereen and recall famine atrocities, he presumably... Read more »

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ED GUINEY’S MOVIE MARATHONS

September 8, 2022

IT MAY have come as something of a surprise that the biggest movie hit of the season by far, Tom Cruise’s Top Gun:... Read more »

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KENNEL CLUB’S NEXT DOGFIGHT

September 8, 2022

FRIDAY NIGHT sees the latest monthly gathering of Irish Kennel Club (IKC) members, many of whom continue to fear a sale of the... Read more »

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MI6 FIGHT BORIS RETURN

September 8, 2022

BORIS JOHNSON ended his premiership with a campaign for his political rehabilitation and return via a ‘farewell tour’, showcasing his achievements to the... Read more »

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‘IRISH TIMES’ EDITORIAL CONTEST

September 8, 2022

THE RACE to become the new editor at the Irish Times will be more complex, political even, than normal with the ascendancy of... Read more »

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SIMON COVENEY’S TRAINING MISSION

September 8, 2022

GOLDHAWK BOWS to the military genius and alacrity displayed by defence personnel recently when the question of Irish involvement in an EU training... Read more »

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FACTS ON THE GROUND

September 8, 2022

AS PHOENIX readers will know, Ireland’s co-operation with Nato has deepened in recent years. The Defence Forces involvement in Nato’s operational capability concept... Read more »

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ZERO CRED

September 8, 2022

As the climate crisis deepens, it is heartening to see corporate Ireland respond to the emergency. Take the new group, The Alliance for... Read more »

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‘IRISH TIMES’ HOT SEAT

August 25, 2022
THE EXIT of Paul O’Neill, after little more than five years as the editor of the Irish Times, came as a surprise to outsiders,... Read more »

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MORE HEADACHES FOR DEE FORBES

August 25, 2022
RTÉ’S HEAD of news and current affairs, Jon Williams, threw a clever feint with his new year’s message to staff back in January by... Read more »

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LAW SOCIETY TRUCE

August 25, 2022

BOTH SIDES have temporarily backed down in the Law Society controversy that saw a motion to expel 2020-21 president James Cahill from the... Read more »

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PAT MCDONAGH’S BUN FIGHT

August 25, 2022

BURGER KING Pat ‘Supermac’s’ McDonagh found himself in a stand-off with a Limerick-based franchisee John Lyons over alleged rent arrears. It looks like... Read more »

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CLINTEL’S DECLARATION

August 25, 2022

WITH EVIDENCE of climate change impossible to avoid this summer a Dutch-based group Clintel, mainly funded by a real-estate millionaire, issued a statement... Read more »

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HEAVY GOING AT HRI

August 25, 2022

THE LONG overdue publication of the annual report of Brian Kavanagh’s Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) agency is due next month and there will... Read more »

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DERMOT McCARTHY’S REVIEW

August 25, 2022

WITH THE hapless Irish public facing a ‘perfect storm’ of power cuts, fuel rationing and soaring prices both this and next winter, the... Read more »

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ALTADA SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT

August 25, 2022
IT HAS been a hectic August for Allan Beechinor and Niamh Parker, the principals in the Altada artificial intelligence (AI) outfit tipped to be... Read more »

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‘TANS’ WRITTEN OUT OF HISTORY

August 25, 2022

A DISAPPOINTED Charlie ‘BlackandTanAgain’ Flanagan and friends will not, as promised, be organising another effort to celebrate the contribution of the Royal Irish... Read more »

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KINCORA WHISTLE BLOWER DIES

August 25, 2022

CAPTAIN BRIAN GEMMELL, who ran loyalist agents for MI5 in the mid-1970s, has died. When Gemmell discovered that boys were being abused by... Read more »

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ZUZANA’S ZETBACK

August 25, 2022

GOLDHAWK SPOTTED that a judgment for a hefty $438,000 (€439,000) has been registered against Co Waterford developer Shane Houlihan and his American wife,... Read more »

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AN ENEMY OF THE CROWN

August 25, 2022

NEW INFORMATION about a decade-long MI6 smear campaign against Charles Haughey and even an operation to sully St John Hume is about to... Read more »

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DUBAI JUDGES: WHO KNEW AND WHEN?

August 11, 2022

SABINA HIGGINS’S public spat may have helped to obscure not so much the appointment of heavyweight Irish judges Frank Clarke and Peter Kelly... Read more »

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BISHOPS CENSORED!

August 11, 2022

THE NORTHERN Ireland Equality Commission is mulling over a request for “advice” from an unusual quarter – the Catholic Primate of All Ireland,... Read more »

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ALL ABOUT EVA

August 11, 2022

HEALTH GURU Eva Orsmond (previously of Operation Transformation fame) was back on RTÉ this week with the second series on her attempt to... Read more »

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FRANCES RUANE’S SHORT RUN

August 11, 2022

AS GOLDHAWK predicted (see The Phoenix 17/6/22), former economist Frances Ruane has been given just a two-year extension to her initial five-year term... Read more »

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FRANC’S UKRAINIAN BONUS

August 11, 2022

GOLDHAWK’S favourite wedding planner, Peter Kelly, aka ‘Franc’, has been doing rather better out of the State coffers this year than was the... Read more »

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MORGAN O’SULLIVAN’S CAST

August 11, 2022

THERE HAS been an immediate reaction from the Irish Film Workers Association (IFWA) to a piece in the Sunday Times on disputes at... Read more »

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CHECKING THE FACT CHECKERS

August 11, 2022

‘FACT CHECKING’ has become a virtuous activity of liberal and not-so-liberal agencies (in the West) fighting “misinformation” (in the East) and one of... Read more »

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GREAT GREEN GAS WARS CONTINUE

August 11, 2022

AS IRELAND struggles to decarbonise its energy system in line with ambitious 2030 targets and in light of the deteriorating international energy landscape,... Read more »

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MI6, BORIS AND THE LEBEDEVS

August 11, 2022

Once upon a time, Britain’s Independent newspaper was owned by Sir Tony O’Reilly, Thatcher’s favourite Irishman. Then it was a platform to question... Read more »

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RUSH TO ARMS

July 28, 2022

THREE POLLS on Irish neutrality since the Russian invasion of Ukraine have disappointed the dogs of war in government and the Defence Forces... Read more »

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MURDOCH’S DAYS OF CARNAGE

July 28, 2022

WHAT HACKS at Sunday Times Ireland and Times Ireland called ‘days of carnage’ came to an end last week with more than a... Read more »

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SIMON COVENEY’S MEDIA FUND

July 28, 2022

ONE HIGHLY publicised element of the report by Brian MacCraith’s Future of Media Commission was the rejection of the recommendation that the licence... Read more »

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ENDA KENNY’S ENERGY SHARES

July 28, 2022

WHILE IT may be assumed by many that Enda Kenny is taking things easy these days, apart from hosting the odd sleepy RTÉ... Read more »

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