Affairs of the Nation Archives

AFFAIRS OF THE NATION

WHAT IS OUR FOREIGN POLICY?

October 7, 2021

AS ‘PHOENIX’ readers will know, Iveagh House mandarins have for years been determined to move away from the traditional Irish policy of neutrality.... 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

BANK OF POPPIES

October 7, 2021

INTERVIEWED BY the Sindo’s Samantha McCaughren recently, Bank of Ireland CEO Francesca McDonagh emphasised her Irish background with references to her Irish antecedents.... Read more »

LEGAL SAGA NEAR AN END?

October 7, 2021

A 15-YEAR-OLD legal conflict between Louth couple Bernard and Viola Bingham and their former solicitor Barry Sheehan began in 2006 and recently reached... Read more »

WE’RE FRACKED

October 7, 2021

WILL THE government, despite its Green component, capitulate in face of the relentless campaign by energy companies to import fracked gas? When John... Read more »

NO SUCH THING AS A FREE JUDGESHIP

October 7, 2021

FEARS THAT public exposure of the guest list at a Fine Gael fundraising dinner for legal eagles would undermine rather than enhance their... Read more »

WHAT A SPORT AS BOD PLUGS IN ON CLIMATE

October 7, 2021

AS THE climate emergency starts to get real, it is inspiring to see respected public figures like rugby legend Brian O’Driscoll step up... Read more »

HEATHER WHO?

September 23, 2021

THERE IS a state of disarray in Fine Gael right now that has not been seen since the electoral thrashing of 2002 and... Read more »

THE COST OF ‘KIN’

September 23, 2021

BACK IN February the RTÉ publicity machine went into one of its occasional paroxysms of activity when TV series Kin (see review p20)... Read more »

CLIFFORD-LEE’S RETALIATION

September 23, 2021

OIRISH MAIL on Sunday hackette Niamh Walsh got a roasting last week for her snarky column lambasting the sartorial disasters on show at... Read more »

DENIS O’BRIEN’S UK RADIOS

September 23, 2021

WHILE DENIS O’Brien is likely to have made a significant loss on the reported sale for “north of €100m” of Communicorp to Bauer... Read more »

TRENDING AT ALFIE’S

September 23, 2021

TWITTER LIT up last week with a thread about a former worker in Alfie’s restaurant on Dublin’s South William Street being paid his... Read more »

WHERE’S THE BEEF?

September 23, 2021

SPARE A thought for Teagasc director Gerry Boyle. Having for years battled to defend the indefensible expansion of the dairy industry in the... Read more »

LEGAL LOWER ORDERS

September 23, 2021

THE FIRST five of the 17 High Court judges recently demanded by High Court president Justice Mary Irvine have been selected for nomination... Read more »

HARVEY BOULTER’S ANNUS HORRIBILIS

September 23, 2021

THIS IS turning into quite the annus horribilis for moneybags and venture capitalist Harvey Boulter, who is being sued in the UK over... Read more »

NO IRISH WANTED HERE

September 23, 2021

GOVERNMENT CHIEF WHIP Jack Chambers should take time off from riding shotgun for the government in the Dáil (and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál... Read more »

BIG TECH’S MULTIMILLION SPEND

September 23, 2021

GOLDHAWK DREW attention recently to the new direction of former Labour TD Michael McCarthy, whose new job is chief lobbyist for Cloud Infrastructure... Read more »

REVIEWING SALLY ROONEY

September 9, 2021

THE LONG wait for the new novel from Sally Rooney, Beautiful World, Where Are You, exposed readers to something of a marketing blitz,... Read more »

SIMON KELLY’S STAFFING PROBLEM

September 9, 2021

ONE OF the more high-profile falls from grace during the property crash was that of Paddy ‘Shrewsbury Road’ Kelly and his son Simon’s... Read more »

PRICKLY ROSES

September 9, 2021

WITH THE 62nd Rose of Tralee hooley cancelled, it will be 2022 before the successor to Limerick’s Sinéad Flanagan is crowned. Given the... Read more »

WILL SINN FÉIN PACIFY SHANNON?

September 9, 2021

SHANNON AIRPORT has played an important role in the United States logistical network that has facilitated its Afghan war and other conflicts the... Read more »

ARMY RANGERS’ DISCONTENT

September 9, 2021

RUMBLINGS IN the ranks of the Army Rangers Wing have not reached mutinous levels but the government would want to avoid any more... Read more »

BRIAN POLLY’S HEAVY GOING

September 9, 2021

THE ASSOCIATION of Irish Racehorse Owners (AIRO) held its AGM last month (a remote affair) and, not surprisingly perhaps, it has led to... Read more »

KIERAN CORRIGAN’S TAX PLOT

September 9, 2021

FILM FINANCIER, number cruncher, film studio promoter, and film school owner, Kieran Corrigan, will be looking forward to getting students back into his... Read more »

GAVIN AND GRETA

September 9, 2021

IS THERE a word in the English language more grievously misused than ‘sustainable’? The unseemly scramble by major polluters, from oil companies to... Read more »

PAKISTAN SAYS SEMPLE IS MI6

September 9, 2021

US/BRITISH divisions over strategy in Afghanistan did not begin with President Biden’s precipitous exit from that country and British ‘diplomat’ Michael Semple’s expulsion... Read more »

FIGHTING THE TALIBAN

August 26, 2021

WHY IS the Irish media invariably in thrall to the British government and its various spooky think tanks when it comes to coverage... Read more »

LIAM SHEEDY’S MATCH TACTICS

August 26, 2021

IT CAN’T be long before the contenders for the top job in Irish sports administration are under starters orders. The attractive position of... Read more »

STUDENTS TARGET THE ‘IRISH TIMES’

August 26, 2021

THE HEAT is getting turned up under the Irish Times over coverage of the transgender issue, which has already led to Trinity News... Read more »

CATHERINE MARTIN’S MISSTEPS

August 26, 2021

THE LAST week has been rough for arts minister Catherine Martin, as she has been portrayed as weak in promising the earth to... Read more »

ON YER BIKE!

August 26, 2021

LIQUIDATOR WILLIAM Cuddy, with an address in Little Island, Cork, filed his final winding up documents for Aqua Blue Sport, but there was... Read more »

EU QUANGO RIDES ON

August 26, 2021

PERHAPS THE most successful hybrid quango in modern Ireland has been the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA), founded 30 years ago... Read more »

NUGENT GOES GLOBAL

August 26, 2021

THE FOUNDER and chairperson of Atheist Ireland (AI), Michael Nugent, has become involved in yet another schism in the latest of several internal... Read more »

EOIN Ó BROIN V LABOUR

August 26, 2021

THE ASSUMPTION for decades has been that Fianna Fail and Fine Gael were responsible for the impotent building controls that have resulted in... Read more »

UNFLAPPABLE FLANAGAN

August 26, 2021

FORMER MINISTER, Charlie Flanagan, is performing with studied objectivity — as befits the chair of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and... Read more »

BARRY WHITE’S LEGAL BILL

August 12, 2021

IT HAS taken quite a while but the final chapter is being written in the saga of former High Court judge Barry White’s... Read more »

CATHERINE MARTIN’S GENDER BALANCE

August 12, 2021

WITH IRELAND’S athletes returning form Tokyo, sports minister Catherine Martin finally got around to filling the vacancies on the board of Sport Ireland... Read more »