Affairs of the Nation Archives

AFFAIRS OF THE NATION

PATRICK DORAN’S BIG BUCKS

January 28, 2021

INTERESTING TO see an Irish-backed operation raising big bucks in the US. One of the principals here turns out to be Patrick Doran,... Read more »

FOX FAMILY LAWYERS UP

January 28, 2021

THINGS ARE starting to get rather complicated in relation to the tragic death of detective superintendent Colm Fox almost three years ago. Three... Read more »

ALI RYAN’S FIGURES

January 28, 2021

ALI RYAN, Goldhawk’s favourite celeb spotter, and the chief executive of Goss Media, has been generating her fair share of headlines recently. Less... Read more »

KERRY BABIES: COLDEST CASE

January 28, 2021

THE RECENT settlement between Joanne Hayes’ family and government (€2.5m) coupled with an apology and declaration that the Kerry Babies Tribunal reached incorrect... Read more »

CATHERINE MARTIN’S EMPTY CHAIR

January 28, 2021

MEDIA, TOURISM and culture minister Catherine Martin was effusive in her praise of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) earlier this month when... Read more »

JUSTINE MCCARTHY’S MISCHIEF

January 28, 2021

WHAT A curious and perhaps mischievous column Sunday Times journalist Justine McCarthy penned after Donald Trump supporters laid siege to Washington DC’s Capitol... Read more »

FF: O’BRIEN ENTERS THE STAGE

January 14, 2021

A FLURRY of statements, off-record briefings and spin from Fianna Fáil personalities in the Christmas/new year period has triggered renewed pressure on Micheál... Read more »

BIBI’S ‘INSPIRED’ PANDEMIC PITCH

January 14, 2021

IT WOULD be difficult to find a more original gesture towards nursing home residents, assailed as they are by the pandemic, than that... Read more »

WHITMORE’S WEDGE

January 14, 2021

LOVE ISLAND presenter Laura Whitmore will be looking forward to making a few bob in 2021 with a new book on the way.... Read more »

LITTLE MUSEUM’S BIG GRANT

January 14, 2021

WITH COMMENTATORS warning of economic misery coming down the tracks as a result of the huge pandemic spend, a lot of expensive projects... Read more »

LAW SOC TOP JOB

January 14, 2021

WITH THE Law Society looking for a new director general to replace the retiring Ken Murphy, it is inevitable that the chat will... Read more »

DE RENZY’S POWER OF ATTORNEY

January 14, 2021

ON PAGE 14 of this issue, we profile the colourful Graeme de Renzy, whose adventures have been closely followed by Goldhawk down the... Read more »

CULCHIES RULE OK!

January 14, 2021

POPE FRANCIS’S promotion of a provincial, conservative member of the current nondescript bench of bishops to succeed Diarmuid Martin as Archbishop of Dublin... Read more »

FIGHTING ANTI-COVID LAWS

January 14, 2021

FORMER RENUA member, barrister Tracey O’Mahony, has been organising a crowd-funding campaign to finance challenges to anti-Covid restrictions and laws. An initial target... Read more »

IRELAND’S UN CON TRICK

January 14, 2021

GRANDIOSE STATEMENTS from foreign minister, Simon Coveney on Palestine, and Ireland’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Geraldine Byrne Nason indicate not merely... Read more »

LIZ HEADON’S ROLL-OUT

January 14, 2021

THE APPOINTMENT of Liz Headon to head up the communications aspect of the vaccine roll-out should come as little surprise given her credentials.... Read more »

STANLEY AND ‘LEO D TORY’

December 16, 2020

WHY DID Fine Gael’s ever alert social media watchers not react with outrage in early June 2017 when Brian Stanley tweeted about “Leo... Read more »

FRANK CLARKE’S SUCCESSOR

December 16, 2020

CHIEF JUSTICE Frank Clarke’s magnificent and munificent gesture in declining to accept his €5,200 pay increase has not impressed all his colleagues and... Read more »

CLEVER TREVOR’S PAY PACKET

December 16, 2020

LIKE MOST cultural venues, The Little Museum of Dublin has been hit by the pandemic, which resulted in the St Stephen’s Green operation... Read more »

SUSAN KIRBY’S EXHIBITION

December 16, 2020

THE NEW boss of the Screen Producers Ireland lobby group is former St Patrick’s Festival CEO Susan Kirby. There has, however, been no... Read more »

ROZ FLANAGAN’S RESCUE PACKAGE

December 16, 2020

A COMPANY that was just placed in examinership to protect it from creditors turns out to be half-owned by Roz Flanagan of Dublin... Read more »

NICK ASHMORE’S LENDERS

December 16, 2020

The Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI), headed up by Nick Ashmore, was set up in 2014 to funnel hundreds of millions in... Read more »

FEED THE BIRDS

December 16, 2020

What could be more heart-warming than a fisherman sharing his catch with hungry penguins in a wildlife park forced to close due to... Read more »

ABORTION: THE NEXT ROUND

December 16, 2020

SEVERAL OIREACHTAS members have banded together to form the Oireachtas Life and Dignity Group. Five Oireachtas members were present at the group’s launch... Read more »

SANTA’S TESTERS

December 16, 2020

CONGRATULATIONS TO Dave Rock and his team at RocDoc, who managed to secure some top-notch PR in the Sindo earlier this month for... Read more »

PREPARING FOR EU ARMY

December 16, 2020

THE CHOREOGRAPHY towards the creation of an enhanced EU defence and security apparatus (one is not to call it an army; that would... Read more »

ANNE HERATY’S PANDEMIC BONUS

December 3, 2020

ANNE HERATY has been celebrating her personal €90m pay day from the takeover of CPL Resources by Outsourcing Inc. Presumably, the Japanese are... Read more »

COLM O’GORMAN’S SUBSCRIBERS

December 3, 2020

COLM O’GORMAN, executive director of Amnesty International Ireland (AII), dragged the human rights organisation further into the highly emotive trans-gender debate last week... Read more »

MARTIN’S SPIN DOCTOR

December 3, 2020

THE NEW government press secretary and former editor of the Irish Sun, Paul Clarkson, is not the first Rupert Murdoch executive to seduce... Read more »

RTÉ’S CHEAP SEATS

December 3, 2020

WITH THE Committee on Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sports and the Gaeltacht having advertised for expressions of interest in the four existing vacancies... Read more »

SEPARATION OF POWERS AND CRONIES

December 3, 2020

THE MUCH-vaunted separation of powers between government ministers and the judiciary works along the following lines: the party or parties in power appoint... Read more »

SLOWLY DOES IT AT JAAB

December 3, 2020

THERE HAS been a lot of focus on the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board (JAAB) since the Séamus Woulfe story blew up. One issue... Read more »

A TALE OF TWO REPORTS

December 3, 2020

LAST MONTH the Irish Times reported on a review of the impact of anti-prostitution legislation enacted in 2017. The report, from UCD’s Sexual... Read more »

FLANAGAN’S ‘TROUBLES’

December 3, 2020

PERHAPS UNNERVED by media coverage of his courageous effort to rehabilitate the gentle Black and Tans, Charlie ‘BlackandTanagain’ Flanagan reacted negatively to recent... Read more »

RUC AND FAKE NEWS

December 3, 2020

ONE EXPECTS the pro-unionist Belfast News Letter to publish vigorous denials by former RUC Special Branch officer William Matchett that RUC/loyalist collusion was... Read more »

NO INVITE FOR FLORA OKOBI

December 3, 2020

AN award for colour-blind stupidity should surely be granted to officials and councillors involved in the recently launched Meath and Louth Migration Strategy.... Read more »