Affairs of the Nation Archives

AFFAIRS OF THE NATION

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 »

Mary McAleese confirmed her position as the chief lay critic of misogyny and unaccountability in the Roman Church.

ANNUAL 2020- CLERICAL ERRORS: IRISH APOSTATES CAST OUT

November 19, 2020

On Saturday November 28, Pope Francis will preside in Rome at a ceremony conferring red hats on 13 new Cardinals, but none of... Read more »

WOULFE IN JUDGE’S CLOTHING

November 19, 2020

HAVING BEEN transformed from predator into the hunted one vis-à-vis Supreme Court ‘colleague’ Séamus Woulfe, Chief Justice Frank Clarke may now feel he... Read more »

BIDEN AND IRISH NEUTRALITY

November 19, 2020

AS VICTORY for Joe Biden’s US presidential campaign inched closer, the Irish Times’s EU warriors became more exercised about the consequences for what... Read more »

UNICORNS’ PROFITS

November 19, 2020

LAST YEAR the Dáil declared a biodiversity emergency and, in recent months, the EU’s Farm To Fork strategy set out ambitious targets to... Read more »

FARRELL’S FALL

November 19, 2020

GOLDHAWK’S OLD friend, security specialist Jim Farrell, has just been adjudged a bankrupt in relation to a row over his former company. Business... Read more »

LONDON CALLING

November 19, 2020

CONGRATS TO the chaps in News UK, London head Office of the Sunday Times – which dictates the tone and tenor of its... Read more »

WILD MOUNTAIN MEN

November 19, 2020

WITH ALL the fuss over the trailer for Wild Mountain Thyme, it is interesting to note that the taxpayer has put a fair... Read more »

ANNUAL 2020: GOLDHAWK’S AWARDS FOR THE PASSING PARADE 2020

November 19, 2020

Tony Holohan IT IS probably safe to say that Monty Python’s Always Look on the Bright Side of Life is not on repeat... Read more »

FRANK CLARKE’S APPOINTMENT

November 18, 2020

ANOTHER aspect of Séamus Woulfe’s term as attorney general that has recently been seized on is the secretive manner of his appointment to... Read more »

VARADKAR’S VBFS

November 5, 2020

HOW PIQUANT that Leo Varadkar should have made cronyism such a strong part of his political profile when he began his bid for... Read more »

GEMMA’S BRITISH COMRADES

November 5, 2020

GEMMA O’DOHERTY is positioned distinctly to the right on the political spectrum, but her rallies and those of other anti-immigrant ‘Irish patriots’, like... Read more »

MARGARET SWEENEY’S €1M PA

November 5, 2020

FORMER DUBLIN Airport Authority boss Margaret Sweeney landed herself a 42% pay hike at the listed property giant I-Res Reit, where her total... Read more »

DERMOT LACEY’S STRANGE APPOINTMENT

November 5, 2020

EYEBROWS WERE raised recently when education minister Norma Foley quietly made her three appointments to the governing authority of UCD. One of the... Read more »

SIMONE ROCHA’S PEARLS

November 5, 2020

FASHION DESIGNER Simone Rocha recently launched her Spring 2021 ready-to-wear collection ‘in the flesh’, eschewing the online Zoom-type events that are increasingly familiar.... Read more »

DOCTORS DIFFER

November 5, 2020

THE LIST of characters in Leo Varadkar’s ‘confidential’ leak story includes the tánaiste himself, web summit guru Paddy Cosgrave, GP union head Dr... Read more »

DR VARADKAR’S DILEMMA

November 5, 2020

TÁNAISTE DR Leo Varadkar’s medical interactions have seen him don scrubs and present as Joseph Lister in the first phase of Covid-19 last... Read more »

SDLP FRACKING DILEMMA

November 5, 2020

NORTHERN CONTROVERSIES only attract media attention if they concern Sinn Féin, which might help to explain why the SDLP’s Nichola Mallon, Northern Ireland’s... Read more »

DECLAN KELLY’S PREDICTIONS

November 5, 2020

NO DOUBT corporate strategist extraordinaire Declan Kelly was keeping a close eye on the US election results this week given his company’s strong... Read more »

OOPS! THEY’VE DONE IT AGAIN

November 5, 2020

AN IRISH animated film topped the UK box office charts last month, offering another potential big pay day for Siún Ní Raghallaigh and... Read more »

CRYING WOULFE

October 22, 2020

THE JUDICIARY’S ineffectual attempt to deal with their esteemed new Supreme Court member, Seamus Woulfe, following his double bogey on the 19th hole... Read more »

MCDOWELL’S SILENCE

October 22, 2020

THE INFORMATIVE and provocative columns in the Irish Times by Senator Michael McDowell indicate a man who has rarely shied away from confrontation... Read more »