Affairs of the Nation Archives

AFFAIRS OF THE NATION

COVERT SECURITY PLANS

April 8, 2021

THE YEAR 2021 is supposed to see a strategic review of defence as scheduled in the 2016 White Paper, it being the midterm... Read more »

KEN’S LONG GOODBYE

March 25, 2021

THE LIFE and times of retiring Law Society director general Ken Murphy were shared, last Friday, with lucky past presidents of the society... Read more »

APOLLO’S QUARANTINE SHOT

March 25, 2021

WITH THE hospitality sector in tatters, the landing of the state’s quarantine accommodation contract represents a real fillip for the Tifco Hotels group.... Read more »

IAN BLACK’S PAC GRILLING

March 25, 2021

THERE WERE fun and games at the Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) this month, when the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) faced... Read more »

JUDGE HUMPHREYS’ PEERS

March 25, 2021

THE ELEVATION recently of Siobhán Stack SC to the High Court bench will have been welcomed by her Law Library colleagues and also... Read more »

EOGHAN HARRIS’S SLEEPERS

March 25, 2021

THE MOST brazen aspect of the weekend’s Eoghan Harris column in the Sindo was not the cartoon’s sexist barb at the witch-like Mary... Read more »

BETHANY HOME AND THE ‘IRISH TIMES’

March 25, 2021

TWO MONTHS ago The Phoenix published a special investigation into the Irish Times’ suppression over many years of information about ill-treatment of children... Read more »

HARVEY BOULTER’S MURDER CHARGE

March 25, 2021

GOLDHAWK WONDERS what impact a startling development may have on the plaintiff in High Court proceedings faced by his old friend, investor extraordinaire... Read more »

BRIAN POLLY’S LEGAL ACTION

March 11, 2021

HORSES HAVE been in the news for all the wrong reasons recently and another equine row is bubbling away, this time involving Brian... Read more »

DENIS O’BRIEN’S RADIO EXIT

March 11, 2021

DENIS O’BRIEN was happy to wave goodbye to his Irish radio business when the deal to sell his Communicorp radio group to Bauer... Read more »

RIGHT-WING SPECTRUM

March 11, 2021

FOLLOWING THE recent violent anti-lockdown protest in Dublin, justice minister Helen McEntee said she was reluctant “to get caught up in who was... Read more »

DAVY/‘IRISH TIMES’ AND ‘TRUST’

March 11, 2021

A BEAUTIFUL friendship, partnership even, has been destroyed by the actions of those wheeler-dealers at the Davy Group, which last year had joined... Read more »

FF COMMITTEE CAST

March 11, 2021

THAT’S AN interesting committee selected to work on a postmortem about Fianna Fáil’s poor general election result last February. Two junior ministers, Seán... Read more »

BRIAN KAVANAGH’S NEXT RIDE?

March 11, 2021

INVESTORS IN the revamped Curragh racecourse (who include the likes of John Magnier, JP McManus and one Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum), will be... Read more »

JOHN CORRIGAN’S ‘PRIVATE MATTER’

March 11, 2021

WHILE HEADS have rolled at Davy this week, chairman John Corrigan remains in place, which suggests he is doing a hell of a... Read more »

COVENEY SILENT ON KHASHOGGI MURDER

March 11, 2021

WITH US President Joe Biden under pressure for not sanctioning Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for his role in the murder of... Read more »

IRISH DPP SCOTS KINGMAKER

March 11, 2021

THE BYZANTINE feud between former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond and his successor Nicola Sturgeon involves complex legal and parliamentary detail, which is... Read more »

TRACY PIGGOTT’S OUTRAGE

March 11, 2021

THE RACING community is still drawing breath after circulation of that photograph of Gordon Elliott sitting on a dead horse, with the trainer... Read more »

MARY ROBINSON’S PR DISASTER

February 25, 2021

MARY ROBINSON has faced a barrage of criticism since the BBC’s report on the plight of Sheikha Latifa, the hapless daughter of United... Read more »

UNA MCGURK’S FIGHTBACK

February 25, 2021

OUTSPOKEN SENIOR counsel Una McGurk received an apology from Irish Legal News (ILN) last week over an article in the online publication. It... Read more »

‘I. TIMES’ SILENT ON BETHANY BABY HOME

February 25, 2021

FOLLOWING JUDGE Yvonne Murphy’s report last month into mother and baby homes, The Phoenix published an investigation, ‘Bethany Baby Home and the Irish... Read more »

EAMON RYAN’S PRIORITIES

February 25, 2021

THE DECISION of Dublin City Council to reject an application by the ESB to change the much-loved Georgian Museum on Lower Fitzwilliam Street... Read more »

MARY AIKEN’S PAYDAY

February 25, 2021

GOLDHAWK WAS delighted to see that celebrity cyberpsychologist Mary Aiken has made a fair few bob out of her involvement with a US... Read more »

‘SPINELESS TEAM EU’

February 25, 2021

CHEERY COMMENT from Irish Times Europe correspondent Naomi O’Leary recently – “Millions more doses secured for Ireland” – came a day after the... Read more »

SIMON COVENEY’S PROMISES

February 25, 2021

REMEMBER HOW foreign minister Simon Coveney made theatrical and rhetorical gestures about recognising Palestinian statehood and breaking with the EU consensus on foreign... Read more »

FARMING FACTS

February 25, 2021

IT’S TOUGH work trying to put a positive PR spin on the environmental train wreck otherwise known as the Irish beef and dairy... Read more »

EUGENE REGAN’S FRIENDS

February 25, 2021

WELL-CONNECTED former senator Eugene Regan has been reappointed to the Court of Justice to the EU for another six-year term following the intervention... Read more »

CASHIERED CHAMBERS MARK 11

February 25, 2021

MINISTER CHAMBERS is still the subject of military disputation after the Minister for Defence (and foreign affairs), Simon Coveney, broke him down from... Read more »

CLARIFICATION

February 25, 2021

An article in the issue of January 29, 2021, referred to the establishment by Noel and Jacinta McMahon of an online dating agency... Read more »

MARTIN’S MEA CULPA

February 11, 2021

THE MOST extraordinary dual admission by Taoiseach Micheál Martin last Sunday appears to have been completely overlooked by the political correspondents and even... Read more »

FRAZIER V ALI

February 11, 2021

SECRETARY GENERAL of the Taoiseach’s department, heavy-hitting Martin Fraser, may be the Joe Frazier of government mandarins but chief medical officer Tony Holohan... Read more »

ULICK McEVADDY’S RED FLAG

February 11, 2021

INTERESTING To see one Ulick McEvaddy pop up as a director of China International Aviation Leasing Services Ltd (CIALS), the company at the... Read more »

NICK ASHMORE’S SUCCESSOR

February 11, 2021

THE SEARCH is on to find a new chief executive at the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI), the little known agency that... Read more »

CARI’S JUDGMENT

February 11, 2021

GOLDHAWK WAS surprised to see Fingal County Council registering a judgment for a paltry €6,100 against Cari’s Closet Ltd, which has been the... Read more »

TENI’S PRESCRIPTION

February 11, 2021

THE IRISH College of General Practitioners (ICGP) found itself under the spotlight last week after having to withdraw its online guide for doctors... Read more »

BREXIT INTEL

February 11, 2021

THE SURPRISE last-minute switch in the appointment of a new national intelligence adviser in the UK has bigger implications than the fact that... Read more »