Affairs of the Nation Archives

AFFAIRS OF THE NATION

TRUSTING CYBER CRIMINALS

September 24, 2020

SURPRISINGLY LITTLE attention was paid to the cyber ransomware attacks early this year against at least two Irish universities – NUI Galway and... Read more »

PIRATED DELANEY BOOK

September 24, 2020

THE BOOK, Champagne Football – which reads more like a can of stale lager being poured over ex-FAI boss John Delaney – by... Read more »

FLANAGAN’S NEW ROLE

September 10, 2020

FORMER JUSTICE minister and RIC champion Charlie Flanagan has been appointed to the board of Co-operation Ireland, where he should fit in nicely... Read more »

GOLFGATE ‘CULTURE AND PROTOCOLS’

September 10, 2020

SO FAR, a minister (Dara Calleary) and an EU commissioner (Phil Hogan) have lost their jobs and a Supreme Court judge (ex-attorney general... Read more »

HOGAN’S CLUMSY ASSASSINATION

September 10, 2020

NOBODY EXCEPT the new EU commissioner for finance, Máiréad McGuinness, got what they wanted out of the downing of big Phil Hogan, although... Read more »

BRIAN POLLY’S ROUGH RIDE

September 10, 2020

WHILE HORSERACING has been back in action for a number of weeks, the real excitement is taking place off the track, where internecine... Read more »

JUDICIAL TRANSPARENCY

September 10, 2020

WITH TRANSPARENCY supposedly the preferred way of doing business these days, it is refreshing that some things don’t change that much. Justice minister... Read more »

FALSE FLAGS?

September 10, 2020

HEALTH MINISTER Stephen Donnelly has a lot riding on the testing programme for Covid-19. With reported cases rising recently, there is more focus... Read more »

NIALL MCGARRY’S LEGACY

September 10, 2020

WITH ICONIC Media currently bedding in the restructuring of the Maximum Media online outfit following its purchase by investment fund Greencastle Capital, across... Read more »

SEÁN MAC STÍOFÁIN – IRA DOUBLE AGENT

September 10, 2020

THE FIRST chief of staff of the Provisional IRA, Seán Mac Stíofáin, was a double agent, according to a soon-to-be published book, Deception... Read more »

BILL HOLOHAN’S SENIOR TITLE

September 10, 2020

CONGRATULATIONS to Cork legal eagle Bill Holohan, one of those lucky solicitors who managed to get themselves appointed senior counsel under new legislation.... Read more »

O’CALLAGHAN LURKS

August 27, 2020

PERSONALITIES IN the news and in crisis are EU Commissioner Phil Hogan and ex-attorney general Séamus Woulfe, but the real political crisis is... Read more »

BIG PHIL AND VLAD

August 27, 2020

THE BARELY noticed but distinct difference between statements about EU commissioner Phil Hogan’s fate from Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar last... Read more »

NOEL KELLY’S GANG

August 27, 2020

WITH POOR Sean O’Rourke’s planned return to the airwaves scuppered by ‘Golfgate’, a prime Saturday lunchtime slot has just opened up on RTÉ... Read more »

HUMANISTS AT WAR

August 27, 2020

ALTHOUGH THE Humanist Association of Ireland (HAI) boasts an “informal, friendly and inclusive environment”, major changes are afoot in the relationship between the... Read more »

THEO DORGAN’S ‘GREAT BOOK’

August 27, 2020

NO DOUBT University College Cork president Patrick O’Shea was delighted with the programme broadcast last week on RTÉ about the university’s acquisition of... Read more »

PATRICIA QUINN’S APPRAISAL

August 27, 2020

A CHARITY database fronted by Patricia Quinn is about to undergo an appraisal process that could end up with its funding being cut.... Read more »

LOBBYING AG SÉAMUS WOULFE

August 27, 2020

THE BELEAGUERED former attorney general, Séamus Woulfe, has been a long-time supporter of former climate action minister, Richard Bruton (as well as a... Read more »

COVID FILM PLOT THICKENS

August 27, 2020

HEARING ABOUT concerns in filmmaking circles regarding a small Covid-19 outbreak on a production, Goldhawk sent a series of queries to so-called ‘stakeholders’... Read more »

STICKS AND STONES

August 27, 2020

IT HASN’T been the most auspicious start to a parliamentary career for new Green Party senator Róisín Garvey. “Fuck her,” the former Clare... Read more »

EXODUS CHAPTER 11

August 27, 2020

IF Colm McCann’s book, Apeirogon, wins the Booker Prize or even makes it on to the short list next month, the murmurings of... Read more »

THE GREENS AND MILITARISM

August 13, 2020

THE DEFENCE section in the programme for government is littered with references to Ireland’s military neutrality — five mentions in just over half... Read more »

FRANCESCA’S ‘LIVELINE’ LASHING

August 13, 2020

PRESUMABLY, THE chief executive of Bank of Ireland, Francesca McDonagh, knew she was in trouble when Joe Duffy dismissed her “blasé” comments about... Read more »

LYONS’S SHARE OF ASYLUM LOLLY

August 13, 2020

WHILE MUCH of the focus relating to the midlands lockdown has been on the meat plants, clusters in direct provision centres have also... Read more »

DINNY’S REALIGNMENT

August 13, 2020

HIGH COURT judge Brian Cregan got knocked back by Leo Varadkar earlier this year when asking for an extension to the deadline for... Read more »

DAMN POLLS AND…

August 13, 2020

THE LATEST political poll – by Behaviour & Attitudes for the Sunday Times – was headlined, “Varadkar and Fine Gael soar in polls”.... Read more »

HUMPHREYS CALLS IN THE TAXMAN

August 13, 2020

A RIVETING judgment emerged out of the High Court last month when Judge Richard Humphreys ruled that a food company, CGI Food Services,... Read more »

HUME/MALLON AXIS

August 13, 2020

MUCH HAS been made of the two ‘big beasts’ of the SDLP, John Hume and Seamus Mallon, both now dead, whose perseverance helped... Read more »

ARKINS VS ELEMENT

August 13, 2020

NEARLY A year ago – following a joint request by ICTU, SIPTU and the lobby group Screen Producers Ireland – an audit of... Read more »

HUME’S PR PROCESS

August 13, 2020

JOHN HUME Jnr, a public relations and lobbying consultant, is hardly in the same line of business as his late father, to whom... Read more »

DERMOT DESMOND’S BUMPY RIDE

July 30, 2020

LAST YEAR’S crash-landing of Datalex – a company that supplies ticket-booking software to airlines around the world – was one of the more... Read more »

YATES, KENNY, COOPER RADIO WARS

July 30, 2020

NEWSTALK’S PROMOTIONAL blitz for its morning programme, The Pat Kenny Show, reached almost hysterical, OTT proportions recently, as it ramps up for what... Read more »

WOMEN BREACH LEGAL CITADEL

July 30, 2020

WHAT A restrained, non-triumphal article the Irish Times published about a victory for feminists – and indeed all women (if not exactly average,... Read more »

DE RENZY’S RETURN

July 30, 2020

GOLDHAWK spotted one of his old friends is in the middle of a High Court spat with a Cayman Island company. The intriguing... Read more »

WILLIAM CAMPBELL’S PODCAST

July 30, 2020

A LITTLE-known podcaster attracted the attention of the super litigious Dermot Desmond recently, although the outcome may not have been exactly what the... Read more »

NIGERIAN BILLIONS

July 30, 2020

THE QUINN family – Adam and his late father, Michael – have enjoyed extremes of treatment at the hands of the Nigerian government.... Read more »