Affairs of the Nation Archives

MBS AND MCD

May 21, 2020

THERE WERE glum faces earlier this month, including Denis Desmond’s, when MCD pulled the plug on the 2020 Electric Picnic. However, Goldhawk wonders... Read more »

TROUBLE BREWING FOR TRACING APP

May 21, 2020

THERE HAS been much talk by Paul Reid and the HSE about the proposed Covid-19 smartphone contact tracing app due out in the... Read more »

MANDARINS DEFEND NAMA

May 21, 2020

THE DEPARTMENT of Finance (DoF) went out to bat for Brendan McDonagh and Frank Daly (CEO and chair of Nama respectively), claiming that... Read more »

SPECIALISTS IN SPLITS

May 21, 2020

THE HIPPOCRATIC Oath brigade are a great bunch for splits and it looks like another has emerged in recent weeks. The 400 private-only... Read more »

AENGUS Ó SNODAIGH LEADS THE WAY

May 21, 2020

THE MORE ‘respectable’ political parties were recently made to look amateurish and even disrespectful of parliamentary procedure by Sinn Féin. At a virtual... Read more »

BOI SUPERWOMAN

May 21, 2020

Things seem to keep going from bad to worse for Bank of Ireland (BoI) boss Francesca McDonagh. Having spent days last week calming... Read more »

NURSING HOME CASH

May 21, 2020

INDEPENDENT CLARE TD Michael McNamara will have his work cut out running the new Oireachtas Covid-19 committee. Real teeth will be needed to... Read more »

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S APPALLING VISTA

May 7, 2020

THE REMARKABLE aspect of the current crisis in Fianna Fáil is the almost deafening silence, not just from senior politicians but the media,... Read more »

MICHAEL SOMERS AND THE LAWYERS

May 7, 2020

WITH THE state focused on the immediate impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the associated mounting costs, a new front was opened by... Read more »

ANNE HERATY’S REWARDS

May 7, 2020

INTERESTING to see that eager nurses who thought they would be recruited by the HSE when seeking to help fight the pandemic are... Read more »

FESTIVAL FEELS THE PAIN

May 7, 2020

WITH THE 61st Rose of Tralee hooley cancelled, it will be 2021 before the successor to Limerick’s Sinéad Flanagan is crowned. Given the... Read more »

TALES FROM THE FRONT

May 7, 2020

THE SOOTHING tones of the messages pumped out on the state broadcaster, reassuring employers that the government of Ireland has their backs in... Read more »

CONSULTANTS HOLD THE LINE

May 7, 2020

THE SUDDEN appearance of what looks like a single, public-only health service has come as a shock to the better-paid specialist doctors in... Read more »

LUCINDA TAKES ON LEFTIES

May 7, 2020

LAST MONTH Lucinda Creighton got back into her Renua ‘flat-tax’ mode with hysterical attacks on harmless Labourites, do-gooder Social Democrats and environment-loving Greens... Read more »

COMING AND GOING AT REHAB

May 7, 2020

THE PANDEMIC means that few – apart from regulators in HIQA and some funders in the Department of Health – have noticed the... Read more »

RACEHORSE OWNERS SADDLE UP

May 7, 2020

AFTER MEMBERS of the Association of Irish Racehorse Owners (AIRO) got quite the shock last year, there has been some corporate jockeying. The... Read more »

ARMS TRIAL REPLAY

May 7, 2020

THE Sunday Times selection of academic Eoin O’Malley – son of then justice minister Des O’Malley (Jack Lynch’s prodigy) – to review Michael... Read more »

TADHG DALY’S REVENGE

April 23, 2020

THE TURNING of the PR tide against Simon Harris has been in no small measure due to the relentless efforts of one Tadhg... Read more »

CAROLINE KEELING’S WORKERS

April 23, 2020

THERE WAS a predictable outcry by Ireland’s hair-trigger xenophobes when fruit company Keelings was reported to be bringing in migrant workers to pick... Read more »

DECLAN KELLY’S DANCING SHOES

April 23, 2020

TENEO FOUNDER Declan Kelly is not one to play down his accomplishments. The latest talent no one knew he had is that of... Read more »

BILL HOLOHAN’S WASTED COSTS ORDER

April 23, 2020

THERE WAS a pretty damning ruling issued in the High Court earlier this month by Judge Denis McDonald, in relation to the case... Read more »

ROBERT ARMSTRONG’S RECORD

April 23, 2020

THE 1,700-word obituary of Lord Robert Armstrong, published in the Irish Times last weekend, omitted a few interesting details. As principal private secretary... Read more »

JOHN McGABHANN’S REPORT CARD

April 23, 2020

TEACHERS’ UNION boss John McGabhann probably cannot believe his luck as he prepares to retire as general secretary of the Teachers’ Union of... Read more »

JOHN KIDD’S LOBBYING

April 23, 2020

GIVEN THAT there is only one thing on people’s minds these days, it is predictable that some of the latest lobbying activity has... Read more »

EY RESCUES HSE

April 23, 2020

THE STRAIN on the HSE is beginning to show, with top dog Paul Reid having to turn to EY Ireland to draft in... Read more »

IRISH TIMES AND “THAT CHURCH”

April 23, 2020

YOU’VE GOT to hand it to the Irish Times. When it comes to the dreaded Catholic Church, the paper knows the right tone... Read more »

EDITORIAL STATEMENT

April 23, 2020

EDITORIAL STATEMENT – We wish to state that the editorial team at The Phoenix, had nothing to do with the recent recruitment advertisement for an... Read more »

HOLDING THE LINE ON €350

April 9, 2020

THE LACK of probing by some newspaper editors and parts of the state broadcaster of the party line from Government Buildings has at... Read more »

BRIAN McENERY’S CRITICS

April 9, 2020

THE SLOW reaction of Simon Harris and the government’s National Public Health Emergency Team to the spread of Covid-19 in nursing homes created... Read more »

COFFEY BITES HIS LIP

April 9, 2020

CONGRATULATIONS to Cork University economist Seamus Coffey on his diplomatic skills as he watched (what did he say?) the government pile huge debts... Read more »

SLOWLY DOES IT

April 9, 2020

THE HEALTH department and HSE’s leisurely approach towards critical care beds has certainly come back to haunt them. The inevitable ‘critical care major... Read more »

WHO WILL INHERIT HOSPITAL MESS?

April 9, 2020

WHILE SIMON Harris will be glad that the coronavirus crisis is distracting from the mess that is the National Children’s Hospital (NCH), he... Read more »

CORPSE COUNT

April 9, 2020

THE BIG avoidance in the Covid-19 crisis is discussion on how to cope with the potential surge in corpses. Not surprisingly, the army... Read more »

KELLY TO PURGE APPARATCHIKS

April 9, 2020

THE ELECTION of Alan Kelly has led to an expectation of a Stalinist-style clean-out of many of the Labour Party’s functionaries as the... Read more »

MICHAEL D’S ‘COCOONING’

April 9, 2020

ONE PERSON valiantly trying to keep up with Leo Varadkar after that St Patrick’s Day broadcast is one Michael D Higgins, cocooned or... Read more »

THE (NOEL) KELLY GANG

April 9, 2020

WITH COVID-19 keeping much of the nation glued to RTÉ, we have had more exposure than usual to the celebs managed by super-agent... Read more »

AFFAIRS OF THE NATION

Article Category: Affairs of the Nation