Affairs of the Nation Archives

AFFAIRS OF THE NATION

CONFUSION AT CLONGOWES

October 31, 2019

CLONGOWES WOOD COLLEGE alumni have always and unashamedly prided themselves on providing “leaders in the areas of business, sport, politics and the arts”,... Read more »

€40BN ARMAMENTS STROKE

October 16, 2019

A SPEECH last year by then TD Mick Wallace and a short paragraph in the Sunday Times, of all places, are the only... Read more »

RACHEL MORAN’S REACTIONS

October 16, 2019

FORMER PROSTITUTE Gayle Dalton would have expected a reaction from high-profile, media-friendly anti-sex-work campaigner Rachel Moran after challenging the latter’s account of her... Read more »

VLAD’S PLANS

October 16, 2019

THOSE who believe Leo Varadkar is not even considering an early election should revisit his recent taunts about the Fianna Fáil frontbench. Vlad... Read more »

LIAM LYNCH’S LOSSES

October 16, 2019

THE NEWS that Enda O’Coineen is about to purchase Irish Tatler magazine from Irish Central Media (ISM) suggests that Liam Lynch and Niall... Read more »

RTÉ VS OIREACHTAS

October 16, 2019

A MOST interesting and possibly expensive conflict between RTÉ’s Prime Time Investigates programme and members of an Oireachtas committee will play out in... Read more »

FG GONE TO DOGS

October 16, 2019

How embarrassing that the first greyhound to be traced under the Irish Greyhound Board’s (IGB) new ‘care line’ is still registered to an... Read more »

IFTA’S MYSTERY PLOT

October 16, 2019

EARLIER THIS year (see The Phoenix, 8/2/19) Goldhawk noted a potential lacuna in the diaries of the nation’s celebs with the non-appearance on... Read more »

ENDA KENNY’S CADDY

October 3, 2019

CONGRATS TO Mark Kennelly, former chief of staff to Enda Kenny during his reign as taoiseach, who has landed the plum post of... Read more »

SAUDIS BACK IRELAND AT UN

October 3, 2019

FOREIGN MINISTER Simon ‘Covetous’ Coveney and Iveagh House mandarins will have been pleased at receiving Saudi Arabia’s support last week for the government’s... Read more »

ZAPPER FOR UN?

October 3, 2019

KATHERINE ZAPPONE’S appointment as the government’s “special envoy” in the urgent quest for a UN security council seat is a strange one, even... Read more »

SENATOR WILSON VS LADY KILBRACKEN

October 3, 2019

A FEUD between Fianna Fáil senator Diarmuid Wilson and Lady Kilbracken is now the subject of an inquiry by party leader Micheál Martin,... Read more »

O’LEARY’S ‘HELL’

October 3, 2019

AS BREXIT neurosis sweeps the country, the citizenry can always turn to the sagacious and comforting insights of Michael O’Leary. The Ryanair boss... Read more »

JUDGE KELLY VS JERRY BEADES

October 3, 2019

WILL JUDGE Peter Kelly ever be rid of that inexhaustible lay litigant, Jerry Beades, whose legal actions to block Kelly’s appointment as High... Read more »

MORE LEFT SPLITS

October 3, 2019

POLITICAL splits on the Left are mirrored by the disintegration of the Take Back the City (TBTC) campaign a year after its headline... Read more »

FRESH CLIMATE

October 3, 2019

It seems that not everyone was thrilled with last month’s college campus walkout as part of the global ‘climate strike’. Although UCD gave... Read more »

NIGERIAN ARMS AND BILLIONS

October 3, 2019

Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID), founded by the late Mick Quinn, recently won an €8.6bn award against the Nigerian government, with the support... Read more »

THE NEW ORDER AT INM

September 19, 2019

BELGIAN PUBLISHERS Mediahuis may find that bending the querulous natives to their will at Independent News & Media (INM) is a little more... Read more »

MYSTERY AT THE BERNARD SHAW

September 19, 2019

A WEEK of social media breast-beating about the decline of Dublin’s nightlife has obscured the reasons for the impending closure of the Bernard... Read more »

XAVIER MCAULIFFE’S SPEED VANS

September 19, 2019

IT IS hard to believe that a consortium that works for An Garda Síochána providing the roadside speed detection service – GoSafe –... Read more »

LEO VARADKAR’S NECK

September 19, 2019

YOU’VE GOT to hand it to Leo Varadkar for pure neck. Earlier this month, Boris Johnson let fly with some colourful descriptions of... Read more »

NOEL GREALISH’S PAL

September 19, 2019

THOSE REMARKS by Noel Grealish TD about “good Christian Syrians” as opposed to African “spongers” were from the heart. A devout Catholic, Noel... Read more »

DAVID MCWILLIAMS’S ‘RESEARCH’

September 19, 2019

Readers of the Irish Times website last Saturday may have enjoyed David McWilliams musing on the future of global cities. The celebrity economist... Read more »

COVENEY’S SOLO RUN

September 19, 2019

THE WILY Simon Coveney managed to come out of the Fine Gael think-in last week smelling of roses – at least as far... Read more »

PAT LENAGHAN’S CHAIRS

September 19, 2019

More bad news for the family of colourful businessman and would-be casino boss Pat Lenaghan, owners of the Bridge House Hotel in Tullamore,... Read more »

CORRECTION – MICHAEL BLOOMBERG

September 19, 2019

IN The Phoenix edition of August 23 last, it was incorrectly stated that former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg had funded the Irish... Read more »

LUCINDA’S EU APOSTASY

September 19, 2019

LUCINDA CREIGHTON’S take on Brexit and the backstop is strange indeed coming from a former minister for Europe who immersed herself in the... Read more »

MARIA BAILEY FOR THE CHOP

September 5, 2019

WHAT A confusing series of leaks there has been about Maria Bailey and the Fine Gael general election ticket in Dún Laoghaire in... Read more »

MARY MCALEESE’S LATEST GIG

September 5, 2019

WHAT IS it with Trinity College Dublin, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the preference for chancellors named Mary? Last month, the Irish... Read more »

REAPPOINTING ROSE

September 5, 2019

WHILE THE decision by Shane Ross to quietly extend the tenure of Shannon Airport chair Rose Hynes did not come as a shock,... Read more »

SF DEMOCRACY DEBATE

September 5, 2019

THE CHALLENGE to Sinn Féin’s vice-president, Michelle O’Neill, from Assembly heavyweight John O’Dowd could become a test of the party’s willingness to embrace... Read more »

JAMES GOUGH’S GRIPE

September 5, 2019

JAMES GOUGH continues to be a thorn in the side of the Association of Irish Racehorse Owners (AIRO). Having taken a successful legal... Read more »

ABC ANSWERS ELUSIVE

September 5, 2019

ONE QUESTION that arises from Independent News & Media’s (INM’s) decision to withdraw from the Audited Bureau of Circulations (ABC) is whether it... Read more »

JAW-JAW AND WAR-WAR

September 5, 2019

US VICE-PRESIDENT Mike Pence set the scene for two upcoming conferences on war when he praised the “security partnership” between Ireland and the... Read more »

EXPERTS GULLED BY FRAUDSTERS

September 5, 2019

AN Irish Independent report last June of an accident claim dismissed as “not credible” by a High Court judge greatly understated Judge Michael... Read more »

BEWARE CLAMPERS

September 5, 2019

DUBLIN CITY Council (DCC) has finally signed a new contract with parking enforcement (clamping) company Dublin Street Parking Services Ltd (DSPS). This should... Read more »