Affairs of the Nation Archives

AFFAIRS OF THE NATION

PAUL BLANCHFIELD’S CLOSED VAULTS

August 9, 2018

THE APPOINTMENT of an examiner to Frontier Entertainment Ltd must come as a shock to the company’s founder – broadcaster-turned-investor Paul Blanchfield –... Read more »

KEITH SPENCER’S COURT DATE

August 9, 2018

HIGH-FLYING barrister Keith Spencer BL will have to wait until October to see what Judge Seamus Noonan has in store for him after... Read more »

MACGILL SCHOOL’S ANTI-NEUTRALITY LINE-UP

August 9, 2018

THE UPROAR over the male-dominated panel of speakers at Joe Mulholland’s MacGill Summer School was not replicated when the gender-neutral but anti-neutrality list... Read more »

GRANNY GRANT ROW

August 9, 2018

THE REACTION to Shane Ross’s granny grant budgetary demand was a classic re-run of the usual Fine Gael inspired media onslaught depicting the... Read more »

IAN BAILEY ‘STING’

August 9, 2018

PERHAPS the most serious allegation made by Ian Bailey, soon to be tried in France in his absence, on the charge of murdering... Read more »

DECLAN DOOLEY’S NEW MOVE

August 9, 2018

INTERESTING to see Declan Dooley popping up as a player in the Enda O’Coineen vehicle set up to buy the Sunday Business Post... Read more »

BONO: IRELAND’S SECRET WEAPON

July 26, 2018

THE embarrassing gimmick of a Bono concert in New York to support Ireland’s bid for a United Nations Security Council seat must have... Read more »

DAVID HALL’S PRESIDENTIAL AMBITIONS

July 26, 2018

INTERESTING to see the name of David Hall thrown into the presidential election ring. The high profile mortgage activist appears to have already... Read more »

SEAN GALLAGHER’S COMEBACK

July 26, 2018

HAVING gone through the seven stages of grief at the presidency being snatched from him via RTÉ’S Tweetgate in 2011 – anger at... Read more »

JOHN ARKINS’S ADVERSARIES

July 26, 2018
A NEWS report of a contretemps involving John Arkins of the Irish Film Workers Association (IFWA) at Ardmore Studios last week no doubt reflects... Read more »

NIALL MELLON’S TAX BILL

July 26, 2018

SPARE A thought for philanthropist and one time Celtic Tiger poster boy Niall Mellon, who has just managed to fall foul of the... Read more »

MICHAEL SMURFIT’S BEDSIDE MEDIA

July 26, 2018

THE LAST fortnight has seen Michael Smurfit’s name bandied about in the High Court where he faced demands for him to be sub-poenaed... Read more »

MILITANT BLUESHIRTS

July 26, 2018

MICHEÁL MARTIN knows well that if he does refuse Leo Varadkar’s latest offer – a two-year free pass for Fine Gael – then... Read more »

MARK BURKE’S HOLIDAY MAKERS

July 26, 2018

THOSE HAPLESS holiday makers stranded on the Black Sea coast last weekend after the collapse of a travel agency represent the latest setback... Read more »

SLASHING AT THE IRISH TIMES

July 26, 2018

LAST WEEK The Irish Times reported on its own 2016 accounts, claiming a “€2m profit in a challenging market”. The actual story was... Read more »

FINE GAEL GUNNING FOR ELECTION

July 12, 2018

A TRIO of young but influential Fine Gael ministers has persuaded most of their party members in cabinet that an early general election... Read more »

SEAMUS HEANEY’S EXPENSIVE ARCHIVE

July 12, 2018

THERE HAS been plenty of gushing coverage of the Seamus Heaney: Listen Now Again exhibition that marks the overdue opening of the Bank... Read more »

EOGHAN MURPHY STRIKES BACK

July 12, 2018

TD Kate O’Connell’s public assault on her Fine Gael constituency ‘colleague’ Eoghan Murphy – for his alleged impotence over the planned Metrolink’s desecration... Read more »

RONAN KEATING’S PAL

July 12, 2018

WITH BOYZONE having kicked off their farewell (at last!) tour in the UK, lead singer Ronan Keating still found time to tweet his... Read more »

INM’S DATA DILEMMA

July 12, 2018

THE ODCE investigation into the massive data breach at Independent News & Media (INM) has dominated coverage of the issue. The ODCE’s involvement... Read more »

BENDING THE KNEE

July 12, 2018

THERE is something out of sync with the rush to fete the sixth in line to the British crown, the Duke (and Duchess)... Read more »

THE BUDGET: GUNS OR HOUSES?

July 12, 2018

MICHEÁL MARTIN and his party face an interesting dilemma in the run-up to the October budget as opposition TDs are mobilising against a... Read more »

DECLAN O’CALLAGHAN’S EXIT

July 12, 2018

IT MAY not come as too great a surprise to hear that controversial Ballaghaderreen legal eagle Declan O’Callaghan has decided to step down... Read more »

WRONG SIGNAL

July 12, 2018

RACO (the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers) keeps up with military events at home as well as abroad and most members of this... Read more »

FINE GAEL’S WAR GAMES

June 28, 2018

CAREFULLY crafted PR spin on Tánaiste Simon Coveney’s attendance at the EU foreign affairs council this week referred to Ireland’s active role in... Read more »

FIVE GUYS, ONE CRITIC

June 28, 2018

GOLDHAWK certainly enjoyed Catherine Cleary’s demolition of the new Five Guys burger joint in her Irish Times review earlier this month. It turns... Read more »

MIRIAM O’CALLAGHAN’S TV SLOT

June 28, 2018

RSVP magazine’s current edition gives a two-page spread to Miriam O’Callaghan NOT hosting her Saturday Night with Miriam show for the first time... Read more »

MEL GIBSON V MACDARA KELLEHER

June 28, 2018

CONGRATULATIONS to filmmaker Macdara Kelleher who received good news from the Superior Court of California last week in relation to an expensive row... Read more »

PETER O’BRIEN’S ‘HAPPENINGS’

June 28, 2018

ONE PERSON benefiting from the sweltering summer weather is ‘socially conscious’ entrepreneur Peter O’Brien, who is behind the Happenings event business that has... Read more »

SHERLOCK’S BOOZY CONSTITUENCY

June 28, 2018

SOME of Labour deputy Sean Sherlock’s parliamentary colleagues wondered if the Cork East TD had drink taken when he moved his unusual amendments... Read more »

JIM GIBNEY’S JUBILATION

June 28, 2018

ANY DOUBTS about Sinn Féin’s lustful intentions towards Fine Gael and a possible coalition partnership will have been allayed by longtime SF strategist... Read more »

GUNBOAT DIPLOMACY

June 28, 2018

THAT cordial encounter between Sinn Féin TD Martin Ferris and British royal Prince Charles in Kerry allowed the former IRA commander an opportunity... Read more »

COMMISSIONER DREW HARRIS AND MI5

June 28, 2018

THE APPOINTMENT of PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Drew Harris as the new Garda Commissioner – flagged by Goldhawk (see The Phoenix 15/6/18) –... Read more »

TD DEFIES VULTURE FUND JAIL THREAT

June 13, 2018

FIANNA FÁIL TD John McGuinness has rutted up against some heavy hitters – ex garda commissioner Martin Callinan, his party leader Micheál Martin... Read more »

JULIE O’LEARY

June 13, 2018

CORK NORTH Central’s Julie O’Leary is knocking loudly on the Dáil door as Fine Gael holds its long overdue convention to select candidates... Read more »

RUAIRÍ QUINN’S BUSY TIMETABLE

June 13, 2018

THE COUNTDOWN is in full swing for the imminent opening of Barry O’Callaghan’s hugely expensive Nord Anglia International School in Leopardstown in September.... Read more »