Article Category: Affairs of the Nation

PAPAL NUNCIO’S CÉAD MÍLE FÁILTE

May 17, 2017

IRELAND’S new papal nuncio, the well travelled and multi-linguist Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo, has been papal envoy to the Dominican Republic and apostolic... Read more »

‘Rat-like’ Cunning

May 17, 2017

NO SURPRISE to see Harry Crosbie getting an easy ride in his fanzine, the Sindo, earlier this month. Previously, when the gloves came... Read more »

LAY LITIGANT WALSH STILL AT LARGE

May 17, 2017

LAY litigant David Walsh is still enjoying his freedom despite having been sent to jail for criminal contempt, twice, for insisting on his... Read more »

WHO FEARS TO SPEAK

May 17, 2017

WHERE is the Oireachtas Decade of Centenaries Committee? It automatically dissolved with the advent of the new Dáil and government over a year... Read more »

GLEN’S OTHER ISSUES

May 17, 2017

THE goings-on in Glen (Gay and Lesbian Equality Network) hardly deserved the Sunday Business Post’s front-page headline, “Future of gay rights charity in... Read more »

DECCO’S NEW MAN

May 17, 2017

JIM MCGRATH, special adviser to Labour Party rottweiler Alan Kelly, has moved on to pastures new. McGrath’s new employer turns out to be... Read more »

MEDICAL ‘ETHOS’ AT ST VINCENT’S

May 3, 2017

WHAT an effective bedside screen has been erected around the deal for a new National Maternity Hospital (NMH) at St Vincent’s Hospital Group... Read more »

IAN BAILEY’S FATEFUL MONTH

May 3, 2017

IAN BAILEY has more than one crucial appointment with the Irish and French legal authorities this month with imminent decisions in court and... Read more »

SINN FÉIN IN-FIGHTING

May 3, 2017

LURID reports of Sinn Féin bullying and heavy-handed internal rows obscure the reality. Unfortunately, SF, far from being different to other parties –... Read more »

Daly Bread

May 3, 2017

SURPRISING to see the real identity of the writer of the rip-roaring Grange Abbey family saga is low profile property developer David Daly,... Read more »

Sean Lyons’s ‘Hostel’

May 3, 2017

LAST MONTH, the Circuit Civil Court reported that two children who had been staying in a Dublin hostel called the Georgian Court on... Read more »

DRAMA AT THE ABBEY

May 3, 2017

GOLDHAWK wonders if arts minister Heather Humphreys will get around to announcing the new chair of the Abbey Theatre now she is back... Read more »

RTÉ THROWS THE BOOK AT GALLAGHER

May 3, 2017

FOLLOWING Goldhawk’s coverage of the bruising demand for discovery faced by Declan Ganley in his defamation case against RTÉ (see The Phoenix 21/4/17),... Read more »

NOBODY LIKES BILLO

May 3, 2017

YOU HAVE to hand it to Jackie Lavin. When it comes to generating publicity for herself, she is hard to top. And it... Read more »

CHARLETON TRIBUNAL: PROTECTING CONFIDENTIAL SOURCES

May 3, 2017

SUPREME Court justice Peter Charleton may find his timeline of nine months to investigate an alleged smear campaign by senior gardaí against whistleblower... Read more »

UK ELECTION: THE NORTH

April 19, 2017

IN THE WORDS of SDLP leader Colum Eastwood the British prime minister’s announcement of a general election on June 8 “shows the disdain... Read more »

STRIKING OFF MRS BROWN

April 19, 2017

SURPRISING TO see comedian Brendan O’Carroll’s Boc-Pix company listed for striking off by the Companies Office, given that it is the Irish production... Read more »

INM HUNT FOR SECOND WHISTLEBLOWER

April 19, 2017

THAT Independent News & Media chief executive Robert Pitt should make a protected disclosure to the corporate police, the Office of the Director... Read more »

DECLAN GANLEY’S BAD DAY IN COURT

April 19, 2017

THERE WERE some significant developments recently in the long-running defamation case taken by controversial Galway businessman Declan Ganley against RTÉ in relation to... Read more »

BID CAMPAIGN GETS NASTY

April 19, 2017

WITH A plebiscite due in June/July on the renewal or otherwise of the mandate of the Dublin City Centre Bid Company (BID) –... Read more »

Alas Poor Mrs Yorrick

April 19, 2017

COURT of Appeal Judge Alan Mahon recently reaffirmed a jail sentence for contempt against barrack room barrister David Walsh for his persistent attempts... Read more »

Nial Ring’s Judgment

April 19, 2017

HIGH PROFILE independent Dublin city councillor and businessman Nial Ring suffered a setback last month when Investec Bank registered a hefty €468,000 judgment... Read more »

HALLIGAN’S QUANGO NETS €1M

April 19, 2017

THE LATEST accounts for the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) show its income for 2015 rose by 22.3% to €881,593 and... Read more »

Keith Mahon’s Followers

April 19, 2017

CONGRATULATIONS to Keith Mahon of The Taste.ie who has been named most influential food and drink journo on Twitter by Murray Communications. But... Read more »

PRIVATISING BUS ÉIREANN

April 5, 2017

AFTER Maggie Thatcher defeated the British coal miners back in the 1980s she went on to privatise the British transport system, with disastrous... Read more »

Derek Richardson’s Pitch Battles

April 5, 2017

RUGBY FANS had plenty to cheer last weekend when Leinster advanced to the semi-finals of the European Champions Cup beating English premiership leaders... Read more »

GEORGE SOROS’S ‘OPEN SOCIETY’

April 5, 2017

THE NAME of zillionaire George Soros has been popping up in Ireland quite a lot in recent times, courtesy of his well endowed... Read more »

A TERRIBLE JUDICIARY IS BORN

April 5, 2017

DID Shane Ross foment insurrection inside a section of the legal establishment, namely the Law Society, which has just plunged a dagger in... Read more »

GO TO JAIL!

April 5, 2017

NOW resident on the Court of Appeal following the interminable and costly Flood/Mahon Tribunal, Judge Alan Mahon was at the centre of an... Read more »

UCC’S CONTROVERSIAL CONFERENCE

April 5, 2017

TO THE surprise of no one involved in organising the controversial Cork conference, International Law and the State of Israel: Legitimacy, Exceptionalism and... Read more »

PROVOST PRENDERGAST’S NOISY PERK

April 5, 2017

A REPORT in Trinity College’s student newspaper Trinity News has raised a few eyebrows about Provost Patrick Prendergast, whose perks of office include... Read more »

HALAWA’S FRIENDS AND FOES

April 5, 2017

AN altercation in the Dáil between Green TD Eamon Ryan and Richard Boyd Barrett, People Before Profit, has unlocked a power play that... Read more »

Relationship Breakdown

April 5, 2017

SO FAREWELL then to Relationships Ireland (RI), which has just filed the resolution to wind itself up and appoint the ubiquitous Kieran Wallace... Read more »

IAN BAILEY’S FRENCH FARCE

March 23, 2017

THE STATE’S timing of its presentation of the French extradition warrant to bring Ian Bailey to Paris on the charge of murdering Sophie... Read more »

Gender Bias

March 23, 2017

THE WAKING The Feminists lobby has generated plenty of fallout over the last year (with Garry Hynes of Druid Theatre the latest to... Read more »

Privacy Funding

March 23, 2017

WITH THE 21-day High Court case involving Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) Helen Dixon, Facebook Ireland and Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems now concluded,... Read more »