Article Category: Affairs of the Nation

MOTORMOUTH McGUINNESS

June 1, 2016

THE normally astute media manipulator, John McGuinness, may have miscalculated with his latest outburst, in which he makes serious allegations against ex-commissioner Martin... Read more »

DEIRDRE FOLEY’S CHALLENGE

June 1, 2016

THE DECISION of Deirdre Foley and her D2 Private company to challenge the powers of the inspectors looking into the shutdown of Clerys... Read more »

WHO WILL GET THE STUDIO DOSH?

June 1, 2016

THE ‘ANNOUNCEMENT’ by former Windmill Lane boss James Morris and producer Alan Moloney of a plan to build a huge film studio complex... Read more »

Local FG split

June 1, 2016

THAT diplomatic kerfuffle involving Canadian Ambassador Kevin Vickers at the ceremony to remember British soldiers in 1916 could have been more dramatic had... Read more »

PÁDRAIGH Ó CÉIDIGH’S APPOINTMENTS

June 1, 2016

ONE OF the Fianna Fáil nominees to the Seanad is the very busy founder of Aer Arann, Pádraig Ó Céidigh. He is no... Read more »

Royals not invited

June 1, 2016

KILDARE SOUTH general election candidate, Fine Gael’s Cllr Fiona McLoughlin Healy, got whacked in the Kildare County Council chamber and in the Irish... Read more »

David Hall’s emergency

May 18, 2016

MORTGAGE CAMPAIGNER David Hall was one of the more high profile, non-elected participants in the recent negotiations to form a new government, being... Read more »

DUBLIN COLLEGE LINKED TO PANAMA PAPERS

May 18, 2016

THE Panama Papers keep throwing up intriguing names. Goldhawk noticed that one David Kennedy Sr – with a registered address at Southcliff House,... Read more »

UNIONISTS DEMAND ‘NORMAL’ POLITICS

May 18, 2016

THERE’s more to Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader Mike Nesbitt moving into opposition in Stormont than meets the eye. Of course, the reasons... Read more »

BERTIE’S FOREIGN DIPLOMACY

May 18, 2016

BERTIE AHERN has recently been talking up again his fabled Mr-Fix-It skills and how these talents have been utilised abroad – by grateful... Read more »

BAILING OUT CORK FILM FESTVAL

May 18, 2016

WHILE IRELAND’S movie moguls were schlepping their wares around Cannes market stalls this week, a more mundane financial drama about another veteran film... Read more »

SHANE ROSS’S KEY DEMAND

May 18, 2016

THE first test of transport minister Shane Ross’s mettle is not the Luas strike, but the imminent appointment of several judicial appointments to... Read more »

THE GENTLE BLACK AND TAN

May 18, 2016

THE TAOISEACH, Enda Kenny, and foreign minister, Charlie Flanagan, have shown admirable compassion in arranging for victims of the Easter Rising to be... Read more »

REVIEWING JUSTIN CARTHY AT LADBROKES

May 18, 2016

THE REVELATION last week that Ladbrokes is “reviewing” the role of Justin Carthy, who handles the betting giant’s high roller clients, has surprised... Read more »

PHOENIX APPEAL IN CONTEMPT CASE ALLOWED

May 18, 2016

IN a judgment delivered in the Court of Appeal on May 11, 2016, Ms Justice Irvine, Mr Justice Hogan and Mr Justice Sheehan... Read more »

FERDINAND TRUMPS DONALD

May 5, 2016

HAVING BEEN the subject of a failed move to have him banned from entering the UK, following his call for a ban on... Read more »

Downey’s Legacy

May 5, 2016

THE Irish Independent engaged in an unseemly and competitive effort to claim the late Jim Downey as its very own and downplay his... Read more »

HEFFERNAN SHUNNED BY SOC DEMS

May 5, 2016

FORMER Labour senator and SD candidate in Limerick, James Heffernan, must be feeling a little unloved by his new comrades in the Social... Read more »

ALCOHOL BILL KICKED TO TOUCH

May 5, 2016

WILL Leo Varadkar – if he is still health minister by at the end of this week – make his long awaited Public... Read more »

Kieran Wallace’s Fees

May 5, 2016

GOLDHAWK has to hand it to accountancy firm KPMG, and in particular its star liquidators, Kieran Wallace and Eamonn Richardson. It seems that... Read more »

Robbos Accounts

May 5, 2016

MARY ROBINSON’S Victoria House Foundation (VHF) has just published its first accounts and all seems to be going swimmingly. However, there is still... Read more »

FEARGAL QUINN’S €200 MILLION

May 5, 2016

AN ANNOUNCEMENT last month that Swiss bank Lombard Odier was awarded a mandate valued at €200m “for an established international family” went unnoticed... Read more »

STRIKING OFF TONY O’REILLY

May 5, 2016

THE LATEST chapter in the commercial demise of Tony O’Reilly unfolded last week when the Companies Registration Office listed a company called Columbia... Read more »

INVESTIGATING ROTHSCHILDS BANK

May 5, 2016

GOLDHAWK spotted an interesting report on Bloomberg recently, which said that the Swiss unit of Edmond de Rothschild SA is the subject of... Read more »

ALAN KELLY POISED FOR LEADERSHIP

May 5, 2016

IT could all have been so different. A raggle taggle government of Blueshirts and Independents is being installed but efforts to re-create a... Read more »

WILL MICHAEL TWEE RESCUE THE PICTURE PALACE IN GALWAY?

May 5, 2016

FANS OF Goldhawk will not be surprised by the ongoing farce surrounding Galway’s multi-million euro bijou but unfinished ‘Picture Palace’ cinema. Details of... Read more »

LAWYERS FOR BIG TOBACCO

April 21, 2016

A LITTLE noticed part of Fine Gael’s health programme for government as pitched to Independent TDs recently was to reduce the number of... Read more »

PANAMA PAYDAY FOR JOE LEWIS

April 21, 2016

WHILE A couple of high profile Irish names have been appearing in the ‘Panama Papers’ revelations of offshore company activity, including the likes... Read more »

HALAWA: CAIRO TWO FINGERS TO FLANAGAN

April 21, 2016

HAS the penny not yet dropped with foreign minister Charlie Flanagan that the Egyptian government has contempt for the Irish government’s cap-in-hand approach... Read more »

“ZAPPER” ZAPPONE FOR NEXT CABINET?

April 21, 2016

KATHERINE ZAPPONE TD, liberal media darling, former beneficiary of Labour Party patronage and probably the most politically correct person in the western world,... Read more »

Kelly’s Heroes

April 7, 2016

THE seriously diminished Parliamentary Labour Party might want to reconsider their ferocious onslaught against Alan Kelly given the sort of firepower the minister’s... Read more »

TV3 and RTE’s DG

April 7, 2016

DISAPPOINTED luvvies at RTÉ, whose new director general, Dee Forbes, is neither a programmer nor even a production techie, may be even more... Read more »

MICHAEL NUGENT’S MANY COLOURS

April 7, 2016

ATHEIST IRELAND (AI) founder and chairman, Michael Nugent, struck a blow for the Enlightenment by refusing an official invite to the state ceremony... Read more »

DENIS O’BRIEN’S TOPAZ LOSS

April 7, 2016

GOLDHAWK was always suspicious of the reports that Denis O’Brien had sold his Topaz petrol retailer to the Canadian giants Couche-Tard for E450m.... Read more »

BRENDAN HOWLIN’S DIVINE RIGHT

April 7, 2016

IF Alan Kelly is addicted to power, then Brendan Howlin is a megalomaniac who believes he can assume leadership of the Labour Party... Read more »