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Vol 39 No 05

Date: March 11, 2021 -

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BRIAN POLLY’S LEGAL ACTION

Date: March 11, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

HORSES HAVE been in the news for all the wrong reasons recently and another equine row is bubbling away, this time involving Brian Polly, chairman of the Association of Irish Racehorse Owners (AIRO). Last year, relations between Polly and many of his fellow council members deteriorated as he raised a number of concerns he had… Read more »

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DENIS O’BRIEN’S RADIO EXIT

Date: March 11, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

DENIS O’BRIEN was happy to wave goodbye to his Irish radio business when the deal to sell his Communicorp radio group to Bauer Media Audio was announced last month. He clearly has lost faith in radio here and even said, “I just don’t know whether a 12-year-old today who is going to be 15 in… Read more »

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RIGHT-WING SPECTRUM

Date: March 11, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

FOLLOWING THE recent violent anti-lockdown protest in Dublin, justice minister Helen McEntee said she was reluctant “to get caught up in who was involved”. McEntee was helping to furiously backpedal Garda Commissioner Drew Harris’s bizarre assertion that both far right and far left had taken part. Once it was established that the far left weren’t… Read more »

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DAVY/‘IRISH TIMES’ AND ‘TRUST’

Date: March 11, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

A BEAUTIFUL friendship, partnership even, has been destroyed by the actions of those wheeler-dealers at the Davy Group, which last year had joined in collaboration with the Irish Times to sponsor the paper’s ‘Inside Business’ podcast. The announcement from both partners last April of the partnership agreement between them was like a wedding speech from… Read more »

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FF COMMITTEE CAST

Date: March 11, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

THAT’S AN interesting committee selected to work on a postmortem about Fianna Fáil’s poor general election result last February. Two junior ministers, Seán Fleming (chair) and Mary Butler, are on the committee as is new TD Cormac Devlin along with six members of the national executive committee (NEC). Fleming is respected by supporters and opponent… Read more »

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BRIAN KAVANAGH’S NEXT RIDE?

Date: March 11, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

INVESTORS IN the revamped Curragh racecourse (who include the likes of John Magnier, JP McManus and one Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum), will be keen to see that a top name is recruited for the track, as the board seeks to appoint its third chief executive in as many years. A familiar name may find himself… Read more »

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MI5 PROVOCATEURS

Date: March 11, 2021 - Hush Hush

NORTHERN SECRETARY Brandon Lewis ought to get a grip on his government’s intelligence apparatus and their activities in his patch before they do some serious – and very deliberate – damage. MI5 spooks recently sought to exploit ongoing loyalist feuds so as to direct anger towards nationalist targets. This is a classic ‘strategy of tension’… Read more »

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DUP’S ‘CONCERNED’ BEDFELLOWS

Date: March 11, 2021 - Hush Hush

THE DUP’S connections with loyalist paramilitaries have once again been downplayed by the media, which continues to treat it as a normal political party. Last week’s Loyalist Communities Council (LCC) statement announcing its withdrawal of support for the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) came only days after it met with Arlene Foster and other senior DUP… Read more »

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THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Date: March 11, 2021 - The Hot Air Brigade

I discovered the other day that they have a fully chocolate-coated Hobnob. I was excited, but I was on my own at the time so I had no one to share the good news with. Brendan O’Connor, ‘People and Culture’, Sunday Independent The latest wellness trend is a Mayan cacao ceremony, which involves imbibing a… Read more »

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LOYALIST PARAMILITARIES’ HUSH MONEY

Date: March 11, 2021 - Northwind

RECENT WEEKS have provided a perfect demonstration of the ambivalence of the Northern Ireland Office and unionist politicians towards the north’s still armed and active loyalist terrorist groups. These gangs – UVF, UDA and the UVF’s violent tiny adjunct, the Red Hand Commando – are engaged in murder, assault, bombings, arson, extortion, drug dealing and… Read more »

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UNARMED MILITARY COMMITTEE

Date: March 11, 2021 - Last Refuge

IF CETA, the EU Canada trade deal, threatens what remains of Green Party unity, then just wait until its position on Irish neutrality and defence is debated in the near future. The party’s security and foreign policy is the responsibility of a committee on which a most distinguished member of Ireland’s top brass – now… Read more »

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REBEL CORK POPULISM

Date: March 11, 2021 - Last Refuge

LEADER OF the Cork People’s Convention (CPC) Diarmaid Ó Cadhla made an effort to break out of the marginal political ghetto he has been in for the last decade with his organisation of the not-so-monstrous meeting against Covid lockdowns last weekend. Standing under various banners – housing, water charges, democracy, the banks etc – Ó… Read more »

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SWP TOP OF THE TROTS

Date: March 11, 2021 - Last Refuge

THAT MERGER of TD Paul Murphy’s Rise movement – he had previously been part of Solidarity – with TD Richard Boyd Barrett’s People Before Profit (PBP) needs to be decoded to make sense to voters. PBP is really the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in disguise while Solidarity is a front for the Socialist Party (SP)…. Read more »

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SMITHWICK TRIBUNAL REVISITED

Date: March 11, 2021 - Fit to Print?

WHAT AN intriguing notice the Sunday Times published last weekend – buried underneath a panoply of outraged letters about perfidious journalist Roy Greenslade – under the heading “CORRECTION”. It read: “In an article last month, ‘Sinn Féin needs to apologise for IRA, warns Taoiseach’, it was incorrectly stated the Smithwick tribunal found that a garda… Read more »

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Diageo Dana An Garda Síochána IT Trust No Stone Unturned Irish Times Black Friday Vicky Conway

PAUL CLARKSON’S RECORD

Date: March 11, 2021 - Fit to Print?

SO ANXIOUS was Micheál Martin to acquire the services of former Irish Sun editor Paul Clarkson that he had to rearrange staff at both the government press apparatus and that of Fianna Fáil. Now, after Clarkson organised a country-wide media blitz by Martin the judgment from Martin’s supporters is that at least the country now… Read more »

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DENIS O’BRIEN’S SUBTLETY

Date: March 11, 2021 - Fit to Print?

“O’BRIEN’S PERSONAL editorial influence within the media organisations in which he invested was hard to quantify – including at Independent Newspapers … influence is often exerted subtly rather than by a crude diktat or phone call from the top”. Thus did the esteemed professor emeritus of DCU and former board member of the Broadcasting Authority… Read more »

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AGRI-ANGER

Date: March 11, 2021 - Fowl Emissions

HELL HATH no fury like an agri-committee scorned. The recent decision by the Environmental Pillar (EP), representing 26 eNGOs, to withdraw from the industry-dominated Agri-Food 2030 strategy group has triggered pantomime-grade outbursts of hysterical over-reaction. Former agriculture minister Michael Creed TD lyrically decried how what he called: “the echo of their parting shot is tirelessly… Read more »

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Climate Disinformation Coillte Climate Action EU Livestock NDC Claude Etchelamendy Ed Brophy Richard Boyd-Barrett Kish Dale Crammond Frank Mitloehner Shell Greenwashing Meta Data Centres Ireland

LIFESTYLE CHOICES

Date: March 11, 2021 - Fowl Emissions

A NEW round of state grants has been announced totalling almost €500,000 for research titled, “a healthy diet for a healthy lifestyle”. What’s unusual is that the funding agency is the Department of Agriculture, which is not exactly a noted repository of health expertise. In the small print, it states that in order to be… Read more »

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BOG CUTTINGS

Date: March 11, 2021 - Bog Cuttings

‘Fucking Wanker’ Thomas Coffey (42) of 9 Cahereens West, Castleisland, failed to appear before Killarney District Court, sitting in Tralee, as he was “wandering around and drinking” according to his solicitor. Coffey had been charged with engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour during an incident outside Killarney bus station in December. Sergeant O’Connell told… Read more »

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BILL SHIPSEY’S ART WORK

Date: March 11, 2021 - High Society

CAMPAIGNING BARRISTER Bill Shipsey, long associated with the Irish section of Amnesty International (which he chaired at one stage,) got a few things off his chest last week in an article he penned for the Irish Times. It followed a kicking Amnesty International had received for dishing out its respected ‘prisoner of conscience’ tag to… Read more »

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WARRING WARD FAMILY’S PLOT TWIST

Date: March 11, 2021 - High Society

THE WEALTHY Ward family, which owns Dublin’s Savoy cinema among many others, is engaged in another legal wrangle that sees the principals named as defendants in an action lodged by their own company. The main player in Irish Multiplex Cinemas (IMC) is Blackrock-based moneybags Paul Ward, who owns by far the largest chunk of the… Read more »

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Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

MORE MOVIE MOOLAH

Date: March 11, 2021 - Behind the Scenes

WITH THE running time for the Screen Ireland (SI) board appointments process approaching epic length, the film and TV biz’s favourite cash dispenser has at least got around to divulging the names of the lucky ‘loan’ recipients in the final quarter of 2020. A TV drama development loan of €25,000 went to SI board member… Read more »

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BLOODLANDS – BBC ONE

Date: March 11, 2021 - ReviewsTV

SET IN contemporary Northern Ireland, the four-part thriller stars James Nesbitt as PSNI detective Tom Brannick. Produced by Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio, this stylish crime series follows familiar plotlines and well-worn character tropes – ageing traumatised cop, endangered daughter, the dodgy chief inspector who seems to be hiding dark secrets. It also delivers… Read more »

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KAVANAGH’S COUNTDOWN

Date: March 11, 2021 - Sport of Kings

FIVE YEARS ago, when Brian Kavanagh entered into his controversial third term as chief executive of Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), he insisted this five-year stint would be his last. Now, 20 years on from his original appointment to the role in 2001, Kavanagh refused to confirm his exit strategy this year when grilled recently before… Read more »

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CHELTENHAM CAST

Date: March 11, 2021 - Sport of Kings

CHELTENHAM WILL be a different beast this year. Apart from no spectators, no atmosphere, no socialising and no Guinness Village, the name GE Elliott, the festival’s leading trainer two years in a row, will not feature on any race card, despite a number of star horses formerly associated with him taking part, including the brilliant… Read more »

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BRITS POUT

Date: March 11, 2021 - Sport of Kings

The furore surrounding the Gordon Elliott controversy shone a light on the lack of faith the British Horse Racing Authority (BHA) has in Denis Egan’s Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) to manage its own affairs. To describe Elliott as a high-profile player in national hunt racing would be a gross understatement. Certainly, it would be… Read more »

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KERRY GROUP NEEDS SIGNIFICANT GROWTH TO JUSTIFY RATING

Date: March 11, 2021 - Moneybags

THE DECISION by Ed Scanlon to offload the Kerry Group’s stagnant consumer foods division (including the creamery and cooked meats operations) was long overdue. Moneybags has been pointing out the need for this for years, but perhaps the fact that this division was the base from which Denis Brosnan started to evolve the group into… Read more »

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SMURFIT KAPPA CONTINUES TO GO BACKWARDS

Date: March 11, 2021 - Moneybags

SMURFIT KAPPA has been on the receiving end of plenty of glowing press coverage in recent times, sometimes driven by the focus on attaining green goals for the company’s sustainability. Behind the public relations, however, the company has been in reverse, with a Monaco-based CEO overseeing a significant drop in turnover and profits despite the… Read more »

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TACKLING JP HARTIGAN

Date: March 11, 2021 - Briefcases

A COMPANY called Shadowman Sports Ltd has collapsed into liquidation, which may come as a surprise to fans of the sporting innovations of JP Hartigan, the listed controlling shareholder. It looks like the Covid-19 related collapse of the US football market has prevented any chance of a touchdown for the company. Hartigan made quite an… Read more »

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WAVF Castleknock Hospitality BAL Susan Bergin Tixserve EOG Fergal Naughton hot-water-brigade def

PRIDE PROFITS

Date: March 11, 2021 - Briefcases

WITH THE pandemic likely to scupper yet another Dublin Pride jamboree next summer (following last year’s virtual hooley), Jed Dowling’s Dublin LGBTQ Pride Company might be getting concerned. In recent years, the board worked hard to put the organisation on a solid financial footing after the hugely expensive 2015 Pride parade pushed the operation deep… Read more »

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ÁINE MORIARTY’S FIGURES

Date: March 11, 2021 - Briefcases

OVERDUE FIGURES (covering an 18-month period to the end of 2019) have been filed by Áine Moriarty’s Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTA) and Irish Film and Television Network (IFTN) operations. The good news is that while the annual red carpet awards shindig may be a non-runner again this year (at least in the ‘live’… Read more »

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JOHN MCQUAID’S SETBACK

Date: March 11, 2021 - Briefcases

THERE HAS been a setback for Goldhawk’s old friend John McQuaid whose quarry in Clontibret, Co Monaghan, was the subject of a recent ruling by the Supreme Court no less. Led by the Chief Justice, Frank Clarke, five members of the Supreme Court issued a ruling, quashing An Bord Pleanála’s (ABP) 2014 grant of planning… Read more »

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JOHN CORRIGAN’S ‘PRIVATE MATTER’

Date: March 11, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

WHILE HEADS have rolled at Davy this week, chairman John Corrigan remains in place, which suggests he is doing a hell of a job given the questions raised about the firm’s response to the €4.1m fine by the Central Bank (CB). Corrigan landed on Dawson Street six years ago, direct from the top of the… Read more »

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COVENEY SILENT ON KHASHOGGI MURDER

Date: March 11, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

WITH US President Joe Biden under pressure for not sanctioning Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for his role in the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi – Biden sanctioned only the Saudi foot soldiers acting on Bin Salman’s orders – there is a big question mark over Ireland’s behaviour in this entire, sordid… Read more »

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PROFILE: SIMON HARRIS

Date: March 11, 2021 - Pillars of Society

ANY DISCONTENT inside Fine Gael in the year since the general election has been obscured by Micheál Martin’s problems with his increasingly cantankerous parliamentary party. But are Fine Gael TDs and senators also beginning to think about a changing of the guard that will see not just a change of personalities as leader but the… Read more »

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