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David McKeown

TIKTOK TENANTS

Date: January 28, 2021 - Briefcases

ELSEWHERE in this issue Goldhawk takes a look at the TikTok players who set up the so-called The Go House before going offline in the run-up to Christmas. The operation, which was previously known as the GOAT House, had initially been based in a modern pad on Lansdowne Lane. This property had been put on… Read more »

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Stephen Evans-Freke

CASTLE FREKE’S VIEWS

Date: January 28, 2021 - Briefcases

GOLDHAWK favourite millionaire Wall Street banker, Stephen Evans-Freke, has suffered a setback in his efforts to block the demolition of a former hotel and the construction of nine houses near his luxurious Castle Freke in Cork. Evans-Freke is the son of Peter Evans-Freke, the 11th Lord Carbery, and he bought his ancestral home, Castle Freke,… Read more »

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Darragh O’Brien

FF: O’BRIEN ENTERS THE STAGE

Date: January 14, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

A FLURRY of statements, off-record briefings and spin from Fianna Fáil personalities in the Christmas/new year period has triggered renewed pressure on Micheál Martin’s leadership. There appeared to be no particular political blunder or negative development – not even the pandemic surge – that sparked the renewed leadership speculation. Nor was there any significant drop… Read more »

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Graeme De Renzy

PROFILE: GRAEME DE RENZY

Date: January 14, 2021 - Pillars of Society

LATER THIS month, the Four Goldmines will be the setting for a face-off between Irish wheeler-dealer, named Graeme de Renzy and Harvey Boulter, the Ferrari-driving boss of Cayman Islands-based cryptocurrency outfit GuardianCoin. At stake is the small matter of $60m. How did Castleknock-based GDR get to play in such a high stakes poker game and… Read more »

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Pippa O'Connor

YOUNG BLOOD: PIPPA O’CONNOR

Date: January 14, 2021 - The Young Bloods

Model-turned-entrepreneur Pippa O’Connor owes much of her success to staying steps ahead of the bevy of bikini-clad beauties she hung out with in Stephen’s Green as a PR photocall model. She has paved the way for the blight of Irish influencers shilling fashion and beauty products these days, but whether she can continue expanding her empire… Read more »

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Bibi Baskin

BIBI’S ‘INSPIRED’ PANDEMIC PITCH

Date: January 14, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

IT WOULD be difficult to find a more original gesture towards nursing home residents, assailed as they are by the pandemic, than that of No. 1 Books publisher, Michael Mulcahy, who wants to distribute complimentary copies of Bibi Baskin’s latest pocket book, The Happy Book, to every nursing home resident in the country – all… Read more »

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Eugene Murtagh

WHY KINGSPAN NEEDS A NEW CHAIRMAN

Date: January 14, 2021 - Moneybags

KINGSPAN’S shares have been riding high from €64 on February 21 last year, just before the pandemic hit, at which point they were on a lofty price-earnings multiple of 31.5 times, on the back of an increase in earnings in 2019 of 11%. Covid-19 knocked the shares back to €43 on March 28 but, despite… Read more »

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article-default

WHITMORE’S WEDGE

Date: January 14, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

LOVE ISLAND presenter Laura Whitmore will be looking forward to making a few bob in 2021 with a new book on the way. The good news is that she already has a rather healthy bank balance. Bray girl Whitmore (now based in London) likes to keep a low profile, when it suits her that is…. Read more »

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Brody Sweeney

LITTLE MUSEUM’S BIG GRANT

Date: January 14, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

WITH COMMENTATORS warning of economic misery coming down the tracks as a result of the huge pandemic spend, a lot of expensive projects that were set to get under way now have question marks over them. In the decimated tourism sector funding could be particularly curtailed but hopefully this will not impact on the big… Read more »

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Dermot Desmond

DERMO’S CARIBBEAN COMPETITION

Date: January 14, 2021 - High Society

SHORTLY BEFORE Christmas, an article in the Sunday Times extolled the virtues of basing yourself in the sunny Caribbean to avoid much of the drudgery associated with the pandemic. Not surprisingly, the article was aimed squarely at the more minted variety of “digital nomads”, who can splash out seven-figure sums on villas. No doubt Dermot… Read more »

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Ken Murphy

LAW SOC TOP JOB

Date: January 14, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

WITH THE Law Society looking for a new director general to replace the retiring Ken Murphy, it is inevitable that the chat will turn to the impressive financial rewards the successful candidate may expect. But, there is more focus than ever by members on the spending at Blackhall Place as a result of the hammering… Read more »

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Maureen Kennelly

MAUREEN KENNELLY’S COLLECTION

Date: January 14, 2021 - Behind the Scenes

THE BAD times have resulted in some good times at the Arts Council after years of penny pinching from successive governments, with sackloads of cash being delivered to 70 Merrion Square. One of the beneficiaries has been the council’s bulging art collection, which had an impressive 82 works added in 2020. The overall value has… Read more »

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Vol. 39 No. 01

Date: January 14, 2021 -

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Graeme De Renzy

DE RENZY’S POWER OF ATTORNEY

Date: January 14, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

ON PAGE 14 of this issue, we profile the colourful Graeme de Renzy, whose adventures have been closely followed by Goldhawk down the years. What is intriguing is that having only been discharged as a bankrupt six years ago, he has been offering to invest millions recently to fund businesses, mainly across the Atlantic. Goldhawk… Read more »

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Dermot Farrell

CULCHIES RULE OK!

Date: January 14, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

POPE FRANCIS’S promotion of a provincial, conservative member of the current nondescript bench of bishops to succeed Diarmuid Martin as Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland amounts to a snub to the Dublin clergy. Martin, the former Holy See diplomat, was sent back from Rome to his native Dublin two decades ago to deal with the… Read more »

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Tracy Mahony

FIGHTING ANTI-COVID LAWS

Date: January 14, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

FORMER RENUA member, barrister Tracey O’Mahony, has been organising a crowd-funding campaign to finance challenges to anti-Covid restrictions and laws. An initial target of €50,000 was exceeded within five days last August and a new sum of €250,000 was set in the hope that a High Court action can be organised to overturn government policy… Read more »

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Coveney on Palestine

IRELAND’S UN CON TRICK

Date: January 14, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

GRANDIOSE STATEMENTS from foreign minister, Simon Coveney on Palestine, and Ireland’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Geraldine Byrne Nason indicate not merely vanity and hubris, but an abandonment of the government’s supposed attachment to the plight of the Palestinians. Having spent several years claiming to be the Palestinians’ best friend in Europe and the… Read more »

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LIZ HEADON’S ROLL-OUT

Date: January 14, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

THE APPOINTMENT of Liz Headon to head up the communications aspect of the vaccine roll-out should come as little surprise given her credentials. It is certainly not her first state appointment but she will hope there is not much flak this time around. While busy Lizzy was kept busy fighting fires last year at Bus… Read more »

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" Photo: https://thewordpoint.com/ "

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Date: January 14, 2021 - Letters to the Editor

WHOLLY FLATTERING Dear Editor, I am flattered that you have published a somewhat outdated photograph of me in your 2020 annual: but in consideration of the accompanying text, I would like to clarify that I am not a member of – even the imaginary – “Catholic Choir of Beating Hearts”. I am not a member… Read more »

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Martha Pope

THE POPE CONSPIRACY

Date: January 14, 2021 - Hush Hush

JUST AS with the original 1996 DUP/Spook driven smear campaign against US peace envoy Martha Pope, the latest revelations – via the release of state papers – in this story have very much gone under the media radar. Pope was awarded an honorary law degree from the University of Ulster in July 2019 in recognition of… Read more »

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HushHush-def

KINAHANS GO NORTH

Date: January 14, 2021 - Hush Hush

THE CONVICTION of two Kinahan gangsters recently in connection with a botched gangland hit in 2017 against rival Hutch gang supremo James ‘Mago’ Gately highlights the problems that now beset Ireland’s leading crime gang. At the non-jury Special Criminal Court, the actual gunman in the attack, Caolan Smyth, was convicted of attempted murder and his… Read more »

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Mairead Ronan

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Date: January 14, 2021 - The Hot Air Brigade

I wouldn’t have got recognised very often before DWTS as I think I have one of those very Irish faces. I could easily be your cousin or your one off the radio. I was making a reservation in a restaurant so I had three-quarters of my face covered at the time and the guy goes… Read more »

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Naomi Long

NEW DECADE NO DEAL

Date: January 14, 2021 - Northwind

JANUARY 11 marked one year since the New Decade New Approach (NDNA) document enabled the Stormont executive to be restored. Nobody was rejoicing at any progress made as a result. The DUP marked the occasion with a fierce attack on Sinn Féin by the hardline MP Gregory Campbell while Michelle O’Neill extolled the advantages of… Read more »

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Ray Bates

SCIENCE NOT REFEREES

Date: January 14, 2021 - Fowl Emissions

NEW YEAR, same old nonsense at the Irish Farmers Journal. In recent years the paper has dabbled in promoting climate denial and junk science, producing comically awful headlines such as ‘Earth is in midst of a CO2 famine – Princeton professor’. All of this is an ever more desperate attempt to downplay both the reality… 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

LUCINDA’S INSIGHT

Date: January 14, 2021 - Fowl Emissions

Since when did former politician-turned-lobbyist Lucinda Creighton become a moderate? Speaking from her weekly Business Post soap box, she recently decried “the extreme left and the extreme right” for their churlish opposition to the EU-Canada trade deal known as CETA. In Creighton’s world, mild-mannered environmental NGOs like Friends of the Earth and An Taisce have… Read more »

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Jim O'Callaghan

JIM O’CALLAGHAN’S PROGNOSIS

Date: January 14, 2021 - Last Refuge

FIANNA FÁIL TD, Jim O’Callaghan, has gone all quiet about the pandemic in recent weeks after several months of energetic and robust criticisms of both Nphet and the extent of restrictions throughout that period. O’Callaghan may be the brightest and most articulate leadership contender waiting to seize the crown when Micheál Martin is forced to… Read more »

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Brid Smith

MAKE INCHICORE GREAT AGAIN

Date: January 14, 2021 - Last Refuge

HARD LEFT TD, Bríd Smith, would greatly resent being compared to the stormtroopers of Donald Trump’s MAGA (Make America Great Again) that attacked the US Capitol but chief justice, Frank Clarke, went close in a letter commending Charlie Flanagan for his reaction to her last summer. According to a recent report Clarke thanked the then… Read more »

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Stephen Donnelly

HEALTH MINISTER’S FUTURE

Date: January 14, 2021 - Last Refuge

A SIGN of the political times – or near future – in Wicklow is the not entirely innocent Facebook comment posted by Cllr Rory O’Connor recently. On New Year’s Day Cllr O’Connor published a league table of more than 30 countries and how they are faring with the roll-out of the anti-Covid vaccination, showing that… Read more »

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Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

BOG CUTTINGS

Date: January 14, 2021 - Bog Cuttings

“I Don’t Recognise Your Laws” Marian Brady (66), with a former address at 6 Karol Avenue, Elphin, but now living in Donegal, was fined by Roscommon District Court for verbally abusing and biting a garda. The defendant had become obstreperous when pulled over by customs officials on October 24, 2018, who requested assistance from gardaí…. Read more »

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Jon Williams

COVID SAVES RTÉ

Date: January 14, 2021 - Fit to Print?

THE MEDIA Commission’s investigation into RTÉ’s finances was initially regarded as a crisis management exercise, but one of the great ironies of the pandemic is that it has managed to not only avert the crisis (however temporarily) but to enrich the station. For most of last year RTÉ and director general Dee Forbes repeated the… Read more »

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

SINDO’S BLUE LINE

Date: January 14, 2021 - Fit to Print?

SEVERAL ANONYMOUS sources made assertive comments to a receptive media about the shooting dead of George Nkencho at his home in Clonee recently amid much leaking by the usual, reliable security sources. The Sunday Independent’s new crime reporter, Ali Bracken, reported that the gardai fired five shots, killing Nkencho after he “threatened gardai with a knife during a 30-minute stand-off during which… Read more »

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Fionnán Sheahan

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S MEDIA FANS

Date: January 14, 2021 - Fit to Print?

GOOD TO see the most prominent and indeed responsible political commentators jumping to the defence of An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, as he came under attack from within and without last weekend. Irish Times political editor, Pat Leahy, and Irish Independent Ireland editor, Fionnán Sheahan, arguably the country’s two pre-eminent political journalists, both dismissed criticisms of Martin’s handling… Read more »

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Valerie Moran

THE MORANS’ SPLURGES

Date: January 14, 2021 - High Society

NOEL AND Valerie Moran’s latest acquisition – Knockdrin Castle and its 1,000 surrounding acres in Co Westmeath – is the latest in a long list of splurges for the newly minted Navan couple. The other acquisitions have been of an equine nature. Obviously the Moran coffers are fairly overflowing thanks to the audacious €250m sale… Read more »

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Consuelo O’Connor

MICHAEL CUSH’S EXIT

Date: January 14, 2021 - High Society

NO DOUBT, the chair of the National Gallery of Ireland (NGI), legal eagle Mary Keane, was delighted with her Christmas pressie from culture minister Catherine Martin – an extra €1m for the gallery. Meanwhile, there is a vacancy on the board as a result of the early exit stage left of Keane’s predecessor, Michael Cush… Read more »

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Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

NANCY HARRIS’S WINNER

Date: January 14, 2021 - Behind the Scenes

JUST BEFORE Christmas, the hard-working elves at Michael O’Keeffe’s Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) signed off on the latest round of ‘Sound & Vision’ hand-outs to the nation’s struggling TV producers. The good news is that there was plenty to go around given that the state has boosted the pot. Although media minister Catherine Martin… Read more »

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No Hiding (Rob Kearney)

NO HIDING (ROB KEARNEY) & FUEL (SEAN O’BRIEN)

Date: January 14, 2021 - BooksReviews

THERE IS a bitter irony that one of the accusations against Joe Schmidt’s Ireland team in his final year was that it had become predictable and too easy for their opponents to read. The steady, plodding stream of autobiographies from Irish rugby players has in its own way become predictable, but by no means easy… Read more »

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