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Alex Murphy

FUNDING THE ‘YOUNG OFFENDERS’

Date: July 30, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

THE HYPE machine was functioning in overdrive in the run-up to series three of Peter Foott’s mildly entertaining Young Offenders, which kicked off on RTÉ last week. The low point was probably Áine Lawlor’s fawning News at One interview with cast member Shane Casey, where she told him, “We love you… We all love it…. Read more »

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Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

BOG CUTTINGS

Date: July 30, 2020 - Bog Cuttings

Christmas Doughnuts A Tralee man, who was “caught in the act” doing a doughnut in his car on Christmas Day, had his sentence reduced to careless driving following an appeal to Tralee Circuit Court. Calvin Knightly, of Spruce Court, Ashleigh Downs, Tralee, had been fined €300 and banned for two years for a charge of… Read more »

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Kyriakos Mitsotakis

IRISH WRITER NOT CENSORED

Date: July 30, 2020 - Fit to Print?

DISTINGUISHED AUTHOR, critic and musical director Richard Pine, who currently pens a regular ‘Greece Letter’ for the Irish Times and who studied and worked for many years in Ireland, has inadvertently sparked a row about censorship in the Greek media. This followed his article criticising Greek premier Kyriakos Mitsotakis and two ministers who had supported… Read more »

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

OUT OF REACH

Date: July 30, 2020 - Fit to Print?

THE END of an era was reached recently with John ‘Jumbo’ Kierans stepping down as editor-in-chief of the Irish Mirror after 25 years with the tabloid. In a resignation letter to staff, Jumbo referred to the “sudden death of my father” as having concentrated his mind about the rest of his life, although it is unclear… Read more »

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Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Ó SNODAIGHS’ MOTOR CARS

Date: July 30, 2020 - Fit to Print?

LISTENERS TO Joe Duffy’s Livewhine radio show shortly after the general election would have been taken aback to hear Joe apologising for a slip of the tongue, saying, “I read that piece wrong. It was a relative of Aengus Ó Snodaigh who was fined €150 for a public order offence. It wasn’t Aengus Ó Snodaigh…. Read more »

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Tom Sullivan

IFTA’S VIRTUAL PLOT

Date: July 30, 2020 - Behind the Scenes

FOLLOWING THE announcement of Áine Moriarty’s IFTA nominees for 2020 and, er, 2019 (sort of), there was the inevitable clamour about the omission of female nominees. On this occasion, it is female screenwriters who are notable by their absence. Given Annie Doona’s mission at Screen Ireland to balance gender representation among directors and writers, the… Read more »

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Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

TAXING TIMES IN CARLOW

Date: July 30, 2020 - Behind the Scenes

FANS of Goldhawk will not be surprised to hear that Carlow County Council has had to bail out the VISUAL arts centre in Carlow. It will be recalled (see The Phoenix 18/10/19) that VISUAL found itself landed with a significant tax bill relating to VAT matters dating back to 2005. At the time, the venue… Read more »

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The Pull of Stars

THE PULL OF THE STARS – EMMA DONOGHUE (PICADOR)

Date: July 30, 2020 -

EMMA DONOGHUE’S much-trumpeted new novel takes place over three days at an understaffed Dublin hospital during the 1918 flu pandemic. At the same time, the city is struggling to cope with returning casualties from the First World War and the everyday ravages of poverty and deprivation. The reader has some ravages to contend with too…. Read more »

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Consuelo O’Connor

PETER SAVILL’S PROPERTIES

Date: July 30, 2020 - High Society

INTERESTING to see that the Sunday Times report that a company called Chelverston Investments is the new registered owner of Gerald Kean’s Drayton Manor. Chelverston is one of a number of Cayman Island-registered entities controlled by the multi-millionaire pillar of the British racing establishment, Peter Savill. Savill made his millions in the publishing business in… Read more »

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Sean Corkery

DATALEX’S CRASH LANDING COULD ATTRACT BUYERS

Date: July 30, 2020 - Moneybags

WHEN THE 15-month-long suspension was lifted earlier this month, Datalex shares collapsed 75% to 22.5c. The suspension was lifted by Euronext Dublin and its supervising authority, the Central Bank of Ireland, on foot of the company issuing what were expected to be audited accounts last month. This was far from the case and there remain… Read more »

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Brendan Mooney

KAINOS SHARES BUCK THE MARKET TREND

Date: July 30, 2020 - Moneybags

WHILE THE Covid-19 crisis has knocked the stuffing out of many companies, this is certainly not the case for the Belfast-based Kainos IT operation. Having initially furloughed 130 of its 1,700 staff, the company has now withdrawn from the UK government’s Job Retention Scheme and will repay all previously claimed support payments. This is because… Read more »

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John Hanlon

SHARK PICKS UP THE SCENT

Date: July 30, 2020 - Sport of Kings

CARLOW TRAINER John ‘Shark’ Hanlon has enjoyed some great days with the likes of Luska Lad and Hidden Cyclone but, like many of his contemporaries, he has found it tough going the last few years to compete with the might of ‘super trainers’ like Gordon Elliott, Willie Mullins and Henry De Bromhead. Since racing resumed,… Read more »

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Amer Abdulaziz

BUSINESS AS USUAL FOR ABDULAZIZ

Date: July 30, 2020 - Sport of Kings

MANY MIGHT have assumed that, six months after being accused in court of stealing $400m via an international Ponzi scheme with Russian links, Amer Abdulaziz of Phoenix Thoroughbreds would not still be going about his racing business. In fact, Abdulaziz seems to be increasing his presence, appointing new trainers internationally and adding to his panel… Read more »

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David Kennedy

DAVID KENNEDY’S SHARE OPTIONS

Date: July 30, 2020 - Briefcases

STILL NO SIGN of détente between the board of quoted airline software company Datalex and its former chief finance office, David Kennedy. Kennedy was in situ at the troubled Datalex group (which had its shares suspended last year) for around 12 years before exiting on December 5 2018, having picked up a nice €2.5m that… Read more »

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Joan Lynch

JOAN LYNCH’S DANISH SURPRISE

Date: July 30, 2020 - Briefcases

GOLDHAWK WAS surprised to see fashion guru Joan Lynch’s high-profile clothing retail company, Born Clothing Ltd (BCL), hit with a judgment for a paltry €5,600 by a Danish fashion outfit, Moss Copenhagen. Given the scale of Lynch’s fashion empire (“an Irish brand that doesn’t sleep”), this insignificant setback is hard to understand. The judgment comes… Read more »

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HushHush-def

CAHIR O’HIGGINS AND THE VILLAGE

Date: July 30, 2020 - Hush Hush

PROLIFIC SOLICITOR Cahir O’Higgins is about to launch proceedings alleging defamation against Village magazine. A well-known, frenetically busy solicitor, Cahir is also a member of the O’Higgins dynasty, one of the founding families of the Free State. Both parents were Fine Gael TDs; his uncle was the former chief justice, Tom O’Higgins, who stood for… Read more »

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

PUSHING OUT PAUL COYLE

Date: July 30, 2020 - Briefcases

THE FORMER owner of Decobake Ltd, Paul Coyle, suffered his latest setback last month when he ended up on the wrong end of a resolution passed by the creditors of his liquidated firm. Meanwhile, the legal bills continue to mount for all concerned. Coyle’s cake decoration business, which previously operated on Dublin’s Bachelor’s Walk, D1,… Read more »

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Chris Shiel

CHRIS SHIEL’S CRASH LANDING

Date: July 30, 2020 - Briefcases

SURPRISING To see one of the companies owned by Galway high-flier Chris Shiel come crashing to earth. The good news is that he has been raking in the moolah elsewhere. Heli Med Ltd is a helicopter services company that was set up by Shiel in 2003. However, it had difficulty taking off in recent years… Read more »

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Lisa Chambers

LISA CHAMBERS LOOKS EAST

Date: July 30, 2020 - Last Refuge

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S loss of half a dozen or so party allies after the general election is well documented. But the biggest hit against Martin’s loyal lieutenants came during the election with the defeat of his Brexit spokesperson, Lisa Chambers, who lost her seat in Mayo. Chambers has since clambered into the Seanad with strong leadership… Read more »

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Micheál Martin

MARTIN’S REPUBLICANISM

Date: July 30, 2020 - Last Refuge

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S inaugural Dáil speech on his election as taoiseach amounted to a not-so-veiled polemic against Sinn Féin as he railed against those who talk only of problems, not solutions, and cited Jack Lynch (until recently Fianna Fáil’s least republican leader) as one of his guiding spirits. Martin also praised his late father, Paddy Martin,… Read more »

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Ian Bailey

IAN BAILEY: DPP VS MEDIA

Date: July 16, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

RALPH RIEGEL’S recently published book on the 1996 murder in west Cork of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, A Dream of Death, tries to balance the competing claims of the French woman’s family and friends against those of Ian Bailey, against whom the gardaí tried and failed to build a murder case. The book coincides with… Read more »

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Denis O'Brien

DINNY’S BOYCOTT

Date: July 16, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

MONEYBAGS Denis O’Brien has emerged as the Irish face of the Facebook advertising boycott put in place over claims that the social media giant is soft on ‘hate speech’. He is probably enjoying the hullabaloo. The move against Facebook by corporate types has been gathering momentum and over 1,000 advisers have joined in. These include… Read more »

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Jim O'Callaghan

PROFILE: JIM O’CALLAGHAN

Date: July 16, 2020 - Pillars of Society

JIM O’CALLAGHAN appears to be modelling himself on Charlie Haughey in his Fianna Fáil leadership plan of action. His explanation for rejecting a junior ministry sounded like a declaration of war – in particular his intention to strengthen the party and protect its identity. Does this infer that someone else, the party leader perhaps, had… Read more »

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Mary Seery Kearney

YOUNG BLOODS: MARY SEERY KEARNEY

Date: July 16, 2020 - The Young Bloods

DESPITE forming a “unique, historic” government, as the cliché goes, with Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael is already getting down to the task of readying itself for the next election, putting candidates in place and preparing the publicity campaigns to make sure these candidates are well known. One of these is baby barrister Cllr Mary Seery… Read more »

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Dermot Smurfit

FLUTTER ENTERTAINMENT’S BET ON SMURFIT’S GAN

Date: July 16, 2020 - Moneybags

AFTER YEARS of struggling, 45-year-old Dermot S Smurfit has hit the jackpot with a $50m equity raise, floating on the American Nasdaq market in May, straight from a London AIM listing and right in the middle of the Covid-19 crisis. In the process, he has not just refinanced the company, but opened it to US… Read more »

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Aiden Burns

AIDEN BURNS’S EXIT

Date: July 16, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

IT HAS been heavy going for some of the horseracing bodies in the last couple of years, with scandals and expensive court cases monopolising the time (and money) of both the trainers’ and owners’ representative associations. The Association of Irish Racehorse Owners (AIRO) is now set to come back under the spotlight following the unexpected resignation… Read more »

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Seamus Sutcliffe

SEAMUS SUTCLIFFE’S MANY HATS

Date: July 16, 2020 - Briefcases

GOLDHAWK SPIED a judgment being registered earlier this month against Saggart-based accountant Seamus Sutcliffe by AIB for the sum of U137,000. This is not the first time that former soldier Seamus has found himself in hot water. Number-cruncher Sutcliffe is a man of many talents and a quick perusal of his LinkedIn page reveals that… Read more »

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Bobby Storey

THAT IRA FUNERAL

Date: July 16, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

BOTH SIDES in the row about whether or not Sinn Féin breached Covid-19 regulations at IRA leader Bobby Storey’s funeral have avoided the real issue – and it’s not social distancing, despite the media’s emphasis. There seems little doubt but that SF observed the rule about 30 members in the cortege and also that the… Read more »

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Catherine Martin

REASONABLE RYAN VS SHREWISH MARTIN

Date: July 16, 2020 - Last Refuge

THAT ‘FEMINIST’ statement by Green Party leadership contestant Catherine Martin about Eamon Ryan’s failure to promote more women to cabinet and to the junior ministers’ ranks was a tad disingenuous, although it was cleverly pitched. Far better to dress up such criticism in women’s clothes rather than say straight out that the party leader had… Read more »

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Claire Byrne

RTÉ MUSICAL CHAIRS

Date: July 16, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

CLAIRE BYRNE may not have been told she is to replace Sean O’Rourke as presenter of RTÉ Radio 1 morning show, Today with Whoever, but the word in Montrose is that her main rival, Murrium O’Callaghan, has let it be known she is no longer interested in the position. This could be a gesture of… Read more »

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3814-FP

Vol. 38 No. 14

Date: July 16, 2020 -

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article-default

DECLAN HAYES’S BIOTECH ROLE

Date: July 16, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

A BIOTECH outfit is floating on the American NASDAQ stock exchange, which could earn a fair few bob for the Irish taxpayer. One of the company’s execs turns out to be a rather interesting chap. ALX Oncology is a Dublin and California-headquartered biotechnology company focused on developing cancer therapies. It has just filed for a… Read more »

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Barry Cowen

MEDIA COWERS BEFORE COWEN

Date: July 16, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

WITH BARRY Cowen having been dumped out of Cabinet, it is interesting to look at the easy ride he got from most opposition parties, not to mention Fianna Fáil’s coalition partners, after his drink-driving story broke. Far-left TD Paul Murphy of Rise was overwhelmed by the media attention he received for the simple reason that… Read more »

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Garret Fitzgerald

ARMS TRIAL LIBELS AND APOLOGIES

Date: July 16, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

EOGHAN HARRIS relies on two sources for his attempted rebuttal in the Sunday Independent of Michael Heney’s ground-breaking book, The Arms Crisis of 1970. Heney’s book demolishes the myth that then taoiseach Jack Lynch confronted errant ministers Neil Blaney and Charles Haughey, who were trying to send arms to northern Catholics facing a possible second… Read more »

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article-default

THAR HE BLOWS

Date: July 16, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

MATTHEW KENNY has been appointed the Irish representative for the US Whistleblower Aid organisation that is expanding overseas. The Dublin legal eagle is playing his cards close to his chest, however. Whistleblower Aid was established by John Napier Tye, a former US justice department section chief, and lawyer Mark Zaid, who has garnered quite a… Read more »

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Conor Harrington

CONOR’S CAMPUS

Date: July 16, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

THE APPLICATION by one Conor Harrington for 10-year planning permission for a new sprawling film and TV studio complex (sorry, “media campus”) on 50 acres of an IDA business park outside Greystones, Co Wicklow, is the latest such proposal – all of which will benefit from significant backing by the taxpayer. Harrington’s scheme follows hot… Read more »

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