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James O'Connor

YOUNG BLOOD: JAMES O’CONNOR

Date: January 30, 2020 - The Young Bloods

YOUNG FIANNA Fáil candidate James O’Connor was lucky to land on the general election ticket in the Cork East constituency, but the whippersnapper may not be so fortunate come voting time. Despite many media outlets predicting he’ll take what is assumed to be a vulnerable Sinn Féin seat, Pat Buckley may be harder to budge… Read more »

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Micheál Martin

SF SPECTRE LOOMS

Date: January 30, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

FIANNA FÁIL TDs believe that Micheál Martin will be forced to do the U-turn of the millennium and form a coalition government with Sinn Féin after the arithmetic reality in the next Dáil kicks in. Others believe Martin will stand and fight against ‘the Provisionals’, as Eoghan Harris calls them, in which case Martin will… Read more »

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Robert Nairac

ROBERT NAIRAC OUTED

Date: January 30, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

BRITISH ARMY undercover operative Captain Robert Nairac’s central involvement in the 1975 Miami Showband Massacre has now been finally confirmed at Belfast High Court, as Goldhawk predicted (see The Phoenix, 17/1/20). A secret military intelligence file obtained by survivors’ solicitor Michael Flanigan contains this and other startling revelations and formed the basis of last week’s… Read more »

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Eva Orsmond

DR EVA’S PRISON

Date: January 30, 2020 - High Society

FANS OF health guru Dr Eva Orsmond have presumably been glued to the TV on Sunday nights to watch Dr Eva’s Great Escape, in which the bolshy medic heads to sunny Portugal to try to open a “weight-loss prison” alongside her South African hubby, Wyatt Orsmond. Although the couple split up in 2016, they reunited… Read more »

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Tony Ensor

TACKLING TONY ENSOR

Date: January 30, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

FORMER LAW Society president and international rugby star Tony Ensor exposed a soft shoulder to High Court president Peter Kelly earlier this month. The judge ruled in favour of an appeal by the Property Services Regulatory Authority (PSRA) against a decision made by its own appeals board, until recently chaired by Ensor. Ensor is well… Read more »

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Blindboy

BLINDBOY BOATCLUB – BOULEVARD WREN AND OTHER STORIES (GILL BOOKS)

Date: January 30, 2020 - BooksReviews

THE FIRST laugh generated by Boulevard Wren unintentionally arrives courtesy of the publishers, Gill Books, which assert that Blindboy Boatclub is “one of Ireland’s most anarchic satirists”. It’s a description that scarcely fits the author, whose most recent appearance on Irish TV – a pre-Christmas slot flogging the book on the Late Late Show –… Read more »

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Clodagh Edwards

IMAGE MEDIA’S IMAGE PROBLEM

Date: January 30, 2020 - The Hot Water Brigade

A BAD HAIR day for Image Publications CEO Clodagh Edwards, whose Irish female-fronted glossy monthly Image magazine came under fire online earlier this month over the late payment of freelancers. Image writer and Irish Times columnist Roe McDermott blasted the publishing house on Twitter, complaining of emails ignored and alleging that swathes of writers and… Read more »

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3802 FP

Volume 38 Issue 02

Date: January 30, 2020 -

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JOSEPHA’S VACANCIES

Date: January 30, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

ONE OF the games played by politics watchers around election time is clocking how many board appointments the various outgoing ministers manage to make before a new government is finally installed. One minister who has her fair share of significant vacancies to sort out is culture minister Josepha Madigan, currently battling it out with fellow… Read more »

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TARGETING THE SCIENTOLOGISTS

Date: January 30, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

THE RULING earlier this month by High Court judge Mark Heslin greenlighting the Scientologists’ multi-million euro drug treatment centre in the Meath village of Ballivor has put the issue back on the agenda and shaken up the election race in the county. Heslin overturned An Bord Pleanála’s decision that the Scientologists needed planning permission to… Read more »

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John Paul O'Shea

FARMERS’ VENGEANCE ON CREED

Date: January 30, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

A BIG scalp hiding in plain sight is that of Michael Creed but, if the agriculture minister loses his seat, which Fine Gael members fear will happen, it will be as much self-inflicted as any Fianna Fáil stratagem in Cork North-West (CNW). Creed and Cork East junior minister David Stanton moved heaven and earth two… Read more »

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Jack Chambers

FOLLOW THE MONEY

Date: January 30, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

Leo Varadkar’s two-and-a-half years as taoiseach saw him use the previously obscure ‘money message’ to block 55 pieces of legislation that had won majority Dáil support. Frustrated opposition parties last year sought to beat Vlad’s trickery by amending Dáil rules, with Fianna Fáil golden boy Jack Chambers briefly leading the charge before he mysteriously went… Read more »

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ARTHUR NUGENT’S LICENCE

Date: January 30, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

GOLDHAWK has reported elsewhere (see p5) on the bruising judgment issued by Judge Peter Kelly in the High Court in relation to an appeal lodged by the Property Services Regulatory Authority (PSRA). It turns out that the star player in the story has had his wings clipped. The appeal that ended up before the High… Read more »

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Micheál Martin

ARAMARK DROPS OUT

Date: January 30, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

Activists in Trinity College Dublin are basking in the afterglow of a victory in their fight against the on-campus presence of US food services giant Aramark, which owns posh food and clothes brand Avoca. It also operates a number of cafés in Trinners and other colleges, like the University of Limerick and UCD (see The… Read more »

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Jeffrey Donaldson

BAHRAIN AND THE DUP

Date: January 30, 2020 - Foreign Frolics

THE TWO death sentences on civil rights activists in Bahrain would be a further embarrassment to the DUP if the Irish and British media showed a real interest in human rights in the Gulf state. The Court of Appeal upheld the original sentence against Mohamed Ramadhan and Hussain Moosa a fortnight ago. Human rights groups… Read more »

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NOEL CORCORAN’S HUMANITARIAN FUND

Date: January 30, 2020 - Foreign Frolics

GOLDHAWK spotted an entity with the impressive name of The United Development Humanitarian Fund being added to the Companies Office strike-off list. This turns out to be an operation established by one Noel Corcoran, who would be best known to fans of Goldhawk as the closest financial advisor for many years to one Tony O’Reilly… Read more »

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Sarah Louise Mulligan

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE 3802

Date: January 30, 2020 - The Hot Air Brigade

Hello my fellow citizen, this is my first time running in, The General Election but it’s now time to bring about change & if your sick & tired of the Politicians we have in Dáil Éireann and you believe, we need to drain the swamp. Sarah Louise Mulligan election leaflet The sun, beginning its descent,… Read more »

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Naomi Long

THE HOLY GROUND

Date: January 30, 2020 - Northwind

The north leaves the EU on 31 January but, as with everything else about the north, it’s more complicated than that. First, the north will follow EU rules on agricultural products, animal and plant standards, and much else. Secondly, if Britain diverges from EU standards after 2021, as British Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid… Read more »

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Pa Daly

HOWLIN’S KERRY BLUES

Date: January 30, 2020 - Last Refuge

REPEATED REPORTS that Brendan Howlin and Labour expect to take 14 or 15 seats at the election can best be judged by the complete collapse of the party in what was once its main stronghold, Kerry. The party cannot find a candidate to run in the constituency that has fielded a candidate in every election… Read more »

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Regina Doherty

GREY BLUESHIRT STAFF BROWNED OFF

Date: January 30, 2020 - Last Refuge

THE Fine Gael boo-boo on pensions has angered not only grey voters – that most prolific cohort – but also grey grafters among the Fine Gael staff in Leinster House. Party chiefs recently decided, in a rather untimely pre-election present, to tell their staff that they must retire at 65. Unlike public servants and many… Read more »

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Tim Lombard

COVENEY’S CAPTAIN IN ELECTION ROW

Date: January 30, 2020 - Last Refuge

WITH Fine Gael heading for electoral defeat, the locus of the party leadership is likely to move rapidly from Dublin to Cork with traditional, rural Blueshirts preparing to replace the ‘Dublin posh boys’. But a fractious disagreement about general election candidate selection in FG’s Cork South-West (CSW) organisation has resulted in a schism in Simon… Read more »

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Betty Purcell

MARKING PAUL’S CARDS

Date: January 30, 2020 - Fit to Print?

A CLARIFICATION in the Irish Times noted recently that its article about foreign investment in Israel “involved a visit to Israel… organised and funded by the Europe Israel Press Association” (EIPA). This was not some pedantic addendum to an oversight by the paper of reference, but surrender to Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) spokesperson Betty… Read more »

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

‘FRIENDLY’ SPIES

Date: January 30, 2020 - Fit to Print?

AN INTRIGUING story appeared in the Irish Times before Christmas headlined, “Cabinet warned about threat from foreign spies”. The story referred to a defence policy review that warned of spies from “hostile states” whose activity could threaten not only national security but also Ireland’s “overall economic development”. The ‘hostile states’ are not named, according to… Read more »

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Donald Clarke

ADVERTISING SNAKE BITES

Date: January 30, 2020 - Fit to Print?

IN AN unusual departure for the Irish Times, the newspaper devoted two full-coloured broadsheet pages (pages two and three in front of the news section) to an advertisement for Sky One’s uplifting sci-fi drama, COBRA. This must have cost the high-brow Sky TV drama department the best part of €40,000, a welcome boost to the… Read more »

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Phil Hogan

CLIMATE ELECTION?

Date: January 30, 2020 - Fowl Emissions

With the fate of humanity hanging in the balance, surely this was to be climate election? Surveys show a majority of voters want climate action to be a priority. Journalists are less demanding. Some media debates have been climate-free zones. In the first leaders’ debate on Virgin Media, Pat Kenny’s only foray into the global… 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

GAS MAN PHIL HOGAN

Date: January 30, 2020 - Fowl Emissions

As Blueshirt ministers do their best to sound concerned about the climate crisis, former colleague Phil Hogan is refreshingly devoid of such virtue-signalling. Speaking in Washington, the EU’s new trade commissioner – a former Fine Gael environment minister – said the dramatic rise in US fracked gas exports to Europe was a “win-win” that was “delivering results”…. Read more »

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Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

BOG CUTTINGS 3802

Date: January 30, 2020 - Bog Cuttings

DOG ATE PENALTY NOTICE A solicitor proffered a familiar excuse for his client’s failure to pay a fixed-charge penalty notice during a hearing at Cahersiveen District Court. Defendant John Kennedy was found in an inebriated state by gardaí at the Square, Killorglin on May 26 last – his 28th birthday. He had been escorted from… Read more »

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Consuelo O’Connor

FIONA McHUGH’S OTHER INVESTOR

Date: January 30, 2020 - High Society

WITH THE denizens of leafy Dublin 6 still mourning the passing of their beloved Fallon & Byrne supermarket – sorry, food hall – and wondering where to now source quality couscous, at least they can drown their sorrows in Lenehans Bar & Grill just up the road. This is the venue opened by the face… Read more »

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Adrian Blanc

ADRIAN BLANC’S FOXROCK PILE

Date: January 30, 2020 - High Society

IF THE last couple of years were bad ones for Foxrock-based suit Adrian Blanc (also known as Adrian Le Blanc), 2020 hasn’t got off to a better start, with the High Court rejecting an appeal by him and his wife, Lucille Blanc. As a result, an order for possession by Bank of Ireland (BoI) of… Read more »

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Josepha Madigan

IN AND OUT AT THE ARTS COUNCIL

Date: January 30, 2020 - Behind the Scenes

SOME ITEMS in the recent Arts Council minutes caught Goldhawk’s eye. For example, it was noted, “There is still uncertainty over the allowable use of €1.5m of the [2020] grant voted.” The Council confirmed that this sum related to the mooted transfer of responsibility for traditional arts from the department to Merrion Square, which in… Read more »

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Siún Ní Raghallaigh

VARADKAR’S PLOT SPOILER

Date: January 30, 2020 - Behind the Scenes

THE UPWARDS trajectory continues for Troy Studios in Limerick, where Siún Ní Raghallaigh, chief executive and shareholder, has proved adept at squeezing public cash out of various sources. Some comments earlier this week by Leo Varadkar, however, may signal an unwelcome plot twist. Limerick City and County Council spent almost €8m buying the former Dell… Read more »

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Blake Lively

BLAKE LIVELY’S RHYTHM SECTION

Date: January 30, 2020 - Behind the Scenes

FANS OF The Phoenix who like their Nordic-Noir detective series may have watched the last episode of Wisting on BBC4 last week, but only those who watched through to the end credits of the Norwegian show will have spotted the surprising credit, “Produced with the support of investment incentives for the Irish film industry provided… Read more »

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Eleanor McEvoy

NEW TUNE FOR THE NCH

Date: January 30, 2020 - Behind the Scenes

IT WILL be interesting to see if culture minister Josepha Madigan looks to make a few board appointments before the new government is in place. One of the national cultural institutions where some vacancies are to be filled is the National Concert Hall (NCH), where the closing date for expressions of interest was earlier this… Read more »

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Suzanne Jackson

THE STYLE COUNSELLORS – (RTÉ 1)

Date: January 30, 2020 - ReviewsTV

THE LATEST home-produced makeover series is presented by Suzanne Jackson and Eileen Smith – described by RTÉ as “two social media sensations”. At the start of each programme, the 35-year-old fashion blogger and octogenarian Instagrammer inform viewers that “some people don’t know how to dress”. To illustrate this, they strike a dramatic pose while sharing… Read more »

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Amer Abdulaziz

PHOENIX RISES

Date: January 30, 2020 - Sport of Kings

DESPITE EXPLOSIVE allegations late last year of money laundering and using the proceeds of a crypto-currency Ponzi scheme to fund the investment of tens of millions of euro into bloodstock and racehorse purchases, it has been more or less business as usual for Phoenix Thoroughbreds. In the frontline of significant press coverage, the company’s thick-skinned… Read more »

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Brian Hughes

BRIAN HUGHES’S OPPORTUNITY

Date: January 30, 2020 - Sport of Kings

THE SAYING ‘one man’s loss is another man’s gain’ can often ring true in jump racing and the recent injury suffered by reigning champion jockey Richard Johnson is a case in point. Johnson’s setback very much leaves the door open for a changing of the guard among the top brass. Remarkably, there have only been… Read more »

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