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Malachy McAllister

TRUMP OBLIGES LONDON

Date: June 18, 2020 - Hush Hush

The 1988 state-sponsored assassination attempt on Belfast man Malachy McAllister and his family is key to understanding the British government’s pursuit of McAllister and why he was finally deported from the US late last week as a “threat” to the country. Despite his INLA past in the early 1980s, McAllister clearly presents no terrorist threat… Read more »

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Drew Harris

DREW HARRIS’S ‘ABUSE OF POWER’

Date: June 18, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

THE ANNOUNCEMENT last November of yet another investigation into state collusion with loyalist murder gangs – this time the notorious Glenanne gang – saw some northern nationalists react with scepticism. Remarks on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland last week by the officer entrusted with leading the inquiry, ex-Bedfordshire Chief Constable Jon Boutcher, may not have assuaged such… Read more »

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Ivan Yates

IVAN’S HARD NECK

Date: June 18, 2020 - Fit to Print?

THE RETIREMENT of The Hard Shoulder presenter on Newstalk, Ivan Yates, was announced by the ex-Fine Gael minister in February following a settlement with AIB over his Wexford family home and is due in August when his two contracts expire. These are with Newstalk and Virgin Media One’s television programme The Tonight Show, both of… Read more »

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Simon Stokes

SIMON STOKES’S PHOTO

Date: June 18, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

GOLDHAWK SPOTTED High Court defamation proceedings lodged against the Mail on Sunday earlier this month by one Simon Stokes (no, not that one). It turns out to be a case of mistaken identity that could end up costing the Mail a few bob – and it is not the only newspaper caught in the crossfire…. Read more »

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John McGuckian

ICG SHAREHOLDERS FACING PERFECT STORM

Date: June 18, 2020 - Moneybags

IF EAMONN ROTHWELL thought that 2018 was his annus horribilis, then he ain’t seen nothing yet. Irish Continental Group (ICG) has been hit hard by the Covid-19 shutdown of the economy, but it is facing the even more daunting prospect of a potential hard Brexit. With very rough seas ahead and the shares still on… Read more »

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3812-FP

Vol. 38 No. 12

Date: June 18, 2020 -

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TENI’S FUNDING

Date: June 18, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

THANKS TO JK Rowling’s incendiary comments last week, the transgender debate got rather heated again, although here in Ireland the temperature remained relatively cool. John Boyne did dip a toe in the water, having last year been on the receiving end of a backlash to his novel, My Brother’s Name is Jessica. One of the… Read more »

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Cillian de Gascun

NPHET’S ACADEMIC MATTER

Date: June 18, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

IT’S HARD to keep everyone happy and in the snippy world of academia this is doubly true. Goldhawk is hearing grumblings about UCD’s influence at the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET). Certainly, some familiar faces from other colleges are noticeable by their absence. In April, the government unveiled the governance structure in the all-powerful… Read more »

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Michael D Higgins

ADMIRAL HIGGINS

Date: June 18, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

Gregg Bemis Jnr, American owner of the wreck of the Lusitania, (torpedoed by a German submarine off Kinsale in 1915), recently died aged 91. In his time, he ‘salvaged’ and sold the ship’s two bow anchors and thousands of other valuable items. Lax Irish marine law in those days (the 1980s) meant there was no… Read more »

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Micheal P O'Higgins

EUGENIE HOUSTON’S NEW FRONT

Date: June 18, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

AS IF barrister Eugenie Houston has not cost the Bar Council enough in recent times, she has just landed the esteemed legal eagles with another headache courtesy of a missive to Paschal Donohoe. Last year, a long-running saga involving Houston and the Bar Council saw High Court judge Michael Twomey describe many of her claims… Read more »

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Isabel dos Santos

RORY GODSON AND THE PRINCESS

Date: June 18, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

EMBATTLED BILLIONAIRE Isabel dos Santos – eldest daughter of the Angolan president of nearly 40 years, José Eduardo dos Santos – has hired Irish PR handler Rory Godson to assist in her defence against charges of fraud and money laundering on an industrial scale ($5 billion at the latest count, according to the authorities in… Read more »

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HushHush-def

DERMOT O’LEARY’S SOLUTION

Date: June 18, 2020 - Hush Hush

THE OIREACHTAS Covid-19 Committee has been presented with an exciting submission from Dermot O’Leary’s National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU), namely the extension of bus and rail travel to a 24-hour cycle. This, says the union, would see businesses trade throughout the night on a round-the-clock society in a post-Covid world. It would, of course,… Read more »

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Niall McGarry

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Date: June 18, 2020 - The Hot Air Brigade

The business is too big to fail. It plays too important a role in the Irish media scene. Niall McGarry’s detached analysis of his Joe.ie website, Irish Independent Staycation is the hottest word on the planet right now. Bobby Power of tourism publisher Go Wild, Sunday Independent I can’t walk anywhere. I mean you go… Read more »

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Boris Johnson

NEW APPROACH, SAME RESULT

Date: June 18, 2020 - Northwind

In the New Decade New Approach (NDNA) document of January, which got the parties in the north back into an executive, the British government promised to publish within 100 days legislation to implement the 2014 Stormont House Agreement (SHA) on dealing with the past. The Irish government, party to the SHA, also promised in its… Read more »

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Seamus Woulfe

GAS ‘STORIES’

Date: June 18, 2020 - Fowl Emissions

If the programme for government is green-lighted next week, it will spell the end not only for new oil and gas exploration licences, but will also make Ireland the first country in the world to ban the importation of fracked gas. The 14-year saga of Shannon LNG (first proposed in 2006 by one Micheál Martin… 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

LOBBYING THE AG

Date: June 18, 2020 - Fowl Emissions

Meanwhile, the Irish Offshore Operators’ Association is understandably less than pleased about the promise to end exploration. Its CEO Mandy Johnston – Bertie Ahern’s former press secretary – was this week trying to revive the scare story about Ireland running out of gas. Speaking to RTÉ’s Sarah McInerney, she cited attorney general Séamus Woulfe, making… Read more »

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Eamon Ryan

GURRIER GREENS VS GENTLE GREENS

Date: June 18, 2020 - Last Refuge

THE MEDIA mantra about the Greens has changed from one condemning the party for not simply capitulating to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to an attack on Catherine Martin. According to media analysis, in their quest to elect Martin as leader and reject coalition government, the new wave of Greens is like a bunch of… Read more »

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Micheál Martin

MARTIN SWEATS IT OUT

Date: June 18, 2020 - Last Refuge

THE NEUROTIC behaviour of Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin as he closes in on the long-cherished, moist dream of becoming taoiseach – at the possible expense of his party’s destruction – has been apparent to observers and participants in party negotiations for some time. As the clock ticks down to the formation of what looks… Read more »

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Frances Black

UN SECURITY COUNCIL FODDER

Date: June 18, 2020 - Last Refuge

FOREIGN MINISTER Simon Coveney’s repetitive explanation to the Irish public of the government’s refusal to enact the Occupied Territories Bill (OTB) – passed by majorities in the Dáil and Seanad – is that it could damage Ireland’s efforts to win a seat on the United Nations security council. And both Fianna Fáil and the Greens… Read more »

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Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

BOG CUTTINGS

Date: June 18, 2020 - Bog Cuttings

Rugby Tackled Roadworker A Tipperary man was arrested for rugby tackling a roadworker operating a stop/go sign outside Nenagh, Tipperary, following an altercation. James Sage of Glenacre, Ballina, Tipperary, had been flagged down by the roadworker at a controlled stop. The court heard that Sage, 50, jumped from his vehicle and proceeded to abuse the… Read more »

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

BRENDAN O’CONNOR’S REINVENTION

Date: June 18, 2020 - Fit to Print?

THE REINVENTED, caring Brendan O’Connor is beginning to grate almost as much as when he prided himself on dishing it to every vulnerable group in society. But at least RTÉ can relax a little in the knowledge that its weekend radio host is unlikely to incur serious complaints – as happened on foot of a… Read more »

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Sinead O'Connor

‘SINDO’ SENSITIVITY

Date: June 18, 2020 - Fit to Print?

WEDNESDAY’S Irish Times opinion and analysis page has recently resembled an old Sunday Independent edition, with former Sindo personalities Anne Harris and Michael McDowell dominating the section. McDowell has had a slot for some time, but Harris was filling in for resident columnist Kathy Sheridan, who returned this week after she broke her arm in… Read more »

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Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

RHA GALLERY’S ROADMAP

Date: June 18, 2020 - Behind the Scenes

THE GOOD news is that the RHA Gallery re-opens in late July, although a max of 40 visitors an hour will be permitted, with online booking required. And October 13 is the new opening date for the annual exhibition. A record-breaking 4,200 works were submitted (digitally) for this year’s 190th annual exhibition, with 700-plus chosen… Read more »

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JP McMahon

JP’S MISSING YANKS

Date: June 18, 2020 - High Society

WITH RESTAURANTS preparing to reopen at the end of the month, the owner of one Michelin-starred establishment sees little point unless the two-metre guideline is taken off the menu. JP McMahon of Aniar in Galway has long depended on American tourists to keep his acclaimed restaurant afloat but, with no chance of them returning any… Read more »

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Noelle O'Connor

NOELLE O’CONNOR’S HIGH BAR

Date: June 18, 2020 - High Society

LAST WEEK, Noelle O’Connor told the Business Post, “When Covid-19 hit last March, it felt so familiar to me. Setting up TanOrganic 10 years ago had been about reinventing myself and starting again.” Noelle rarely passes up an opportunity to remind people that her previous (spa therapy) business venture was banjaxed by the recession and… Read more »

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Kevin Lagan

BREEDON GROUP FIGURES REVEAL MASSIVE IRISH CEMENT MARGINS

Date: June 18, 2020 - Moneybags

ONE OF the bigger deals struck in this country is Kevin Lagan’s €500m cash sale of his Lagan cement, concrete and aggregates business in May 2018. The purchaser of the Lagan Group was the UK-quoted Breedon Group, a not dissimilar but larger British operation, making the enlarged group one of the biggest independent players in… Read more »

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

GOFF LALOR’S DISTRIBUTION

Date: June 18, 2020 - Briefcases

THE OFFICIAL assignee Chris Lehane has published a list of bankrupts whose estates will be distributed on July 20. One of the more interesting accounts will surely be that of Godfrey ‘Goff’ Lalor, who attracted some extra attention from Lehane recently in relation to an extension of the bankruptcy period because of questions over a… Read more »

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John Gilmartin

JOHN GILMARTIN’S CHALLENGING TIMES

Date: June 18, 2020 - Briefcases

A FINANCIAL consultant who set up a number of companies to provide business advice has seen one of them come a cropper. The good news is that, according to documents just filed in the Companies Office, it looks like he and his fellow director will not be landed with any restriction. The unsecured creditors won’t… Read more »

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Jonathan Cosgrave

JONATHAN COSGRAVE’S PROPERTY PUNT

Date: June 18, 2020 - Briefcases

A LITTLE-known company called AHC Ltd has just been the subject of a notice from its auditors about the keeping of accounting records. No doubt, high-flying fund exec Jonathan Cosgrave of Melior Private Equity is keeping an eye on developments here. AHC was incorporated back in 1996 and the latest directors are Peter and Michelle… Read more »

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Paul Blanchfield

PAUL BLANCHFIELD’S CREDITORS’ MEETING

Date: June 18, 2020 - Briefcases

A CREDITORS’ meeting has been called for a company called Frontier Entertainment Ltd, which was behind the failed theatre tourism project in the Liberties, The Vaults Live. Plenty of people were burned, including Kevin Lagan and his family, and the poor old taxpayer. It was announced at the start of this year that the ‘walk-through’… Read more »

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article-default

DERMO TO THE RESCUE?

Date: June 17, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

WITH THE hunt on for a new chief executive of the FAI, the first team players are coming in for some rough treatment from “ordinary football people”. Fans of Goldhawk will recall (see The Phoenix 13/3/20) that the recent appointment of Goodbody Stockbrokers boss Roy Barrett as chair of the FAI was part of a… Read more »

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Micheál Martin

FIANNA FÁIL FAILING

Date: June 4, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

WHY IS the media closing its eyes and ears to the ongoing implosion of Fianna Fáil as its poll figures decline in inverse ratio to Fine Gael’s ascent and while the latter continues to play with, bully even, Micheál Martin’s team in government talks? Is it because most ‘opinion formers’ are so anxious to see… Read more »

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Barry English

BARRY ENGLISH VS ‘IRISH TIMES’

Date: June 4, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

HIGH COURT defamation proceedings have been initiated by Barry English (one of Bertie Ahern’s ‘dig-out’ buddies) against the Irish Times. Curiously, the case involves a story that was not covered. Moneybags English has had a few adventures in the Four Goldmines down the years and, in 2016, was on the end of a damning ruling… Read more »

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Michael McNamara

PROFILE: MICHAEL MCNAMARA

Date: June 4, 2020 - Pillars of Society

AN IMPRESSIVE political resurrection has been effected by the newly elected Independent TD for Clare, Michael McNamara. The former Labour TD has also landed the first high-profile position of this so-far-paralysed 33rd Dáil, becoming chair of the Oireachtas special committee on Covid-19 response. Is this the limit of his ambition or is he manoeuvring for… Read more »

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Christopher O'Sullivan

YOUNG BLOOD: CHRISTOPHER O’SULLIVAN

Date: June 4, 2020 - The Young Bloods

ONCE ONE of the most consistent constituencies in the country, with a solid Fine Gael majority for most of the last 40 years, Cork South West saw new Fianna Fáil TD Christopher O’Sullivan take the sole FF seat. But the real shock was that FG dropped from an almost constant two seats out of three… Read more »

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Regina Doherty

BLUESHIRT BOSSY BOOTS

Date: June 4, 2020 - Last Refuge

A QUEUE has formed to replace long-serving Fine Gael general secretary Tom Curran, who is expected to bow out at the end of August, and political dominatrix Regina Doherty is one of the first in line. Curran, who was 65 last September, stayed on at Leo Varadkar’s behest to oversee a general election that was… Read more »

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