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Eugene McDermott

EUGENE MCDERMOTT’S ‘ABUSE OF PROCESS’

Date: June 12, 2019 - Briefcases

FORMER stud farmer Eugene McDermott has been battling a vulture fund in the Four Goldmines, but the going was heavy for the Kildare man in the Court of Appeal recently. Goldman Sachs subsidiary Ennis Property Finance is looking to recover close to €7m from McDermott and his complex legal wrangles have garnered plenty of media… Read more »

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Arkady Etingen

AARON ETINGEN’S COLLEGE BLUES

Date: June 12, 2019 - Briefcases

GOLDHAWK recently spotted some activity at IBAT Ltd, the trading entity behind the Dublin-based private college of the same name, and it looks like the owners have some swotting to do. The Temple Bar-based company has just filed a troubling set of accounts for 2018, while its Netherlands-anchored parent company, Global University Systems (GUS) –… Read more »

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Catherine Wiley

GOD AND MAMMON AND ACCOUNTS

Date: June 12, 2019 - Briefcases

CONGRATULATIONS to the board of the Catholic Grandparents Association Ltd (CGA) who have moved to prevent it being struck off the Companies Register for failing to file accounts. The bad news is that, when it comes to the tricky subject of mammon, things could be a little better. The CGA was founded in 2003, by… Read more »

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Siian Smyth and David McWilliams

DAVID MCWILLIAMS’S BOOKS

Date: June 12, 2019 - Briefcases

FANS OF self-styled “economist, author and broadcaster” David McWilliams (see p5) will presumably be making their way to south County Dublin this weekend for his Dalkey Book Festival, now in its 10th year. While assorted writers will be on hand to discuss their musings to fans of fiction and non-fiction, it turns out that there… Read more »

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VLAD’S OPTIMISM

Date: June 12, 2019 - Affairs of the Nation

LEO VARADKAR told his parliamentary party last week that he wants, nay expects, that Fine Gael will have a complement of at least 10, and hopefully 12, seats more than Fianna Fáil after the general election. Vlad explained that he requires this kind of leverage if he is to possess the political authority needed to… Read more »

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HushHush-def

STAKEKNIFE INQUIRY BLUNTED

Date: June 12, 2019 - Hush Hush

This week’s news of a legal challenge to Operation Kenova (the ‘Stakeknife’ inquiry), by the family of murdered Belfast pensioner Francisco Notarantonio, leaves the inquiry exposed as the window dressing it essentially is. Kenova, set up in 2016 to investigate the activities of Fred Scappaticci – the British Army’s so-called ‘Stakeknife’ spy in the IRA… Read more »

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

SOOTHING SHANE ROSS

Date: June 12, 2019 - Fit to Print?

THE Sunday Independent stood by its long-time journalist, now sports minister, Shane Ross, last weekend, allowing him much space to vindicate his effort to bask in Katie Taylor’s glory at Dublin Airport. Ross affected the manner of a star-struck teenager in Katie’s presence and described how meeting her was a “moment of poignancy”. He also… 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

MIXED WEATHER AT MONTROSE

Date: June 12, 2019 - Fowl Emissions

RTÉ treated us to the very best – and worst – in environmental programming in recent weeks. On the plus side, RTÉ Investigates detailed decades of scandalous environmental negligence by ESB Networks. This included the brazen unreported leaking of around a million litres of oil from underground power cables, revealing a culture of corporate impunity…. Read more »

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Consuelo O’Connor

BERNARD KIRK’S BOARD

Date: June 12, 2019 - High Society

WITH THE recent departure of a couple of directors, the board of Philanthropy Ireland (PI) is looking a little light in numbers, with up to six vacancies now existing. It looks like it’s time for the Irish Medicis to step up. The current board of PI is chaired by Bernard Kirk – a former primary… Read more »

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Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

PETER AIKEN’S CHARGE

Date: June 12, 2019 - Behind the Scenes

WITH THE musical festival season in full flow post-Slane, the focus now moves to other big shindigs such as Electric Picnic, Body and Soul, Longitude and the new kind on the block, All Together Now in Curraghmore House, Co Waterford. The latter was the brainchild of promoter John Reynolds (who died last year) and proved… Read more »

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HAVANA HEAT

Date: June 12, 2019 - Briefcases

SWORDS LASER treatment clinic Havana Therapy Ltd is having some trouble with the local authority. Fingal County Council slapped the company, controlled by father and son duo Keith and Gary Hogan, with a small judgment for just over €8,000. It’s the second time in 12 months that the company has fallen foul with the council… Read more »

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NICHOLAS O’CONNOR’S TAX BILL

Date: June 12, 2019 - Briefcases

FORMER Wexford accountant Nicholas O’Connor has had yet another tax judgment registered against him, this time for just over U6,000. The ex-number cruncher will be familiar to fans of Goldhawk for his various run-ins with the taxman and also the Chartered Accountants Regulatory Board (CARB), which excluded him from membership of Chartered Accountants Ireland last… Read more »

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VIRGINIA KEOGH’S PETITION

Date: June 12, 2019 - Briefcases

INTERESTING to see a High Court petition being lodged earlier this month by the main shareholder in profitable Limerick property company Willowhurst Developments Ltd. She is seeking to wind up the company and the petition will be heard on July 8 next. Willowhurst Devs was incorporated in 1993 to develop sites in Co Limerick. The… Read more »

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Lara Marlowe

IAN BAILEY: ‘L’HEURE DE VÉRITÉ’?

Date: May 29, 2019 - Affairs of the Nation

THE WIDESPREAD, public atmosphere of blood lust in France against Ian Bailey, the alleged murderer of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, ratcheted up in the period before Bailey’s Paris trial in absentia with various articles proclaiming his guilt. Paris Match, Crimo Corpus (a legal/criminal journal) and national radio station RTL all proclaimed the apparently unanswerable case… Read more »

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Denis Desmond

PROFILE: DENIS DESMOND

Date: May 29, 2019 - Pillars of Society

WITH THE summer cycle of superstar rock gigs and music festivals set to kick off next month, MCD will be the biggest act by some way. Fronted by Denis Desmond – who controls the Irish concert promotion juggernaut along with his estranged wife Caroline Downey Desmond – MCD will dominate the sector as always. However,… Read more »

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Hugh O'Connell

YOUNG BLOOD: HUGH O’CONNELL

Date: May 29, 2019 - The Young Bloods

Like a promising football team that falls short of winning promotion to the top flight, the Sunday Business Post is having its starting line-up picked apart by its deep-pocketed rivals. The latest star player to be poached from Merrion Road is political correspondent Hugh O’Connell (31), who will join the Irish Independent next month under… Read more »

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Maria Bailey

MARIA BAILEY: NOT THE REAL TARGET

Date: May 29, 2019 - Last Refuge

THE FURORE created by Michael McDowell’s attack on Dún Laoghaire TD Maria Bailey and her compo case over that fall from a hotel swing may have masked just who McDowell’s real target is. McDowell’s carefully calibrated strike against Bailey relies on the disdain felt by Fine Gael voters at gurriers from the lower orders engaging… Read more »

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Frank and Theresa McNamara

FRANK AND THERESA McNAMARA’S ADVENTURES

Date: May 29, 2019 - High Society

THIS WEEK saw the return to court of the proceedings by a culture fund, Apollo Global, against one-time ‘celebrity’ couple Frank and Theresa McNamara, with the Yanks seeking to force the sale of the couple’s Co Meath home-cum-recording studio. This is the latest challenge for the musician (former Late Late Show pianist) and ex-PD general… Read more »

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Mary-Lou McDonald

SINN FÉIN MELTDOWN

Date: May 29, 2019 - Affairs of the Nation

MARY LOU MCDONALD had no forewarning of Sinn Féin’s electoral catastrophe in the opinion polls. Red C had SF consistently around the 13%-14% mark, while other polls put them closer to 20%. In the event, the party scored less than 10% in the locals and not much over 10% in the Europeans. There are some… Read more »

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Kyran McLaughlin

JANE’S STRAY HORSES

Date: May 29, 2019 - High Society

A COMPANY called Animal Security Ltd has been quietly dissolved. The name may not be too familiar to readers, but it previously operated under the name Cantor Equine and held lucrative contracts with the Dublin local authorities for the control of stray and abandoned horses. The woman in the saddle here is Jane McLaughlin, daughter… Read more »

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Sharon Horgan

SHARON HORGAN’S LATEST PAYDAY

Date: May 29, 2019 - Behind the Scenes

AS THE annual Cannes film junket (which featured a rare Irish success) came to a close on Sunday, it coincided with the arrival of Screen Ireland’s first-quarter gravy train. James Hickey, about to exit as SI’s chief executive, got a going away present from Cannes in the form of a gong awarded in the Critics’… Read more »

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Olga Shajaku

OLGA SHAJAKU’S LATEST VICTORY

Date: May 29, 2019 - Briefcases

MORE GOOD news for Goldhawk’s favourite Russian lawyer, Olga Shajaku, who got a good result from the Supreme Court last week, which means her long-running efforts to reverse the awarding of a contract to a competitor have paid off. Earlier this year, Shajaku sent a shot across the bows of Paschal Donohoe’s Department of Public… Read more »

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vol37-no11 cover image

Vol 37 No 11

Date: May 29, 2019 -

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Seán Kelly

GAS MAN KELLY

Date: May 29, 2019 - Affairs of the Nation

As Blueshirt MEP Seán Kelly returns to Brussels for a third term, he might want to reconsider his zealous support for Shannon LNG, the enormous gas import terminal in north Kerry that would turn Ireland into a pipeline for US fracked gas into Europe (see The Phoenix, 21/09/18). This fossil fuel behemoth is looking evermore… Read more »

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Saoirse McHugh

GREEN WAVE OR RIPPLE?

Date: May 29, 2019 - Affairs of the Nation

WILL THE green wave translate into more Green TDs? And if Eamon Ryan leads the party into another coalition with a right-wing party, can that bring about the ‘system change’ demanded by the radical movement that set this wave in motion? A cautionary little detail is that, despite the initial hype, the Greens actually polled… Read more »

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Maria Bailey

MARIA BAILEY’S DILEMMA

Date: May 29, 2019 - Affairs of the Nation

DÚN LAOGHAIRE TD Maria Bailey and Fine Gael have pretty much talked themselves into inevitable suspension of the Dáil deputy, which will lead to a dilemma if the general election is held in the next few months. The next meeting of the Fine Gael executive council will most likely set up a sub-committee to inquire… Read more »

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Josephine Feehily

FEEHILY FIGHTS ON

Date: May 29, 2019 - Affairs of the Nation

YOU CAN see why An Garda Síochána and the justice department want rid of the Policing Authority – chaired by the formidable Josephine Feehily – which is to be subsumed (handcuffed) into a new Policing and Community Safety Oversight Commission (PCSOC). Justice minister Charlie Flanagan gave an unqualified endorsement to the Commission on the Future… Read more »

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ÁINE MORIARTY’S DELAYED RELEASE

Date: May 29, 2019 - Affairs of the Nation

EARLIER THIS year (see The Phoenix, 8/2/19), Goldhawk raised the ghastly spectre of a hiatus in Áine Moriarty and Deirdre Hopkins’s annual red carpet luvviethon, the Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTAs). Co-star Hopkins had taken a job with BAFTA in London late last year and, instead of the 2019 IFTA nominations process cranking into… Read more »

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Freddie Scappaticci

STAKEKNIFE INQUIRY COLLAPSE

Date: May 29, 2019 - Hush Hush

The underwhelming response to the selection of Simon Byrne as the PSNI’s new chief constable shows that the media missed two bigger stories in relation to the appointment. Firstly, as an Englishman and former head of Cheshire Police, Byrne is one of the few outsiders to become PSNI supremo. So, despite the caterwauling about her… Read more »

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Robert Nairac

CAPTAIN NAIRAC’S REPUTATION

Date: May 29, 2019 - Hush Hush

THE CAMPAIGN to sanitise the reputation of British Army undercover operative Captain Robert Nairac, shot dead and disappeared by the IRA in 1975, continues. The Irish Times recently reported assurances from the head of the commission for recovery of ‘disappeared’ Troubles victims, Geoff Knupfer, that Nairac had not been involved in a catalogue of collusion… Read more »

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Simon Coveney

COVENEY’S MIDDLE EAST CHARADE

Date: May 29, 2019 - Foreign Frolics

WHAT A deafening silence there has been from foreign minister Simon Coveney on the Middle East “deal of the century”, produced by Donald Trump’s son-in-law and advisor, Jared Kushner. The tánaiste, normally so voluble on the subject, has remained mute on the plan, despite referring in the Dáil last November to his “good relationship” with… Read more »

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Maria Bailey

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Date: May 29, 2019 - The Hot Air Brigade

I grew up on the sideline of a GAA pitch. I play fair, I don’t play offside. Fine Gael TD Maria Bailey on Today with Sean O’Rourke Friday’s elections for the European Parliament are all about survival. Not the Darwinian struggle for the survival of the fittest politician, but the survival of our species. Fintan… Read more »

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Naomi Long

REMAINERS 2 — BREXIT 1

Date: May 29, 2019 - Bird's Eye View

AS PREDICTED (see The Phoenix, 17/5/19), if Alliance leader Naomi Long got ahead of SDLP leader Colum Eastwood and/or the UUP’s Danny Kennedy, she would be elected MEP. Secondly, the election in the north would be about Brexit. So it turned out, but in much more spectacular fashion than anyone imagined. Long polled 105,928 first-preference… Read more »

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Seamus Mallon

SEAMUS MALLON VS JOHN HUME

Date: May 29, 2019 - Affairs of the Nation

SEAMUS MALLON’S “parallel consent” proposal for a United Ireland – aka a new, super-unionist veto – is the political love child of his fraught relationship with St John Hume. As Squire Hockey, Sir Garret Fitzgerald and all the Anglo-Irish players since the 1980s knew, Mallon’s malevolence towards Hume was what always informed his political choices…. Read more »

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Olivia Buckley

OLIVIA BUCKLEY VS SHANE ROSS

Date: May 29, 2019 - Last Refuge

FIANNA FÁIL’S local election results in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown will have given Micheál Martin much to consider as it has put a question mark over two strong female candidates at the general election for Dún Laoghaire and Dublin Rathdown. Cllr Shay Brennan may have put down a marker, perhaps temporarily, against the intended parachuting of ex-Fianna… Read more »

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Maria Walsh

MARIA WALSH’S MILITARISM

Date: May 29, 2019 - Last Refuge

IT WAS a close-run thing in the end for Fine Gael EU candidate Maria Walsh in Midlands North West and her gung-ho military-style soundbytes certainly boosted her campaign. But despite her “Steyr rifle in one hand and Rose of Tralee sash in the other” quote and her demand for further EU integration of the Defence… Read more »

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