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Leo Varadkar

THE NEXT GOVERNMENT

Date: May 29, 2019 - Last Refuge

NOW FOR the real election. Both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil (along with desperate pleas from Labour leader Brendan Howlin) posit the prospects of either big party cobbling together a government majority along with Labour, Greens, Social Democrats and Independents. But a glance at the likely arithmetic of the next Dáil shows that such a… Read more »

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Tom Lyons

PRESS COUNCIL — SECRET INFO

Date: May 29, 2019 - Fit to Print?

WHAT AN intriguing postscript at the end of last weekend’s Sunday Business Post’s publication of the Press Council’s rejection of its appeal against an adverse ruling. The council had ruled in favour of RTÉ’s Ken O’Shea, who as current affairs editor was held responsible by RTÉ in the matter of that infamous tweet supposedly from… Read more »

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

MEDIAHUIS SPANNER IN IT WORKS

Date: May 29, 2019 - Fit to Print?

THE IRISH TIMES gave the Mediahuis takeover of INM a guarded endorsement, saying the new owners offered a fresh start for the group and that, on paper, it looked like a “smart deal” for the Belgians. The “paper” reference was unlikely to have been a deliberate pun, but the IT had been gratified at what… Read more »

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Claire Byrne

RTÉ’S POLITICAL PRIORITIES

Date: May 29, 2019 - Fit to Print?

WHILE RTÉ’S coverage of the election counts was up to its usual high standard, the scheduling of EU election debates – easily the most watchable TV political coverage – was regarded by Montrose programmers as baffling. The first debate, hosted by Murrium O’Callaghan, was broadcast at 10.30pm on Sunday night, just as many middle-aged and… Read more »

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Marian Finucane

CLIMATE SPEAK

Date: May 29, 2019 - Fowl Emissions

  If rhetoric could reduce emissions, Ireland would by now be a world leader rather than laggard. The ‘green wave’ hype of recent days meant that politicians used to tagging on platitudes about ‘the environment’ at the end of interviews have found themselves under sustained attack from a media, which has, suddenly and in unison,… 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

CONOR SKEHAN’S ‘SCIENCE’

Date: May 29, 2019 - Fowl Emissions

While climate denial has become a mug’s game, a new variant has emerged, which is to deny that biodiversity loss and ecological collapse is actually occurring. Architect, former housing agency chief and all-purpose curmudgeon Conor Skehan is the latest to weigh in on this topic. Despite zero science qualifications, Skehan (another RTÉ favourite) was invited… Read more »

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Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

BOG CUTTINGS

Date: May 29, 2019 - Bog Cuttings

Priest chased by camper van man A PRIEST in Newtownards, Co Down, was forced to flee from an intoxicated man following a “bizarre” attempted attack. CCTV footage shows Fr Roland Colhoun walking past a camper van belonging to the man on the Strabane Road before being chased by the individual, shouting defamatory insults. Local Sinn… Read more »

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Consuelo O’Connor

BRIAN RANALOW’S INVESTMENT

Date: May 29, 2019 - High Society

INTERESTING to see Dublin moneybags and artist Brian Ranalow investing a wedge of cash in Genos Investments Ltd this month. Genos is a big shareholder in Hanpak Ltd, the innovative packaging company set up by self-described serial entrepreneur Tom McLoughlin. One of its products is the Butterfly Cup, a revolutionary lidless disposable paper cup for… Read more »

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Henry Beeby

GOOD NEWS FOR HENRY BEEBY

Date: May 29, 2019 - Sport of Kings

NOEL HAYES must be one of the luckiest owners in the game and has struck gold again through his Sunday Racing Club with the sale of the two-year-old Sunday Sovereign. The Paddy Twomey-trained colt holds the distinction of winning the first race staged at the newly opened Curragh and, such was the impression that he… Read more »

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Brendan Duke Adrian Murray Mick Bailey

CURRAGH GOLD CUP LOSING ITS GLITTER

Date: May 29, 2019 - Sport of Kings

WITH THREE Group 1 races on the card, the Irish Guineas Festival is of the highest class, but the newly refurbished Curragh is in danger of one of those Group 1 races – the Tattersalls Gold Cup – losing its top-level status and being demoted to a Group 2 contest. The European Pattern Committee sets… Read more »

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Luke Comer Ban

LUKE COMER CASHES IN

Date: May 29, 2019 - Sport of Kings

MONEYBAGS Luke Comer enjoyed probably his finest moment as a trainer when Raa Atoll pulled off a well-executed plan in winning a Group 2 race in Berlin recently. There are many elements that add significance to this event for Comer, among them the fact the 2-mile Oleaner Rennen outing at Hoppegarten racecourse was sponsored by… Read more »

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Seamie Heffernan

HEFFERNAN’S NOT SO ROUGH RIDE

Date: May 29, 2019 - Sport of Kings

BALLYDOYLE stalwart Seamie Heffernan is having quite a lean season by his standards, having yet to get to double-figure winners, but there was definitely a case of one result that just might have gone his way recently if the circumstances had been different. Heffernan was aboard Harpo Marx for his boss Aidan O’Brien at Leopardstown… Read more »

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Sandra Thorpe

SELINA CARTMELL’S OLD SHOWS

Date: May 29, 2019 - Behind the Scenes

NEXT WEEK sees the return to the Gate of the hit show at the northside theatre, Roddy Doyle’s The Snapper. Given it had a near three-month run only a year ago, this represents fairly staid programming by the widely praised Gate supremo Selina Cartmell, following directly on from an underwhelming version of a Gate staple,… Read more »

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Sheikh Mohammad Al Zubair

AMINEX SHARES FAIL TO REFLECT POTENTIAL IN TANZANIA

Date: May 29, 2019 - Moneybags

AMINEX HAS farmed out the development of its gas discovery in Tanzania with a $105m development deal, wherein it is fully carried through to full production and looking at a potential distributable annual $40m net cash flow in two years. The stock market has, however, responded in a contradictory manner, with the share price falling… Read more »

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Carl McCann

TOTAL PRODUCE’S DOLE PROBLEM

Date: May 29, 2019 - Moneybags

INVESTORS IN Total Produce would be forgiven for not getting the full picture from the 2018 annual report. The acquisition of only a 45% stake (so far) of the giant Dole fruit business means the results do not have to be fully consolidated. As a result, missing from the picture are Dole’s huge borrowings, which… Read more »

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Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

PAT MOYLAN’S GRANT

Date: May 29, 2019 - Behind the Scenes

CONGRATULATIONS to former Arts Council chair Pat Moylan who is again to tour her smash hit show, Angela’s Ashes The Musical, two years after it packed the punters in during its Irish tour. The good news is that this time around the tour has extended to the UK and has managed to land a €35,000… Read more »

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Conor Mallaghan

CLOCK TICKING FOR CHOCKABLOCK

Date: May 29, 2019 - Briefcases

THE COMPANY that was behind the impressive Carton House estate in Co Kildare – Chockablock Ltd – is to be the subject of a creditors’ meeting next month. The main players here are the Mallaghan family and Carton Development Partnership. The Mallaghans took ownership of Carton House back in 1977 and later joined forces with… Read more »

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Peter Frankhauser

THOMAS COOK’S HAPLESS INVESTORS

Date: May 29, 2019 - Briefcases

GOLDHAWK was interested to spot that among the casualties in the Thomas Cook Group share meltdown is the pension fund of the Northern Ireland Local Government Office (NILGO), which has been investing heavily in the hapless travel company. Over £1.5bn has been wiped off the share price of Thomas Cook over the last year and… Read more »

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Richard Spence

RICHARD SPENCE’S SALON SETBACK

Date: May 29, 2019 - Briefcases

THINGS HAVE turned ugly for Beautifi, the beauty technology outfit established by Richard Spence a few years ago to ‘revolutionise’ the salon booking experience. While the company had plans to invade Europe, it has instead collapsed into liquidation. Beautifi was a website that enabled salons with no web presence to handle appointments online. It quickly… Read more »

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article-default-hot-water

RED INK AT PINK SANDS

Date: May 29, 2019 - Briefcases

THE REVENUE has registered a judgment against a company called Pink Sands Property Investments Ltd, which has form when it comes to this sort of thing. The Pink Sands name evokes images of sunny climes, which is apt given the links of the principal, Maria Fearon, with the United Arab Emirates property market. Pink Sands… Read more »

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Denis Desmond

DENIS DESMOND’S INVESTMENTS

Date: May 29, 2019 - Briefcases

IN THIS issue, Goldhawk profiles promoter extraordinaire Denis Desmond, who has quite a varied array of investments. While some are connected to MCD’s area of expertise, DD has also found other places to stuff his moolah. The results have been mixed. One venture in a spot of bother is SSV.TV, which was previously known as… Read more »

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Clare Daly

LABOUR TARGETS CLARE DALY

Date: May 16, 2019 - Affairs of the Nation

THAT Irish Times poll, which showed Labour EU Dublin candidate Alex White (8%) within spitting distance of Green candidate Ciarán Cuffe (9%) and left Independent Clare Daly (10%), sent a shiver of excitement through Labour HQ. So, too, did the poll showing the Labour Party at the dizzy heights of 7% nationally (and higher still… Read more »

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CASEY STILL BENT ON DÁIL

Date: May 16, 2019 - Last Refuge

RIVALS OF Sinn Féin MEP Matt Carthy have harped on his intention to run for a Cavan-Monaghan seat in the Dáil, regardless of whether he retains his European Parliament seat in Midlands North West (MNW). But what of Independent candidate Peter Casey, who looks as though he is using his EU campaign in MNW as… Read more »

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Ciarán Cuffe

PROFILE: CIARÁN CUFFE

Date: May 16, 2019 - Pillars of Society

WITH CLIMATE catastrophe nigh and finally impinging itself on the popular Irish consciousness, can the Green Party revive itself politically? In particular, can the serious and energetic, but charisma-free councillor, Ciarán Cuffe, take a Dublin seat in the European Parliament? The Greens may have largely shaken off the nightmarish memory of their government coalition with… Read more »

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Peter Horgan

YOUNG BLOODS: PETER HORGAN

Date: May 16, 2019 - The Young Bloods

When Brendan Howlin said recently that his moribund Labour Party needed “a new beginning” on Cork City Council (CCC), he wasn’t exaggerating. After a calamitous showing in 2014, in which all seven sitting Labour councillors lost their seats, the party has put forward a slate of fresh-faced debutantes like Peter Horgan (30) to attempt resuscitation…. Read more »

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Maura Derrane and Daithí Ó Sé

RTÉ’S COMPLIANCE CONCERNS

Date: May 16, 2019 - Behind the Scenes

FANS OF Irish daytime TV will be familiar with Today with Maura and Daithí, fronted by the dream team of Maura Derrane and Daithí Ó Sé. This is the daily, two-hour, RTÉ One show that “brings you the latest showbiz news, comment and opinion, Ireland’s biggest giveaways, inspirational fashion tips and recipes”. However, according to… Read more »

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Lisa Duffy

LISA DUFFY’S CREDITORS MEETINGS

Date: May 16, 2019 - Briefcases

GOLDHAWK NOTES that two companies in the Cari’s Closet retails fashion group are being wound up, with creditors’ meetings due to be held next week for Cari’s Closet Cork Ltd and Cari’s Closet Malahide Ltd. These are part of the high-profile group established by Lisa Duffy. Last year was an eventful one for Duffy, who… Read more »

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BERNIE MADOFF’S IRISH FEEDER FUND

Date: May 16, 2019 - Briefcases

OVER A decade after details emerged about the huge Ponzi scheme operated by US fraudster Bernie Madoff, a filing in the Companies Office here sheds some light on the current status of Thema International Fund (TIF), the company behind a so-called Irish ‘feeder fund’ established in Dublin to tap wealthy European investors eager to get… Read more »

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John Arkins

TARGETING JOHN ARKINS

Date: May 16, 2019 - Affairs of the Nation

IT IS more than a year since Screen Ireland chief executive James Hickey told a Joint Oireachtas Committee that a forum on industrial relations issues in the film and TV business would be organised. The issues were brought to the fore at the committee by John Arkins of the Irish Film Workers Association (IFWA) and… Read more »

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Bella Huddart

BELLA HUDDART’S SOFT PILLOWS

Date: May 16, 2019 - High Society

READERS OF The Irish Times were given a crash course this month in how to short-let a property by making it “stand out from the crowd”. One of the experts featured was one Arabella Wauchope Huddart (aka Bella), who highlighted the attractions of Sandbrook House, an 18th-century pile on 25 acres on the Carlow/Wicklow border…. Read more »

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Baz Ashmawy

WINGMAN – RTÉ ONE

Date: May 16, 2019 - ReviewsTV

THE LATEST Baz Ashmawy vehicle got off to a typically improbable start when the manic-eyed presenter assured viewers that, “with the right help, anything is possible”. This new exercise is depressingly similar to his hit show 50 Ways To Kill Your Mammy – a huge commercial success thanks to Sky’s involvement. There’s no doubt that… Read more »

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Stephen Vernon

GREEN REIT SALE DOESN’T MAKE SENSE

Date: May 16, 2019 - Moneybags

THE ANNOUNCEMENT by Steve Vernon on April 15 that the Green Reit board “has taken a decision to initiate a process for the sale of the company or its portfolio of assets” came as a real surprise. What should happen now, rather than selling out, is that the board of Green Reit should remove Vernon… Read more »

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Volume 37 Issue 10

Date: May 16, 2019 -

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Chris Goodey

SEX’N’DRUGS’N’ROCK’N’ROLL

Date: May 16, 2019 - Affairs of the Nation

ONE FEELS sure that Chris Goodey will be able to sort out that contretemps with the National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP) – of which he is chief executive – given that he usually manages to deal with financial travails and other misunderstandings. Goodey’s career as a publisher and business consultant has been rich and… Read more »

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Jonathan Graham

JONATHAN GRAHAM’S BOXING BOUTS

Date: May 16, 2019 - Affairs of the Nation

WHILE HE has been busy on the campaign trail in the Palmerstown-Fonthill ward in South County Dublin, Fianna Fáil councillor Jonathan Graham may have been distracted by a recent knockout in a Circuit Court defamation case. This was not the first controversial bout featuring the former Sinn Féin councillor. Boxer Stephen Carroll claimed in court… Read more »

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Roisin Shortall

SOC DEM ASYLUM

Date: May 16, 2019 - Affairs of the Nation

SOCIAL DEMOCRAT candidates have been campaigning energetically in the elections but, behind the scenes, the row over local election candidate Ellie Kisyombe still festers. The spat between the leadership and Kisyombe’s supporters is part of a larger struggle between Róisín Shortall and Dublin MEP candidate Gary Gannon (see The Phoenix, 8/3/19). Gannon went one-up when… Read more »

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