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Jacob Rees-Mogg

GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER

Date: February 7, 2019 - Hush Hush

MEDIA scrutiny of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s attendance at a DUP fundraiser in Ballymena last week largely focused on the comfort he gave to Ian Paisley, recently suspended from the House of Commons over his undeclared junkets to Sri Lanka. But the attendance of another controversial personality, Jamie Bryson, should have caused even the unflappable Rees-Mogg to… Read more »

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Deirdre Hopkins

PLOT TWIST AT THE IFTAS

Date: February 7, 2019 - Affairs of the Nation

THERE’S A bit of a lull among the film and TV luvvies given the disappearance from the spring calendar of the annual Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA) gong show, usually broadcast on RTÉ. Áine Moriarty is the driver of the backslapping beano, but she has just lost her co-star. The costly IFTA submission process… Read more »

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Patrick Dorgan

PATRICK DORGAN’S HIGHS AND LOWS

Date: February 7, 2019 - Affairs of the Nation

THE Law Society’s announcement of the elevation of solicitor Patrick Dorgan to its presidency contained the usual rhetoric about his credentials and his priorities for his term of office. And the statement did not fail to mention that he had been executive chair of the titanic (as in iceberg) Solicitors Mutual Defence Fund Ltd (SMDF),… Read more »

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AODHÁN Ó RÍORDÁIN’S CONSTITUENTS

Date: February 7, 2019 - Affairs of the Nation

‘PROPERTY OWNERS of Howth, unite! You have nothing to lose but your cliff views’ is Labour Party senator Aodhán Ó Ríordáin’s latest rallying cry in Dublin Bay North, where he is desperate to win back his seat. He is calling to his side an army of well-heeled suburbanites to fund a potentially pricey judicial review… Read more »

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Grainne Gallanagh

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Date: February 7, 2019 - The Hot Air Brigade

I think a lot of people who have the opinion that pageants are outdated, they haven’t really been involved in one or watched one. Miss Universe Ireland Grainne Gallanagh, Sunday Independent A vital ingredient was missing. Schmidt sensed it in the warm-up. He feared the silent moments. The general vibe. “You are talking about human… Read more »

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Maurice Quinlivan

BORDER POLL INEVITABLE

Date: February 7, 2019 - Bird's Eye View

THE LATEST Labour Force Survey Report for the north was published on 22 January by the Northern Ireland Statistical Research Agency (NISRA), a government body. It’s Protestant/Catholic ratio results are eye popping. An enormously detailed official publication, it examines all aspects of employment (and unemployment) in every part of the north. Its figures report the… Read more »

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Micheál Martin

GRAND COALITION LOOMING

Date: February 7, 2019 - Last Refuge

ENDA KENNY was not so bad after all, is the growing sentiment among certain frontbench Fianna Fáil members who are wistfully recalling his 2016 offer of a grand coalition and a rotating taoiseach. Micheál Martin’s projection of leading a rainbow coalition involving Labour, Greens, Social Democrats and Independents is a pipe dream that not even… Read more »

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Ian Paisley Jnr.

IAN PAISLEY’S FIRST CLASS TICKETS

Date: February 7, 2019 - Last Refuge

THE DUP’S Ian Paisley does not appear to be grateful for the first-class travel and accommodation enabling him to speak at Co-operation Ireland’s New York bash on the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) last February. He claimed that he obliged organisers by… Read more »

Regina Doherty

BITCHIN’ BARRY BLAMELESS

Date: February 7, 2019 - Last Refuge

LIBERAL BIGOTS and left-wing zealots have been routed by the Fine Gael national executive and former head of Young Fine Gael, Barry Walsh, with the latter being successful in his appeal last month against suspension from the party in November 2017. Some of the narrow-minded,… Read more »

Phil Hogan

VLAD PLOTS COVENEY’S EXILE

Date: February 7, 2019 - Last Refuge

INTENSE SPECULATION about Phil Hogan being a shoe-in for reappointment to the EU Commission has been largely stimulated by Big Phil himself. But unbeknownst even to himself, there is another candidate that Leo Varadkar is considering – Tánaiste and foreign minister Simon Coveney. Hogan’s cred as commissioner rests on his performance in the agriculture portfolio… Read more »

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Paddy Agnew

PADDY AGNEW’S SCOOP

Date: February 7, 2019 - Fit to Print?

THE IRISH TIMES’S parting with its 28-year Rome correspondent Paddy Agnew (or sacking, as Agnew and many colleagues argue) has led to protracted hearings at the Tribunale di Roma, Sezione Lavoro – the Italian Labour Court – (see The Phoenix, 11/1/19)). It has also led to the Sunday Independent taking full advantage of Agnew’s ‘parting’…. Read more »

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

‘INDO’ EVICTION FOLKLORE

Date: February 7, 2019 - Fit to Print?

THE print media sometimes rails against the unregulated irresponsibility of social media, but what restraints are there against the nonsense sometimes purveyed by the mainstream media? The political ‘story’ of the year so far – and hopefully for the rest of 2019 – has to be the Irish Independent’s yarn splashed across its front page… Read more »

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Tony O'Reilly Jnr.

BURN, BABY BURN

Date: February 7, 2019 - Fowl Emissions

AS IRELAND’S disastrous record on forestry comes under the spotlight again, the relevant junior minister, Andrew Doyle, seems a bit lost in the woods. The latest fuss follows campaign group Save Leitrim’s cry for help over the gradual smothering of Ireland’s least-populated county under industrial plantations of alien conifers, which are doused in toxic pesticides,… Read more »

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NOW THAT’S GAS!

Date: February 7, 2019 - Fowl Emissions

Last month Goldhawk warned of the gas industry’s attempts to bamboozle us with an evermore elaborate mix of gas types, as ad campaigns herald the era of “renewable gas” – based tenuously on the introduction into the gas network of minuscule amounts of methane from slurry (see The Phoenix, 11/01/19). As if to prove the… Read more »

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Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS

Date: February 7, 2019 - Bog Cuttings

The Guards are ‘FAT PIGS’ A 35-YEAR-OLD man who approached gardaí and started shouting insults – like “the guards are pigs, fucking pigs and fat pigs” – is due to come under the scrutiny of the probation service. Dean Vize of the Funky Skunk, apartment 1 Glengarriff Road, Bantry, was legally represented by Ray Hennessy,… Read more »

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Consuelo O’Connor

NEW OWNERS OF PETER WHITE’S FORMER PILE

Date: February 7, 2019 - High Society

THE COUPLE who made a killing on the sale last year of postal software operation Escher – Liam Church and Fionnuala Higgins – turn out to be the new owners of Peter White’s former pile on the corner of Wellington Road and Elgin Road in the heart of D4. Moneybags White offloaded the impressive house… Read more »

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Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

VAL RUTTLEDGE’S CHOCOLATE SURPRISE

Date: February 7, 2019 - Behind the Scenes

INTERESTING to see Dublin City Council (DCC) getting exercised about a plan by an arts centre to develop a property near Kilmainham Goal into a commercial venture. There was barely a peep for a number of years as the plans unfolded. The matter is in the hands of legal eagles, as highlighted by Goldhawk a… Read more »

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Deirdre Donaghy

DEIRDRE DONAGHY’S PLOT SPOILER

Date: February 7, 2019 - Behind the Scenes

THE OIREACHTAS Budgetary Oversight Committee had a recent session on tax expenditures (wake up down the back! – Ed), which uncovered some of the least-transparent areas of public spending – the tax credits and reliefs that aren’t costed in the annual budget estimates. Some consider these measures, assiduously lobbied for by industry representatives, forms of… Read more »

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Aubrey McMahon

AUBREY McMAHON’S APPEALING BEHAVIOUR

Date: February 7, 2019 - Sport of Kings

AMATEUR JOCKEY Aubrey McMahon obviously felt aggrieved over a five-day ban handed down by the race-day stewards at Tramore following his ride aboard Batcio (owned by his father, Luke McMahon) in a maiden hurdle on New Year’s Day. McMahon left no stone unturned in his approach to the appeal. The rider was ultimately unsuccessful after… Read more »

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Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum

SHEIKH MOHAMMED’S WEIGHT WATCHERS

Date: February 7, 2019 - Sport of Kings

GOLDOLPHIN, the racing entity of Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum, has had a change of heart over its heavy-handed approach to work riders. Early in the New Year, exercise riders were given notice that monthly ‘weigh-ins’ would commence and any rider weighing over 67kg would have to cease riding out and would be assigned yard duties… Read more »

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Ross Kierans

TROUBLE AT THE TOTE

Date: February 7, 2019 - Sport of Kings

HORSE RACING Ireland (HRI) recently announced the industry statistics for 2018 and, as expected, the figures pertaining to the betting sector made for unpleasant reading. There were extenuating circumstances surrounding the 33% fall in the Tote’s turnover. This was mainly because the Israeli government banned its citizens from betting into the Irish pool, but the… Read more »

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Nick Rust

NICK RUST’S ROUGH RIDE

Date: February 7, 2019 - Sport of Kings

IS THE British Horseracing Authority (BHA) – where Nick Rust cracks the whip – actually managing to bring the sport it is charged with governing and promoting into disrepute? A minor incident at Uttoxeter recently saw low-profile trainer Henry Oliver fined £140 for waving his hands at his horse, Burrenbridge Hotel, who was proving reluctant… Read more »

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Stephen Glancey

TOASTING STEPHEN GLANCEY AT C&C

Date: February 7, 2019 - Moneybags

THE DECISION by C&C to bring in Stephen Glancey and his pals from Scottish & Newcastle a decade ago, to help sort out the mess Maurice Pratt had walked the group into, looked to have backfired as a result of the disastrous €400m investment to expand C&C cider in America. It appears, however, that the… Read more »

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Jamie Heaslip

INVESTORS IN THE DARK AT PRIME ACTIVE CAPITAL

Date: February 7, 2019 - Moneybags

LATER THIS month, the Prime Active Capital (PAC) AGM will be held in Dublin and it is set to be a heated affair. Investors here, many of them Irish, have been left in the dark about a couple of odd-looking deals in recent times and the general underperformance of the company. CEO Stephen Barton has… Read more »

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Hot Water Brigade default

JONATHAN O’CONNOR’S CONDUCT

Date: February 7, 2019 - Brief Cases

SPARE A thought for Wicklow accountant Jonathan O’Connor, who has recently been whacked by the Disciplinary Tribunal of Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI). The Bray bookkeeper’s timekeeping issues had stoked the regulator’s ire, specifically in relation to the liquidation of a pair of Dublin jewellery businesses. The two companies in question were DTRM Ltd and Renaissance… Read more »

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Hot Water Brigade default

COURT ROOM DRAMA

Date: February 7, 2019 - Brief Cases

A FORMAL complaint against a senior judge is the talk of the Four Goldmines at the moment. Complaining of alleged mistreatment by a beak in the Superior Courts, a judicial assistant filed an allegation of bullying and harassment with the HR department of the Courts Service just before Christmas. Goldhawk understands that this level of… Read more »

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Ray Norton

RAY NORTON’S NEW SHOP

Date: February 7, 2019 - Brief Cases

THE bizarre Click.ie saga took another turn recently with the opening of a new shop in Dublin. This is despite the company behind the tech retailer, Cantec Office Solutions Ltd, collapsing into liquidation last April, leaving creditors out of pocket to the tune of €1.5m (see The Phoenix, 20/4/18). A raft of Cantec customers, who… Read more »

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Hugh Scully

HUGH SCULLY’S SWEET SOUNDS

Date: February 7, 2019 - Brief Cases

DUBLIN entrepreneur Hugh Scully is hitting all the right notes. Companies Office filings reveal that the former DJ recently managed to tap the coffers of several high-fliers to the tune of €350,000 for his vinyl pressing business, Dublin Vinyl, which began operating in Glasnevin last year. Before pivoting into manufacturing records, Scully was better known… Read more »

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Hot Water Brigade default

PAUL ALLEN’S LOSSES

Date: February 7, 2019 - Brief Cases

DUBLIN PR suit and lobbyist Paul Allen hasn’t been able to put a good spin on recent results at his company. Allen is a well-known operator in the capital and his website boasts testimonials from the likes of former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson and Tony Blair’s spin doctor, Alistair Campbell. Readers will also recall… Read more »

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Vogue Williams

VOGUE WILLIAMS’S NEW PARTNER

Date: February 7, 2019 - High Society

THE VERY real business of fake tan has been attracting more and more players into an increasingly crowded but lucrative market. The latest name looking to turn bronze into gold is the ubiquitous Vogue Williams, who has teamed up with a 30-something Cork moneybags. The two most high-profile players in the tan wars here are… Read more »

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Henry Fitzsimons

TAXMAN BITES HENRY FITZSIMONS

Date: February 7, 2019 - Brief Cases

THE taxman is trying to bring colourful canine trainer Henry Fitzsimons to heel. Meanwhile, the Dundalk native has just brought another case against RTÉ, who he is suing in the Four Goldmines over a 2015 radio broadcast about his controversial dog training operation. That company, Service Dogs Europe Ltd (SDE), has just had a judgment… Read more »

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Hot Water Brigade default

JERRY DONOVAN’S BUSINESS PARK

Date: February 7, 2019 - Brief Cases

THERE was some activity (of the wrong kind) at Nama developer Jerry Donovan’s Irish and European Properties Ltd (IAEP) recently. The property vehicle, a high-profile victim of the crash, has had yet another receiver appointed to it by a vulture fund, this time on foot of a 2006 Permanent TSB mortgage secured against property in… Read more »

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Elliot Hughes

PORTERHOUSE’S BRAY HANGOVER

Date: February 7, 2019 - Brief Cases

THERE was good news for craft beer fans recently when the Porterhouse group released its annual results, with accumulated profits up by over €1m, from €19m in 2016 to just over €20m at the end of February last year. One company in the group that might be cause for concern is Wavecrest Inn Ltd. This… Read more »

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Hot Water Brigade default

PATRICK MCCABE’S BANK BEEF

Date: February 7, 2019 - Brief Cases

SPARE a thought for Louth farmer and businessman Patrick McCabe Jnr, who has just had his eye wiped by AIB in the High Court. The Blakestown native is the son of Patsy McCabe and Alicia McCabe, whose row with IBRC landed them in the thick of it during the crash. Cows and cars are what… Read more »

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Maurice Manning

SECRET CENTENARY PLANS PRISED OPEN

Date: January 24, 2019 - Affairs of the Nation

THE OIREACHTAS commemoration of the first Dáil passed off without controversy, but the government’s failure to disclose, until this month, any details whatsoever about its own commemorative programme for the Troubles was remarkable. It was just 11 days before the centenary of the seminal moment in Irish democracy – the meeting of the first Dáil… Read more »

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Denis O'Brien

DINNY’S DWINDLING ASSETS

Date: January 24, 2019 - Affairs of the Nation

DENIS O’BRIEN must have been chuffed with the guesstimate of his wealth that appeared in last weekend’s Sunday Independent Rich List. The title, where he still holds a near 30% stake, didn’t focus too much on Digicel, which is the single biggest source of his reported €4.7bn wealth. But is that company worth anything at… Read more »

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