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Kate O'Connell

Kate O’Connell’S Choir Girls

Date: April 5, 2018 - Last Refuge

KATE O’CONNELL, Simon ‘Covetous’ Coveney’s altar girl in the Fine Gael leadership contest, famously described Leo Varadkar’s supporters as “choir boys singing for their supper”. But the sororal Kate is intensely ambitious for her own political sisters, Mary and Theresa Newman, whom she has been promoting and canvassing for in an effort to create her… Read more »

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Edward Burke’s CV

Date: April 4, 2018 - Hush Hush

A good example of crisis bringing opportunity was The Irish Times publication of Dr Edward Burke’s polemic in favour of Ireland expelling a Russian diplomat and also deriding Irish neutrality as “virtuous”. The academic was described as “an assistant professor in international relations at the University of Nottingham and previously was a lecturer in strategic… Read more »

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irish-times

AIB’s Irish Times fans

Date: March 22, 2018 - Affairs of the Nation

DISREGARDING the vulgar populism so prevalent these days, The Irish Times has registered its appreciation of the sterling achievements of AIB chiefs. The paper’s business pages have AIB’s top two bosses shortlisted for gongs, top cat Bernard Byrne for its Business Person of the Year and money supremo Mark Bourke nominated as the year’s top… Read more »

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Kevin Keane

Trinity students pile on the pressure

Date: March 22, 2018 - Student Life

GOLDHAWK predicted that Trinners provost Paddy Prendergast and the College Board would have a scrap on their hands over supplemental exam fee increases – and that’s exactly what they got. The dust is beginning to settle on an exhausting week for bolshie students who managed to bring the college to the negotiating table by occupying… Read more »

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Mary Devins

ANIMUS IN COURT

Date: March 22, 2018 - Affairs of the Nation

THE legal actions being taken against giant multinational Volkswagen by Ballyhaunis solicitor Evan O’Dwyer on behalf of a dozen or so clients in the District Court in the west took a left turn recently and ended up in the High Court for judicial review. There, O’Dwyer was the subject of some criticism by Ms Justice… Read more »

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Bono

The Hot Air Brigade

Date: March 22, 2018 - The Hot Air Brigade

Makes me unutterably proud… our country entrusted to three wise men and their 21st century leader. Letter from Bono to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. The three wise men referred to are Simon Coveney, Paschal Donohoe and Martin Fraser, EXTRA.ie I may be from the east but I am not a beast. European Council president Donald Tusk… Read more »

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Karen Bradley

LONDON SAYS NO!

Date: March 22, 2018 - Bird's Eye View

WE LEARNT at least three things in the last fortnight. First, contrary to what most observers believed Sinn Féin really did want to get an executive in the north up and running. Second, contrary to what most observers believed the DUP leadership does not want to get an executive in the north up and running…. Read more »

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Catherine Noone

CATHERINE NOONE’S DÁIL AMBITION

Date: March 22, 2018 - Last Refuge

FINE GAEL Senator Catherine Noone is preparing to parachute into Dublin South-West (DSW) as a candidate at the next general election and her prospects are not as remote as might appear at first sight. Noone stood as the classic token female candidate with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in Dublin West at the last election, facilitating FG’s… Read more »

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Brendan Howlin

Brendan Howlin’s bland buddies

Date: March 22, 2018 - Last Refuge

LIMPING Labour leader Brendan Howlin appeared this week at a public meeting organised by his party on the topic of Brexit. He was joined on the panel by two political figures with whom the former public expenditure minister has a lot in common – current shadow Northern Ireland secretary Labour MP Owen Smith and ex-SDLP… Read more »

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Joe McHugh

MINISTER McHUGH’S ADVISER SUED

Date: March 22, 2018 - Fit to Print?

GREG HARKIN, special adviser to government chief whip and Junior Minister Joe McHugh, has been hunted around Government Buildings, Dublin bars and restaurants and his home base in Donegal by a law agent attempting, unsuccessfully, to serve a summons on him from John Brown. Brown is the brother of singer and former presidential candidate Dana,… Read more »

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Barry Egan’s salad days

Date: March 22, 2018 - Fit to Print?

WOW! What a wild boy Barry Egan was back in the 1980s when, as he explained recently to breathless Sindo readers, he cavorted with New Musical Express “hip, intelligent” and “brilliant writers” in those “mad, bad and crazy days at NME”. Barry’s career took an even zanier turn shortly after when he became editor of… Read more »

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Fionnan Sheahan

ABORTED INDO STORY

Date: March 22, 2018 - Fit to Print?

THE Irish and Sunday Independent have been running a campaign against their bitter rivals in The Sunday Times and its new title, The Times Ireland, for taking editorial positions on various issues from Brexit to abortion. But apart from the paradox of INM titles claiming ethical purity on such issues (see The Phoenix, 9/3/18), there… Read more »

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Donald Trump

LEO’S WINDY ‘JOKE’

Date: March 22, 2018 - Fowl Emissions

There was much to cringe over in Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s lame attempt to curry favour with US president Donald Trump during his Paddy’s Day visit to Washington by bragging about having personally lobbied to have planning permission for a windfarm near Doonbeg in Co Clare blocked. That Varadkar had to finally admit he was in… Read more »

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Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

Date: March 22, 2018 - Bog Cuttings

chip shop row lands GAA star in the soup A GAA star attacked an elderly man with his own walking stick after a row at a chip shop. Letterkenny District Court heard how Tyrone player Dean McNally of 23 Cabhan Alvinn, Pomeroy, Dungannon, Co Tyrone, along with two of his friends had been in a… Read more »

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Clare McGrath

NEW LOOK HERITAGE TRUST

Date: March 22, 2018 - High Society

THE POSITION of chief executive of the Irish Heritage Trust (IHT) is about to be filled following an advertising process. It will be interesting to see what sort of response the post attracted, given the difficulties experienced by Kevin Baird during his 12 years in situ. Having started off with a lot of fanfare, the… Read more »

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Judy Woolworth’s “public confidence”

Date: March 22, 2018 - High Society

NO DOUBT Judy Woodworth and the board of the Alfred Beit Foundation were delighted with the big spread on Russborough House in The Irish Times last weekend. The article was lavish in its praise of the Blessington property highlighting the impact of a “much needed” E1m refurbishment spend carried out during the winter closure. The… Read more »

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Belinda Strudwick

BELINDA STRUDWICK’S BIG BILLS

Date: March 22, 2018 - High Society

THE RACING of thoroughbred horses is a notoriously expensive game that only the wealthy can afford to play. One such moneybags is English property developer Roy Strudwick, who made a mint here in the good old days (and, more importantly, avoided the crash). He has been backing his wife Belinda Strudwick’s Ballygallon Stud business for… Read more »

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Unmanageable Sisters

THE UNMANAGEABLE SISTERS – ABBEY THEATRE

Date: March 22, 2018 - ReviewsTheatre

WITH INTENSE public pressure to ensure that women are sufficiently represented on stage, what easier way for theatre managers (like the Abbey’s co-director Graham McLaren) to tick the box than to employ an all-female cast of thousands, and pad the numbers tallied up by gender-equality campaigners? In this case, the women on stage number no… Read more »

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The Lodgers

THE LODGERS – DIRECTED BY BRIAN O’MALLEY

Date: March 22, 2018 - MoviesReviews

CLEARLY, going to the cinema to see an Irish film is often a risk. Much as you hope for the best there is always the sneaking suspicion that a few too many stars may have been lavished on the film by reviewers who, let it be said, don’t pay for their tickets. And so it… Read more »

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The Hoarder

THE HOARDER – JESS KIDD (CANONGATE)

Date: March 22, 2018 - BooksReviews

THE LONDON-based Irish author Jess Kidd published her well-received first novel, Himself, in 2016. Her follow-up is narrated by Mayo-born Maud Drennan, who has the unenviable job of looking after octogenarian Cathal Flood, described in his case notes as a “retired artist, mechanical engineer and dealer in curiosities”. Since his wife’s death, he has led… Read more »

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Brian Maguire

ARTS COUNCIL RESIGNATIONS

Date: March 22, 2018 - Behind the Scenes

IT IS starting to look like being a member of the Arts Council is a hazardous affair. Artist Brian Maguire has just stepped down from the board although he has the best part of a year to run on his contract, having been appointed for a five-year stint back at the end of January 2014… Read more »

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Annie Doona

FILM BOARD’S FEMALES

Date: March 22, 2018 - Behind the Scenes

NOW THAT Annie Doona’s Irish Film Board (IFB) has a recruitment campaign under way for a production and development coordinator, maybe the agency will use the opportunity to bring some gender balance to the ranks of its employees. The IFB told Goldhawk it now employs “four males and 17 females” but had no comment to… Read more »

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Jill Cousins

HUNT MUSEUM’S HUNT is OVER

Date: March 22, 2018 - Behind the Scenes

THE LONG vacant position of director and chief executive of the Hunt Museum has gone to a woman – Jill Cousin – who joins the increasingly lengthy list of female heads of state-backed cultural institutions, including the National Museum of Ireland, National Library of Ireland, Chester Beatty Library, Crawford Art Gallery, Arts Council. (What are… Read more »

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Kerrie Radcliffe

KERRI RADCLIFFE’S SUDDEN EXIT

Date: March 22, 2018 - Sport of Kings

READERS WILL recall (see The Phoenix 9/3/18) that Goldhawk was impressed by the size of the wedge chucked about by bloodstock agent Kerri Radcliffe on behalf of the free spending bloodstock investment fund, Phoenix Thoroughbreds, but also noted “the results have been slow and small to date”. Just that week, Radcliffe found herself unsaddled by… Read more »

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Ger Lyons

GER LYONS LETS LOOSE

Date: March 22, 2018 - Sport of Kings

DUNDALK RACECOURSE hosted the most valuable race held at the track recently but the €75,000 Patton Stakes – part of a new European road to the Kentucky Derby series – didn’t meet approval from some quarters, most notably trainer Ger Lyons. The race, a listed contest for three-year-olds, had historically taken place a month later… Read more »

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Michael O'Leary

CHELTENHAM’S MELON FLAVOUR

Date: March 22, 2018 - Sport of Kings

WHILE TRAINER Gordon Elliott will always be the golden boy as far as Mick O’Leary is concerned, Davy Russell and Henry De Bromhead surely sealed their employment for the foreseeable future by finally providing the airline boss with a victory in his own race, the Ryanair Chase. O’Leary has been trying to win the race… Read more »

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Peter Brant

PETER BRANT JOINS THE COOLMORE BOYS

Date: March 22, 2018 - Sport of Kings

THE FALL from grace of South African tycoon Marcus Jooste left a gap in the market for an investor to join the Coolmore triumvirate of John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith and it turns out the boys have been joined by Peter Brant. Brant’s White Birch Farm shot to prominence at various breeding stock… Read more »

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Francesca McDonagh

McDonagh needs to close gap on AIB

Date: March 22, 2018 - Moneybags

IT IS still surprising that the most prudent of Irish banks – Bank of Ireland – went into overdrive during the frenzied lending boom at the top of the property market. It needed €7bn to prevent it going under whereas fellow pillar bank AIB needed €21bn. Yet today AIB is 20% more profitable with a… Read more »

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Michael Carvill

Kenmare now set for takeover approach

Date: March 22, 2018 - Moneybags

TWO YEARS ago, Mick Carvill was facing oblivion in Kenmare Resources having lost $200m over the preceding 24 months and leaving the company in breach of all the group’s banking covenants. Only a miracle could save Kenmare, it appeared, and something close to this arrived… Read more »

Ivor Callely

Tony Gannon’s Cerberus setback

Date: March 22, 2018 - The Hot Water Brigade

INTERESTING to see Goldhawk’s old pal low-key Lucan businessman Tony Gannon popping up again recently in the Four Goldmines. The developer – who will be familiar to fans of Goldhawk for his connections to Fianna Fáil in the pre-crash days – had a day to forget in the High Court when he consented to a… Read more »

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Frank Walsh

More turbulence for windfarm investors

Date: March 22, 2018 - The Hot Water Brigade

THERE’S trouble brewing for the directors of windfarm operators Sunflower Design, now that one group of disgruntled backers has lost patience with the Mayo operation and opted to head to the Four Goldmines. Fans of Goldhawk will recall that between 2008 and 2009, Sunflower – where members of music mogul Louis Walsh’s family are heavily… Read more »

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The holiday home in Kiltoom

Athlone solicitor Cormac Lohan’s secret recording

Date: March 22, 2018 - The Hot Water Brigade

MORE woe for solicitor Cormac Lohan who has had a stressful first quarter of 2018. Not only has the Athlone legal eagle been named on the Revenue’s latest list of tax defaulters, the taxman has also moved to wind up his legal consultancy. Fans of Goldhawk will recall that Lohan – who practises as Lohan… Read more »

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Cork carpenters’ bad luck

Date: March 22, 2018 - The Hot Water Brigade

AN UNLUCKY Cork carpentry outfit was slapped with a hefty judgment by the dreaded taxman recently. Carrigaline Carpentry Services Ltd, controlled by brothers John and Brian O’Neill, had the judgment for over €1/2m registered against it last month but the two boys have had their share of bad luck in the past. Their carpentry operation… Read more »

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Liam Mulvaney’s latest setback

Date: March 22, 2018 - The Hot Water Brigade

DUBLIN developer Liam Mulvaney’s annus horribilis continues. After being sent to the slammer for 10 days last month for contempt of court, Ulster Bank has now secured summary judgment in the High Court against Mulvaney for a stomach-churning u7.5m relating to property loans granted to him between 2004 and 2010. It was reported last month… Read more »

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Matt Carthy

MATT CARTHY: SF’S NEW CROWN PRINCE

Date: March 22, 2018 - Last Refuge

THE retirement at the next election of long serving Sinn Féin TD, Caoímhghin Ó Caoláin – as weighty and formidable as Mary Lou McDonald and Pearse Doherty but less promoted by the party – is part of the transitional leadership agenda. This will, SF hopes, see a younger generation in leading positions, but it also… Read more »

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Mairead McGuinness

Fine Gael MEPs DEMAND HUGE DEFENCE SPEND

Date: March 22, 2018 - Last Refuge

THE four Fine Gael MEPs demanding an end to Irish neutrality and massive defence spending have repeatedly protested – like the lady that doth too much – that their policy document on the issue is not an official party view. Thus proposals from the four MEPs are not from FG and they are about a… Read more »

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