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Colm Keaveney

KEAVENEY V IRISH TIMES

Date: May 3, 2018 - Fit to Print?

PRESS Ombudsman Peter Feeney is refusing to deal with ex-TD Colm Keaveney’s complaint against The Irish Times coverage of his travails and truce with Denis O’Brien. O’Brien dropped his libel action against Keaveney while the latter swore an affidavit alleging that Declan Ganley was the… Read more »

Denis Naughten

WHAT SHELL KNEW

Date: May 3, 2018 - Fowl Emissions

When Shell took over Corrib Gas in 2002, it surely did not foresee the resistance that would delay the project for more than a decade, nor imagine that 16 years later it would be defending a court action aimed at stopping the project. This lack of clairvoyance contrasts starkly with the company’s remarkable ability, way… Read more »

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DENIS NAUGHTEN’S COFFEE BREAK

Date: May 3, 2018 - Fowl Emissions

Denis Naughten had a lot on his mind recently, with the fuss over his call with an INM lobbyist, but that doesn’t excuse his strange decision to exempt “compostable” coffee cups from his proposed “latte levy” on single-use coffee cups. Actually, now that we know of his willingness to take calls from vested interests, the… Read more »

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Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS

Date: May 3, 2018 - Bog Cuttings

“Do your fucking job!” A KERRYMAN has been jailed for two months at Tralee District Court for assaulting a Tesco employee while on a suspended sentence. Trevor Wall, 22 Woodvale, Foynes, was charged with assault on the staff member and with taking bottles of cider from Garvey’s SuperValu in Tralee on three separate occasions on… Read more »

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BIG PLANS FOR WESTPORT HOUSE

Date: May 3, 2018 - High Society

INTERESTING to see the extent of the plans being drawn up by Cathal, Owen and Harry Hughes, principal owners of Westport House since last year’s surprise purchase. Westport House was understood to have cost the Hughes boys around €10m, before taking into account the huge refurbishment and expansion plans now on the table for the… Read more »

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Grainne Ross

NO DANCING AT THE DYLAN

Date: May 3, 2018 - High Society

ONE OF the more high profile celebrity haunts in Dublin 4 is the “boutique” Dylan Hotel off Upper Baggot Street, developed in the good times by property moguls and ‘Maple 10’ member, Seamus Ross. The hotel has attracted the likes of Kylie Minogue and is used by RTÉ for celebrities. Along with various ventures of… Read more »

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Dan Gordon

ASSASSINS – GATE THEATRE

Date: May 3, 2018 - ReviewsTheatre

“EVERY NOW and then the country goes a little wrong,” says one of the classically understated line in Stephen Sondheim’s musical about the killers and would-be killers of US presidents. Nearly 30 years after its premiere – with an incompetent megalomaniac in the White House, regular incidents of violence involving the police and citizens alike,… Read more »

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Eva Birthistle

THE DELINQUENT SEASON – DIRECTED BY MARK O’ROWE

Date: May 3, 2018 - MoviesReviews

ON THE face of it there’s not a lot wrong with The Delinquent Season, playwright Mark O’Rowe’s first film as a director, having previously written screenplays brought to the big screen by the likes of John Crowley (Intermission) and Ian Fitzgibbon (Perrier’s Bounty). Actually, it’s only because there’s a good deal right with The Delinquent… Read more »

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Silence Under a Stone

SILENCE UNDER A STONE – NORMA MacMASTER (DOUBLEDAY IRELAND)

Date: May 3, 2018 - BooksReviews

SET MOSTLY in the early 20th century in a remote and introspective Co Cavan, this slow-paced story centres on Harriet Campbell whose unfulfilled life is drawing to a close. After a strict religious upbringing that moulded her character and gave her a foundation of intolerance, she is married off at 16 to a local middle-aged… Read more »

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Cathy Brady

BACK ON THE GRAVY TRAIN

Date: May 3, 2018 - Behind the Scenes

FOLLOWING HOT on the heels of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland’s hand-out to the TV production sector comes the release by Annie Doona’s Irish Film Board of its first quarter list of “loans”. This round of IFB funding is notable for being the first with the €100,000 “female funding” top-up for feature films written and… Read more »

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Barry Geraghty

WINNERS AND LOSERS AT PUNCHESTOWN

Date: May 3, 2018 - Sport of Kings

THE PUNCHESTOWN festival was always going to be exciting this year with the Willie Mullins/Gordon Elliott head-to-head dominating the build-up but Paul Townend did his bit to add extra drama to the national hunt finale. For another jockey, Barry Geraghty, it was a case of must try harder. The jockey steamrolled Robbie Power out of… Read more »

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Con Marnane

CON MARNANE’S BREEZE DOWN

Date: May 3, 2018 - Sport of Kings

FANS OF Goldhawk know of the trials and tribulations of the breeze up sales season and the perils of this sector were evident at the Craven Sale at Tattersalls in Newmarket recently. While vendors such as Willie Brown and Katie Walsh enjoyed some jackpot sales, for many stalwarts of the game it proved disastrous. Con… Read more »

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Willie McCreery

INGE D’HAESE’S ROUGH RIDE

Date: May 3, 2018 - Sport of Kings

VETERINARY officer of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) Inge D’Haese has ruffled feathers among the training ranks, in particular with a couple of well-known Curragh-based trainers. Ms D’Haese was instrumental in both Willie McCreery and John Feane being hauled before the stewards at Navan recently after both trainers failed to treat her with sufficient… Read more »

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Paul Hensey

PAUL HENSEY’S NEW GIG

Date: May 3, 2018 - Sport of Kings

FORMER CURRAGH Racecourse manager Paul Hensey has bounced back with a new gig after being squeezed out of his previous role when current chief executive Derek McGrath came on board at The Curragh two years ago. Hensey has been spotted at various bloodstock sales over the last six months and despite not making too much… Read more »

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Sheila Pratschke

SHEILA PRATSCHKE’S WONDERFUL LIFE

Date: May 3, 2018 - Behind the Scenes

LAST MONTH Arts Council chair Sheila Pratschke gave a lengthy interview to The Irish Times but what was most interesting was what was not mentioned – the small matter of a €¾ bn arts plan. Pratschke (now in her final year) was given an easy enough ride by the IT – apparently her €9,000 annual… Read more »

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Fiona Muldoon

FBD’S BONUSES AND DIVIDENDS NOT JUSTIFIED

Date: May 3, 2018 - Moneybags

IT IS a pity that Fiona Muldoon has resorted to accounting mechanisms at FBD Holdings. The various strategies make it very hard for investors to grasp what is actually going on but from Moneybags’ point of view, the latest published returns look to have been boosted above and beyond the reality underlying FBD’s performance, leading… Read more »

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Gavin Slark

GRAFTON GROUP SHARES WEIGHED DOWN BY BREXIT

Date: May 3, 2018 - Moneybags

IN THE 40 years up to 2015, Mike Chadwick built up the Grafton Group to be at one stage the most successful builders merchants in Europe, while regularly forgoing the contractual bonuses he was entitled to during the boom times. Moreover, the choice of Gavin Slark as his successor has proved a wise one. The… Read more »

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THE PROJECT’S MURAL

Date: May 3, 2018 - Behind the Scenes

IT MAKES a change to see the Project Theatre making headlines. Not surprisingly perhaps, the media interest was caused not by something staged in the theatre but instead by a Repeal the 8th mural painted on the wall of Temple Bar venue by artist Maser. It is only two years since an almost identical mural… Read more »

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Hot Water Brigade default

Pat WHEELOCKS REDACTED DOCUMENT

Date: May 3, 2018 - Briefcases

AN ENLIGHTENING High Court judgment was published recently relating to Michael O’Leary (not that one) and his former business partner Pat Wheelock, who are being sued by US vulture fund Cerberus for €2.6m. The judgment, delivered by Judge Michael Twomey in April, reveals that the two boys have settled their long-running row, clearing a path… Read more »

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Hot Water Brigade default

EUGENE McCOOL’S “SCURRILOUS” ALLEGATIONS

Date: May 3, 2018 - Briefcases

GOLDHAWK’s old pal Eugene McCool received a serious dressing down in the High Court last month, courtesy of Judge Seamus Noonan. The beak said that McCool had made a number of “scurrilous, highly defamatory” and “unfounded” allegations about various personalities involved in the protracted case, which has been rattling on since 2005. Dublin businessman McCool… Read more »

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Hot Water Brigade default

BON VOYAGE ATLANTIC PHILANTHROPIES

Date: May 3, 2018 - Briefcases

IT’S THE end of an era as the company behind Chuck Feeney’s Atlantic Philanthropies moves to wind itself up. Documents filed with the Companies Office reveal that Michael Sargent was appointed liquidator of Atlantic Philanthropies (Ireland) Ltd at the end of April, after 30 years in operation. In total, Atlantic has awarded €1.6bn to projects… Read more »

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Hot Water Brigade default

TAXMAN GROUNDS LEGAL EAGLES

Date: May 3, 2018 - Briefcases

SOLICITOR Cormac Lohan’s annus horribilis continues. The High Court has just ordered the winding up of his legal consultancy, Lohan Consulting Ltd, on foot of a petition by the Revenue, which registered judgments totalling €20,000 against the company in 2015. Fans of Goldhawk will recall that Athlone legal eagle Lohan has had a rough year… Read more »

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ANTHONY MARTIN’S GAMING GAMBLE

Date: May 3, 2018 - Briefcases

AN INTERESTING little company called Lyvegame Ltd is facing a winding-up petition in the High Court on foot of an unpaid tax bill. The chief executive here turns out to be Anthony Martin, best known for his association with the disastrous Doherty Advertising Ltd (DAL). Lyvegame provides virtual gaming software for clients such as Ladbrokes,… Read more »

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Allirajah Subaskaran

SUBASKARAN’S IRISH ANGLE

Date: May 3, 2018 - Briefcases

INTERESTING to see reports that telecoms giant and UK Conservative Party donor Lycamobile is being investigated for alleged money laundering and tax evasion in France. The company, owned by Sri Lankan-Brit businessman Allirajah Subaskaran, has a share of the Irish market and has registered 16 companies here, many related to its business in other EU… Read more »

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Hot Water Brigade default

PETER GILBOURNE’S PERSONAL LOAN

Date: May 3, 2018 - Briefcases

SPARE a thought for veteran businessman Peter Gilbourne, who has just had a judgment for €100,000 registered against him by architect John Smyth. Gilbourne will be familiar to fans of Goldhawk for his association in the 1990s with the Mespil Business Centre on Sussex Road in D4, which he operated through his company Cedardale Investments… Read more »

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Ian Hyland

IAN HYLAND’S GHOST ADVISERS

Date: May 3, 2018 - Fit to Print?

IAN HYLAND’S most impressive “advisory board” on his newly created PR firm, Principal Communications (PC), seems to have disappeared just weeks after it was announced. PC declared the elite group that contained a former government minister was one of the company’s “unique assets … an international advisory board whose expertise spans the core areas which… Read more »

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Ed Guiney

CALMLY DOES IT FOR ED GUINEY

Date: May 3, 2018 - Affairs of the Nation

CONGRATULATIONS to Goldhawk’s favourite film producers, Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe, who have added another string to their bow by tapping a fund that nobody else appeared to know had started dishing out public money. Having ended up in control of both the publicly funded Lighthouse cinema (Dublin) and Solas/Pálás cinema (Galway), the two boys… Read more »

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Fergus Finlay

FERGUS FINLAY’S FUTILE FANTASIES

Date: May 3, 2018 - Last Refuge

FERGUS FINLAY received a pointed riposte from President Michael D Higgins to his bombastic yet crafty statement that his presidency would be quite different to that of Michael D’s. Fungus would have run a “sleeves rolled up, community based presidency” at the “coalface” of communities, he declared. This would, of course, demand a physically vibrant,… Read more »

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Danielle Ryan and Richard Bourke

DANIELLE’S PLOT SPOILER

Date: May 3, 2018 - High Society

IN THE latest list of films supported by the Irish Film Board (IFB) one production – Trade from Marcie Films Ltd – landed a handy extra €100,000 on top of its original backing. This is the company established by Ryanair heiress Danielle Ryan, although she… Read more »

Stephen Rae

JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE PARANOID…

Date: May 3, 2018 - Affairs of the Nation

ONE standout irony amid the welter of allegations disgorged daily from the INM imbroglio is the surveillance paranoia that has seized executives at Independent House. As reported, in May 2015 when long-time executive Gerry Wilde wanted to discuss serious business with the then chief executive, Robert Pitt, he insisted they talk away from the office… Read more »

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Denis O'Brien

DINNY AND DERMO AND INM

Date: April 19, 2018 - Affairs of the Nation

THE MOST recent coverage of ODCE boss Ian Drennan’s affidavit on the alleged carry-on in Independent News and Media (INM) has seen mention of a strange deal involving the sale of the media group’s valuable stake in an Australasian media company, APN. This is a transaction that saw one Denis O’Brien scoop a very healthy… Read more »

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Simon Coveney

IRISH FOREIGN POLICY COLLAPSE

Date: April 19, 2018 - Affairs of the Nation

IN JUST three weeks the disintegration of Ireland’s once honorable non-aligned foreign policy has been laid bare by the pace of events in the Middle East and the EU. This has involved capitulation to Israel, the US/British Transatlantic “special relationship” and, of course, the EU’s incipient armed force, Pesco. Foreign Minister Simon Coveney openly conceded… Read more »

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Catherine Heaney

Catherine Heaney

Date: April 19, 2018 - Pillars of Society

LAST WEEK, the Culture Minister Josepha Madigan, flanked by Leo Varadkar and Paschal Donohoe, announced a huge U1.2bn infrastructure funding package for the arts. The National Museum of Ireland (NMI) was the single biggest beneficiary of the cultural institutions, which looks like good news for its chair, former Labour Party press officer turned lobbyist Catherine… Read more »

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Síona Cahill

Síona Cahill

Date: April 19, 2018 - The Young Bloods

INCOMING Union of Students in Ireland (USI) president Síona Cahill (25) is taking charge of the national union at a very interesting time. In midsummer – as the dust from the May abortion referendum settles – the Longford native, who has close links to Fianna Fáil, will take the reins of USI amid a revived… Read more »

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Emer Martin

EMER MARTIN Vs EDNA O’BRIEN

Date: April 19, 2018 - Behind the Scenes

CONGRATULATIONS are due to writer-cum-filmaker Emer Martin, who gave Dame Edna O’Brien both barrels in a full-blooded comment piece last weekend in The Irish Times. Her timing was perfect. O’Brien – the First Lady of Irish literature – has agreed to accept the title of the most Excellent Order of the British Empire, second highest… Read more »

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Robert Nairac

ROBERT NAIRAC’S PADRE COLLEAGUE

Date: April 19, 2018 - Hush Hush

RTE’s Prime Time has begun rebroadcasting on its website an apologia for Dirty War operative Robert Nairac despite public demands for the film’s removal from its website by Stephen Travers, a victim of The Miami Showband massacre. Prime Time first broadcast the film in May 2017 as part of a well organised PR campaign by… Read more »

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