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Joanne Hayes

KERRY BABIES ‘APOLOGIES’

Date: February 8, 2018 - Affairs of the Nation

THE garda apology to Joanne Hayes as well as that of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar deserves more quizzical scrutiny than it has received. Apart from the murder charge against Joanne, the garda laid charges of dumping the body of the Cahersiveen baby in the sea against four other members of the Hayes family – Joanne’s siblings,… Read more »

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Nigel Farage

Nigel Farage’s Trinity pals

Date: February 8, 2018 - Affairs of the NationStudent Life

IT WAS interesting to see Declan Ganley praising Trinity College on Twitter last week for letting fellow anti-EU agitator Nigel Farage speak at an event. As Deco well knows, the event had little to do with the college itself and everything to do with those most estimable chaps at the College Historical Society (The Hist)… Read more »

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David McWilliams

David McWilliams’s advice

Date: February 8, 2018 - Affairs of the Nation

CLEVER CLOGS David McWilliams might be feeling a little bewildered given the pounding taken by one of his heroes, fund manager Neil Woodford. Although he has been quiet on the subject this week, McWilliams has regularly used his extensive social media presence to plug Woodford’s views on all matters financial: “Excellent piece here from Neil… Read more »

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Gretchen Mol

MacDara Kelleher’s €850,000

Date: February 8, 2018 - Affairs of the Nation

CONGRATULATIONS to Goldhawk’s favourite film producer, MacDara Kelleher. He has just been greenlighted for a whopping U850,000 in funding from the Irish Film Board (IFB) for Nightflyers – the big budget American sci-fi TV series starring Gretchen Mol that he is fronting here for Syfy Channel and Netflix. The IFB ‘loan’ is clearly linked to… Read more »

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Joseph O'Brien

JOSEPH O’BRIEN’S MOOLAH

Date: February 8, 2018 - Sport of Kings

SPARE A thought for the hard-up Joseph O’Brien who got fined “half a week’s wages” for speeding offences recently. The Melbourne Cup winning trainer was pulled in doing 161km an hour on the M9 in Kilkenny. O’Brien claimed his post is still being delivered to Ballydoyle where daddy Aidan continues to call the shots while… Read more »

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Claire Byrne

RTÉ’S RADIO DIVAS

Date: February 8, 2018 - Fit to Print?

RTÉ proclaimed “Fresh Moves at RTÉ Radio 1” with a photo montage of six presenters – five of them women – in a press statement announcing this week’s new line-up. But this obligatory genuflection towards gender balance, whatever about equal pay, as illustrated by the photo presentation is a little misleading. Some of Claire Byrne’s… Read more »

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Vol. 36 No. 03

Vol. 36 No. 03

Date: February 8, 2018 -

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Simon Zebo

INJURY TIME FOR THE IRFU

Date: February 8, 2018 - Affairs of the NationFowl Play

EUPHORIA after Stade de France but the storm clouds are gathering for Irish rugby as its ability to hold onto the best players is now under real threat. Leinster’s upcoming European Champions Cup quarter final opponents Saracens have filed their accounts and there is a stark warning for the IRFU. For Ireland, the loss of… Read more »

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Losing out at Lisselan

Date: February 8, 2018 - Affairs of the Nation

THE WOMAN behind Clonakilty Black Pudding, Colette Twomey, looks to have got herself a bargain with the “close to €3m” she has paid for the splendid Lisselan House and estate outside Clonakilty, Co Cork. It is not the kind of figure that will make much… Read more »

Brian McDonagh

BRIAN McDONAGH’S DATA PROBLEM

Date: February 8, 2018 - Affairs of the Nation

SURPRISING to see a company called Granja Ltd listed for striking off by the Companies Office after failing to file its accounts. The firm is currently involved in a high stakes legal action over a large Co Wicklow site that featured prominently in that row over Apple’s huge Athenry project. Although having no interest in… Read more »

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Betty Purcell

HUMAN RIGHTS: NEW CRITERIA

Date: February 8, 2018 - Affairs of the Nation

THE refusal of Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) member Betty Purcell to go quietly after her failure to be reappointed recently produced some standard responses from the justice department and the commission. Purcell claims she has been shafted because of her disagreements with chief commissioner Emily Logan over various issues, including Logan’s reluctance… Read more »

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Benjamin Netanyahu

MOSSAD’S LITTLE HELPERS

Date: February 8, 2018 - Hush Hush

THE Israeli embassy’s exit from Dublin will not diminish that country’s intelligence apparatus from accessing Irish passport details and other useful data. On January 14 last a Mossad hit squad tried to assassinate a senior Hamas official in Sidon, Lebanon, just as Simon Coveney was completing his four-day tour of the Middle East – including… Read more »

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Alison Canavan

The Hot Air Brigade

Date: February 8, 2018 - The Hot Air Brigade

The earth is like a gigantic battery that contains a natural, subtle electric charge – a special kind of energy present in the ground. When we connect with this energy, it carries information and helps align us with the greater network of intelligence of our planet. Alison Canavan on the importance of “grounding,” one of… Read more »

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Martin Luther King

AFRICA AND THE REAL DR KING

Date: February 8, 2018 - Foreign Frolics

MILLIONS of Americans commemorated Martin Luther King’s Day recently. His famous speech, I Have a Dream, was repeated numerous times in media outlets as a reminder of the evil of racism – which is being resurrected in a most pronounced way in US society. But that is only one version of Dr King allowed to… Read more »

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Peter Robinson

THE NATIONAL MINORITY

Date: February 8, 2018 - Affairs of the Nation

LAST MONTH the Northern Ireland Statistical Research Agency (NISRA) shone a light on the north’s changing demographic patterns revealing the remarkable developments that have taken place in the last generation. NISRA’s Labour Force Survey Religion Report 2016 looks at changes since 1990-92 in the working age population 16-64, its qualifications, employment and unemployment. The statistical… Read more »

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Heather Humphries

FINE GAEL’S CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS

Date: February 8, 2018 - Last Refuge

THE portrayal of ethical and personal agonising by Fine Gael ministers and TDs over the abortion referendum and the planned 12 weeks abortion on request legislation is fascinating. Especially when you match those politicians racked with such conscientious dilemmas with the constituencies they represent – or hope to represent – after the next election. The… Read more »

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Louise O'Reilly

SF’s right to choose

Date: February 8, 2018 - Last Refuge

LOUISE O’REILLY’S compliment to Leo Varadkar’s statement on the referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment was apt but surprisingly amicable coming from a Sinn Féin TD. However, the Fingal deputy is simultaneously engaged in revising SF policy to match Varadkar’s support for unrestricted abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. At SF’s November ard fheis… Read more »

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Lorraine Clifford Lee

OPINION POLLS – THE REAL STORY?

Date: February 8, 2018 - Last Refuge

NATIONAL opinion polls show Leo Varadkar and Fine Gael streaking ahead of Micheál Martin’s Fianna Fail but there is something strangely unreal about the figures when compared to reality on the ground. FF analysis of the 39 constituencies, in some cases backed by the party’s own polling – however skewed it may be in FF’s… Read more »

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Nigel Farage

IREXIT PARTY BORN

Date: February 8, 2018 - Last Refuge

IT LOOKS as if an anti-EU party with candidates running in the EU elections next year will definitely emerge from last weekend’s Irexit meeting with Nigel Farage. This will certainly be the case if Farage’s spin doctor, Hermann Kelly, has his way. Leaflets handed out at the Dublin RDS meeting were Hermann’s creation and they… Read more »

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Michael McDowell

McDowell v Ross

Date: February 8, 2018 - Last Refuge

LEGAL EAGLES can be as bitchy as politicians when they fall out and former justice minister Alan Shatter – a mere solicitor – was regularly accused of being motivated by jealousy when taking on the barristers’ closed shop some years back. Now, Michael McDowell SC – ex attorney general, ex justice minister and current senator… Read more »

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Katie Hannon

MEDIA CIVIL WAR

Date: February 8, 2018 - Fit to Print?

THOSE High Court libel actions taken out by two gardaí against various media over reports on Maurice McCabe are mirrored by the sharp divide in the press over the whistleblower. This division is between most security correspondents and journalists that cover wider issues. A good example is the difference between Newstalk/Irish Independent crime reporter Paul… Read more »

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Independent House

The Sindo’s diverse readership

Date: February 8, 2018 - Fit to Print?

WHAT a surprisingly cosmopolitan readership the Sunday Independent has. In a recent letter to the Sindo retired Defence Forces commander and peace activist Edward Horgan said Israelis should be respectful of Palestinian human rights as the experience of the Holocaust was “the most serious and most unjustified crime against humanity so far”. His letter provoked… Read more »

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Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

Date: February 8, 2018 - Bog Cuttings

COURTROOM Selfies ‘for the mammy’ A NAVAN man, in court for allegedly using a vehicle without NCT, was reprimanded by a judge for taking selfies in court. Garry O’Brien (36), Millbrook, Johnstown, had his phone confiscated by the garda in charge of security at Trim District Court, who accused O’Brien of “taking pictures of himself… Read more »

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Niamh Patten

NIAMH PATTEN’S VALENTINE’S OFFER

Date: February 8, 2018 - High Society

READERS OF The Irish Times were presented with an offer last week to buy the “perfect Valentine’s gift for her”. The offer featured a luxury jewellery set from New Romantic Jewellery, which turns out to be the company established by one Niamh Patten – whose… Read more »

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Markus Jooste’s expensive colts

Date: February 8, 2018 - High Society

THE DISGRACED South African moneybags Markus Jooste continues to liquidate his vast string of thoroughbreds, with four select mares that he owned in partnership with the Coolmore gang going under the hammer at Tattersalls in Newmarket last week. On the face of it, the 1.77 million guineas the quartet yielded seemed a pretty good result…. Read more »

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Prince Charles and Paul Smithwick

PAUL SMITHWICK’S NEW INVESTOR

Date: February 8, 2018 - High Society

THE ARRIVAL to the O’Sullivan Craft Brewery (1702) shareholder register of Irish Stock Exchange chairman Padraic O’Connor is a vote of confidence for Prince Charles’s favourite brewer the company’s founder Paul Smithwick OBE. The fledgling Kilkenny beer business – where young Dan Smithwick is also a director – has certainly been building up an impressive… Read more »

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Tony O'Reilly Jr.

O’Reilly digs deep

Date: February 8, 2018 - Fowl Emissions

YOU HAVE to feel sorry for those intrepid oil and gas explorers under constant siege from scientists and campaigners. Oil prices are low – partly thanks to the divestment movement. The Paris climate agreement means most of the world’s known reserves must be left in the ground, making them “stranded assets”. Here in Ireland, last… Read more »

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Paddy Power’s gas terminal

Date: February 8, 2018 - Fowl Emissions

EU countries can burn gas for just nine more years before exhausting their share of the earth’s carbon budget to keep global warming below 2 degrees. So says a recent report from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. Somebody should tell Paddy Power, the Tralee man trying to build a humongous Liquefied Natural Gas… Read more »

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Sive -Tommy Tiernan

SIVE – GAIETY THEATRE

Date: February 8, 2018 - ReviewsTheatre

AMONG theatre companies, even the most sure-footed occasionally misstep. Druid is no exception. The Galway troupe rehabilitated the work of John B Keane over the last few decades, bringing it from amateur halls onto main stages. This helped pave the way for more modern writers. It’s hard not to watch the oppressive female relationship at… Read more »

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Blindboy Boatclub

THE BLINDBOY PODCAST – BLINDBOY BOATCLUB

Date: February 8, 2018 - PodcastsReviews

LISTENING TO The Blindboy Podcast is akin to stepping on a bus with no knowledge of where you’ll be disgorged. Blindboy turns out to be a driver who can navigate the terrain with relatively little difficulty. An impressive 16 weeks at the top of the podcast charts confirms the popularity of Blindboy’s offering, with 160,000… Read more »

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Earlie King & The Kid In Yellow

THE EARLIE KING & THE KID IN YELLOW – DANNY DENTON (GRANTA)

Date: February 8, 2018 - BooksReviews

LITERARY dystopias have become commonplace in recent times. But what distinguishes this ambitious debut novel is Denton’s anarchic language – a propulsive blend of past, present and imagined future. For his nightmare vision of society, the Cork writer has turned to climate change fiction (“cli-fi”). Although the book is genre crossing (tragic love story, crime… Read more »

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Blake Lively

BLAKE NOT SO LIVELY

Date: February 8, 2018 - Behind the Scenes

IN LATE January, the film trade paper, The Hollywood Reporter, burst the bubble for Irish film technicians wishing a speedy recovery to star Blake Lively after a pre-Christmas injury halted Dublin filming on a big budget spy movie, The Rhythm Section. According to the report, workers on the film – presumably including senior Irish crew… Read more »

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Yeats masterpiece

Date: February 8, 2018 - Behind the Scenes

GOLDHAWK was pleased to see the painting John Butler Yeats, Self Portrait, New York (see The Phoenix 25/8/17) has remained here despite the decision of WB Yeats’s grandchildren – Caitríona, Siobhán and Padraig – to offload a large archive of material (the so-called Yeats Family Collection at auction in Sotheby’s last September. While the family… Read more »

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Garech de Brun

GARECH DE BRUN’S SOUR NOTE

Date: February 8, 2018 - Behind the Scenes

THERE HAS been some non musical activity at the struggling Claddagh Records – the traditional Irish music company chaired by founder Garech de Brún – with longtime secretary Jane Bolton resigning but only after she forced the Companies Office to register her exit. Claddagh Records was set up in the 1960s by de Brún and… Read more »

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James Bowen

HARD GOING AT GOWRAN

Date: February 8, 2018 - Sport of Kings

UK-BASED teenage prodigy James Bowen didn’t cover himself in glory on his first trip to Ireland as a fully fledged jockey at Gowran Park recently. Bowen was drafted in to ride one of the six Gordon Elliott-trained runners in the Thyestes Chase last month but his mount, Out Sam, which finished sixth, returned with whip… Read more »

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Brian Kavanagh

KAVANAGH’S PR EXERCISE

Date: February 8, 2018 - Sport of Kings

THE CHIEF executive of Horse Racing Ireland, Brian Kavanagh, took the opportunity to build some bridges recently when he made mollifying comments on the government’s backing of the sport of kings. Kavanagh must have been cringing at HRI’s awards ceremony last December when outgoing chairman Joe Keeling took a swipe at the government over both… Read more »

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