Archives: Articles

Mary Robinson NEXT MONTH could well see the go-ahead given by Mayo County Council for the multi-million euro Mary Robinson Centre (MRC) in Ballina, albeit in a slightly slimmed down version compared to the original grandiose project based around Robbo’s archive. Mayo Co Co chief executive Peter Hynes is anxious to set the wheels in… Read more »

Pat Carey THE smearing of garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe has resulted in Judge Peter Charleton’s Commission of Investigation into the alleged behaviour of gardaí and journalists, among others. At the same time, McCabe – wrongly described, but not named, in media reports as being investigated over child abuse allegations – has been completely and publicly… Read more »

The High Court THE legal establishment will be pleased with the crack down on lay or non-legal advisers who have become a feature in the Four Goldmines in assisting home owners and others defending repossession cases against the banks. The new rules state that the courts “may refuse to permit” lay advisers to assist litigants…… Read more »

Trina Vargo TRINA VARGO, the bolshy founder and face of the US-Ireland Alliance (USIA), was throwing her weight around last week in light of new estimates of the number of illegal Irish immigrants in America. However, she has other things on her mind, notably a financial crisis at the Irish government-backed George Mitchell Scholarship Fund,… Read more »

Leslie Buckley THIS WEEK’S annual general meeting of Independent News & Media (INM) should be a sell-out affair but, unlike the McGregor-Mayweather bout, there is unlikely to be too much blood on the floor. Chairman Leslie Buckley will, nevertheless, emerge badly bruised should chief executive Robert Pitt vote against his chairman’s re-election. Due to the… Read more »

John Butler Yeats WHAT AN inglorious fate for the self-portrait of John Butler Yeats, which he himself called his masterpiece, than to be dumped for sale in a London auction house as part of Sotheby’s upcoming sale of the so-called ‘Yeats Family Collection’. JBY worked on this portrait – on and off – from 1911… Read more »

Leo Varadkar LEO VARADKAR’S intention to double Ireland’s international presence is only one part of the Taoiseach’s plan to involve Ireland in global geo-politics. The other foreign policy aim is to effectively scrap Ireland’s already diminished status as a neutral country as evidenced by Varadkar’s response to the EU Council’s declaration of “enhanced co-operation” on… Read more »

Kevin Myers THERE are multiple ironies in the reaction to Kevin Myers’s self immolation, not the least being that his offending article – like all copy for The Sunday Times Irish edition – was vetted in the ST’s London head office before the editorial coolies in Dublin were allowed to publish it. ST Irish journalists… Read more »

Breon Corcoran THE NEWS that Breon Corcoran is exiting Paddy Power-Beftair has shocked the market and pushed the shares down. But in truth, the company’s shares have been on the slide for over a year as fans of Goldhawk were warned in 2016. Back in May 2016, Goldhawk noted that the overpriced shares had only… Read more »

Ed Walsh ED WALSH, former University of Limerick (UL) president, indulged in a spot of score settling with the return of his honorary doctorate to NUI in protest at the same honour being bestowed on ex-Taoiseach Brian Cowen recently. Down the years Walsh has suffered more than a few indignities as he struggled to assert… Read more »

Thornhill THINGS haven’t gone so well for US import Dr Gerald Stephens who late last month lost an appeal against a 2015 High Court order for specific performance of a loan agreement. Retired doctor Stephens is based in Mayo and he’s been embroiled in a scrap with ACC Bank since 2008 over a mansion he… Read more »

Lucinda Creighton LUCINDA CREIGHTON hasn’t gone away you know. In her latest guise as an EU consultant, the former Fine Gael Minister of State for European Affairs has popped up as some class of an adviser to the current FG Minister of State for European Affairs Helen McEntee. This will do Lucinda’s profile with her… Read more »

Eddie Sheehy LITIGIOUS and financial exhaustion seems likely to see Wicklow County Council hoist the white flag following a High Court finding in favour of Cllr Tommy Cullen and ex-councillor Barry Nevin who had sued the local authority and its ex-manager, Eddie Sheehy, for libel. The two councillors each received an order for just €20,000… Read more »

Finian McGrath FINIAN McGRATH’S paean of praise this week for his new Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was not delivered without motive and the super junior minster is shrewder than many of his critics realise. Vlad is “sound as a pound” and “Leo’s intellect makes a big difference at cabinet”, he told the Irish Examiner on Monday…. Read more »

PRESIDENT of the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA), Brendan Halligan, was recently given space in The Irish Times for yet another article idemanding that Ireland end its neutrality. Halligan regurgitated one of the great moans of Irish armchair generals, namely that discussion of EU defence is “off limits” and neutrality is a “matter… Read more »