IssueM Articles

Archives: Articles

articles
Carmel and Leslie Buckley

LESLIE BUCKLEY’S ‘PERVERSE’ CASE

Date: May 17, 2017 - Affairs of the Nation

THE CHAIRMAN of Independent News and Media has been in the news recently over assorted controversies in the Denis O’Brien controlled media company but he is also keeping a close eye on developments in the Four Goldmines, where a firm in which he has invested millions of euro faces a potentially painful legal bill over… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

HORSING ABOUT WITH JIM FERRY

Date: May 17, 2017 - Affairs of the Nation

DONEGAL waste operator Jim Ferry was treated to a full page in The Irish Times last weekend after his latest conviction for illegal dumping. But Jimbo is a man of many talents – as fans of Goldhawk are well aware. Last month, Ferry appeared to run out of wriggle room when Judge Max Barrett, on… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

Pope Francis

PAPAL NUNCIO’S CÉAD MÍLE FÁILTE

Date: May 17, 2017 - Affairs of the Nation

IRELAND’S new papal nuncio, the well travelled and multi-linguist Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo, has been papal envoy to the Dominican Republic and apostolic delegate in Puerto Rico. Thus, his appointment here is a major promotion. But he is also seen as a strong supporter of Pope Francis’s calls for the Catholic Church to be more… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

Harry Crosbie

‘Rat-like’ Cunning

Date: May 17, 2017 - Affairs of the Nation

NO SURPRISE to see Harry Crosbie getting an easy ride in his fanzine, the Sindo, earlier this month. Previously, when the gloves came off in 2014 in his row with Nama, the Sindo headlined a piece, “Nama in bid to destroy my name”, which allowed the developer and member of the Most Excellent Order of… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

LAY LITIGANT WALSH STILL AT LARGE

Date: May 17, 2017 - Affairs of the Nation

LAY litigant David Walsh is still enjoying his freedom despite having been sent to jail for criminal contempt, twice, for insisting on his right to defend his sister in Waterford Circuit Court where the Bank of Ireland was attempting to possess her home. Judge Alice Doyle initially sentenced Walsh to a fortnight in jail last… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

WHO FEARS TO SPEAK

Date: May 17, 2017 - Affairs of the Nation

WHERE is the Oireachtas Decade of Centenaries Committee? It automatically dissolved with the advent of the new Dáil and government over a year ago but no new committee – set up to commemorate the 1912-21 historic events – has been formed. Sinn Fein TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh has asked Taoiseach Enda Kenny (under whose auspices… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

GLEN’S OTHER ISSUES

Date: May 17, 2017 - Affairs of the Nation

THE goings-on in Glen (Gay and Lesbian Equality Network) hardly deserved the Sunday Business Post’s front-page headline, “Future of gay rights charity in doubt”, given the absence so far of any evidence, much less proof, of misappropriation of funds. There are undoubtedly issues at the organisation but they are more complex than weak governance and… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

DECCO’S NEW MAN

Date: May 17, 2017 - Affairs of the Nation

JIM MCGRATH, special adviser to Labour Party rottweiler Alan Kelly, has moved on to pastures new. McGrath’s new employer turns out to be another Kelly – Declan, brudder of AK47 and founder of the rapidly expanding Teneo lobbying and consultancy operation. McGrath was right hand man for Alan Kelly from his time as an MEP… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

The Hot Air Brigade

Date: May 17, 2017 - The Hot Air Brigade

I had a very clear idea that I wanted to save journalism. Mark Little in an ad for RTÉ’s MojoCon or Mobile Journalism Conference, RTÉ.ie, Submitted by reader [A 5 or 10km run is] not too long if you’re Laura Scanlon, who regards our bodies as the ultimate mobile gym and has decided that, basically,… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

THE RUSSIAN HACKING FIASCO

Date: May 17, 2017 - Foreign Frolics

By Mike Whitney THERE’S NO proof that Russia hacked the US elections. There’s no proof Russian officials or agents colluded with members of the Trump campaign. There’s no proof that Russia provided material support of any kind for the Trump campaign or that its agents hacked Hillary Clinton’s emails or that Russian officials provided Wikileaks… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

SDLP’S FAUX CANDIDATES

Date: May 17, 2017 - Bird's Eye View

THE SDLP stands accused of putting up no-hope candidates in two northern constituencies in the UK general election. This is to avoid the opprobrium the party would earn if it split the nationalist vote by running more serious candidates who would not win the two seats but who would prevent Sinn Féin from taking them…. Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

BRIAN MURPHY TO THE FORE AGAIN

Date: May 17, 2017 - Last Refuge

SIMON COVENEY’S spin about Leo Varadkar’s street-fighting tactics in Fine Gael’s leadership contest is designed to paint the Cork gent as a statesmanlike figure who is above the no-holds barred campaign being waged by Vlad and his team. But Simon and his well-mannered officer corps would also be aware that Varadkar’s special adviser Brian Murphy… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

Regina Doherty

NEW TAOISEACH’S CABINET OPTIONS

Date: May 17, 2017 - Last Refuge

AMBITIOUS Fine Gael junior minsters have been making feverish calculations and permutations about promotion to cabinet as they weigh up their options in the leadership contest. But oddly enough, two and possibly three prominent players could make it into the next cabinet whichever man takes power. Simon Coveney’s prospects are heavily reliant on the old… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

Leo Varadkar

Varadkar’s Allies

Date: May 17, 2017 - Last Refuge

CLAIMS of majority parliamentary party support by Varadkar and Coveney’s campaign teams can hardly be accurate (both men are ahead). But Vlad’s side is claiming there are several constituencies where their man has the support of either both TDs in situ or the single sitting TD plus a constituency based senator. Is this true and… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S NEW TIMELINE

Date: May 17, 2017 - Last Refuge

FIANNA FÁIL’S contortions over garda commissioner, Nóirín O’Sullivan, reached absurd levels last week when justice spokesperson, Jim O’Callaghan said that if he were justice minister he would sack her. This followed almost a year of legalistic arguments from O’Callaghan in defence of the commissioner, beginning with ‘innocent until-proven-guilty’ to his latest argument that only the… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

Dermot-Desmond

‘IT’ BLACK AND WHITE KNIGHTS

Date: May 17, 2017 - Fit to Print?

LAST October, Denis O’Brien made the cryptic comment that he understood “The Irish Times is currently considering various funding options” and that certain media would not survive for long more without “radical structuring including substantial funding”. Three months earlier, Irish Times Ltd (ITL) managing director Liam Kavanagh was reported in his own newspaper as saying… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

IVORY TOWER WHISTLEBLOWERS

Date: May 17, 2017 - Fit to Print?

“THINKBigAtUL for 2017” was the call from UL Links, the University of Limerick’s glossy full-colour 64-page magazine inserted in The Irish Times recently at considerable expense. “We want our story to stand out from the crowd by telling our stories with flair and colour”, gushed the editorial. With exquisite irony, UL certainly stood out when… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

Kate O’Connell

Date: May 17, 2017 - Pillars of Society

IS Kate O’Connell a transient backbench TD whose election in Dublin Bay South (DBS) owed more to various forces intent on burying the troublesome Lucinda Creighton than to her own efforts? Or is this most ambitious and determined member of the Fine Gael parliamentary party a woman of substance destined for cabinet? O’Connell’s attachment to… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

BATES’S BALI-HOO

Date: May 17, 2017 - Fowl Emissions

BACK IN 2007, an international group of respected mainstream scientists co-signed what was known as the Bali Climate Declaration. It warned that global carbon dioxide (CO2) was at its highest level in the past 650,000 years. “If this trend is not halted soon, many millions of people will be at risk from extreme events.” Based… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

Date: May 17, 2017 - Bog Cuttings

Drunk man’s bold strategy A DRUNK man walked himself into trouble when he went into Anglesea Street Garda Station, Cork City, and verbally abused the guard behind the counter. Insp Brian O’Donovan said Christopher Tipper, of 7 Ravensdale Road, Mahon, went into the garda station at 8.20pm on March 9 and told the guard on… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

Steven O’Riordan

Date: May 17, 2017 - The Young Bloods

IN A very public fashion, Social Democrat Steven O’Riordan (33) was put back in his box at a demonstration recently in Dublin. The professional social justice warrior was about to take the microphone, as he had done on countless occasions, this time at a march against church ownership of the new National Maternity Hospital. Introduced… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

BUYING BALLYMACOLL STUD

Date: May 17, 2017 - High Society

THE GREAT and the good of the bloodstock world will descend on Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel at the end of June when Ballymacoll Stud comes under the hammer. Most will be there purely out of curiosity to see who might step up to the mark to secure this historic bloodstock nursery. Originally, it was hoped that… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

DRICO’S CONVERSION

Date: May 17, 2017 - High Society

A NEW planning application has just been submitted for the redevelopment of an impressive corner house on leafy Palmerston Road, Rathmines. The applicants are rugby superstar Brian O’Driscoll and his increasingly famous wife, Amy Huberman. O’Driscoll and Huberman bought the Palmerston Road house last year for U1.8m, which looks like quite the bargain compared with… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

PAUL SMITHWICK’S ROYAL CONNECTION

Date: May 17, 2017 - High Society

CONGRATULATIONS TO Paul Benedict Smithwick who was invited to the British ambassador’s residence at Glencairn to personally receive his Order of the British Empire honour from Prince Charles himself. Given that he has been in close contact with the British security establishment down the years, it was probably only a matter of time before the… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

THE JOURNEY – DIRECTED BY NICK HAMM

Date: May 17, 2017 - MoviesReviews

IRISH AND BRITISH critics have been relatively united in their dismissive attitude to The Journey, Belfast director Nick Hamm’s film about an imagined car trip shared by Martin McGuinness and Ian Paisley during the 2006 St Andrew’s peace talks in Scotland. Although far from a classic, Hamm’s effort turns out to be a good deal… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

THE FRACTURED LIFE OF JIMMY DICE – RONAN RYAN (TINDER PRESS)

Date: May 17, 2017 - BooksReviews

CLONMEL-BORN Ronan Ryan’s debut novel joins the already saturated field of coming-of-age fiction published over recent years. Ryan’s story begins in 1980 and traces the lives of a close-knit Tipperary family who don’t actually communicate very well – despite their best efforts. Jimmy Diaz (the book’s central character) comes into the world under traumatic circumstances… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

ASSASSINS – TV3

Date: May 17, 2017 - ReviewsTV

GANGLAND CRIME and manufactured celebrity are TV3’s central obsessions. Before 9pm most evenings, it’s all X Factor and Xposé but, after the watershed, the station immerses itself in the brutality and gore of underworld turf wars. Assassins: Ireland’s Contract Killers combines both to create a strange new entertainment genre: a “talent search” for the most… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

JUMPING THE GUN AT ABBEY

Date: May 17, 2017 - Behind the Scenes

AS PREDICTED by Goldhawk (see The Phoenix 5/5/17), arts minister Heather Humphreys has appointed Frances Ruane, former director of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), as chair of the Abbey Theatre. This will also enable some overdue new directors to be appointed. Ruane was not the first choice for the Abbey’s hot seat and… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

COOKING UP A STORM

Date: May 17, 2017 - Behind the Scenes

NEXT MONTH sees the publication by Mercier Press of the debut book by the latest celebrity chef to hit the airwaves, known by his stage name as Chef Adrian. Certainly, the young go-getter knows all about marketing and his shtick is just the sort of thing to attract the interest of Dee Forbes, now she… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

Heather-Humphries

HEATHER HUMPHREYS DOES IT, AGAIN

Date: May 17, 2017 - Behind the Scenes

IT WAS a select group of 150 film and TV movers and shakers, insiders to a woman and man, who were quietly brought together by Heather Humphreys and Creative Ireland for a largely unannounced “media workshop” at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham earlier this month. The outcome was pretty much a repeat showing. The minister was… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

CATHAL BEALE’S BIG JOB

Date: May 17, 2017 - Sport of Kings

CATHAL BEALE would not have been a name at the top of many people’s lists when it came to the chief executive vacancy at the Irish National Stud but that didn’t hinder the relatively inexperienced Wexford native from landing the top job. He is, however, a well-connected chap which can’t have hurt his chances. The… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

DAVID WACHMAN’S ‘WINNERS’

Date: May 17, 2017 - Sport of Kings

WHEN TRAINER David Wachman announced his plan to retire from training last year, a lot of eyebrows were raised among the horsey set who openly questioned how a player with such impressive connections and training facilities could not make a continued success of the business. Recent results suggest that Wachman’s training performance had dropped significantly…. Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

GOFFS GETs its MAN

Date: May 17, 2017 - Sport of Kings

THERE HAS always been a healthy rivalry between the two Irish sales companies, Goffs and Tattersalls Ireland, but Henry Beeby and his team at Goffs have just pulled the rug out somewhat from under Roger Casey’s gang over in Ratoath. Goffs recently announced the appointment of two international agents – one in South America and… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

Jessica Harrington

JESSICA’s SYNDICATE

Date: May 17, 2017 - Sport of Kings

THERE WERE celebrations in Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) when the Jessica Harrington-trained Tilly’s Chilli toughed out a game success at Roscommon recently, the filly’s second victory in a row. The winning owners include current and former senior management figures from HRI. Chief among Tilly’s Chilli’s owners is Jason Morris, director of racing at HRI and… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

Real value of INM unrecognised by the market

Date: May 17, 2017 - Moneybags

HAVING WITNESSED the rationalisation and reorganisation of Independent News and Media (INM) into a solid financially strong Irish-focused print media operation, Denis O’Brien tried to sell his loss-making Newstalk radio station to the company. This has caused consternation and upset shareholders. Chief executive Bobby Pitt, meanwhile, has been doing a most impressive job in pushing… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber

Will Druid finally pay off for Providence?

Date: May 17, 2017 - Moneybags

IT IS extraordinary that after 36 years of failure, Providence Resources is still there to engage in one of the most exciting drillings ever undertaken offshore Ireland, with the big Stena IceMAX drill ship due to start work next month on Frontier Exploration Licence 2/14 – the so-called Druid licence. After so many disappointments over… Read more »

To access this content, you must be a Phoenix subscriber.

Get access to The Phoenix online for as low as €1.50 per week. Read all the regular online only Phoenix stories AND receive the packed digital edition every fortnight (25 per year). Great value for so many inside stories!

Subscribe Now! I’m a Subscriber