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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 »

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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 »

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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 »

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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 »

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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 »

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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 »

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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 »

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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 »

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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 »

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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 »

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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 »

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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 »

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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 »

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O’Gara’s company in the sin bin

Date: May 17, 2017 - Briefcases

CONGRATULATIONS are very much in order to Irish rugby legend Ronan O’Gara who was recently awarded the freedom of his native Cork City. But the former out-half will be less pleased with developments at his company Stand Off Promotions Ltd, which has just been struck of the companies register for failing to file accounts. Stand… Read more »

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Eugene McCool’s ‘trifling’ complaint

Date: May 17, 2017 - Briefcases

CONGRATULATIONS to solicitor Colin Monaghan who had good day in the Court of Appeal recently. Arthur Cox partner Monaghan has been embroiled in a row with engineer Eugene McCool –principal at the well-regarded McCool Controls and Engineering (MCE) in East Wall – since 2012 relating to complaints that McCool had made about the solicitor’s professional… Read more »

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David Ronan back in court

Date: May 17, 2017 - Briefcases

GOLDHAWK’s old pal Tipperary businessman David Ronan popped up again recently after an interesting day out in the High Court before Judge Robert Haughton at the end of April. Ronan’s most recent court outing related to the liquidation of CTO Greenclean Environmental Solutions Ltd where once upon a time, he and Stephen Griffin were the… Read more »

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Geoffrey Branigan’s Monkstown moves

Date: May 17, 2017 - Briefcases

SOUTH Dublin businessman Geoffrey Branigan looks like he’s onto a winner now that he’s put his fully renovated Victorian home on Monkstown Road on the market for a cool €1.75m, over double what he paid for it originally. Branigan is listed as a director of two companies – software consultancy Zstar Solutions Ltd and another… Read more »

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Rough times for Phelan Hotels

Date: May 17, 2017 - Briefcases

SPARE a thought for the owners of the Plaza Hotel in Tallaght, the company behind which has been hit with a judgment it can scarcely afford. Phelan Hotels Ltd – co-owned by Blackrock businessman John Raymond Phelan and Martin Phelan, head of William Fry tax advisers – had two judgments totalling over U¼m registered against… Read more »

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Sarah Ponsonby’s New Leaf

Date: May 17, 2017 - Briefcases

GOLDHAWK recently came across a company called New Leaf Health Company Gts Ltd with links to an interesting family. New Leaf – which has just collapsed into liquidation – traded as Miller’s Pharmacy in Waterford City and is co-owned by Sarah Ponsonby of the aristocratic Tipperary dynasty of the same name. The Ponsonby family first… Read more »

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Not really such a difficult choice!

Date: May 17, 2017 - Briefcases

ONE of the more intriguing company names that Goldhawk has come across is Sophie’s Choice Ltd, which collapsed into liquidation earlier this year. It turns out that the Dublin company was behind the Tonic Hair and Beauty Bar at the Sundrive Shopping Centre in Kimmage and was owned and operated by the husband and wife… Read more »

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MEDICAL ‘ETHOS’ AT ST VINCENT’S

Date: May 3, 2017 - Affairs of the Nation

WHAT an effective bedside screen has been erected around the deal for a new National Maternity Hospital (NMH) at St Vincent’s Hospital Group (SVHG). The issue has become a cause célèbre for secularists but it has also served to obscure the fact that gynaecologist and obstetrician consultants will continue to be extravagantly enriched in the… Read more »

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IAN BAILEY’S FATEFUL MONTH

Date: May 3, 2017 - Affairs of the Nation

IAN BAILEY has more than one crucial appointment with the Irish and French legal authorities this month with imminent decisions in court and an effort on his part to secure additional backing for his contention that the gardaí tried to frame him for the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier. Next week the Central Criminal… Read more »

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Sean Lyons’s ‘Hostel’

Date: May 3, 2017 - Affairs of the Nation

LAST MONTH, the Circuit Civil Court reported that two children who had been staying in a Dublin hostel called the Georgian Court on Lower Gardiner Street, D1, were awarded a total of €8,000 as a result of significant bedbug bites suffered when they stayed there with their mother in 2013. Georgian Court turns out to… Read more »

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DRAMA AT THE ABBEY

Date: May 3, 2017 - Affairs of the Nation

GOLDHAWK wonders if arts minister Heather Humphreys will get around to announcing the new chair of the Abbey Theatre now she is back from her Easter hols. One thing is certain. The woman appointed to the position is not the person whose name will be announced. Goldhawk previously highlighted the rather unattractive terms in the… Read more »

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RTÉ THROWS THE BOOK AT GALLAGHER

Date: May 3, 2017 - Affairs of the Nation

FOLLOWING Goldhawk’s coverage of the bruising demand for discovery faced by Declan Ganley in his defamation case against RTÉ (see The Phoenix 21/4/17), the 2011 presidential candidate Sean Gallagher is getting the same treatment from RTÉ in his action over the infamous tweet referenced in the TV debate broadcast in October 2011. The Wicklow-based businessman… Read more »

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NOBODY LIKES BILLO

Date: May 3, 2017 - Affairs of the Nation

YOU HAVE to hand it to Jackie Lavin. When it comes to generating publicity for herself, she is hard to top. And it turns out The Irish Times is more than happy to play its part. Readers of the paper last weekend were presented with a full-page of gripes about the onslaught on her and… Read more »

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CHARLETON TRIBUNAL: PROTECTING CONFIDENTIAL SOURCES

Date: May 3, 2017 - Affairs of the Nation

SUPREME Court justice Peter Charleton may find his timeline of nine months to investigate an alleged smear campaign by senior gardaí against whistleblower Maurice McCabe will extend to years in the High Court, Supreme Court and even the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Charleton will find it difficult to reach conclusions unless he can… Read more »

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SINN FÉIN IN-FIGHTING

Date: May 3, 2017 - Affairs of the Nation

LURID reports of Sinn Féin bullying and heavy-handed internal rows obscure the reality. Unfortunately, SF, far from being different to other parties – as claimed in media coverage of Kildare councillor Sorcha O’Neill’s recent resignation – is stricken with the same ambitious faction fighting as its “establishment” rivals. In 2014, O’Neill won a council seat… Read more »

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Daly Bread

Date: May 3, 2017 - Affairs of the Nation

SURPRISING to see the real identity of the writer of the rip-roaring Grange Abbey family saga is low profile property developer David Daly, who wrote the Liberties Press 400-page novel under the pseudonym David Delaney. Fans of Goldhawk will recall (see The Phoenix 25/1/13) that the Indo has to publish a grovelling apology to the… Read more »

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The Hot Air Brigade

Date: May 3, 2017 -

You’d swear it was Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie crap… I don’t want it to be about that shite. I want it to be about the issue. Jackie Lavin loses her patience with “Bill and Jackie” stories, Irish Times, Submitted by reader I can’t think of anything. Sentences won’t come. I can’t force them. I… Read more »

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WAR WITH NORTH KOREA: NO JOKE

Date: May 3, 2017 - Foreign Frolics

By John Stanton THE 1953 Korean Armistice signed by the United States, China and North Korea called for a cessation of hostilities until a lasting peace agreement between the warring parties could be negotiated and signed. That, of course, has not happened. The Chinese feel compelled to let the incendiary North Korean government in Pyongyang… Read more »

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Mary Lou McDonald

BORDER POLL ON THE CARDS?

Date: May 3, 2017 - Bird's Eye View

CROWING about Ireland’s diplomatic coup last Saturday when the EU agreed that the north could rejoin the EU if it voted for Irish unity Enda Kenny said the decision was “not about triggering any mechanism”. He added: “The conditions for a referendum do not currently exist.” He’s not even correct technically. First, Britain’s northern secretary… Read more »

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Micheál Martin

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S COALITION PLAN

Date: May 3, 2017 - Last Refuge

THERE may be some Fianna Fáil front bench members and TDs who agree with Micheál Martin’s latest strident rejection of Sinn Féin as coalition partners – delivered on the hallowed ground of Bodenstown – but very few believe he will stick to that position. Martin has repeatedly ruled out SF as coalition partners – “unfit… Read more »

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Aodhán Ó Ríordáin

Ó RÍORDÁIN NEXT LABOUR LEADER?

Date: May 3, 2017 - Last Refuge

SENATOR Aodhán Ó Ríordáin began canvassing to regain his Dáil seat within minutes of Labour’s rout at last year’s general election. He has been leafletting, door-stepping and holding public meetings in his Dublin Bay North (DBN) constituency in a frenzied campaign that indicates his agenda is greater than just a desire to return to the… Read more »

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FLANAGAN FLEES BACK TO FOLD

Date: May 3, 2017 - Last Refuge

FORMER Fine Gael TD Terence Flanagan has slipped back into the party after his defection to Renua, Lucinda Creighton’s failed attempt to re-create the Desocrats in the 1980s. Terence fared badly as a Renua candidate at last year’s general election, polling just 4.4% or 3,205 first preferences and coming in 12th out of 20 candidates… Read more »

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CABINET DIVIDE ON PALESTINE

Date: May 3, 2017 - Last Refuge

THE next cabinet row between the Independent Alliance and Fine Gael could see Shane Ross don a Palestinian scarf and do battle with such as foreign minister Charlie Flanagan, Enda Kenny and others in FG over recognition of a Palestinian state. Six long years ago Labour’s then leader and foreign minister, Eamon Gilmore, boldly declared… Read more »

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