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MARTIN BENDS TO O’CALLAGHAN

Date: February 23, 2017 - Affairs of the Nation

THAT spat between Fianna Fáil’s Jim O’Callaghan and justice minister Frances Fitzgerald about whether or not O’Callaghan had alerted Fitzgerald to the Tusla file on Maurice McCabe has all the characteristics of a red herring. It served to divert attention away from FF’s limp position on garda commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan as well as the cracks… Read more »

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Mary Coughlan

MARY COUGHLAN JOINS SENECA GROUP

Date: February 23, 2017 - Affairs of the Nation

INTERESTING TO see that Ann Carrigy has just stepped down as a director of the new nursing home group, Seneca Healthcare. The fledgling company is the brainchild of a pair of brothers from Donegal who have managed to attract a rather remarkable bunch of directors, including former minister Mary Coughlan. Seneca Healthcare Ltd was only… Read more »

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MAHON: FINAL ACT?

Date: February 23, 2017 - Affairs of the Nation

WITH Joe Murphy’s court case against the Mahon Tribunal finally listed for hearing next week, the paying public may learn at last what went on backstage at what was once the greatest blockbuster – estimated costs so far €160-€300m – in town. Established in October 1997 and supposedly to be all over by Christmas that year, the Flood Tribunal’s… Read more »

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TERENCE’S TITLES

Date: February 23, 2017 - Affairs of the Nation

Terence O’Rourke (Left) A REPORT in The Irish Times last week focused on a hefty fine levied by the Central Bank against an advisory firm called Kinsale Capital Management (KCM) for breaches of regulations up to 2015. Presumably, there wasn’t room in the report to refer to the arrival six months ago on the board… Read more »

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REFERENDUM BLUES FOR PRIDE FESTIVAL

Date: February 23, 2017 - Affairs of the Nation

WHILE MEMBERS of the gay community often find themselves moving ahead of trends, it turns out that the directors of Dublin Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgendered Queer (LGBTQ) Pride company are very much out of date when it comes to filing their figures. Moreover, the ones who have eventually been lodged reveal a big overspend in… Read more »

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Trinners Shinners

Date: February 23, 2017 - Affairs of the Nation

INTERESTING to see that the student unions of Trinity College, UCD and NUI Galway will hold referendums on whether the unions should support a united Ireland. Even more interesting is the fact that it was Trinners students – not traditionally known for wearing the green jersey – who set the trend, with a motion tabled… Read more »

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Letters to the Editor

Date: February 23, 2017 - Affairs of the Nation

WHITE WASH? Dear Editor It is perfectly understandable that Ronan Fanning would give a wide berth to a diplomatic report attributing offensive and sensational expressions to a person then still alive (see The Phoenix, 10/2/17). I would have some doubt that Major McDowell, then managing director of the Irish Times, when criticising his editor Douglas Gageby… Read more »

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RED LINES IN BELFAST

Date: February 23, 2017 - Bird's Eye View

VOTERS IN the north next Thursday won’t be electing a new executive. They’ll be electing negotiating teams. No one, including Dublin and London, believes there’ll be an executive formed in the foreseeable future. Officially Charlie Flanagan and the northern secretary, the appropriately named James Brokenshire, do not contemplate a period without a northern administration but… Read more »

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FINE GAEL LEADERSHIP CONTEST – SIMON COVENEY

Date: February 23, 2017 - Last Refuge

SIMON COVENEY’S Fine Gael leadership pitch is heavily dependent on securing support from the Enda Kenny old guard. But while the latter regard Leo Varadkar as an over-ambitious parvenu they have not forgotten that the Cork aristocrat played a very devious game during the failed 2010 mutiny. That was six years ago, since when Simon… Read more »

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Leo Varadkar

FINE GAEL LEADERSHIP CONTEST – LEO VARADKAR

Date: February 23, 2017 - Last Refuge

THE gay genie is out of the bottle in the Fine Gael leadership contest and two former Fine Gael operators-turned-hacks – ex-minister Ivan Yates and Gay Mitchell’s presidential campaign handler John Downing – who have a good understanding of the party were dancing around the subject last weekend. The Sindo’s Brendan O’Connor was, characteristically, a… Read more »

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RE-IMAGINING RTÉ

Date: February 23, 2017 - Fit to Print?

ON April Fool’s Day last year RTÉ board chair Moya Doherty announced the appointment of Dee Forbes as director general saying: “The appointment of Dee Forbes stands to mark a significant moment in the development of RTÉ…. one where the future shape and financing of public service broadcasting is being re-imagined.” Since that mission statement,… Read more »

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The Hot Air Brigade

Date: February 23, 2017 - The Hot Air Brigade

Everyone that’s worked in government knows that there’s such a thing as government bandwidth. Alastair Campbell interviewed on RTÉ Radio 1 Because this is where it gets even stranger. This is where it goes from eyebrow raising to pure WTF. Gene Kerrigan on the McCabe scandal, Sunday Independent In the fast-moving world of politics, where… Read more »

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irish-times

Irish Times inequality

Date: February 23, 2017 - Fit to Print?

JANUARY WAS undoubtedly a bad month for the paper of record, with its rivals gleefully seizing upon an admonishment by the Works Relations Commission for a breach of equality legislation at The Irish Times. There could be more trouble brewing, however. The IT was found to have discriminated against a female subeditor on the basis… Read more »

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‘(S)INDO’ WOMEN FOR CHARLETON TRIBUNAL

Date: February 23, 2017 - Fit to Print?

THE Sunday Independent took another swipe at the Sunday Business Post last weekend via the Zozimus (Liam Collins) column with another litany of barbs about the “little newspaper” and irony of ironies, accusing the hacks there of “teenage levels of testosterone”. This is because the Post published some impertinent and unflattering stories about Denis O’Brien… Read more »

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Paul Reynolds

Date: February 23, 2017 - Pillars of Society

COMMISSIONER Nóirín O’Sullivan is the cop in the eye of the storm over Sgt Maurice McCabe but RTÉ crime correspondent Paul Reynolds is also on the rack. The media has begun to cannibalise itself over garda leaks about whistleblowers and Reynolds has become a target for some of his peers in the more esteemed investigative… Read more »

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NOT-SO-WISE FOOD PLAN

Date: February 23, 2017 - Fowl Emissions

CLIMATE DENIER Scott Pruitt was confirmed this month to head the US Environment Protection Agency. When working as Oklahoma’s attorney general, he took more than a dozen lawsuits against the agency he now heads. One of Pruitt’s letters blasting the EPA was revealed to have been written by an energy company, then copied-and-pasted directly onto… Read more »

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Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

Date: February 23, 2017 - Bog Cuttings

PENSIONER’S ‘amateurish’ GARDENING HOBBY A 74-YEAR-OLD South African man was handed down a three-year suspended sentence at Castlebar Central Criminal Court for growing cannabis with a potential street value of €40,000. Robin Jay of Ballinaclassa, Belcarra, Castlebar pleaded guilty to the cultivation of 50 plants following a search of his home in 2016. Mr Jay… Read more »

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Second Captains

Date: February 23, 2017 - The Young Bloods

The Second Captains – journalists Eoin McDevitt (36), Ken Early (38), Ciaran Murphy (34), Simon Hick (41) and Mark Horgan (35) – took a major punt earlier this month by ending their profitable relationship with The Irish Times. Following their break from Newstalk, the sports guys have found themselves in uncharted waters after adopting a… Read more »

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LADY JANE’S RARE WIN

Date: February 23, 2017 - High Society

A RULING by the Bowler Hats of the Turf Club last month saw a horse trained by Noel Meade disqualified and the race awarded to the runner-up. This represented a rare win for one Lady Jane Gillespie a colourful trainer and owner who has managed to keep a very low profile this side of the… Read more »

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CYRUS’S INDIAN BATTLE

Date: February 23, 2017 - High Society

A MEMBER of the family of the richest Irish citizens is embroiled in a bruising battle to regain control of the huge Indian Tata & Sons conglomerate. The biggest business story in the southern hemisphere in recent months has focused on the removal last October of 47-year-old Cyrus Mistry as chairman of the group by… Read more »

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WESTPORT HOUSE’S €2M CHARGE

Date: February 23, 2017 - High Society

THE PURCHASE for a reported €10m of Westport House by Cathal Hughes and the rest of the Hughes clan has been welcomed in Co Mayo. But there is one small matter to be cleared up – €2m in grants that may be repayable to the Heritage Council. Westport House has been one of the bigger… Read more »

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NO €40K HIKE FOR RAINBIRD

Date: February 23, 2017 - Behind the Scenes

Sean Rainbird (Left) WHILE THE National Gallery of Ireland (NGI) has been generating plenty of publicity courtesy of the touring Caravaggio exhibition, a quieter story is unfolding behind the scenes on the next head of the institution. The Department of Public Enterprise and Reform has shot down a request for a €40,000 pay rise for… Read more »

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Heather Humphreys

HEATHER’S POT OF GOLD

Date: February 23, 2017 - Behind the Scenes

WITH THE economy throwing off more cash, arts minister Heather Humphreys was able to dish out millions of euro to assorted arts and culture centres earlier this month. The three biggest winners were in counties Kildare, Wexford and Cavan. Although the latter is in the Minister’s own constituency, the board was leaving nothing to chance… Read more »

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SOS FROM ARDMORE SAS

Date: February 23, 2017 - Behind the Scenes

LAST WEEKEND, there were 3,314 signatories to the Save Ardmore Studios (SAS) online petition, the numbers slowing to a trickle over the last month, despite a well-attended meeting in Bray on January 25. That the country’s established producers were absent from that meeting will not have gone unnoticed, suggesting that Ardmore is not critical, at… Read more »

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ROCKADOON SHORE – RORY GLEESON (JOHN MURRAY)

Date: February 23, 2017 - BooksReviews

AS A new wave of writers continues to energise Irish fiction, Rory Gleeson (son of Brendan) makes his literary debut with a novel about disenchanted youth. The writer’s celebrity pedigree explains the extensive publicity attached to this debut novel and, presumably, the positive reviews. Set in a remote holiday house, the story centres around a… Read more »

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THE DEAD – PAVILION THEATRE

Date: February 23, 2017 - ReviewsTheatre

SINCE James Joyce’s work came out of copyright five years ago, Irish theatre producers have spun his work in all manner of ways, with erratic success. This quirky opera hits the right notes. The sad tale of Gabriel and Gretta Conroy’s marriage falling apart at his aunts’ sumptuous Christmas party is Joyce’s most famous short… Read more »

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MULLINS STILL The FAVOURITE

Date: February 23, 2017 - Sport of Kings

IN RECENT years, Willie Mullins has made the Cheltenham Festival his own and bookmakers seem to think this year will be no different for the Closutton maestro as he is currently on an 8/13 chance to end the week as leading trainer. This is despite news of the latest setback to his squad. Rich Ricci’s… Read more »

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TAMMY’S NEW ROLE

Date: February 23, 2017 - Sport of Kings

TAMMY O’BRIEN (Right) TAMMY O’BRIEN, for 20 years a star of the Coolmore and Ballydoyle operation, is moving on to take up a job with Newmarket-based bloodstock sales company Tattersalls. Married to trainer, Charles O’Brien, son of the legendary Vincent, Tammy (née Twomey) has been ingrained in the fabric of Coolmore and Ballydoyle, so her… Read more »

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BRYAN COOPER’S PR

Date: February 23, 2017 - Sport of Kings

IT LOOKS like Gigginstown jockey, Bryan Cooper, is preparing for a career out of the saddle. The Kerryman has launched a new public relations venture called Ballyseedy Racing Company, where he and one Geralidine O’Brien, with an address in Farmer’s Bridge, Co Kerry, are listed as the directors. According to its website, the company is… Read more »

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WALSH RIDING HIGH

Date: February 23, 2017 - Sport of Kings

WHEN RIDER Barry Geraghty got the nod to take over the coveted position of retained jockey to JP McManus following the retirement of Tony “Sir Anthony” McCoy, many people in Ireland were surprised that Mark Walsh was not given the chance in the number one role. Walsh had put in a solid stint as number… Read more »

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Aidan Heavey’s costly legacy at Tullow Oil

Date: February 23, 2017 - Moneybags

THIS APRIL, after Tullow Oil’s annual meeting, Aidan Heavey will officially step down after 30 years as chief executive and hand over to chief organising officer Paul McDade. Unfortunately, he is making the mistake of moving upstairs to settle in as chairman. This contravenes recommended corporate governance guidelines where a chief executive should ideally exit… Read more »

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Michael O'Leary

Mick O’Leary’s over expansion at Ryanair

Date: February 23, 2017 - Moneybags

IT LOOKS like Mick O’Leary is up to his old tricks again with predictable turbulence for his shareholders. The business model that works so well for Ryanair is simple enough to grasp but unfortunately O’Leary can get carried away and then seems surprised when things don’t quite work out. His latest move to increase capacity… Read more »

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Harry Lorton

Harry Lorton’s timely exit

Date: February 23, 2017 - Briefcases

THE scheme of arrangement for Cork advertising company H&A Marketing was agreed last month and it makes bleak reading for its many creditors, including the Revenue. Happily, top banker Harry Lorton, had resigned from the board and avoided the negative publicity. The controlling shareholder at H&A is Brian Healy who set up the company in… Read more »

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Michael Martin’s closure order

Date: February 23, 2017 - Briefcases

SPARE a thought for Dublin restaurant Pacino’s, which recently featured on the Food Safety Authority’s naughty list after being served a closure order in January. The Suffolk Street establishment, which also houses the Blind Pig – a speakeasy themed bar and nightclub – is owned by Dublin restaurateur Michael Martin who told The Irish Times… Read more »

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End of an era for high-flying Fitzpatrick

Date: February 23, 2017 -

DUBLIN solicitor and developer Ivor Fitzpatrick has finally moved to wind up one of his most extravagant companies, Atlantic Helicopters Ltd. Fans of Goldhawk will recall that Fitzpatrick set up Atlantic with developer Paddy McKillen in 2000 and through it the pair purchased the ultimate Celtic Tiger era status symbol, a Eurocopter EC120B. The two… Read more »

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Bad Karma at Maharishi University

Date: February 23, 2017 - Briefcases

GOLDHAWK spotted an intriguing little company called Maharishi International University Ltd (MIU), which seems to have been the victim of some bad karma. The company filed accounts recently, reporting that accumulated losses of u190,000 had built up there by the end of 2015. MIU – where Derek Crampton and Joseph Hayden are in situ as… Read more »

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