IssueM Articles

Archives: Articles

articles
Pope Francis

PAPAL VISIT: IRISH SCHISM

Date: December 14, 2016 - Affairs of the Nation

LIKE Julius Caesar’s tripartite division of Gaul, the Ireland that Pope Francis will encounter in August 2018, when he attends the world conference of families in Dublin, will divide into three separate units. To the fore will be the ‘official’ Irish Catholic Church marshalled by the Bishops and those clergy and laity working through diocesan… 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

Robert Pitt

THE MAN WHO STOOD UP TO DENIS O’BRIEN

Date: December 14, 2016 - Affairs of the Nation

THE SOAP OPERA playing out at Independent News and Media (INM) between the group’s chief executive – former Tesco and Lidl suit, Robert Pitt – and the chairman, Leslie Buckley (Denis O’Brien’s trusted lieutenant), makes for entertaining viewing. With Dinny eager to offload his Newstalk radio station, Pitt threw a spanner in the works 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

Padraig-O-Ceidigh

PÁDRAIG Ó CÉIDIGH’S CONTRACTS

Date: December 14, 2016 - Affairs of the Nation

WITH THE Oireachtas committee on water charges kicking off its deliberations this week, it is set to be a very busy time for airline executive, nursing home operator and home care services provider, Pádraig Ó Céidigh. As committee chairman, he will be the central player during the sensitive and inevitably heated deliberations but where will… 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

Patrick-mcKee

McKEE’S POLITICAL ODYSSEY

Date: December 14, 2016 - Affairs of the Nation

THE return of Kilkenny defector, Cllr Pat McKee, to a resurgent Fianna Fáil is not guaranteed given his promiscuous party couplings in the last two years. As well, the agenda of TD, John McGuinness and his son, Cllr Andrew McGuinness, means that McKee will hardly receive their endorsement, regardless of the diplomatic noises from 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

Patrick Predergast

TCD’S ISRAELI CONNECTIONS

Date: December 14, 2016 - Affairs of the Nation

IN AN attempt to inject some balance into the Israel-Palestine debate, the fair-minded people at Trinity College’s chaplaincy are organising a “staff peace pilgrimage” to the Holy Land in June 2017. Methodist chaplain Julian ‘Jools’ Hamilton is the contact for the trip, which encourages staff to visit the region “because you know there are two… 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

article-default

A RACING UNCERTAINTY

Date: December 14, 2016 - Affairs of the Nation

A CASE that would have thrown up some rather interesting details about the sort of compensation paid out to top racehorse trainers and owners by a New Ross feed company has been quietly settled. It will be recalled (see The Phoenix 3/12/04) that panic broke out in racing circles in 2002 after a batch 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

Alan Farrell

A LA CARTE DÁIL PRIVILEGE

Date: December 14, 2016 - Affairs of the Nation

DENIS O’BRIEN must be horrified at the behaviour of his employees at the Irish and Sunday Independent in their pursuit of Gerry Adams over the IRA’s killing of prison officer, Brian Stack. His journalists have endorsed with almost hysterical fervour the use of Dáil privilege to further the interests of various parties against Sinn Féin,… 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

article-default

DAVE BREEN’S SUNSHINE

Date: December 14, 2016 - Affairs of the Nation

INTERESTING TO see a company called Solar Secure Investments Ltd falling foul of the Revenue earlier this month when it was convicted for failing to lodge Corporation Tax returns and fined €2,000. This looks like rather small beer for a business that once set out to raise a cool €20m from Irish investors for a… 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

29/5/2016 Launch of Composing the Island. Pictured are, from left, Simon Taylor CEO of the National Concert Hall, Moya Doherty Chair of the RTE Board and John Horgan Chairman of Bord na Mona in front of the National Concert Hall at the launch of Composing the Island: A century of music in Ireland 1916-2016 taking place from September 7-25, with over 29 concerts being presented of orchestral, choral, instrumental, song and chamber music by Irish composers written between 1916 and 2016. www.nch.ie Photograph: Mark Stedman / Photocall Ireland

The Hot Air Brigade

Date: December 14, 2016 - Affairs of the Nation

“The rethinking of what employment might mean in a 21st Century economy dominated by artificial intelligence…” RTÉ chair Moya Doherty with a new take on redundancies, Irish Times “Read More: At least 11 dead and 45 injured in massive hotel fire. So tragic.” Link in an RSVP.ie article about Brian O’Driscoll’s new house “I’ve earned… 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

Arlene Foster

ARLENE SPLASHES THE (C)ASH

Date: December 14, 2016 - Bird's Eye View

THEY call it the ‘cash for ash fiasco’ or as one assembly member put it, ‘a squander made in Stormont’. It’s going to cost the north €1.4 billion over the next twenty years, half a billion of which Stormont is going to have to find. Officially it was the Renewable Heating Incentive scheme or RHI…. 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

Michael McGrath(right)

BERTIE’S COME BACK DEAD IN THE WATER

Date: December 14, 2016 - Bird's Eye View

THE interminable factionalising of Bertie’s Good Old Boys (BeGOBs) in trying to resurrect the glory days were given the kiss of death by his chief lieutenant, Chris Wall last week. Wall told The Irish Times that Micheál Martin was “the worst minister for health we ever had”, adding, “maybe it’s time for him to move… 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

Jim O'Callaghan

O’CALLAGHAN’S LEGAL BRAIN

Date: December 14, 2016 - Last Refuge

FIANNA FÁIL’S increased poll ratings may or may not have something to do with the party’s new, more responsible (rightward) turn on various issues. But Micheál Martin appears to be increasingly reliant on justice spokesperson, barrister Jim O’Callaghan, whose legalistic view of politics has led the party away from the left-wing programme that revived 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

Regina Doherty

REGINA’S SOFT SPOT

Date: December 14, 2016 - Last Refuge

IS government chief whip, Regina Doherty, a secret admirer of Fidel Castro? Did the teenage Regina have a Che Guevara poster in her bedroom? Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil were united in their opposition to Dáil time being set aside for statements on the late Cuban leader, last month – eventually – but Doherty’s initial… 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

Catherine-Byrne

CATHERINE BYRNE’S MEMBERS REVOLT

Date: December 14, 2016 - Last Refuge

CATHERINE BYRNE is a loyal, supine supporter of Enda Kenny which qualities earned her the position as minister of state for communities and drugs. But neither Fine Gael HQ nor many members of Byrne’s Dublin South-Central (DSC) organisation share Enda’s estimation of the rare auld Dub who will likely lose her seat at the next… 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

RTÉ SPOIL SPORTS

Date: December 14, 2016 - Fit to Print?

RTÉ Board chairwoman, Moya Doherty told Irish Times readers last weekend that the public will get the media it pays for under a headline, “RTÉ’s financial model must be reviewed”. Moya was rowing in behind director general Dee Forbes’ campaign for more public revenue to bail out the station. But one part of the plan… 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

Declan-Kelly

DECLAN KELLY’S ENEMIES

Date: December 14, 2016 - Fit to Print?

SUNDAY INDEPENDENT hack, Maeve Sheehan did quite a hatchet job recently on transatlantic PR supremo, Declan Kelly, brother of Labour TD, Alan Kelly. Sheehan described Kelly’s “naked ambition” (an anonymous source) and someone that has “made powerful friends – and powerful enemies”. But despite the many links and encounters between Kelly and various Irish-American heavy… 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

article-default

GAA’S SOUR NOTE

Date: December 14, 2016 - Fit to Print?

GAA president Aogán Ó Fearghaíl did not shoot his mouth off without any PR preparation when advocating that the organisation abandon the Irish flag and national anthem. Ó Fearghaíl ‘s statement – made, significantly, from an All Stars visit to the Gulf – was not made out of the blue. The Irish Independent reacted a… 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

Denis Naughten

Denis Naughten

Date: December 14, 2016 - Pillars of Society

Once regarded as a potential leader of Fine Gael, then expelled from the party five years ago, Denis Naughten has managed to claw his way into cabinet as an Independent. Naughten is heading towards reconciliation with FG but as an Independent he can hardly bid for the leadership in the near future. However, at just… 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

Mary Robinson

TCD GOES WITH THE FLOW

Date: December 14, 2016 - Fowl Emissions

WHEN a student society at Trinity College declared last month it was “standing in solidarity” with Native American protestors blocking an oil pipeline in North Dakota, it may have sounded like the kind of worthy but symbolic action students are great at. In fact, the protest by Fossil Free TCD exposed an €88,000 investment by… 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: December 14, 2016 - Bog Cuttings

Curious case of the Invisible Female Driver A BALLYDEHOB man was fined €500 for failing to give details of an ‘invisible female driver’ who crashed his car. Eamonn Smith of Ballybane West, pleaded guilty at Clonakilty District Court to failing to provide information about who was driving his car when it was involved in a… 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

Conor McGregor

Conor McGregor

Date: December 14, 2016 - The Young Bloods

After conquering the world in the ring and achieving his dream of becoming a dual world champion, 2016 was the year that Conor McGregor (28) became a household name on both sides of the Atlantic. Outside the ring, his cash pile continues to grow at a phenomenal rate as the mouthy Dub sets about investing… 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

John Osborne

JOHN OSBORNE’S JOB

Date: December 14, 2016 - High Society

AFTER ALL the aggro at Horse Racing Ireland over the reappointment of Brian Kavanagh as chief executive for a third stint (see The Phoenix 17/6/16), the Irish National Stud (INS) has decided to go about things the right way and has opted to advertise John Osborne’s job, seven years after he landed in the saddle… 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

Sarah Gill

“PERFECT 10” SARAH GILL

Date: December 14, 2016 - High Society

CONGRATULATIONS TO Sarah Gill, proprietor of the Seagreen fashion boutique in Monkstown, south County Dublin, who has developed an uncanny knack for attracting glowing coverage in the pages of the Sindo. Her husband must be delighted too. Certainly, Sarah has impressed the hacks at Talbot Towers and most recently was the subject of a glowing… 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

Oliver-Peyton

OLIVER PEYTON’S HUMBLE PIE

Date: December 14, 2016 - High Society

SURPRISING TO see such silence this side of the Irish Sea on the recent trials and tribulations of London restaurateur, TV personality and high society fixture, Oliver Peyton. Irishman Peyton moved from Mayo to the UK as a young man before making a name for himself in the 1980s with a string of popular trendy… 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

Des-Bishop-This-Is-Ireland

THIS IS IRELAND – RTÉ2

Date: December 14, 2016 - ReviewsTV

FRONTED BY stand-up comic Des Bishop, This Is Ireland has been much hyped by RTÉ as the country’s answer to The Daily Show, with the implicit suggestion that such a format is what domestic audiences have been crying out for. Despite its lofty reputation, however, the US series can often be a tiresomely predictable affair,… 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

Karen-McCartney-and-Donal-Gallery

THE HEIRESS – GATE THEATRE

Date: December 14, 2016 - ReviewsTheatre

HISTORICAL PERIOD dramas sport a few familiar storylines. One classic narrative features a moneyed woman in a difficult romantic situation, or a dishonest lover, who turns the tables to her advantage. The Gate is on its second such plot of the year. The first plot of this ilk, W Somerset Maugham’s Constant Wife, unfolded in… 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

Crime-of-Passion

CRIME OF PASSION – JOHN BOORMAN (LIBERTIES PRESS)

Date: December 14, 2016 - BooksReviews

JOHN BOORMAN’S debut novel at the age of 83 is (unsurprisingly) set in the world of movie-making. The Irish-based director of Deliverance and The General apparently chose the novel form because he lost interest in a non-fiction book he was trying to write about film-making. The story’s central character is Daniel Shaw, another respected director… 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

article-default

PUNTING PADraig PEARSE

Date: December 14, 2016 - Behind the Scenes

FANS OF Goldhawk will not have been too surprised by the failure of the state to bid for the Padraig Pearse surrender letter auctioned by Adam’s earlier this month. It will be recalled (see The Phoenix Annual 2016) that when the same surrender letter first came on the market at the top of the boom… 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

Caroline Downey

DOWNEY STEPS DOWN

Date: December 14, 2016 - Behind the Scenes

GOOD TO see Caroline Downey, wife of promoter extraordinaire Denis Desmond and co-owner of MCD, taking the opportunity to put in a good word for singer Hozier last month. It turns out that she has plenty to sing about herself. Downey – who is well known for her charity fundraisers – was the subject 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

Neil Murray and Graham McLaren

IN AND OUT AT THE ABBEY

Date: December 14, 2016 - Behind the Scenes

THE NEW directors of the Abbey Theatre, Neil Murray and Graham McLaren, have been waiting in the wings for more than a year since their appointments were revealed in July 2015. The duo finally made their public appearance with the launch of the 2017 programme this month in a production that somewhat overshadowed Fiach MacConghail’s… 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

Gordon Elliott

GORDON ELLIOTT Vs WILLIE MULLINS

Date: December 14, 2016 - Sport of Kings

WITH HALF the jumps season already completed, ‘trainer title’ chat has begun to heat up with increasing numbers convinced this is Gordon Elliott’s championship to lose. However, the self-made Meath man is doing his best to play down his chances, despite his current €500,000 advantage over perennial champ, Willie Mullins. If there is a new… 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

stud farm blues

Date: December 14, 2016 - Sport of Kings

THE YEOMANSTOWN Stud family team of Gay, Annette and their son, David O’Callaghan, have each pleaded guilty to possessing unauthorised animal remedies at their Naas stud, which is home to their cash machine stallion, Dark Angel (see The Phoenix 9/9/16). Action against the trio was taken by the Department of Agriculture after a department representative… 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

John Mcstay pic

JOHN MCSTAY’S STUD FEES

Date: December 14, 2016 - Sport of Kings

THERE IS an interesting figure buried in the 2015 accounts that have just been filed by the Irish National Stud (INS). In a note, it is revealed that the INS earned income of €4.5m “from syndicates in which a company connected with the company secretary has interests”. This essentially relates to the income generated by… 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

article-default

TOM TAAFFE’S COMEBACK

Date: December 14, 2016 - Sport of Kings

FORTUNES RISE and fall all the time and despite all the despondency coming from trainers’ camps these days, they can be a pretty resilient bunch. Take Tom Taaffe for example who is hitting form but surely needs a good Christmas to see him into the new year in decent shape. It’s not all that long… 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

Market cools as INM soap opera turns ugly

Date: December 14, 2016 - Moneybags

THERE IS a certain logic to INM diversifying into digital media by acquiring the Newstalk radio station from the Communicorp Group. Both are mid-market news organisations and putting two such businesses together would, on the surface at least, appear to be logical, offering opportunities for synergy, and cross-promotional benefits. But Denis O’Brien’s personal interest in… 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

Tom O'Mahony

Opaque figures make it hard for Origin investors

Date: December 14, 2016 - Moneybags

LAST YEAR was a challenging one for Tom O’Mahony’s Origin Enterprises group. It wasn’t just that trading profits of €74m fell back to less than these were eight years ago but it was the first full year that the apron strings with its original parent, Owen Killian’s Aryzta group, were finally cut, after the latter’s… 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