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Vol. 34 No. 12

Date: June 16, 2016 -

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Vol. 34 No. 11

Date: June 2, 2016 -

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MOTORMOUTH McGUINNESS

Date: June 1, 2016 - Affairs of the Nation

THE normally astute media manipulator, John McGuinness, may have miscalculated with his latest outburst, in which he makes serious allegations against ex-commissioner Martin Callinan. But the real political hand grenade that McGuinness lobbed into the debate about the Gardaí and whistleblower Maurice McCabe was his refusal to express confidence in current commissioner, Nóirín O’Sullivan, in… Read more »

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“REPREHENSIBLE BEHAVIOUR” IN THE HIGH COURT

Date: June 1, 2016 - Wigs on the Green

WHAT A coincidence that Judge Max Barrett should choose the example of Digicel when citing case law in an intriguing High Court legal battle featuring an Irish company with connections to acolytes of Denis O’Brien. The spat is a colourful one, in which the judge referred to “reprehensible behaviour” by the other party to the… Read more »

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DEIRDRE FOLEY’S CHALLENGE

Date: June 1, 2016 - Affairs of the Nation

THE DECISION of Deirdre Foley and her D2 Private company to challenge the powers of the inspectors looking into the shutdown of Clerys (who seized documents in a raid on the D2 offices) places a significant doubt over whether we will ever learn the full story of how Clerys was bought. This is despite the… Read more »

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WHO WILL GET THE STUDIO DOSH?

Date: June 1, 2016 - Affairs of the Nation

THE ‘ANNOUNCEMENT’ by former Windmill Lane boss James Morris and producer Alan Moloney of a plan to build a huge film studio complex on the Nama-controlled Irish Glass Bottle site won’t surprise fans of Goldhawk, who has predicted a studio ‘bubble’ in the making. There is now a battle royal for public funds between the… Read more »

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Local FG split

Date: June 1, 2016 - Affairs of the Nation

THAT diplomatic kerfuffle involving Canadian Ambassador Kevin Vickers at the ceremony to remember British soldiers in 1916 could have been more dramatic had the suspicions about a royal presence been borne out. An “Operational Note” from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and marked “strictly not for publication” was sent to the media containing details… Read more »

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PÁDRAIGH Ó CÉIDIGH’S APPOINTMENTS

Date: June 1, 2016 - Affairs of the Nation

ONE OF the Fianna Fáil nominees to the Seanad is the very busy founder of Aer Arann, Pádraig Ó Céidigh. He is no stranger to political patronage from the Soldiers of Destiny. Earlier this year, Ó Céidigh narrowly missed out on a Senate seat courtesy of the NUI panel, when he was pipped by fellow… Read more »

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FLANAGAN TURNED PEACENIK?

Date: June 1, 2016 - Bird's Eye View

HAVE those vipers in foreign affairs finally house-trained their minister, Charlie Flanagan, who has come over all liberal, sophisticated even, with policy pronouncements about human rights and values? Some months after he was made foreign minister in 2014 Flanagan, speaking at the United Nations, delivered a most aggressive, pro-western speech, urging the UN to put… Read more »

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THE BOYS IN THE ASSEMBLY BACKROOM

Date: June 1, 2016 - Bird's Eye View

AT Stormont it’s all sweetness and light between the DUP and Sinn Féin. Too much so for some unionists incensed at Arlene Foster’s instant about face from holding up Martin McGuinness as the bogey man who could become First Minister, to performing a smiling double act with him on the steps of Stormont Castle. These… Read more »

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Bad day in court for bolshie barrister

Date: June 1, 2016 - Briefcases

COLOURFUL barrister Alan Toal features in an interesting judgment by the Court of Appeal.

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ECT isn’t firing on all cylinders

Date: June 1, 2016 - Briefcases

RECENT accounts filed by Galway manufacturers Éircomposites Teoranta (ECT) suggest that the business might be in a spot of bother. The company, which makes composite materials used by the aerospace, wind energy and marine industries reported accumulated losses of €2.9m up to the end of June 2015, the last time it filed accounts. It will… Read more »

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Mortgage Woes for Louis Fitz

Date: June 1, 2016 - Briefcases

TWO companies were placed in receivership in April on foot of mortgages with EBS Building Society dating back to 2006. The mortgages held by Holsten Property Company Ltd and Shireen Properties Ltd – the latter of which is owned by Louis Fitzgerald – were on the same tranche of land in Baldonnell, Co Dublin, and… Read more »

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Construction firm set to foot tax bill

Date: June 1, 2016 - Briefcases

GOLDHAWK spotted a judgment registered last month against Footoak Project Managers (FPM) Ltd, which will make a few stomachs queasy at the Dublin business. The Blackrock construction company, which specialises in small to medium sized office, commercial and industrial properties, had a judgment for €896,000 registered against it by the taxman. The Revenue judgement will… Read more »

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Galway construction empire crumbles

Date: June 1, 2016 - Briefcases

THE outlook isn’t very good for Galway construction giants the Fitzgerald Group, which held creditors’ meetings to appoint liquidators to several of its subsidiary businesses in the last month. The group is operated by the Fitzgerald patriarch, Michael Fitzgerald, and his sons, Peter and Paul. Three Fitzgerald businesses – MPP Fitzgerald Ltd (MPPF), MPP Construction… Read more »

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Woodville goes out of style

Date: June 1, 2016 - Briefcases

SPARE a thought for Woodville Fashions Ltd, which was placed in liquidation last month after a torrid few years. The fashion importers saw their accumulated losses increase from €370,000 at the beginning of 2014 to €730,000 in January 2015, the last time they filed accounts. Lucan-based husband and wife fashionistas, Alan and Amanda Carroll, were… Read more »

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Profits dry up for De Braam

Date: June 1, 2016 - Briefcases

DE BRAAM Trading Company (DTC) Ltd is listed for striking off again, just a year after it successfully filed for restoration to the company’s register. The Rathmolyon, Co Meath-based food and drink wholesaler last filed accounts in 2013, which showed accumulated losses of €800,000. DTC also seems to have fallen foul of the Revenue, which… Read more »

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Donegal bookies running out of luck

Date: June 1, 2016 - Briefcases

THE odds aren’t looking good for Donegal bookies Wizzy Browns Ltd, after being struck off the companies register. The chain of bookies, which operates mainly in Letterkenny and east Donegal, hasn’t filed an annual return since it was incorporated in September 2014. Before then, WB Realisations traded as Wizzy Browns until it was liquidated in… Read more »

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Pricey Grafton shares have potential

Date: June 1, 2016 - Moneybags

OVER THE last 40 years, Mike Chadwick built up one of the most successful builders’ merchants businesses in Europe. Grafton Group is now the largest in Ireland and the third largest in Britain. Over the last few years it has expanded into continental Europe, where the group now has a significant position in both Holland… Read more »

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Aminex shares now good for a gamble

Date: June 1, 2016 - Moneybags

WITH THE much larger and better resourced Petroceltic going down the tubes two months ago, the much smaller Irish exploration company, Aminex, now looks undervalued. Petroceltic’s shareholders were totally wiped out in the examinership process – a dreadful outturn less than two years after being on the verge of €700m takeout by Dragon Oil –… Read more »

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O’LEARY WIELDS HIS AXE

Date: June 1, 2016 - Sport of Kings

MICHAEL O’LEARY isn’t known for applying sentiment to his business decisions and this is also true of his approach to horse trainers. The Squire of Gigginstown House has recently dumped two of his trainers, Sandra Hughes and Tony Martin, despite both having provided the Ryanair boss with major success on the track in recent years…. Read more »

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CALLANAN VS KAVANAGH

Date: June 1, 2016 - Sport of Kings

THOROUGHBRED breeder Gerry Callanan has been a thorn in the side of Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) chief executive, Brian Kavanagh, for quite a while and it seems that thorn has just got bigger, following Callanan’s victory over HRI in the small claims court over the princely sum of €154. Callanan, whose small Kildare farm is… Read more »

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MONTROSE CALLING

Date: June 1, 2016 - Sport of Kings

WILL THE lure of Montrose be too strong for Racing Post editor Jonathan Mullin? The Mayoman is a former Gaelic Games correspondent for RTÉ and a little bird tells Goldhawk that the powers that be in Montrose have been wooing Mullin in an effort to bring him back to the station. He originally left Montrose… Read more »

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O’HAGAN’S NEW ROLE

Date: June 1, 2016 -

THE colourful former leader of Horse Racing Ireland subsidiary, Irish Thoroughbred Marketing (ITM), Michael O’Hagan, is keeping a much lower profile these days. The ubiquitous O’Hagan left the organisation in 2012 in mysterious circumstances, shortly after receiving a promotion within HRI to deal with their public affairs (see The Phoenix 29/6/12). Since then, O’Hagan has… Read more »

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LENNY’S ARTS SALVO

Date: June 1, 2016 - Behind the Scenes

HARDLY HAD the ink dried on Heather Humphreys’s appointment as Minister for Farms and Arts, than Oscar-nominated film director Lenny Abrahamson launched a salvo of tweets in the Government’s direction, following Enda Kenny’s heritage junket to Washington. “Irish art is a photo op for Enda Kenny while a once in a lifetime opportunity to create… Read more »

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CIARÁN LENNON’S STUDIO

Date: June 1, 2016 - Behind the Scenes

SPARE A thought for artist and Aosdána member, Ciarán Lennon, who has been embroiled in a legal spat over access to his Dublin studio. The property at Foley Street, D7, is owned by one Dermot Goggins and a receiver, David Van Dessel, has been appointed to the building – a move Goggins has challenged. When… Read more »

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ARTS COUNCIL ON THE MOVE?

Date: June 1, 2016 - Behind the Scenes

COULD the Arts Council be moving out of Merrion Square? This may depend on the outcome of the appeal by its landlord – moneybags Michael Maughan – against a refusal by Dublin City Council. The planners have shot down his application for a new development to the rear of the Arts Council headquarters at 70… Read more »

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SPILL SIMMER FALTER WITHER

Date: June 1, 2016 - BooksReviews

SARA BAUME (WINDMILL) THIS UNLIKELY story traces an eventful year in the life of a 57-year-old recluse who adopts an abandoned one-eyed dog. The book’s title (referring to the four seasons) typifies Baume’s keen interest in wordplay. Her debut novel begins and ends with the image of a dog “running, running, running”. In between, there… Read more »

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THE GUARDS

Date: June 1, 2016 - ReviewsTV

RTÉ2 DIRECTED BY Barry O’Kelly and filmed over two years, this short series shadowing the work of gardaí in Dublin got off to a predictably dramatic start. Hand-held cameras recorded a raid on a north-inner city apartment complex. This sensational opening sequence (one of the great clichéd documentary motifs) reflected the programme’s efforts in creating… Read more »

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QUINNT-ESSENTIAL FEARGAL

Date: June 1, 2016 - BooksReviews

FEARGAL QUINN – (O’BRIEN) PERHAPS the biggest revelation in Superquinn tycoon Feargal Quinn’s memoir, Quintessential Feargal, is that he once lost his temper. He was let down by a speaker at a charity event and “gave him a piece of my mind”. The tale of how the implausibly mild-mannered Quinn built up his Superquinn supermarket chain… Read more »

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DERY DESMOND’S REVIEWS

Date: June 1, 2016 - High Society

WHILE Dermot Desmond has fingers in many pies, the food and drink business is not one associated with the moustachioed one. However, his youngest son, Dery Desmond, has gone down this route and has just opened Zozimus, a flash restaurant/bar on the ground floor of his dad’s casino business, The Sporting Emporium, off Grafton Street,… Read more »

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IN THE RED AT RESIDENCE

Date: June 1, 2016 - High Society

THE OWNER of private members club, Residence, on Dublin’s St Stephen’s Green – Olivia Gaynor-Long – continues to pump money into the struggling business but the good news is that she claims it just might make a few bob this year. Gaynor-Long bought Residence back in 2010 and the experience has been an expensive one… Read more »

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BARRY’S BARGAIN AT LYONS

Date: June 1, 2016 - High Society

MEDIA SHY Barry O’Callaghan has swooped on the Village at Lyons, the restored Famine Village on the edge of the Lyons Demesne in Co Kildare. The previous owner, Declan Ryan, looks to have taken a bath here. O’Callaghan’s first move into the restaurant business was with Richard Corrigan through Bentley’s on the Green (although Corrigan… Read more »

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Charlie McConalogue TD

Date: June 1, 2016 - The Young Bloods

IT’S a long way from the relative obscurity of north Donegal to the corridors of power in Leinster House, but that is the journey made by 38-year-old Charlie McConalogue with his surprise appointment to the Fianna Fáil government programme negotiating team. While McConalogue topped the poll in Donegal in the recent election with 17.1% of… Read more »

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Bog Cuttings (03 June 2016)

Date: June 1, 2016 - Bog Cuttings

WESTPORT CHIPPER ROW STARTED OVER ’96 ALL IRELAND FINAL MEATH man Sean Fitzsimmons with an address of Addinstown, Delvin, Co Westmeath appeared before Judge Mary Devins, after he was arrested following an argument with locals over the 1996 All Ireland football final between Meath and Mayo, which featured an infamous brawl between the two teams…. Read more »

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FRACKING BY ANOTHER NAME

Date: June 1, 2016 - Fowl Emissions

“LIKE having a pissing section in a swimming pool,” is how Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan TD described the notion of allowing fracking on only one side of the border, a reminder that when it comes to water – and water contamination – Ireland is already united. Monday, May 16 was the day the fracking industry got… Read more »

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