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Vol. 34 No. 07

Date: April 8, 2016 -

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Patrick Enright’s Punishment

Date: April 7, 2016 - Briefcases

THE DECISION by the President of the High Court, Peter Kelly, to strike Patrick Enright, formerly of Patrick Enright & Co Solicitors, Castleisland, Co Kerry, off the Roll of Solicitors was notable for its contrast with the treatment of two far bigger fish a few years ago. Enright’s had forged documents purporting to be health… Read more »

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Tony Killarney’s Resignations

Date: April 7, 2016 - Briefcases

LAST MONTH, telecoms multi-millionaire Tony Killarney was revisiting an episode in his business career he would rather forget, when he filed documents in the Companies Office forcing his resignation from three disastrous property vehicles. Foxrock-based Tony Killarney is a major player in the telecommunications business here and in the UK. He is most closely associated… Read more »

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Olivia Gaynor-Long’s Books

Date: April 7, 2016 - Briefcases

THE BANKRUPT Stokes brothers – Christian and Simon – are back in the news due to an upcoming High Court appearance to provide details of their property holdings. However, Olivia Gaynor-Long, the current owner of the Residence private members club on Stephen’s Green originally opened by the boys, has her own issues relating to companies… Read more »

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Breifne, Martin And Barty O’Brien

Date: April 7, 2016 - Briefcases

THERE WAS an interesting High Court order obtained by a liquidator last month in relation to the winding up of a company called Barty O’Brien Ltd, a Kildare-based contract cleaning operation. The principal here is Curragh-based Martin O’Brien, who turns out to have been very busy in recent years. O’Brien built up a very substantial… Read more »

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Tony Killoran’s Music Shop

Date: April 7, 2016 - Briefcases

THE MUSIC retailing business has been a tough one to be in in recent times, with the likes of HMV and Virgin shutting up shop here. Nevertheless, the oldest name in the Irish game, Golden Discs, continues to shift CDs, albeit on a far smaller scale than in its heyday in the 1980s. Now a… Read more »

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Food sales key driver for Applegreen

Date: April 7, 2016 - Moneybags

UNDER THE management of Bob Etchingham, the fuel retailing forecourt company, Applegreen, has been powering ahead. However, it is now on a very high 21 price earnings multiple, so the question is, will the company be able to deliver the required growth to justify this rating. It was unfortunate that the Competition Authority approved the… Read more »

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Petroneft battle could bring Oil India centre stage

Date: April 7, 2016 - Moneybags

IT IS bizarre that two Irish quoted companies, Petroneft and Petroceltic, should have similar names, operate in the same oil and gas industry, have Tom Hickey as a common director, encounter trading and financial difficulties, and have a very hostile minority shareholder build up a threatening 29% shareholding. Matters are set to come to a… Read more »

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DISCIPLINING THE HRI SUITS

Date: April 7, 2016 - Sport of Kings

ELSEWHERE in Simon Coveney’s new Horse Racing Ireland Act 2016, the Bowler Hats have been handed the power to sanction employees of Brian Kavanagh’s Horse Racing Ireland (HRI). Under its remit as the integrity police for the industry, the Turf Club can hand out fines and bans not just to trainers, jockeys and owners, but… Read more »

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BOOKIE’S BUG BLUES

Date: April 7, 2016 - Sport of Kings

BETFAIR, the online betting exchange that merged with Paddy Power in a €10bn deal earlier this year, continues to experience problems with its online software (see The Phoenix 26/2/16). Since the takeover, clients of Paddy Power Betfair, as it is now called (aka ‘Betty Power’), have seen an increase in bugs affecting the programmes used… Read more »

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SEAN POWER’S SEANAD RACE

Date: April 7, 2016 - Sport of Kings

FIANNA FÁIL councillor for the constituency of Kildare South (Horse Racing Ireland territory), Sean Power – who is also president of the Irish Stablestaff Association (ISA) – has declared himself as a runner in the Seanad Stakes. The politician and racehorse owner is one of the 17 candidates contesting the seven seats up for grabs… Read more »

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TURF CLUB TRIBULATIONS

Date: April 7, 2016 - Sport of Kings

AN INTERESTING addition to Simon Coveney’s Horse Racing Ireland Act 2016 is a clause which allows Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) to dictate to the industry any directive that takes its fancy, without having to consult with Meta Osborne’s Bowler Hats. Fans of Goldhawk will recall (see The Phoenix 23/10/15) that the Turf Club was chomping… Read more »

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ED GUINEY’S AWARD WINNING PERFORMANCE

Date: April 7, 2016 - Behind the Scenes

ONE OF the obligatory functions of a state agency is to ‘lay’ its annual report before the Oireachtas in order that deputies and senators may peruse it and, if they wish, bring questions on the report’s contents before either house. However, the 2014 report from the Irish Film Board (IFB) was officially laid before the… Read more »

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Helen O’Neill’s Seat

Date: April 7, 2016 - Behind the Scenes

THE LATEST addition to the board of Limerick University’s Concert Hall is Ballsbridge-based academic Helen O’Neill, hailing from UCD, where she is Professor Emeritus of Economics. She is also on UL’s governing authority, one of the three appointees put on by the Minister for Education. O’Neill is the second Dublin-based director in a row appointed… Read more »

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MADAME DE MARKIEVICZ ON TRIAL – PAVILION THEATRE

Date: April 7, 2016 - ReviewsTheatre

AMID ALL the salutes and flag-waving, one of the more welcome aspects of this year’s 1916 commemorations has been the willingness to examine the psychology of the leaders of the Rising. And of all the theatre inspired by the centennial, it’s hard to find a play that takes a harder look at Ireland’s heroes than… Read more »

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BISHOP’S DELIGHT – PATRICK McGINLEY (NEW ISLAND)

Date: April 7, 2016 - BooksReviews

PATRICK MCGINLEY was born in Co. Donegal in 1937 and moved to England during the 1960s. His earlier novels – particularly Bogmail, Foggage and Goosefoot – enjoyed some success as slightly bizarre thrillers, complete with eccentric Irish characters. The latest tells the story of a missing Taoiseach and the attempts to find out what happened… Read more »

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Dominic Silvester’s Extension

Date: April 7, 2016 - High Society

ONE MAN who will be keeping a close eye on the European rugby this weekend is the (usually) Bermuda-based Dominic Silvester, who also faces something of a ruck in Dublin 4. Silvester has made quite a name for himself in the reinsurance game and is chief executive of the giant Enstar group, where he has… Read more »

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Noel Rock TD

Date: April 7, 2016 - The Young Bloods

IN AN otherwise disappointing election, a shining light for Fine Gael in Dublin was the surprise success of 28-year-old Noel Rock in Dublin North-West, a constituency where the party hadn’t held a seat since Mary Flaherty lost it in the 1997 general election. Interestingly, Mary Flaherty herself was only 28 when she won her seat… Read more »

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Bog Cuttings

Date: April 7, 2016 - Bog Cuttings

MAN STRUCK IN HORSE MANURE ROW A CO CLARE pensioner has been convicted of assault in a row with his neighbour over the pensioner piling horse manure on a wall that divides the two men’s properties. At Ennis District Court, Brett Payton, 46, told the court how he was assaulted by 68-year-old neighbour, Joe Williams… Read more »

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HOW GREEN WILL GOVERNMENT BE?

Date: April 7, 2016 - Fowl Emissions

AS talks on forming a government drag on, what hope of an environmentally friendly government? With 2015 the hottest year on record globally, and Ireland careering towards a huge – and costly – failure to meet EU 2020 targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions, who might be left holding the critical ministries of Environment and Energy… Read more »

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Joe Duffy

Date: April 7, 2016 - Pillars of Society

ADDRESSING a gathering of rebels’ relatives in the incongruous top-hat-‘n’-tails surrounds of Dublin’s RDS, President Michael D Higgins thanked historians and descendants of the Rising’s participants for rescuing from oblivion the individual stories of the Irish state’s seminal revolution. He singled out RTÉ broadcaster Joe Duffy for mention, citing his Children of the Rising, which was… Read more »

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Ní Bheoláin Libel

Date: April 7, 2016 - Fit to Print?

PRIVACY is fast becoming the new weapon of choice by those who claim undue coverage of their affairs in the media, and two minor celebs have recently taken such cases to the High Court. RTÉ presenter Sharon Ní Bheoláin’s action against three red tops – the Mirror, Star and Sun – is heading for a… Read more »

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THE GUARDIAN ON IRELAND

Date: April 7, 2016 - Fit to Print?

PUBLISHERS Cork University Press (CUP), recently advertised an interesting critique of the Northern troubles, entitled Britain’s Algeria, France’s Ireland, written by Toronto based author and teacher Patrick Anderson. However, even more recently, CUP withdrew all copies of the book from reviewers and pulped the entire print run of several thousand copies. This is a little… Read more »

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IRISH TIMES: 1916-2016

Date: April 7, 2016 - Fit to Print?

THE Irish Times souvenir edition of the 1916 Rising managed the notable feat of airbrushing out of history not only Sinn Féin but its own reportage of the event 100 years ago. According to the souvenir edition, the IT headline on its front page report of the Rising in April 1916 was, “THE DARKEST WEEK… Read more »

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SINN FÉIN ON THE SIDELINES

Date: April 7, 2016 - Last Refuge

THE party political leader watching the slow dance towards a government – more monochrome (blue) than rainbow coloured – with greater anxiety than even Enda Kenny or Micheál Martin is Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams. Adams’ tenure as party leader is likely to be determined by the lifetime of the current Dáil and, whether a… Read more »

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FF Coalition Split

Date: April 7, 2016 - Last Refuge

AT least five senior Fianna Fáil figures are now in favour of a ‘grand’ coalition with Fine Gael, and it comes as no surprise that three of them constitute an informal clique who have consistently opposed Micheál Martin’s leadership. Martin’s Cork South-Central colleague and finance spokesperson, Michael McGrath, jobs and enterprise spokesperson Dara Calleary and… Read more »

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ENDA’S POTENTIAL NEW CABINET

Date: April 7, 2016 - Last Refuge

THAT 50:50 gender-based cabinet pledged by Enda Kenny before the election can be binned under the new circumstances. The appointment of probably four male Independent ministers means that Fine Gael would have to come up with seven women and four men as ministers to reach that ratio in Enda’s potential cabinet. Some chance! With FG… Read more »

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THE PROBLEMS WITH THE KARADŽIĆ VERDICT

Date: April 7, 2016 - Foreign Frolics

by BINOY KAMPMARK THE uneven distribution of justice is the bane of any system that purports to be fair. The problems are made even more problematic when it comes to the issue of war crimes trials conducted by international tribunals. Radovan Karadžic, the Bosnian Serb leader of Republika Srpska during the Yugoslavian Civil Wars of… Read more »

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The Hot Air Brigade

Date: April 7, 2016 - The Hot Air Brigade

I’ve done all the F16 zero gravity stuff. I don’t believe in the rock star way to go, but if that was the way it were to happen I wouldn’t give a shite. Bob Geldof on his planned space mission, Sunday Independent (submitted by reader) After Kim’s hipster hairstyle, are we now seeing peak dip-dye?… Read more »

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JIM NUGENT’S LATEST SETBACK

Date: April 7, 2016 - Bird's Eye View

THERE WAS yet another setback last month for one of Bertie Ahern’s ‘dig-out’ pals, Jim Nugent. His attempt to extend protection from assorted creditors was reversed by Judge Mary Baker, who found there had been a “lack of candour” by Nugent’s adviser. Nugent was one of the lower profile names to pop up in the… Read more »

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NI: GUESS WHO’S NOT COMING TO DINNER

Date: April 7, 2016 - Bird's Eye View

IN January, Belfast City Council voted in favour of a motion to host a dinner for the NI and the ROI football teams (both their managers are Northerners) to congratulate them on qualifying for the 2016 European Championships. The Alliance Party later proposed instead a joint civic reception (one notch down from a feed) which… Read more »

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Kelly’s Heroes

Date: April 7, 2016 - Affairs of the Nation

THE seriously diminished Parliamentary Labour Party might want to reconsider their ferocious onslaught against Alan Kelly given the sort of firepower the minister’s brother, Declan Kelly, has recently acquired. Declan is head and co-founder of US consultancy Teneo Holdings and was a fund raiser for Hillary Clinton’s losing presidential campaign in 2008. He is also… Read more »

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TV3 and RTE’s DG

Date: April 7, 2016 - Affairs of the Nation

DISAPPOINTED luvvies at RTÉ, whose new director general, Dee Forbes, is neither a programmer nor even a production techie, may be even more traumatised to learn that her Irish broadcasting connection has been, indirectly, with vulgar rivals TV3. Forbes, as is known, worked for Turner Broadcasting and was at one point in charge of seven… Read more »

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MICHAEL NUGENT’S MANY COLOURS

Date: April 7, 2016 - Affairs of the Nation

ATHEIST IRELAND (AI) founder and chairman, Michael Nugent, struck a blow for the Enlightenment by refusing an official invite to the state ceremony celebrating the 1916 Rising. In a most gracious rejection of the invite, Nugent denounced the Rising as “an undemocratic group killing innocent people” and criticised the holding of the commemoration on the… Read more »

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DENIS O’BRIEN’S TOPAZ LOSS

Date: April 7, 2016 - Affairs of the Nation

GOLDHAWK was always suspicious of the reports that Denis O’Brien had sold his Topaz petrol retailer to the Canadian giants Couche-Tard for E450m. Now figures filed in Canada by the new owners reveal the amount paid to DOB was E258m. By Goldhawk’s calculation, Dinny may have dropped E40m on this one deal. Perhaps the most… Read more »

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BRENDAN HOWLIN’S DIVINE RIGHT

Date: April 7, 2016 - Affairs of the Nation

IF Alan Kelly is addicted to power, then Brendan Howlin is a megalomaniac who believes he can assume leadership of the Labour Party without the bother of a vote. Or is Howlin’s fear of a contest derived from a belief that he, as the five-year long champion of austerity, will be rejected by a membership… Read more »

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