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David Agler

WEXFORD OPERA’S STRAINED FINANCES

Date: December 17, 2015 - Behind the Scenes

STILL NO sign of the overdue March 2015 accounts for Wexford Festival Trust, the organisation behind the annual Wexford Festival Opera (WFO). Given the financial strains in the David Davies-chaired operation, this may not come as a surprise, but Goldhawk is aware that all is not well in the sunny south east. While WFO has… Read more »

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RACHEL LYSAGHT’S FILM PLOT

Date: December 17, 2015 - Behind the Scenes

THE ABBEY (off-stage) farce – starring Fiach Mac Conghail as the director who forgot to include women playwrights in the National Theatre’s 1916 centenary programme – has put gender centre stage in the arts, with acres of column inches devoted to the subject. The Abbey row also reignited similar gender representation concerns in the Irish… Read more »

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Dominic Stevens

DOMINIC STEVENS’S ‘EXTRAORDINARY HOUSES’

Date: December 17, 2015 - Behind the Scenes

CURRENTLY running at the Mermaid arts centre in Bray, Co Wicklow is an exhibition entitled ‘Works by Nature and Man’ by trendy architect Dominic Stevens. However, his back catalogue may not be all it’s cracked up to be. Stevens has acquired a decent array of awards, residencies and publications. A shortlist includes the Arts Council’s… Read more »

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BEATLEBONE

BEATLEBONE – KEVIN BARRY (CANONGATE)

Date: December 17, 2015 - Books

  SET IN the spring of 1978, Kevin Barry’s second novel imagines John Lennon retreating to his lonely Irish island in the hope of reviving his talent for song-writing. The fictional Lennon’s plan is to spend three days alone on Dorinish in Clew Bay, where he will “scream his lungs out and find inner peace”…. Read more »

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Caoimhe O’Malley

YOU NEVER CAN TELL – ABBEY THEATRE

Date: December 17, 2015 - Theatre

  WHEN IT comes to drinking, one obstreperous character in this George Bernard Shaw play stands out, with his preference for whiskey and seltzer. It’s bubbly, with a bitter edge, occasionally sweetened with a lump of sugar to keep it fizzing. The Abbey programme tries to claim the beverage as a metaphor for the show:… Read more »

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Padraig McManus

SADDLING UP FOR CURRAGH TOP JOB

Date: December 17, 2015 - Sport of Kings

ADVERTS have appeared for the position of chief executive of Curragh Racecourse Ltd, the private company set up with the assistance of Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney to manage the Curragh Racecourse. The line-up for what should be an open race should prove interesting, although the smart money will be backing the horse with closest… Read more »

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Alayna Cullen

FAUGHEEN FORCED TO SHARE AWARD

Date: December 17, 2015 - Sport of Kings

THE ANNUAL Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) awards were dished out at Leopardstown last week, with junior minister Tom Hayes in attendance at the ceremony, which featured ex-FG minister-tuned broadcaster, Ivan Yates, as Master Of Ceremonies. The former bookmaker took the opportunity to get some racing tips from Willie Mullins, winner of the National Hunt Award,… Read more »

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STABLESTAFF UNDER SCRUTINY

Date: December 17, 2015 - Sport of Kings

THE Irish Stablestaff Association (ISA), which represents the interests of staff working in the thoroughbred racing industry, is currently reviewing its policy as to who can be elected onto its board. This pre-emptive action follows inquiries from William Jones, who has written a book entitled The Black Horse Inside Coolmore, about working inside the John… Read more »

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Martin Ferris

TURF CLUB GRABS CONCESSIONS

Date: December 17, 2015 - Sport of Kings

SINN FÉIN spokesman on Agriculture Martin Ferris was successful in his amendment to remove a contentious clause in Simon Coveney’s Horse Racing Ireland Act 2015, which passed through the Agricultural Committee stage last week. All the action during the two-hour session was centered around pages 15 and 16 of the Bill, which referred to the… Read more »

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Tom Keane

Tom Keane’s Many Battles

Date: December 17, 2015 - The Hot Water Brigade

MORE to report on the adventures of Tom Keane, the principal of BKRM accountants in north Dublin (see The Phoenix 23/10/15). Keane is currently facing four separate disciplinary inquiries by the Certified Public Accountants Ireland (CPAI), where he previously served as president. In October this year, Keane failed in a legal challenge to halt one… Read more »

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Eoin Ó Cofaigh

Eoin Ó Cofaigh’s Report

Date: December 17, 2015 - The Hot Water Brigade

THE RESIDENTS of an apartment development known as Riverwalk Court in Ratoath, Co Meath, face an uncertain future after Meath County Council (MCC) issued a draft report outlining a number of serious fire safety defects with their apartments. While the identity of the developer of the apartment building – Michael Ryan, of Saltan Properties –… Read more »

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John Gallagher’s Troubles

Date: December 17, 2015 - The Hot Water Brigade

THESE are nervous times for businessman John Gallagher, the founder of the private clinic, Charter Medical Group (CMG) in Smithfield, where his previous business associate was property developer Paddy Kelly. Gallagher has been involved in medical imaging for many years and one of his ill-fated companies in this business was an outfit called Photologic Ltd,… Read more »

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aine-feeney-mctigue

Áine Feeney McTigue Struck Off

Date: December 17, 2015 - The Hot Water Brigade

MORE TO REPORT on Galway-based legal eagle, Áine Feeney McTigue, who was suspended from practising as a solicitor in September over an alleged deficit of more than €500,000 in her firm’s client account (see The Phoenix 25/9/15). Feeney was struck off the Roll of Solicitors by the High Court’s Judge Paul McDermott at a court… Read more »

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Striking Off Robert Sweeney

Date: December 17, 2015 - The Hot Water Brigade

LETTERKENNY-BASED legal eagle Robert Sweeney was struck off the Roll of Solicitors last month by the President of the High Court for a string of misdeeds which resulted in of over 200 complaints made against him, largely from lenders who complained about his failure to comply with undertakings. Sweeney also landed in trouble over his… Read more »

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Philip Marley

Philip Marley’s “Sham” Lease

Date: December 17, 2015 - The Hot Water Brigade

NOT much has been heard lately from Goldhawk’s old pal, colourful property developer Philip Marley, although that may be about to change, as a company the businessman is involved with is currently being sued in the High Court. The row concerns Aldborough House on Portland Row in north Dublin city, which was previously owned by… Read more »

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Keith McDonnell’s Settlement

Date: December 17, 2015 - The Hot Water Brigade

AMONG the names to appear on Revenue’s recently published list of tax defaulters was that of Extreme Event Ireland Ltd (EEA), a tour operator company where the principal is Dublin businessman, Keith McDonnell. The defaulters’ list records that EEA made a tax settlement for €174,000 for under-declaration of VAT and PAYE/PRSI. McDonnell has his fingers… Read more »

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Denis O’Brien

Cash rich INM now undervalued

Date: December 17, 2015 - Moneybags

RARELY DOES a day go by now without references in the media to Denis O’Brien. As he continues to scatter writs like confetti, it is interesting to see how well Independent News & Media (INM) has been doing under his watch. For new investors in INM, however, the news is all good, especially if your name is Dermot Desmond, who… Read more »

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Breon Corcoran

Cashing in is smart bet for Paddy Power shareholders

Date: December 17, 2015 - Moneybags

NEXT WEEK, four days before Christmas, Paddy Power shareholders face a key decision, deciding on a crucial reverse takeover by the much smaller Betfair group. If they vote this through, it will effectively be a vote of no confidence in the team Paddy Kennedy left behind when he jumped ship last December. An essential part… Read more »

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Sarah Holland

Sarah Holland SF

Date: December 16, 2015 - The Young Bloods

Sinn Féin is gearing itself up for a high noon showdown with the Socialist Party in Dublin South West in the general election, with an unusual – for SF – middle class professional, Cllr Sarah Holland, a 38-year-old mother of one from Rathfarnham, picked as incumbent TD Sean Crowe’s running mate. Holland is currently the… Read more »

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Frances Fitzgerald

Frances Fitzgerald

Date: December 16, 2015 - Pillars of Society

THE meteoric rise of justice minister Frances Fitzgerald within Government and party has led to rumours that she is Enda Kenny’s anointed successor when and if he steps down at an appropriate point during the next Dáil. Or is Fitzgerald just the latest FG politician to serve as a useful piece on Kenny’s chessboard as… Read more »

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Declan Ganley

DECLAN GANLEY’S ACTION AGAINST RTÉ

Date: December 16, 2015 - Wigs on the Green

DECLAN GANLEY was the subject of a two page fawning interview in his fanzine, the Sunday Business Post, earlier this month and although many subjects were discussed, there was no mention of the huge losses that have been built up inside Deco’s Libertas Institute or his expensive looking libel action against RTÉ now hurtling down… Read more »

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Kevin O’Higgins

KEVIN O’HIGGINS’S MISSING LINKS

Date: December 16, 2015 - Wigs on the Green

INCOMING President of the Law Society, Simon Murphy, was not presented with the Society’s chain of office on November 6 last as is the customary practice at this ritual for the simple reason that the chain is missing. And photos of President Murphy in the Law Society Gazette – which normally depict the president adorned… Read more »

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Fishy Fiddler Fined

Date: December 4, 2015 - The Hot Water Brigade

MARK FISHER is not yet clear of the mess he got into with his property management company, Global Property Care Ltd (GPC). Having been restricted last year from acting as a company director for five years, he has now been hit with a court order for €35,000. GPC was based on the Nangor Road, D12,… Read more »

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Oisín Hanrahan

Oisín Hanrahan Hits Back

Date: December 4, 2015 - The Hot Water Brigade

HANDY – the US-based online booking company for cleaners which was co-founded by Irish tech entrepreneur Oisín Hanrahan – is currently involved in two ‘worker classification’ lawsuits by some of its former cleaners, now being played out in California and Massachusetts (see Young Blood, this issue). But that’s not the end of the company’s legal… Read more »

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Mary Robinson

MARY ROBINSON’S EXPENSIVE ARCHIVE

Date: December 4, 2015 - Affairs of the Nation

THE NEWS from the west of Ireland last week was that the Mary Robinson Centre (MRC) in Ballina is set to open in 2017. What is far from clear at this stage, however, is how many more millions taxpayers are expected to cough up for Robbo’s shrine in Ballina. The MRC is now being costed… Read more »

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Eddie Sweeney’s Latest Challenge

Eddie Sweeney’s Latest Challenge

Date: December 4, 2015 - The Hot Water Brigade

PROPERTY developer Eddie Sweeney may be a familiar name thanks to his appearance in the Mahon Tribunal report in 2012, which was highly critical of the businessman in relation to his involvement with Monarch Properties (see The Phoenix 20/4/12). Sweeney has long since left Monarch and has branched out on his own. Things haven’t gone… Read more »

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Shanny in the Slammer

Date: December 4, 2015 - The Hot Water Brigade

SPARE A THOUGHT for a Meath accountant named Kenneth Shanny, who was jailed last month at Trim Circuit Court for various tax related offences. The beancounter received a three-year sentence (with the final 18 months suspended), but this won’t be his first trip to the slammer. Shanny was also sent to prison back in 2011… Read more »

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Brian Murphy

Brian Murphy’s Bum Note

Date: December 4, 2015 - The Hot Water Brigade

The Taxman is investigating a Cork accountant named Brian Murphy – a former partner at Deloitte – for various alleged tax related offences. It is alleged that Murphy submitted a letter purportedly from a Deloitte colleague as part of a VAT repayment claim, which was not, in fact, issued by Deloitte. The number cruncher was… Read more »

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Mark Carroll

More Surprises From Shanghai

Date: December 4, 2015 - The Hot Water Brigade

FINALLY, the saga of Financial Plaza Shanghai Ltd (FPS), the British Virgin Islands company owned by around 140 Irish investors, who together spent €30m on an apartment building in Shanghai, before allegedly discovering that the true purchase price had been €22m, is set to come to an end (see The Phoenix 13/12/13). The Shanghai venture… Read more »

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John McCann

John McCann’s doomed UTV strategy

Date: December 4, 2015 - Moneybags

READERS OF The Phoenix were advised from the outset that John McCann’s decision to launch a separate broadcasting channel in the Republic of Ireland, UTV Ireland, would be his undoing. The proposed sale of the television business to ITV represents the final damning verdict on this ill-fated strategy, which resulted in huge losses being built… Read more »

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Michael-OLeary

Ryanair flying high with EasyJet model

Date: December 4, 2015 - Moneybags

THE MARKET has taken a real shine to Ryanair since it adopted the new ‘cuddlier’ business model, but the share price is now flying very high indeed, especially when compared with the ratings for Ryanair’s most obvious competitor, EasyJet, whose model Mick O’Leary has been forced to adopt. It has been embarrassing for O’Leary to… Read more »

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Ted Walsh

FOXROCK’S RETURN RIDE

Date: December 4, 2015 - Sport of Kings

FOXROCK, the Barry Connell-owned handicapper at the centre of the high-profile Punchestown missing shoes enquiry last May, made his seasonal reappearance at Navan recently. The Ted Walsh-trained gelding was making his first appearance on a racecourse after the attempt by the Bowler Hats to sanction the trainer and RTÉ racing pundit over the affair, which… Read more »

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Jim Martin

THERE GOES THE NEIGHBOUR-HOOD

Date: December 4, 2015 - Sport of Kings

THE IRISH Harness Racing Association (IHRA) and its chairman, Mark Flanagan, who recently won the battle to stage a trial meeting of its trotters at Dundalk Stadium, is set to return to Dundalk next season after intervention from Minister Simon Coveney. The issue of trotters racing at Dundalk has long been a bone of contention… Read more »

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Meta Osborne

META OSBORNE’S NEW REGIME

Date: December 4, 2015 - Sport of Kings

AN UNUSUAL clause inserted into Simon Coveney’s disputed Horse Racing Ireland Act 2015, is the one that permits the Bowler Hats to form a limited company under the Companies Act to carry out their functions in relation to integrity services. A new generation is taking control of the 225-year-old boys’ club as Meta Osborne, daughter… Read more »

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DINOSAURS ON OTHER PLANETS

DINOSAURS ON OTHER PLANETS

Date: December 4, 2015 - Books

DANIELLE McLOUGHLIN (THE STINGING FLY) THIS DEBUT collection of 11 stories opens impressively with The Act of Foot Binding, in which a cheated wife struggles to achieve some kind of normal home-life with her wayward husband and rebellious daughter, who has resorted to self-harm after reading about the ancient Chinese tradition of associating small feet… Read more »

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SNAPSHOTS

SNAPSHOTS

Date: December 4, 2015 - Books

MICHAEL O’HIGGINS (NEW ISLAND BOOKS) SET IN inner-city Dublin during the early 1980s, against the backdrop of IRA hunger strikes and the abortion referendum, this debut novel has all the standard trappings of crime fiction, including career criminals, foul deeds, violence, court drama and flawed relationships. In place of a single central character, the story… Read more »

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