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bog cuttings

Bog Cuttings

Date: April 21, 2016 - Bog Cuttings

CORK ON THE WILD SIDE TWO men were bound to the peace in a case where one claimed he was headbutted and the other was left with a broken jaw. After hearing the evidence at Cork District Court, Judge Olann Kelleher said he could not be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt to convict either man of… Read more »

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Martin McDonagh

Martin McDonagh

Date: April 21, 2016 - Pillars of Society

AN IRISH playwright (well London-Irish but that has never seemed to matter before) picked up one of the most prestigious awards in UK theatre earlier this month but it barely registered this side of the Irish Sea. Hangmen by Martin McDonagh – the man behind the Leenane trilogy – got the Olivier Award for Best… Read more »

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article default

Vincent Browne to Retire?

Date: April 21, 2016 - Fit to Print?

LOOKS as though not just Ivan Yates but also that other big broadcasting beast, Vincent Browne, is on his way out of the media scene. Yates is off to the United States for a sabbatical with his long suffering wife, Deirdre, although Goldhawk would not be surprised to learn that Mrs Yates may have to… Read more »

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James Sheehan

SEAN O’CALLAGHAN’S EVIDENCE

Date: April 21, 2016 - Fit to Print?

WHAT a spoilsport the Irish Examiner has turned out to be with its failure to defend a libel action from Tralee’s James Sheehan, former director of elections for Sinn Féin TD Martin Ferris. Thus the public has been deprived of another High Court performance from IRA-turned-MI5 and special branch agent, Sean O’Callaghan, who was the… Read more »

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michaella-mccollum

LYING DRUG MULE OR MISSIONARY?

Date: April 21, 2016 - Fit to Print?

THE Indo and Sindo managed to transform Michaella McCollum from an Aids charity worker to lying drugs pusher and back again to charity worker in the space of eight days following her recent parole from a Peruvian jail for drugs smuggling. The Indo’s Adam Cullen wrote a sympathetic article on Michaella the day after her… Read more »

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Michael McDowell

MICHAEL McDOWELL ON THE GO AGAIN

Date: April 21, 2016 - Last Refuge

HE’S BACK. The notion that Michael McDowell is running for the Senate merely to secure a platform was never an adequate explanation for the man whose appetite for politics on the national stage is insatiable. McDowell retains his ambition to head up a PD party Mark 11 and has declared as much in his little… Read more »

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Joan-Burton

JOAN BURTON CLINGS TO POWER

Date: April 21, 2016 - Last Refuge

LABOUR leader Joan Burton and most of her TDs, supported by a growing number of ever so sensible media voices, want the party to re-enter coalition with Fine Gael because they are worried about Labour’s future prospects in opposition. This is despite the fact that the Blueshirts have devoured the party in the last five… Read more »

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enda-kenny01

Enda Kenny’s Ace Card

Date: April 21, 2016 - Last Refuge

GOLDHAWK predicted recently that Enda Kenny would not easily be dislodged from his perch as Taoiseach and Fine Gael party leader (see The Phoenix 11/3/16) and despite noises about his unpopularity as well as that recent opinion poll, he is still fighting hard. Kenny’s ace card, ironically, is the troika of leadership contenders – Simon… Read more »

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charlie-mcconalogue

McCONALOGUE MARTIN’S MAN

Date: April 21, 2016 - Last Refuge

FIANNA FÁIL’S team negotiating with Fine Gael is a little lopsided, with big beasts Michael McGrath and Jim O’Callaghan alongside second team players Barry Cowen (nothing like as sharp as the brother) and Donegal’s Charlie McConalogue. McConalogue performed mightily in the election, leading the charge in Donegal to eclipse Sinn Féin, whose second seat (Padraig… Read more »

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Hillary Clinton

HILLARY CLINTON’S NEOCON PROBLEM

Date: April 21, 2016 - Foreign Frolics

by Gerald Sussman HILLARY Clinton has a dark history in foreign policy. She is a product of her husband’s alignment with the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) and the right wing shift of the party, which moved the Democrats away from its moorings in organised labour, the New Deal, civil rights, and the Great Society. Bill… Read more »

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Camille O’Sullivan

The Hot Air Brigade

Date: April 21, 2016 - The Hot Air Brigade

Sitting in a sunlight-filled room in Portobello, this woman from Passage West in Co Cork looks and sounds like a very glamorous and beautiful mix of Ophelia, Lady Macbeth and Patti Smith. Barry Egan on Camille O’Sullivan, Sunday Independent (submitted by reader) Buried in a photo album in my parents’ house, there’s a picture of… Read more »

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RED FLAG BUT NO WHITE FLAG

Date: April 21, 2016 - Bird's Eye View

DOES Red Flag possess the financial resources to fend off telecom and media mogul, Denis O’Brien, as he pursues them through the courts for alleged defamation and conspiracy via that USB stick containing unflattering material on him? Already, the bill on both sides is roughly a million each, including legal and digital search costs. One… Read more »

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Peter Kelly

PETER KELLY’S BIBLE BELT

Date: April 21, 2016 - Bird's Eye View

THERE has been an interesting encounter between the President of the High Court, Peter Kelly, and a couple of solicitors over the importance of the Bible. It may surprise lay people that this episode required two senior counsel to appear, but Kelly was clearly in no mood to take prisoners. The issue arose from a… Read more »

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colum-eastwood

SDLP FACING LOSSES IN ASSEMBLY ELECTION

Date: April 21, 2016 - Bird's Eye View

THE North goes to the polls on May 5 in what will be, as usual, two elections, one in each politico-ethnic camp. Anyone watching the leaders’ debates on UTV and BBCNI could not but notice the absence of acrimony between the DUP and Sinn Féin. On UTV the most testy exchanges were between Martin McGuinness… Read more »

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Ken Murphy

LAWYERS FOR BIG TOBACCO

Date: April 21, 2016 - Affairs of the Nation

A LITTLE noticed part of Fine Gael’s health programme for government as pitched to Independent TDs recently was to reduce the number of smokers in Ireland to fewer than 5% by 2025. That’s a reduction of three-quarters and with a high minded consensus among all political parties on the need to curtail tobacco sales, advertising… Read more »

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Joe Lewis

PANAMA PAYDAY FOR JOE LEWIS

Date: April 21, 2016 - Affairs of the Nation

WHILE A couple of high profile Irish names have been appearing in the ‘Panama Papers’ revelations of offshore company activity, including the likes of Dermot Desmond and JP McManus, the most colourful Irish link is surely the one featuring the mysterious trader Joe Lewis, pal of the aforementioned duo, owner of assorted football clubs, including… Read more »

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Ibrahim Halawa

HALAWA: CAIRO TWO FINGERS TO FLANAGAN

Date: April 21, 2016 - Affairs of the Nation

HAS the penny not yet dropped with foreign minister Charlie Flanagan that the Egyptian government has contempt for the Irish government’s cap-in-hand approach to the incarceration of Dublin teenager, Ibrahim Halawa? Or does the latest ‘confusion’ about Halawa’s transfer to another prison indicate that the government is content to be continually gulled by Cairo? Flanagan… Read more »

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article default

Guido Fawkes’s Irish Companies

Date: April 21, 2016 -

IT HAS been an eventful week for political blogger ‘Guido Fawkes’ whose Irish-based operation attracted the attention of the legal eagles, not for the first time. Fawkes found himself on the receiving end of a salvo from legal heavyweights Johnsons Solicitors after his blog revealed that Elton John and David Furnish were behind a so-called… Read more »

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“ZAPPER” ZAPPONE FOR NEXT CABINET?

Date: April 21, 2016 - Affairs of the Nation

KATHERINE ZAPPONE TD, liberal media darling, former beneficiary of Labour Party patronage and probably the most politically correct person in the western world, has shown unexpected political dexterity and ambition for one so earnest. She has also exhibited a rather catholic taste in political bedfellows, ranging from the soft social democrats of Labour to raging… Read more »

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Vol. 34 No. 07

Vol. 34 No. 07

Date: April 8, 2016 -

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patrick-enright

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

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

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 O’Brien

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

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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Bob Etchingham

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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Bob Etchingham

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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Simon Coveney

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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Breon Corcoran

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

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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Meta Osborne

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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Rooney Mara

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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article default

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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barbara-dempsey

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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Bishops-Delight

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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article default

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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