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Oisín Hanrahan

Oisín Hanrahan Hits Back

Date: December 4, 2015 - Briefcases

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 - Briefcases

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 - Briefcases

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 - Briefcases

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 - Briefcases

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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Nancy and Baz Ashmawy

BAZ ASHMAY’S INTER-NATIONAL EMMY

Date: December 4, 2015 - Behind the Scenes

THERE WAS plenty of media coverage of a rare International Emmy awarded to a show produced by an Irish player – Baz Ashmawy. This was for his TV series, 50 Ways To Kill Your Mammy, featuring the, er, hair-raising adventures of his mother, Nancy Ashmawy. However, the show was not actually deemed Irish. Ashmawy –… Read more »

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Committee Review Board Chair

Date: December 4, 2015 - Behind the Scenes

ANOTHER new chairman of a national cultural institution, David Harvey, was also up before the Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht recently. This concerned his appointment to the Irish Museum of Modern Art (Imma). Given recent history at Imma, it is perhaps not surprising that Harvey focused on his strengths in relation to… Read more »

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Michael Noonan

MICHAEL NOONAN’S CHRISTMAS MOVIE

Date: December 4, 2015 - Behind the Scenes

IT IS odds-on that planning permission for a ‘change of use’ submitted by Limerick’s Troy Studios will sail through this week. The ‘Part 8’ application was submitted to Limerick Council in mid-September by the local authority’s own Economic Planning & Development department. Permission is sought at the former Dell plant for a change from industrial… Read more »

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Paul Shovlin

PAUL SHOVLIN’S NATIONAL LIBRARY GIG

Date: December 4, 2015 - Behind the Scenes

THERE WAS very good news last month for the National Library of Ireland, when the Government announced a major refurbishment of the building on Kildare Street. However, there are still serious structural issues to be overcome, as is evident from comments by the brand new chairman of the NLI, banker Paul Shovlin. Shovlin would not… Read more »

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Des Leadon and Mariann Klay

THE FLYING VETS

Date: December 4, 2015 - High Society

THERE WAS good news last month for veterinary couple and owners of Swordlestown Little Stud in Co Kildare – Des Leadon and Mariann Klay – when they offloaded a colt at the Goffs sale for €475,000, the second highest price achieved at the auction. High-flying vet Des Leadon has been working in the industry for… Read more »

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William Jones

THE OTHER COOLMORE STUD BOOK

Date: December 4, 2015 - High Society

A CONTROVERSIAL book written by William Jones, an ex-employee of Coolmore Stud, is causing quite a stir inside Irish racing and has already attracted the attention of the legal eagles. The Black Horse Inside Coolmore is a “story of unimaginable wealth and power, joy and heartbreak” published last month, and includes allegations of staff bullying… Read more »

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Bernie Gallagher

BERNIE GALLAGHER’S ARTISTIC CREDENTIALS

Date: December 4, 2015 - High Society

INTERESTING to see Newstalk radio reporting that the purchasers of one of the Beit collection paintings are John and Bernie Gallagher of Doyle Hotels fame. This is not the first time the couple have got involved in the business of donating artworks to Irish cultural institutions, albeit in return for some welcome tax relief. The… Read more »

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Oisín Hanrahan

Oisín Hanrahan

Date: December 4, 2015 - The Young Bloods

LAST MONTH’S Web Summit marked the return to Ireland of Oisín Hanrahan (31), a Dubliner who has apparently managed to raise over $100m for the tech company he co-founded, Handy, an app and website which matches its online users with cleaners or handymen. Hanrahan has received relentlessly favourable coverage in the business press in Ireland,… Read more »

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bog cuttings

Bog Cuttings

Date: December 4, 2015 - Bog Cuttings

GRANDMOTHER REPEATEDLY KICKED MAN A “MULTI-TASKING” grandmother who repeatedly kicked a man on the ground as she held onto a pram has been given a suspended sentence. Michelle Conroy of Arch Court, Roscommon Town, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to violent disorder at Lower O’Connell Street, Dublin on December 27, 2012. Garda Michael… Read more »

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CLAIRE CULLINANE’S RECORD

Date: December 4, 2015 - Beyond the Pale

THE FOUR-SEAT constituency of Cork East is shaping up to be a crowded field come the next general election, and one of the Independents expected to throw her hat into the ring here is colourful county councillor Claire Cullinane, from Cobh. Cullinane may be a familiar name thanks to her controversial involvement with an outfit… Read more »

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Máire Whelan

LABOUR LAWYERS LAY DOWN LAW

Date: December 4, 2015 - Wigs on the Green

THE neutering of Alan Shatter’s Legal Services Bill by his successor as justice minister, Frances Fitzgerald, has as much to do with the Labour Party as Fine Gael or even the Bar Council. The manner in which Fitzgerald hid behind the advice of the Attorney General, Labour’s Máire Whelan, in deleting a crucial part of… Read more »

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Indo onto IS?

Date: December 4, 2015 - Fit to Print?

A FRONT-page splash in the Sunday Independent as well as further articles in the Indo reported that “Ireland’s top Islamic State terror suspect” is “providing logistical support for ISIL fighters travelling to Iraq”. Another article showed the “number one target” of the specialist anti-terrorist Garda in a photo – pixellated to obscure his identity –… Read more »

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Colm Keena

LEGAL EAGLES’ NEST IMPREGNABLE

Date: December 4, 2015 - Fit to Print?

THE castration of ex-justice minister Alan Shatter’s legal services bill by justice minister Frances Fitzgerald has been roundly criticised, condemned even, by all sections of the media; well, almost all. The Sunday Business Post referred to the “legal profession’s victory” over Shatter’s bill and how the legal eagles had fought back against his legislation, winning,… Read more »

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Pat Kenny

WHO CONTROLS INM?

Date: December 4, 2015 - Fit to Print?

A RECENT paean of praise to Pat Kenny from Sunday Independent columnist Eoghan Harris was followed the week after by Kenny’s own composition of self-praise in the same newspaper, in what looks suspiciously like a campaign to ‘save presenter Kenny’. The Harris treatment was embarrassing – “this brilliant broadcaster… the best radio presenter in Ireland”… Read more »

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Fiona McLoughlin Healy

FIONA’S FOOT IN THE DOOR

Date: December 4, 2015 - Affairs of the Nation

ONE Dáil candidate who cannot be described as a token female selected to fulfill the gender quota is Fine Gael’s Fiona McLoughlin Healy in Kildare South. Fiona is sitting TD Martin Heydon’s running mate, selected at convention, which was directed to nominate one man (Heydon) and one woman (McLoughlin Healy). But Fiona has declined to… Read more »

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Tom Barry

CORK ELECTION FEUDS

Date: December 4, 2015 - Last Refuge

CONVULSIONS inside the four main parties in Cork East could result in three sitting TDs out of four – David Stanton and Tom Barry (Fine Gael), Sean Sherlock (Labour) and Sandra McLellan (Sinn Féin) – losing their seats. The political mobility of Labour’s 2014 local election poll topper, Noel McCarthy (he took 3,511 first preferences… Read more »

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John Delaney

Creditors’ Meeting For Intrade

Date: December 4, 2015 - Briefcases

INTERESTING to see that a creditors’ meeting has been called for Intrade The Prediction Market Ltd and its related company, Trade Exchange Network Ltd (TEN). The meeting is set to take place this week and is likely to be of interest to the litigants involved in recent court cases with the companies, including the US’s… Read more »

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Sandra McLellan

Exotic Alliance adds another specimen

Date: December 4, 2015 - Affairs of the Nation

LORD Ross’s Independent Alliance becomes more exotic and eclectic by the hour and the latest target for his parliamentary grouping is Sinn Féin TD, Sandra McLellan. Sandra is a bruised politician after her crucifixion at the hands, firstly, of Cork East party critics and then the SF national leadership, who abandoned her when the local… Read more »

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Brendan-Howlin

BRENDAN HOWLIN’S LEADERSHIP CAMPAIGN

Date: December 4, 2015 - Last Refuge

FINGER pointing at Alan Kelly for the recent leak about Labour’s election prospects to both The Irish Times and Irish Independent could be a devilishly clever diversion by the real leaker. There are those in the party who believe that the story emanated from Brendan Howlin, who is showing all the signs of a politician… Read more »

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Theresa Villiers

DIRTY WAR: IN DENIAL

Date: December 4, 2015 - Bird's Eye View

THE Northern Secretary, Theresa Villiers, told the House of Commons with a straight face that she “wholly dissociated” herself from SDLP MP Mark Durkan’s description of the Troubles as a “dirty war”. She was replying to a question from Durkan in which he complained about her inserting national security strictures into the Stormont House Agreement… Read more »

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Andrea Corr

The Hot Air Brigade

Date: December 4, 2015 - The Hot Air Brigade

All I’m saying is I didn’t make a record to sell like I’d sold with my family. I made a record of songs I had written. To be honest, I’m not a very ambitious person in the first place. Andrea Corr on the poor sales of her solo album Lifelines, Irish Independent Inspired by the… Read more »

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Henderson’s Ham-Fisted HR Hiccup

Date: December 4, 2015 - Affairs of the Nation

EVEN though the Irish Daily Mail’s flamboyant MD Paul Henderson hasn’t previously been shy about putting journalists’ noses out of joint, it appears that he may have finally overstepped the mark. Staff were incensed earlier this year when it emerged that the company directors, including Henderson, were paid massively inflated fees at the same time… Read more »

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Simon Stokes

BANG BOYS GO BUST

Date: December 4, 2015 - Affairs of the Nation

A LITTLE late in the day, the Taxman has registered a judgment of €236,000 against ‘delinquent director’ Simon Stokes, whose restaurateur family previously ran the well-known Unicorn restaurant in Dublin 2 and nearby Bang restaurant. The judgment was registered last month, a few days after Stokes and his twin brother, Christian, were adjudicated bankrupt in… Read more »

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