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Vina Ardanza Rachael Blackmore

TIME FOR A STEWARDS’ INQUIRY?

Date: June 1, 2023 - Sport of Kings

A FEW weekends ago there were some stewarding decisions that left punters wondering if the acting stewards were watching the same races as everyone else. It is far from the first time that the stewards appear to have been out of step. There was the much publicised Rachael Blackmore incident at Kilbeggan (see The Phoenix… Read more »

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Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

BOG CUTTINGS

Date: June 1, 2023 - Bog Cuttings

LOCKED LEGAL EAGLE Judge James McNulty, presiding over Clonakilty District Court, heard the case of a “fledgling barrister” who was arrested on suspicion of being drunk in charge of a vehicle. The judge told the defendant that “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing”. Patrick Horgan, of Inchacurka, Dunmanway, was discovered in an intoxicated state… Read more »

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Wayne Kieswetter

KIESWETTERS HAPPY TO STUMP UP

Date: June 1, 2023 - High Society

IT IS a truth universally acknowledged that horseracing is for those with deep pockets. The latest figures from the South African-owned Barnane Stud outside Templemore in Co Tipperary – run on the ground by Patrick Wynn Jones – reveal that accumulated losses topped €3.3m at the end of June last year, after the operation dropped… Read more »

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IHT CHL The Lion in Winter Racing Royalty Le Brocquy City of Troy Fitzwilliam Square AIRO Dermot Smurfit Ballinacarrig Park Club Cosgrave Fitzpatrick Keith Jameson National Gallery Collection Marissa Carter VG Tom Higgins Neil Jordan Laura Bonner Paul Ward Variety Jones Dtat Eathos Sharon Keegan Angela Scanlon Desmond Canouan Bellair Estate Bobby Flay John O’Conor Portrait of Omai Eibhlín Ní Chonghaile Wedding NGI Board Rachel Flynn JP McMahon Ash Quinn Pamela Laird Abdullah Al Naboodah Boundless Ocean

EATHOS’S EXPANDING WAISTLINE

Date: June 1, 2023 - High Society

GOLDHAWK SPIES from his perch that a third upmarket Eathos cafe has opened on the stretch from Lower Baggot Street to Upper Baggot Street. Clearly, this is a target-rich environment for moneybags Larry Murrin. Although the burgeoning chain is run by siblings Lisa and Peter Murrin, the moolah comes from daddy, who is best known… Read more »

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Michael O'Leary

RYANAIR BOOSTS PROFITS ON FOOT OF HIKED FARES

Date: June 1, 2023 - Moneybags

MONEYBAGS HAS previously queried Mick O’Leary’s near obsession with growing Ryanair’s capacity for the sake of growing it, rather that seeking to optimise returns in the context of evolving demand and competition. He has now announced another major capacity expansion and, thus far, the market has reacted positively. But yet again the bottom line has… Read more »

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Tomas O'Midheach

SHAREHOLDERS WELL PLACED DESPITE FBD’S QUIRKS

Date: June 1, 2023 - Moneybags

HAVING FAILED to pay out on business interruption insurance to assorted publicans shut down during the pandemic, the deadline is imminent for the release of the judge’s written ruling. Now three years on from the claims, mid-June has been pencilled in for the judgment on foot of the High Court test case successfully taken against… Read more »

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Tom Higgins

TOM HIGGINS GETS READY TO BLAST OFF

Date: June 1, 2023 - Briefcases

COULD MINTED Tom ‘Psychics Live’ Higgins be about to finally blast off for space, 18 years after he stumped up the equivalent of $¼m to Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic? Way back in 2005, Tom Higgins was one of 800 moneybags who splashed out for a ticket to be among the first ‘space tourists’ but, although… Read more »

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Screen Ireland Katie Holly

MORE MILLIONS FOR MOVIES

Date: June 1, 2023 - Briefcases

ARTS MINISTER Catherine Martin is currently seeking applications from “suitably qualified candidates” for two vacancies on the board of the state film funding agency, Screen Ireland (SI), created by the end of the terms of Marian Quinn and Kate McColgan. Those worried about the quality of many Irish films in recent years will be reassured… Read more »

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WAVF Castleknock Hospitality BAL Susan Bergin Tixserve EOG Fergal Naughton hot-water-brigade def

FERGAL NAUGHTON’S SALES

Date: June 1, 2023 - Briefcases

GLEN DIMPLEX heir Fergal Naughton and his missus, Rachael, are selling up their Georgian mansion in Howth, Drumleck House – with a cool €8.75m on the price tag. They have another deal to keep them occupied too. Earlier this month, celebrity ‘hospitality service experts’, Francis and John Brennan, put their Kenmare, Co Kerry, hotels –… Read more »

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Piotr Skoczylas

PIOTR SKOCZYLAS’S SOLICITORS

Date: June 1, 2023 - Briefcases

MALTA-BASED Piotr Skoczylas, the man behind Scotchstone Capital, continues to battle on bravely in his decade-long campaign to secure compensation for the government’s nationalisation of Irish Life and Permanent, in which Scotchstone had a stake. It has been a long slog with many setbacks and the litigation has generated plenty of its own controversy –… Read more »

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Black Sun symbol

WHITE EUROPEANS

Date: May 30, 2023 - Affairs of the Nation

At the Aviva Stadium last October, defence department secretary general Jacqui McCrum opened proceedings at ‘Building the ecosystem – identifying connections for collaboration in security, defence and dual technologies’. The gathering hoped to nurture the growth of an Irish arms industry by bringing together Irish industry and research institutions with leading figures from Ireland’s armed… Read more »

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Norman Crowley

NORMAN’S WISDOM

Date: May 30, 2023 - Affairs of the Nation

NORMAN CROWLEY’S fans in the Irish Times gave him another outing in the paper earlier this month, where the ‘energy efficient solutions’ motor mouth boasted about signing a “€50m electric trucks deal” no less. Maybe this is the deal that will make those long-promised profits finally easier to track. According to Stormin’ Norman, he has… Read more »

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Budget Jack Chambers Nicki Minaj B’Tselem Phil Hogan UCD IRTA DIGI Katy Brown Rory Godson Pallonji Mistry Shark Hanlon Frances Ruane Taste of Dublin Listowel Writers’ Week Paddy Curran Harvey Norman Anton Savage Paul Hourican Enda O’Coineen PfP Red C Poll IFTA Ben Gilroy Luke Comer Sue Spence Fingleton Aubrey McCarthy Matt Cooper Parker Green Danny McConnell Gayle Killilea Maura Derivan Ed Honohan INS Arts Council EDAF Emuse Rosslare Golf Club Mairead Casey Colm O’Rourke Stephen Connolly Peter Aiken John Malone Tom Barry Anthony Halpin Ian Kehoe Kevin Bakhurst Geraldine O’Leary Dennis Horgan RUSI Gareth McAllister Ryevale House Joe Macken RUC Omagh Patrick Connolly Paddy Cosgrave The Ditch Newstalk Fake Tan Fred Logue Ian Paisley Sean O’Riordan Margaret Sweeney Jay Bourke Ellie Kisyombe Francesca McDonagh Ted Cunningham National Space Centre An Irish Goodbye Oscar Robert Quirke Ciara Kelly Executive Women Gathering Doug Taylor Florian Haufe Robbie Henshaw Bill Shipsey Breaking the Silence L’Ecrivain Ronan McNally National Lottery Michael Roche Energy Action Balls.ie Newspapers VAT Abbey Theatre Patricia Madden Irish Banking Culture Board Randox Aoife Gallagher Book Dalai Lama Trinity Trevor White RTÉ Chairperson Shane Houlihan Noel Smyth IKC Bob Geldof Landlord Ireland Neutrality Ukraine

IN DEFENCE OF PADDY COSGRAVE

Date: May 18, 2023 - Affairs of the Nation

IT WAS hardly surprising to see the ‘nwl’ Twitter account wading into the controversy over Paddy Cosgrave’s €1m in funding for The Ditch website, courtesy of a broadside against Fianna Fáil senator Malcolm Byrne, who had just lodged a complaint with the regulator. The anonymous Twitter account has long been parroting what both The Ditch… Read more »

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Anne Harris

PROFILE: ANNE HARRIS

Date: May 18, 2023 - Pillars of Society

THE IRISH TIMES prides itself as leading debate on the big issues of the day and down the years has acted as the vanguard – for good or bad – on social issues, the peace process, EU matters, neutrality and so on. One of the most divisive such issue was, of course, the peace process,… Read more »

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Angela Scanlon

YOUNG BLOOD: ANGELA SCANLON

Date: May 18, 2023 - The Young Bloods

IT MAY once have sacked her from a high-profile gig but RTÉ has certainly shown faith in the gobby Angela Scanlon by giving her Saturday night chat show a third run. This faith may have been misplaced as, when Ask Me Anything debuted on April 15, it had an average audience of 250,000 viewers. By… Read more »

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Simon Harris

CONTENDERS CIRCLE VARADKAR

Date: May 18, 2023 - Last Refuge

THE FEAR of an unseemly power struggle being displayed in public is one reason for the paralysis in Fine Gael over increasingly poor poll figures since Leo Varadkar reassumed leadership of the nation last December. Another is that the reaction of coalition partner Fianna Fáil to any such change is unknown or, even worse, that… Read more »

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Robert Watt

WATT’S PUBLIC SPENDING CONTROLS

Date: May 18, 2023 - Last Refuge

While many politicians and commentators have been falling over themselves to characterise health department secretary general Robert Watt as “dismissive”, “cocky”, “combative” or “arrogant”, civil service insiders have been perusing copies of the public spending code. This internal document sets out the protocols and procedures at the different thresholds that all ‘accounting officers’ – ie secretaries general,… Read more »

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Budget Jack Chambers Nicki Minaj B’Tselem Phil Hogan UCD IRTA DIGI Katy Brown Rory Godson Pallonji Mistry Shark Hanlon Frances Ruane Taste of Dublin Listowel Writers’ Week Paddy Curran Harvey Norman Anton Savage Paul Hourican Enda O’Coineen PfP Red C Poll IFTA Ben Gilroy Luke Comer Sue Spence Fingleton Aubrey McCarthy Matt Cooper Parker Green Danny McConnell Gayle Killilea Maura Derivan Ed Honohan INS Arts Council EDAF Emuse Rosslare Golf Club Mairead Casey Colm O’Rourke Stephen Connolly Peter Aiken John Malone Tom Barry Anthony Halpin Ian Kehoe Kevin Bakhurst Geraldine O’Leary Dennis Horgan RUSI Gareth McAllister Ryevale House Joe Macken RUC Omagh Patrick Connolly Paddy Cosgrave The Ditch Newstalk Fake Tan Fred Logue Ian Paisley Sean O’Riordan Margaret Sweeney Jay Bourke Ellie Kisyombe Francesca McDonagh Ted Cunningham National Space Centre An Irish Goodbye Oscar Robert Quirke Ciara Kelly Executive Women Gathering Doug Taylor Florian Haufe Robbie Henshaw Bill Shipsey Breaking the Silence L’Ecrivain Ronan McNally National Lottery Michael Roche Energy Action Balls.ie Newspapers VAT Abbey Theatre Patricia Madden Irish Banking Culture Board Randox Aoife Gallagher Book Dalai Lama Trinity Trevor White RTÉ Chairperson Shane Houlihan Noel Smyth IKC Bob Geldof Landlord Ireland Neutrality Ukraine

FAKE TAN AT NEWSTALK

Date: May 18, 2023 - Affairs of the Nation

MUCH HAS been written about the Irish Times’s chatbot debacle and there are plenty of red faces on Tara Street this week. It turns out, however, that the IT is far from the only news organisation that got carried away. The Newstalk Breakfast team of Ciara Kelly and Shane Coleman was quick to jump on the… Read more »

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Rita Crosbie

RITA CROSBIE’S BATTLES

Date: May 18, 2023 - Briefcases

GOOD NEWS for Rita Crosbie (Harry’s missus), with Dublin City Council having given the thumbs up for two retail kiosks on Grand Canal Square, despite significant local opposition from the likes of the Marker Hotel and the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre. The planning hurdle that was overcome was only the latest step in a process… Read more »

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Paddy Kehoe

PADDY KEHOE’S ROUGH RIDE

Date: May 18, 2023 - Affairs of the Nation

HORSERACING PUNTERS have been enjoying the incendiary online spat between one Paddy Kehoe, the owner of racehorse Princess Zoe, and her former trainer, Tony Mullins (brother of superstar Willie). Kehoe’s name may ring a bell with readers with long memories given his central role in a high-profile lottery coup three decades ago. Despite a long… Read more »

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Áine Moriarty

ÁINE MORIARTY’S ACADEMY REBOOT

Date: May 18, 2023 - Affairs of the Nation

THE IRISH Film and Television Academy (Ifta) production directed by Áine Moriarty was back from the Zoom wilderness for an in-person event this month, hosted by Deirdre O’Kane, to mark the 20th anniversary of the annual bash. What people who were awarded Iftas in the years before 2003 make of this dateline is unclear, although… Read more »

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Aosdána The cover of ‘Beginnings’

CREATIVE DIFFERENCES

Date: May 18, 2023 - Behind the Scenes

GOLDHAWK WAS struck by the rather glossy-looking Beginnings, a book commissioned by the Art Council to mark 40 years of artists’ organisation Aosdána, where the current membership of the toscaireacht (the management committee) includes the likes of poet Theo Dorgan, painter Eamon Colman and composer Gráinne Mulvey. Beginnings is not a cheap production, with the… Read more »

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Sean Corkery

CORKERY LEADS DATALEX INTO TURBULENCE

Date: May 18, 2023 - Moneybags

THIS IS not the first time that the accounts for airline software outfit Datalex have left Moneybags scratching his head. This time, the outturn is so bad that it borders on the inexplicable. Meanwhile, the company’s largest passenger, 40% shareholder Dermot Desmond, has started to really turn the screws and a possible plan by CEO… Read more »

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Clean Sweep Charlene McKenna

CLEAN SWEEP – RTÉ ONE

Date: May 18, 2023 - ReviewsReviews|TV

HAVING ENJOYED an unusual level of critical and audience appreciation for gangster series Kin, RTÉ is back on familiar territory with Clean Sweep. The plodding ‘thriller’ stars Peaky Blinders’ Charlene McKenna as housewife Shelly Mohan, whose past life as a killer is in danger of being uncovered by her Galway garda detective husband Jason (Barry… Read more »

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VOL 41 NO 10

Date: May 18, 2023 -

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Philip Dwyer Drew Harris

LIGHT TOUCH GARDA RESPONSE

Date: May 18, 2023 - Affairs of the Nation

THE POLICY of light-touch policing that gardaí have used to deal with far-right protests and provocations in recent months was again evident last week. This is despite statements from Messrs Simon Harris and Drew Harris, justice minister and Garda commissioner respectively, who claim that the force has adequate resources to deal with those right-wing extremists… Read more »

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Budget Jack Chambers Nicki Minaj B’Tselem Phil Hogan UCD IRTA DIGI Katy Brown Rory Godson Pallonji Mistry Shark Hanlon Frances Ruane Taste of Dublin Listowel Writers’ Week Paddy Curran Harvey Norman Anton Savage Paul Hourican Enda O’Coineen PfP Red C Poll IFTA Ben Gilroy Luke Comer Sue Spence Fingleton Aubrey McCarthy Matt Cooper Parker Green Danny McConnell Gayle Killilea Maura Derivan Ed Honohan INS Arts Council EDAF Emuse Rosslare Golf Club Mairead Casey Colm O’Rourke Stephen Connolly Peter Aiken John Malone Tom Barry Anthony Halpin Ian Kehoe Kevin Bakhurst Geraldine O’Leary Dennis Horgan RUSI Gareth McAllister Ryevale House Joe Macken RUC Omagh Patrick Connolly Paddy Cosgrave The Ditch Newstalk Fake Tan Fred Logue Ian Paisley Sean O’Riordan Margaret Sweeney Jay Bourke Ellie Kisyombe Francesca McDonagh Ted Cunningham National Space Centre An Irish Goodbye Oscar Robert Quirke Ciara Kelly Executive Women Gathering Doug Taylor Florian Haufe Robbie Henshaw Bill Shipsey Breaking the Silence L’Ecrivain Ronan McNally National Lottery Michael Roche Energy Action Balls.ie Newspapers VAT Abbey Theatre Patricia Madden Irish Banking Culture Board Randox Aoife Gallagher Book Dalai Lama Trinity Trevor White RTÉ Chairperson Shane Houlihan Noel Smyth IKC Bob Geldof Landlord Ireland Neutrality Ukraine

FR MCMANUS’S PRESS RELEASE

Date: May 18, 2023 - Affairs of the Nation

The Belfast Telegraph has excommunicated the Irish National Caucus (INC). Fr Sean McManus, founder of the INC – which lobbies the US Congress in Washington and which was responsible for creating the MacBride Principles — set out to perform a public service by circulating a press release last week to various newspapers around the globe…. Read more »

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Irish Neutrality Simon Coveney

WILL THE NATO CAMPAIGN WORK?

Date: May 18, 2023 - Affairs of the Nation

IF THE Born-Again-Redmondites (BARs) in Government fail to deliver Irish neutrality up to the dogs of war in Nato and Brussels, it will not be the fault of a willing media that has never asked serious questions about Government foreign and security policy. But the rush to arms in recent weeks, as the Consultative Forum… Read more »

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Simon McDonald Douglas Hurd

MI6 SEEN BUT NOT HURD

Date: May 18, 2023 - Hush Hush

Sir Simon McDonald, the former boss of the British Foreign Office, has just released his memoirs, Leadership: Lessons from a Life in Diplomacy. Unfortunately, he has landed himself in hot water because he did not first submit it to Whitehall’s censors. UK readers may now advert their eyes: in the volume, McDonald exposes Tom Hurd… Read more »

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Wind Energy Ireland Eamon Ryan

GOOD ENERGY NEWS?

Date: May 18, 2023 - Affairs of the Nation

It’s almost 20 years since Ireland’s first offshore windfarm came into operation. By today’s standards, the 2004 Arklow Bank windpark is a tiddler, generating just 25MW of electricity, but then it was among the world’s biggest. It was supposed to be part of a much larger array; in 2002, Airtricity had secured an offshore lease… Read more »

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Ruadhan Mac Cormaic

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Date: May 18, 2023 - The Hot Air Brigade

If a good newspaper is a nation talking to itself, the Opinion section is where much of that talking happens. Irish Times editor Ruadhán Mac Cormaic in his apology about the AI article controversy Leo likes media outings. When I served in his government, we… Read more »

Aidan Minnock

FRONTEX TOOLS UP FOR ACTION

Date: May 18, 2023 - Hush Hush

Recently the 2023 budget of Frontex, the European border and coast guard agency, was released and lay bare the hundreds of millions of euros to be spent not only on border surveillance but also to fund contracts for deportation flights this year. Ireland’s involvement with Frontex has been deepening so, while our financial contribution is… Read more »

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DUP Stormont Jeffrey Donaldson

STORMONT TO RETURN?

Date: May 18, 2023 - Northwind

VOTERS IN the north elect 462 councillors to 11 councils this week. There are 807 hopefuls, the vast majority from the main orange and green parties. Independents don’t do well in the north, which accounts for the small number of candidates to choose from. Councils’ powers are very limited: emptying the bins, burying the dead,… Read more »

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Railway Directive Leo Varadkar

LEO SWINGING TO THE LEFT?

Date: May 18, 2023 - Last Refuge

Fine Gael’s staunch defence of the publicly owned Irish rail system against the EU’s Railway Directive continues to raise eyebrows in many quarters. For a party ideologically dedicated to market competition and the invisible hand of the market, the Government’s decision to continually derogate the demand to privatise public rail transport might be mystifying. The… Read more »

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Melissa O’Brien Sean Sherlock

SINN FÉIN ‘UNITY’ IN CORK EAST

Date: May 18, 2023 - Last Refuge

THE CORK EAST constituency was the scene of one of the triggers that provoked a rash of stories about ‘bullying’ by sensitive Sinn Féin members who found themselves competing with the new, career-minded culture in the party. A casualty of this process was ex-SF councillor Melissa O’Brien, who was accused of being beastly to sitting… Read more »

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King Charles

DEFENDER OF THE FAITH

Date: May 18, 2023 - Fit to Print?

THERE WAS much joyous comment in the media – Irish as well as British – at the “inclusive” character of the coronation of King Charles III. This was reflected by the extraordinarily generous and ecumenical gesture by the royal family to allow Sikhs, Buddhists and Jews to participate in the ceremony. Sunday Independent columnist and… Read more »

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