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VOL 40 NO 11

Date: June 2, 2022 -

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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

BANKERS’ RETREAT

Date: June 2, 2022 - Affairs of the Nation

A COMPANY with the relatively unassuming name of We.Trade Innovation has called a creditors’ meeting. It turns out that an awful lot of money has gone down the tubes here. We.trade is a joint venture blockchain trade finance operation owned by some of Europe’s largest banks, including HSBC, Deutsche Bank, Banco Santander, and the soon… Read more »

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BIDEN AND MARTIN’S UKRAINIAN WELCOME

Date: June 2, 2022 - Affairs of the Nation

AN ALARMING Sunday Independent story about a “secret memo” to government in the form of a cross-government risk analysis recently warned of risks for social cohesion from the sudden influx of Ukrainian refugees. A warning of crisis in budgetary, accommodation, housing and health areas also came in the memo. Taoiseach Micheál Martin and government ministers… Read more »

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SALLINS TRAIN TRIAL LINED UP FOR THE UN?

Date: June 2, 2022 - Affairs of the Nation

NOT A peep has there been from the media about the potential investigation by the United Nations of convictions for the £200,000 Sallins train robbery, convictions which were eventually overturned in perhaps the most notorious miscarriage of justice seen in the republic. The high-profile Belfast legal firm, KRW-LAW, led by Kevin Winters, is lodging a… Read more »

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DR CAHILL’S CASE BOOK

Date: June 2, 2022 - Affairs of the Nation

THE CONTROVERSIAL doctor at the heart of the American Irish Historical Society (AIHS) row tried to have the case in which he is accused of repeatedly violating a patient thrown out on a legal technicality, according to court papers. Dr Kevin M Cahill, 85, is alleged to have sexually assaulted the woman, 52 years his… Read more »

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THE GHOST OF ROBERT NAIRAC

Date: June 2, 2022 - Affairs of the Nation

LAST MONTH, the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains renewed an appeal for information about the whereabouts of the body of Captain Robert Nairac GC. He disappeared 45 years ago without a trace. His sisters, Rosemonde and Gabrielle, hope that his remains may yet be found. Nairac, an undercover British army military operative, colluded with the UVF… Read more »

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DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY

Date: June 2, 2022 - Affairs of the Nation

MANY OF the top brass were bemused at Simon Coveney’s rap across the knuckles of chief of staff, Lt Gen Seán Clancy, for meeting Russian ambassador Yuri Filatov in late January, a month before the Russians invaded Ukraine. Covetous Coveney is foreign minister (and defence minister) and he told the Fine Gael parliamentary party shortly… Read more »

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Date: June 2, 2022 - Affairs of the NationLetters to the Editor

DÉISE’S PRIDE AND JOY Dear Editor I would like to take issue with your article regarding the movement of past Trinity leaders Veronica Campbell and Paddy Prendergast to governance positions in the new SE Technological University. Having lived in Dublin for a period of 12 years and prior to becoming an elected TD for Waterford,… Read more »

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IRELAND’S NEUTRAL CIVIL WAR SKIES

Date: June 2, 2022 - Hush Hush

THE MOST recent issue of An Cosantóir, official magazine of the Irish Defence Forces, is a special edition commemorating the centenary of the establishment of the Irish Air Corps. It indicates that the top brass are sensitive to any triumphalism that elements in Fine Gael or the armed forces may harbour about the Civil War…. Read more »

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THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Date: June 2, 2022 - The Hot Air Brigade

We became a show, I hope, of presence for people. We were kind of like a beacon in the fog, if you like, because now no one knew what time was, what day it was and where we were. Then you would see the owl on a Friday night. Ryan Tubridy on ‘The Late Late… Read more »

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BORIS JOHNSON AND BEING ‘IMPARTIAL’

Date: June 2, 2022 - Northwind

IN ITS opening section, ‘Constitutional Issues’, the Good Friday Agreement says, “the power of the sovereign government with jurisdiction [in the north] shall be exercised with rigorous impartiality on behalf of all the people”. The GFA then goes into great detail about the areas and aspects covered by this requirement of rigorous impartiality including “full… Read more »

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FG’S FACTION FIGHTS IN MEATH EAST

Date: June 2, 2022 - Last Refuge

JUSTICE MINISTER Helen McEntee certainly came to her ministerial post well equipped with the knowledge of legal and other altercations in her Meath East constituency. Most embarrassingly, some of them even concerned members of her own Fine Gael party. Spare a thought for FG councillor Paddy Meade, who has just completed his second of two… Read more »

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MICHEÁL’S BORDER POLL COYNESS: RICHMOND ET AL POUNCE

Date: June 2, 2022 - Last Refuge

MUCH CONFUSION surrounds the political parties’ positions on the mooted issue of a border poll and, Fine Gael in particular, is playing a very Machiavellian game in an effort to embarrass Micheál Martin and Fianna Fáil. Martin derided Sinn Féin for not leading its northern assembly election campaign with demands for a border poll; Leo… Read more »

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VLAD’S UNHAPPY CREW

Date: June 2, 2022 - Last Refuge

MY, BUT what a coincidence – and one that will surely have been clocked by Leo Varadkar as well as leadership hopefuls, Simon Harris, Helen McEntee and Peter Burke – is the list of names that was published in the media last week following that angry Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting over delays in handling… Read more »

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JANE MAHONY’S LETTER

Date: June 2, 2022 - Fit to Print?

A DETAILED and erudite letter to the Irish Times last week took issue with Catholic writer and columnist Breda O’Brien for saying in her weekly column that the Irish Sisters of Charity and some prelates believe there is no future for Catholic healthcare in Ireland. O’Brien had argued that this was the only plausible explanation… Read more »

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THE LAND OF MILK , MOOLAH AND FITBITS

Date: June 2, 2022 - Fowl Emissions

FOR THE dairy industry, Ireland in recent years has been a land of milk and money. The sector has expanded at breakneck speed since EU milk quotas were lifted in 2015, and the face of the Irish countryside has been transformed in the process. While this rapid expansion has been a bonanza for many of… Read more »

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Climate Disinformation Coillte Climate Action EU Livestock NDC Claude Etchelamendy Ed Brophy Richard Boyd-Barrett Kish Dale Crammond Frank Mitloehner Shell Greenwashing Meta Data Centres Ireland

PHONEY CLIMATE WAR

Date: June 2, 2022 - Fowl Emissions

ONE OF the more ludicrous aspects of the climate emergency is that the Irish public has been conditioned to think that it can be addressed with tiny, painless actions. The degree to which inconvenience, never mind actual sacrifice, is unthinkable was seen in recent days in the circus that sprung up around delays at Dublin… Read more »

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BOG CUTTINGS

Date: June 2, 2022 - Bog Cuttings

BOG ROLL A 20-YEAR-OLD man, arrested in Co Cork last year for threatening gardaí and saying that he would use any summons as toilet paper, appeared before Cork District Court. Judge Marian O’Leary heard that gardaí were attending an incident in Togher, Cork, when one Aaron Austin, of Araglen Court, Togher, Cork, shouted at one… 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

CHANELLE MCCOY’S NEW ARRIVALS

Date: June 2, 2022 - High Society

PRESUMABLY, CHANELLE – sorry Lady – McCoy will be paying close attention to a High Court challenge initiated by a Co Waterford retailer of cannabidiol derivatives (CBD) against the DPP and the state over their interpretation of the Misuse of Drugs Act. Mark Jenkins from Lismore is claiming that the sale of cultivated hemp products… Read more »

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CHRISTOPHER BIELENBERG’S MANY HOMES

Date: June 2, 2022 - High Society

WITH SUMMER approaching, Goldhawk perused the predictable extended plug for the sprawling Sandbrook House in Co Carlow, the sometimes abode of Christopher Bielenberg and Arabella Wauchope Huddart (aka Bella), who have been expressing their undying love in the pages of the Irish media for the past few years. Which is all very nice but the… Read more »

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POGUEMAHONE – PATRICK McCABE

Date: June 2, 2022 - BooksBooks|ReviewsReviews

FOLLOWING HIS early success with The Butcher Boy in 1992, Patrick McCabe’s distinctive tongue-in-cheek fiction has often been hit and miss. The alternating scenes of familial trauma and false jollity in his new novel immediately signal recognisable elements from previous work, raising questions that he is simply retelling the same essential ‘Bog Gothic’ story as… Read more »

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Tailored Films Screen Ireland Perspectives DCCI Crescine Tarka Russell Lara Hickey Reality Check Sarah McInerney Irish Movies Paul Murray Arts Council Dublin Theatre Festival TWU Macdara Kelleher Richard Boyd Barrett DADC Cillian Murphy Terry McMahon Media Commission Ireland Kerlin Gallery Creative Ireland Section 481 Christine O’Donovan RTÉ Storyland NMI Board Vacancies IASCA Ossie Kilkenny RTÉ Original Programmes

CATHERINE MARTIN’S LA STORY

Date: June 2, 2022 - Behind the Scenes

PRESUMABLY Leo Varadkar et al were envious of Catherine Martin’s recent LA junket, the purpose of which would have been to reassure the moguls that Irish taxpayers are happy to front up €100m-plus a year to entice shows here. The press release referred to “opportunities for increased collaboration” and Goldhawk is certain that the thorny… Read more »

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COTTER’S SETBACK

Date: June 2, 2022 - Sport of Kings

KIERAN COTTER’S progress as an upwardly mobile trainer has been halted for a while after he was the recipient of one of the biggest fines ever handed out by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB). Cotter’s misdemeanours – which centred on a positive test for cobalt for one of his horses, Slade Runner, after winning… Read more »

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ADDING UP AT MYRACEHORSE

Date: June 2, 2022 - Sport of Kings

THE MICRO-SHARE ownership vehicle Myracehorse.com got off to a great start when its part-owned Authentic won the Kentucky Derby in 2020 and the syndicate has now unveiled its first horse in training in Ireland. The as-of-yet unnamed Joseph O’Brien-trained two-year-old filly is being offered to would-be owners for £89 per share but a comparison of… Read more »

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CANTILLONS IN CLOVER

Date: June 2, 2022 - Sport of Kings

DERMOT CANTILLON and his wife, former IHRB senior steward Meta Osborne hit the jackpot recently when selling one of their broodmares to the late Prince Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farms for a reputed €2m. The 10-year-old mare Repose, who was also bred by the couple at their Tinnakill House Farm in Co Laois, came to prominence… Read more »

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GORDON ELLIOTT’S SURPRISE

Date: June 2, 2022 - Sport of Kings

THERE WAS an interesting Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board referral from Punchestown in April involving trainer Gordon Elliott. The agency noted the late withdrawal of the Elliott-trained Eskylane shortly before the horse’s intended race – on the basis of “a change in ground conditions” given by team Elliott. The referral panel of Peter Allen, Anthony Byrne… Read more »

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ODDS NARROW ON FLUTTER SHARES JUMP

Date: June 2, 2022 - Moneybags

THE OPENING up of the online gaming market in the United States of America – worth a gross £100bn, based on the UK market – was supposed to be the key driver behind Flutter, representing a significant opportunity for the CEO, Peter Jackson, as each US state passes its own legislation. The outcome has yet… Read more »

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AMINEX SHARES COULD BE BOOSTED BY OVERDUE NOVEMBER DRILL

Date: June 2, 2022 - Moneybags

IT IS 10 years since former Aminex boss Brian Hall originally hit pay dirt in the Ruvuma licence in Tanzania, when he took on sole risk (after Tullow Oil pulled out of a 50/50 deal on the licence), discovering a secondary target flowing gas at 20 million cubic feet a day. Hall followed this up… Read more »

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DARRYL KAVANAGH’S TROLL

Date: June 2, 2022 - Briefcases

IT MUST have come as quite a surprise to the entrepreneurial Darryl Kavanagh to come across a couple of new web pages featuring his name that have dug up his less than sterling business record, suggesting to viewers that it might be better to avoid trading with the Bristol-based Irishman. This comes at a time… Read more »

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DONAL GALLAGHER’S IRISH HEADACHE

Date: June 2, 2022 - Briefcases

WHILE HE has been flying high in London in recent years, construction moneybags Donal Gallagher has been experiencing rather serious turbulence on this side of the Irish Sea. Liquidator John Healy is seeking a High Court declaration that the directors of Donegal abattoir operation Edenmore Farm Meats Ltd are guilty of reckless trading. Gallagher became… Read more »

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MCDONAGH’S COSTS

Date: June 2, 2022 - Briefcases

IT HAS been a tough few years for the indefatigable Brian McDonagh, the man who copped a lot of the blame for stopping that big Apple data centre in Athenry, Co Galway. Last week, the news only got worse, with a ruling against him on the no doubt substantial legal costs in a case related… Read more »

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ARNAUD GAULTIER’S VINTAGE PERFORMANCE

Date: June 2, 2022 - Briefcases

KILDARE-BASED wine importer Arnaud Gaultier recently suffered yet another setback in his continuing saga against the dreaded taxman. Fans of Goldhawk will remember Gaultier, who in 2006 had the misfortune of seeing the Revenue seize 22 pallets of presumably very drinkable wine that had been imported by his Finglas-based company, Loire Valley. Gaultier claimed that this… Read more »

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VARADKAR FACES PARTY CRISIS

Date: May 19, 2022 - Last Refuge

THE ROW over the maternity hospital has many fathers and chief among the suspects is a certain panic in the ranks of Fine Gael, especially in leader Leo Varadkar’s office. Whereas frantic manoeuvreing among aspirant ministers anticipating the December reshuffle (when Vlad becomes taoiseach) was already under way (see The Phoenix, 22/4/22), the make-up of… Read more »

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PROFILE: SEÁN CLANCY

Date: May 19, 2022 - Pillars of Society

THE NEW chief of staff of the Defence Forces, Seán Clancy, has had an exciting introduction to public life. First, he was castigated by his political master, defence and foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney for being too familiar in public with Russian ambassador Yuriy Filatov. Second, he has become head of the armed forces just as… Read more »

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YOUNG BLOOD: ERIN MCGREEHAN

Date: May 19, 2022 - The Young Bloods

WHILE FIANNA Fáil’s poll ratings are not as rosy as many media have reported, its levels of support among young people – and young women in particular – are even lower and remain disastrously low.That’s why the party is placing so much hope and expectation in candidates like 39-year-old Erin McGreehan in Co Louth. McGreehan… Read more »

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IN THEIR ELEMENT

Date: May 19, 2022 - Affairs of the Nation

THEY SAY timing is everything in showbusiness. News of Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe’s sale of a majority stake in their Element Pictures operation to UK giant Fremantle Media was announced just ahead of decidedly mixed reviews of their much anticipated Sally Rooney adaptation, Conversations With Friends. It is, however, unclear what role the offshore… Read more »

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