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Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

ARTS COUNCIL TIGHTENS UP

Date: May 6, 2021 - Behind the Scenes

THE CHARITIES Regulatory Authority (CRA) has just published a notice relating to a move by the Arts Council to combine nine trust funds where it acts as trustee (having received bequests). This combining of trusts is known as a Cy-Pres scheme. In 2018 – the last year for which the Arts Council published an annual… Read more »

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Rock of ages

RO’CK OF AGES – ROSS O’CARROLL KELLY

Date: May 6, 2021 - BooksReviews

LAST MONTH, Paul Howard did a very clever thing. He beat his critics to the punch. In an article in the Irish Times, he wrote about his near quarter century of writing as Ross O’Carroll-Kelly, the fictional south Dublin rugby jock. The author chided himself over “a false beat” in a storyline from 2007, and… Read more »

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Amer Abdulaziz

ABDULAZIZ’S IRISH FRIENDS

Date: May 6, 2021 - Sport of Kings

THE CONTROVERSIAL Phoenix Thoroughbreds CEO Amer Abdulaziz has quite the neck and the Bahraini came out fighting again after the group saw all the prize money it earned in Australia frozen by the different racing authorities Down Under. Australia has been where Abdulaziz has pumped most of his cash over the past two years, following… Read more »

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MAHON’S HEAVY GOING

Date: May 6, 2021 - Sport of Kings

IT LOOKS like Stephen Mahon’s often turbulent career as a trainer may be coming to the final fence. Now based in Galway, it has been reported that the trainer has had his licence suspended by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) with immediate effect after a number of issues arose following an inspection at his… Read more »

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Regina Byrne

OWNERS ON THE OUTSIDE

Date: May 6, 2021 - Sport of Kings

WITH THE country gradually opening up, there seems to be only radio silence when it comes to the matter of getting racehorse owners back onto the racecourse. Having made a brief return to tracks last autumn, owners have since been confined to watching television when their horses run, unlike in Britain where up to six… Read more »

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Betting ring at the Curragh

PLACE YOUR BETS

Date: May 6, 2021 - Sport of Kings

WHEN THE pandemic recovery gets going, it is clear that some things may never return to the old ways. The betting landscape has already changed drastically in the past 10 years with both on-course bookmakers and the Tote struggling to maintain dwindling relevance and market share in a sector dominated online by a few betting… Read more »

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Rita Rose Gagne

HAMMERSON SHARES GROSSLY UNDERVALUED

Date: May 6, 2021 - Moneybags

THE GIANT British Hammerson retail property group – the largest such investor in Ireland, controlling the biggest shopping centre here (Dundrum Town Centre) – has been blitzed by the impact of the pandemic of closures on rent collections and increasingly jittery investors. The new management has adopted a predictably conservative debt reduction approach that will… Read more »

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Michael Carvill

KENMARE RESOURCES NOW A CASH MACHINE

Date: May 6, 2021 - Moneybags

THE NEW Sultan of Oman, Haitham Bin Tarik Al Said, must be pleased with Kenmare Resources, which was saved from going under in July 2016 when the State Reserve Fund of the Sultanate of Oman acted as the lead investor in a $255m equity raise for an effecting controlling 29% stake at €2.40 a share…. Read more »

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Matt Mullenwegg

POLLDADDY RETIRES

Date: May 6, 2021 - The Hot Water Brigade

SO IT’S farewell then to Polldaddy Ltd, which is being officially dissolved, 13 years after it was bought over by the Yanks, who, it turns out, have been spending quite a few bob this side of the Atlantic. David Lenehan and his partner, Jonathan Hill, set up the Polldaddy business in Sligo in 2006, with… Read more »

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

JOHN WYSE’S HOUSE

Date: May 6, 2021 - The Hot Water Brigade

AN IMPRESSIVE pile on Rathgar’s Bushy Park Road has just gone on the market with a price tag of €2.1m. This is the abode of one-time well-known hotelier and restaurateur John Wyse, who was probably most closely associated with the famous Grey Door restaurant on Pembroke Street, D2, back in the day. Wyse, who turns… Read more »

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Elaine Geraghty

STUDIOS’ LATEST BLOCKBUSTER

Date: May 6, 2021 - The Hot Water Brigade

THERE’S NOTHING the film and TV business likes more than a good story. And so we have The Film/TV Industry & Ireland’s Economy, the second iteration of what is starting to look like an annual, industry-sponsored summary of how wonderful everything could be, if only the government would fully open the public purse. Ion Equity… Read more »

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Mary Lou McDonald

MARY LOU’S NON-APOLOGY

Date: April 22, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

THE WORLD’S press, including most of the Irish media, rushed to poor judgment about Mary Lou McDonald’s non-apology last Sunday for the IRA’s 1979 killing of Lord Mountbatten. But if that seriously mistaken impression – it is unthinkable that Sinn Féin will apologise for the ‘armed struggle’ any time soon, if ever – was partly… Read more »

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Eoghan Harris

MICHEÁL’S FOURTH ESTATE DESERTERS

Date: April 22, 2021 - Fit to Print?

AN ALARMING development for beleaguered taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader, Micheál Martin, is that his long-time media champions have begun to desert him with the biggest, or loudest, loss appearing to be that of Sunday Independent columnist Eoghan Harris. Harris was seriously miffed at the ingratitude of Martin in the face of a cartoon accompanying Eoghan’s regular… Read more »

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Sarah McInerney

PROFILE: SARAH MCINERNEY

Date: April 22, 2021 - Pillars of Society

IS SARAH McINERNEY really a cross between Martha Gellhorn and Kate Adie? Or is she a competent journalist who struck it lucky by being, as she described herself, in “the right job at the right time for me and for the country” when filling in on Sean O’Rourke’s RTÉ morning show last summer? That gig,… Read more »

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Tom Gleeson

YOUNG BLOOD: TOM GLEESON

Date: April 22, 2021 - The Young Bloods

TOM GLEESON’S burger joint Bunsen recently issued High Court proceedings to block Dublin City Council from interfering with its food collection point in Ranelagh, which has been upsetting the local D6 residents. It marks a rare outing in the media spotlight for Tom, who has managed to become rather wealthy while keeping his head down…. Read more »

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Gerry O'Brien

GERRY O’BRIEN’S SEQUEL

Date: April 22, 2021 - Behind the Scenes

IT IS safe to say that the ‘Irish Film Agreement’ inked by Irish Actors Equity and Screen Producers Ireland (SPI) won’t be winning script awards anytime soon. The spear-carriers of the acting trade, and some of their better-known colleagues, blew a collective raspberry at the deal that was signed off by Irish Equity president Padraig… Read more »

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Mario Rosenstock podcast

THE MARIO ROSENSTOCK PODCAST

Date: April 22, 2021 - PodcastsReviews

LAST AUTUMN saw the cancellation of Mario Rosenstock’s Today FM show, Mario’s Sunday Roast, due to – in the comic’s own words – “circumstances beyond my control”. The “circumstances” appeared to be quite straightforward – the show did not have a sufficiently high listenership. Naturally, there was only one answer. Like virtually every other Irish… Read more »

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JAMES GOUGH’S LIBEL ACTION

Date: April 22, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

BUSINESSMAN, BLUESHIRT and racehorse owner James Gough is building up quite a track record in the litigation stakes, with his most recent target being the Sunday Times. The latest legal action featuring the bolshie Gough follows on foot of an article published in the ST in February relating to references that had been provided for… Read more »

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Lars and Caroline Bjoerk

LARS BJOERK’S LIECHTENSTEIN LOANS

Date: April 22, 2021 - High Society

THE FORMER owners of Dollanstown Stud in Co Meath have moved to strike off the company behind the operation. It is clear that running the sprawling estate was an expensive endeavour, which was bankrolled by an offshore entity. The impressive Dollanstown Stud outside Kilcock was owned by Swedish moneybags Lars and his Irish wife, former… Read more »

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Helen McAlinden

HELEN McALINDEN’S BOTTOM LINE

Date: April 22, 2021 - High Society

EVERY SO often, Irish fashion designers pop up in the media with some words of wisdom for the locals. The latest to take a pop is Helen McAlinden, who “provides wardrobe solutions for the contemporary woman”. Maybe she should cast a critical eye over her own less than attractive figures. McAlinden’s views on Irish style… Read more »

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25 Wellington Road

PAUL HOURICAN’S RENT ROLL

Date: April 22, 2021 - The Hot Water Brigade

LAST YEAR a little noticed legal row over the sale of a €3m pile on Wellington Road D4 was quietly settled. The plaintiff here turns out to be a company owned by the low-profile Paul Hourican, who has become a major landlord in Dublin through Period Door Properties Ltd (PDP). In recent times, the company… Read more »

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VOL 39 NO 08

Date: April 22, 2021 -

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RICHARD CORRIGAN’S DIVIDENDS

Date: April 22, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

MOUTHY CELEBRITY chef Richard Corrigan has plenty to shout about as customers flock back to expensive restaurants in London. Accounts for 2019 signed off at the end of last month reveal that Corrigan and his fellow investors have shared a bumper £2.9m (€3.4m) dividend. Presumably, this pay day helped to ease them through the dark… Read more »

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Simon Coveney

IRELAND’S SECRET MILITARY PLANS

Date: April 22, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

AN ARTICLE in the Defence Forces Review 2020 has caused a spat between its authors, the Defence Forces and the Department of Defence over charges that the latter micro-manages and stifles the former. However, there is little or no such dissension among authors of the 29 articles in the review when it comes to Irish defence policy;… Read more »

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Ranjit Boparan

‘CHICKEN KING’ BOPARAN

Date: April 22, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

A COMPANY called Ilderstone Ltd has just been liquidated. This turns out to be an entity linked to the Harry Ramsden’s outlets in Ireland, a business until recently owned by the super rich ‘Chicken King’ Ranjit Boparan. It looks like the pandemic has claimed another victim. Ilderstone was incorporated in the 1990s but in 2010… Read more »

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Bishop Denis Nulty

BISHOP NULTY AND TAKING THE FALL

Date: April 22, 2021 - Clerical Errors

HE IS now known as Bishop Denis, the feminist menace. Denis Nulty, the twitter-loving Bishop of Kildare & Leighlin, is one of a new breed of lace-loving ultra-conservative prelates who deploy twitter as instruments of old-fashioned evangelism to reach the simple faithful. A Maynooth lightweight in theology but a heavyweight Dublin City University man in pastoral… Read more »

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Niall Meehan

ECUMENICAL ERRORS

Date: April 22, 2021 - Clerical Errors

AN INTERESTING story about a Protestant woman’s High Court challenge to the report of the Commission on Mother and Baby homes centres on her claim that it misidentifies her as Catholic. She says that a raft of other details in the report also misidentifies Church of Ireland (CoI) individuals and surroundings as Catholic. The legal… Read more »

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DAVID KENNEDY’S CASE

Date: April 22, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

THIS WEEK will see the eagerly awaited 2020 annual report from the controversial Datalex firm. The impact of developments in China will be of particular interest to investors. Separately, Dermot Desmond’s favourite airline software business is facing legal action from its former chief financial officer (CFO). The problem for Datalex is that the giant Chinese… Read more »

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Alastair Adair

THEY HAVEN’T GONE AWAY, YOU KNOW

Date: April 22, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

THE GOOD Friday Agreement was signed almost a quarter of a century ago, with one of its key commitments that the north would be demilitarised. To some extent this has been delivered on, with spy towers torn down, army bases closed, military helicopters grounded etc. However, the retreat of the British army into the background… Read more »

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Damian O'Reilly

DOWN ON THE FARMERS

Date: April 22, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

WHATEVER ELSE you might say about RTÉ, it does take impartiality seriously. You would be generally hard pressed to say for sure how its presenters personally feel about the topics – and people – they cover professionally. As its Guidelines for Journalists state: ‘Trust is the cornerstone of RTÉ: our content should be honest, reliable,… Read more »

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John Douglas

HOW TO RECRUIT INFORMANTS

Date: April 22, 2021 - Hush Hush

THE DREGS of loyalist paramilitaries took a break in recent weeks from selling drugs on an industrial scale to rage against borders in the Irish Sea. However, this was in marked contrast to the officer class of British unionism in the north. Training and security firm Chenega Europe, based in Belfast, is staffed by the… Read more »

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HushHush-def

STEFAN HALLENIUS’S LOSSES

Date: April 22, 2021 - Hush Hush

PUBLISHERS ARE among those struggling with Covid and Stefan Hallenius finds himself in the front line. He entered the Irish publishing world with the freesheet Totally Dublin in 2004 and, after shifting heavy losses, the publishing firm HKM Publishing (Ireland) Ltd collapsed into liquidation in 2009, owing creditors more than €¾m. Happily for Hallenius, the… Read more »

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Jon Williams

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Date: April 22, 2021 - The Hot Air Brigade

That’s what Prime Time’s new look – and its new set – is designed to do. To help us explain what’s really going on and get answers to important questions. Managing director of RTÉ News Jon Williams, Irish Independent The pandemic may be keeping us apart, but true friendships will last through these difficult times…. Read more »

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Nigel Dodds

DUP BOYCOTTS GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT

Date: April 22, 2021 - Northwind

THE DUP is boycotting Strand Two of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) – north south institutions – and may extend the boycott to Strand Three – east-west. So far Arlene Foster has denied this, but the party’s deputy leader (now made Lord Dodds to compensate for losing his Westminster seat to Sinn Féin’s John Finucane),… Read more »

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President Higgins

PRESIDENT’S UNCIVIL LINE ON CENTENARIES

Date: April 22, 2021 - Last Refuge

THE LOOMNG centenaries of the Treaty and Civil War are causing tremors among various politicians, especially those in Fine Gael and especially also because of President Higgins’s trenchant views on these issues. Irish Times political editor Pat Leahy fretted last weekend about these events being the “difficult” parts of the decade of commemorations; how Higgins’s own… Read more »

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Neale Richmond

RICHMOND’S ROAD TO TOP OF GREASY POLE

Date: April 22, 2021 - Last Refuge

THE SCENT of long-term leadership ambition wafts from the utterances and persona of Neale Richmond, Fine Gael TD for Dublin Rathdown, who has made headlines with his call for the groundwork to be laid for a border poll – a most un-Blueshirt proposition. This proposal is also most un-Richmond-like as Neale is a Church of… Read more »

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