Affairs, 18 November 2022

THERE WILL surely have been some discomfort in the Irish Times office on Wednesday as one of their own columnists castigated the Government over its handling of CETA. The gloves are off for Michael McDowell, who writes that “Fine Gael should bow its collective head in shame for that repugnant attempt to abuse parliament and… Read more »

Affairs, 18 November 2022

THE ONTARIO Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) is nursing its wounds with the potential to lose up to $95 million in the collapsed FTX cryptocurrency exchange. In the statement published on Friday, the company assured the public that the investment “represents less than 0.05% of our total net assets.” Elsewhere, the OTPP is part of a… Read more »

Affairs, 17 November 2022

AN INTERVIEW with Jim Jennings, RTÉ’s director of content, earlier this year shed grim light on how commercial interest dictates the calendar. Speaking to the Irish Times in August, Jennings lamented the challenges facing broadcasters this year with the World Cup – an advertising bonanza in its own right – muscling in on the Christmas… Read more »

Affairs, 11 November 2022

OPENING A three-month pop-up shop in Dundrum is the latest step in Sharon Keegan’s quest for world domination in the area of gym leggings and hoodies. The ambitious Dubliner is not shy of making grand claims and has proven pretty adept at keeping her Peachylean brand in the news. She boasted last year that the… Read more »

Affairs, 9 November 2022

THE BEST generals know when to change tactics but ironically this lesson is lost on advocates of Irish militarism. Voters remain committed to neutrality despite the best efforts of senior politicians and media this year. The Government is quietly pressing on with policy in this regard, with plans to tweak its public messaging at a… Read more »

Affairs, 9 November 2022

THE COP27 Summit topped the main evening bulletins on Monday night, with Sharon Ní Bheoláin reporting “blistering warnings of a planet approaching tipping point.” Having been reminded during the news that “we are in the fight of our lives, and we are losing”, RTÉ viewers were then treated to an hour at various second-hand car… Read more »

Affairs, 4 November 2022

REPORTS THAT Elon Musk plans to halve the global staff-count at Twitter Inc. will be a source of alarm in Dublin. Just how the South African plutocrat will act as new internet overlord is anyone’s guess but his existing operations in this country do provide some clues on the real approach to business behind the… Read more »

Affairs, 3 November 2022

IF RETURNING to RTÉ is on Gráinne Seoige’s wishlist, telling the Sindo that she left CrimeCall for her “own self-respect” over the rate she was being paid is unlikely to have endeared her to head honchos at Montrose. This explanation contradicts the report by Niamh Horan in the Sindo in 2019, describing how Seoige was… Read more »

Affairs, 2 November 2022

IF THE political row over refugee accommodation appears unedifying now, then prepare for the situation to get much worse. It was inevitable that the Government’s grand rhetoric at the outbreak of Russia’s invasion would soon perish upon dealing with the outcome on these shores. Having already passed 50,000, the number of Ukrainians arriving in Ireland… Read more »

Affairs, 2 November 2022

THE NEWSPAPERS are not known for self-awareness so it was interesting to read a small gesture of reflection in the Sunday Times. In the opinion pages, Conor Brady takes the English media to task in a column noting how standards of political coverage have declined in parallel to the antics of the Conservative Party. While… Read more »

Affairs, 25 October 2022

WHILE STILL promoting Doireann Garrihy for all it’s worth, RTÉ is also trying to mould former jockey Nina Carberry into a media personality. Having bagged the Dancing with the Stars trophy earlier this year, Carberry has now replaced Derval O’Rourke on the coaching panel of the annual autumn filler, Ireland’s Fittest Family. Carberry triumphed in… Read more »

Affairs, 21 October 2022

IT HAS certainly been a vintage week for double standards in Irish politics. The government remains up in arms on behalf of Shane Ross in his efforts to promote a book on Mary Lou McDonald, though this time two years ago it was a very different story. When the very same author published a book… Read more »

Affairs, 21 October 2022

IT IS not often that RTÉ produces an intriguing shake up among its “on-air talent”. Long-time broadcaster Damien O’Reilly is off to Brussels to look after the interests of the Irish Co-Operative Organisation Society. He is only the latest journalist to turn industry lobbyist though few will be too surprised in this instance, given the… Read more »

Affairs, 20 October 2022

GOLDHAWK IS interested to see that the Wikipedia page for “Shoneenism” has been updated considerably in recent days. While just over a week ago the entry contained a brief five sentence overview on the subject, the page has since swelled to include a potted history of British colonial crimes in Ireland and now devotes considerable… Read more »

Affairs, 13 October 2022

LEO VARADKAR and Georgia Meloni lead what are among a very select group of political parties. Today the vast majority of far-right groups on the march across Europe are mere pretenders. That is, from Sweden to Hungary the parties taking power are better understood as tribute acts. The new fascism looks with envy upon Fine… Read more »

Affairs, 13 October 2022

GIVEN THE sniffiness apparent among some Irish journalists in recent years, it has been interesting to watch how the case of Enoch Burke was handled to date. It is one thing when stories ebb and flow here domestically, but, once news breaks out abroad, there is often a disquiet about how foreign media handle the facts…. Read more »

Affairs, 11 October 2022

EUROPHILES WILL have been gratified to be in the company of Margrethe Vestager during her visit to Dublin as EU Commission Vice President last week. It is not long since Ireland was cruelly consigned to the “periphery” during the Troika years, so there is always a certain validation when a big European cheese arrives in… Read more »

Affairs, 11 October 2022

RTÉ HAS been very good to Alastair Campbell and few figures from British politics have enjoyed such an afterlife on these shores. Fewer still who did not serve as elected representatives, and it would certainly be a case of availability rather any great clamour or affection among viewers here that the New Labour spin doctor… Read more »

Affairs, 4 October 2022

PUBLICIST AND influencer Rob Kenny gives online “masterclasses” for €60pp to those hoping to break into the PR industry. His recent piece certainly was included for RTÉ’s website on the ‘most stylish Irish people to follow online’ was certainly a lesson in how to win friends and influence people. Irish designer Audrey Hamilton made the… Read more »

Affairs, 30 September 2022

WITH BONO busy promoting his memoir and other interests, the U2 PR machine is a thing to behold. The frontman kicked off the month in TIME Magazine with a book extract on “his friend, Mikhail Gorbachev”. Then, another teaser in New Yorker Magazine, with stories from his childhood that were swiftly reproduced on front pages… Read more »

Affairs, 30 September 2022

CRYSTAL BALL gazing around Sinn Féin takes amusing and even contradictory forms as the party edges toward government. In the Irish Times, Stephen Collins warns that the latest disaster unfolding in Britain is what awaits Irish voters should they fail to recognise and reward the work of the current administration. This in itself is a… Read more »

Affairs, 27 September 2022

SCRATCH THE surface of numerous stories presented as global issues and it does not take long to find the more familiar Irish property speculation in play. In the war over data centres, advocates in politics, industry and the media have done a fantastic job mystifying an argument in which concern from the public has been… Read more »

Affairs, 27 September 2022

THE GARDA obsession with smartphones and social media continues. Responding to events in Cherry Orchard, former assistant commissioner John O’Driscoll provided a rather curious take for RTÉ Radio. On one hand the retired chief acknowledged on Morning Ireland that scenes like this have not been uncommon since the 1980s. At the same time, he suggests… Read more »

Affairs, 20 September 2022

WHEN IT comes to the HSE’s own drugs policy, it seems that the Government does not know whether to tune in or drop out. Though often characterised by an institutional inertia, the health service has taken a lead in recent years, edging toward what many increasingly believe to be a more enlightened outlook on harm… Read more »

Affairs, 16 September 2022

POOR FECKLESS Paddy is forever disappointing his betters on the continent. Abroad in Brussels the view has taken told that Ireland is once again failing to appreciate the expectations and delicate protocol without which the European Union would surely not survive. At least, this is the impression given in some recent newspaper reports. Fionnán Sheahan… Read more »

Affairs, 15 September 2022

SPARE A thought for Paul Kelly in his efforts to clean up the image of a battered hospitality trade. The Fáilte Ireland CEO launched a new “Employer Excellence Initiative” on Monday, which, it is hoped, will “reposition the industry as an appealing place to work.” A €700,000 marketing campaign to fight back against negative perceptions… Read more »