Affairs, 25 June 2020

REPUBLICAN ACTIVIST Malachy Steenson brought some light relief to the airwaves on Tuesday while engaged in a debate with Joe Duffy on Liveline. The solicitor, who most recently stood for the Workers Party before going independent in 2014, highlighted an outrage in Fairview Park North Dublin where the plinth of Sean Russell’s statue was painted… Read more »

Affairs, 25 June 2020

RELUCTANT GREENS must wonder what is the point of negotiations as they face an avalanche of pressure to approve the draft Program for Government. It should be clear now that the party would have been cajoled into accepting whatever agreement emerged from talks with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael regardless of the detail. And what… Read more »

Affairs, 24 June 2020

HEALTH MINISTER Simon Harris is facing another headache as the beleaguered National Children Hospital (NCH) edges into the geopolitical crossfire. At the conclusion of an EU-China summit on Monday, new commission president Ursula von der Leyen denounced Beijing as the culprit behind a recent wave of so-called cyber attacks on the European healthcare sector. Following… Read more »

Affairs, 24 June 2020

THE EUROPEAN Union has found an unlikely champion of LGBT rights in the shape of Fianna Fáil. New MEPs Barry Andrews and Billy Kelleher plan an online event Wednesday evening focusing on how the EU should respond to events in Poland and Hungary, where the rule of law and a myriad of civil liberties are… Read more »

Affairs, 22 June 2020

THE NEW government has been put on notice as the Labour Party resumes its periodic posture as the conscience of Leinster House. In the Dáil on Wednesday, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin called on the next Taoiseach to consider including “minority communities, rather than party political hacks” among his 11 appointments to Seanad Éireann. “How powerful would… Read more »

Affairs, 22 June 2020

MALEVOLENT MOUTH Katie Hopkins getting the boot from Twitter is unlikely to prompt much soul searching at Montrose. In contrast to much of the Late Late Show mythology following the death of Gay Byrne last year, RTÉ producers were at one point addicted to booking the former Apprentice contestant to perform her routine alongside Ryan… Read more »

Affairs, 22 June 2020

JUSTICE MINISTER Charlie Flanagan was unusually in tune with the times last week when he convened a special committee to produce an “Action Plan Against Racism for Ireland”. Chaired by Caroline Fennell, head of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, and backed up by academics, NGO figures and representatives from minority communities, the committee… Read more »

Affairs, 17 June 2020

THE CLOUDS gathering in recent weeks were looking ominous for Josepha Madigan but will Mount Merrion’s own Machiavelli hang on? The outgoing culture minister will not have been encouraged this week to hear Leo Varadkar’s reluctance to ensure gender balance in Fine Gael’s diminished share of the cabinet spoils. Separately, “well placed sources” speaking to… Read more »

Affairs, 15 June 2020

THE CREATION of a stand alone Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) was an unexpected if logical step in 2011. Whatever its shortcomings or place in the cabinet pecking order, it marked a departure from attitudes when children had been overlooked or let down, often unspeakably, under the purview of Health, Justice, Education and… Read more »

Affairs, 12 June 2020

THE EUROPEAN court of Human Rights’ decision to overturn French criminalisation of Palestine solidarity activists this week could prove a turning point in efforts to shut down the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Twelve people had been convicted for distribution of leaflets in 2009 and 2010 calling for the boycott of Israeli goods. Europe’s court… Read more »

Affairs, 11 June 2020

BRUSSELS WAS once the graveyard of ambition but not so for Phil Hogan who is “exploring” the potential for a stint as Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The prize is an attractive one with a salary well in excess of half a million euro tax free, plush Geneva offices and perks befitting any… Read more »

Affairs, 10 June 2020

THE SUNDAY TIMES’ relish in reporting that Sinead O’Connor’s soon to be published memoir would be “dishing the sexual dirt” on her ex-lovers indicates that none of the paper’s hacks feel vulnerable to such exposure. But in 2007 O’Connor created mayhem at the rival Sunday Independent, dragging in the then Sindo editor, the late Aengus… Read more »

Affairs, 10 June 2020

FOR OVER A DECADE NOW policy makers and opinion formers have greeted the advent of social media with a mix of bewilderment and terror. Newspapers, broadcasters and politicians alike yearn for an imagined past when Irish public life was a model of decorum, with each player maintaining the utmost regard for one’s opponent. This is,… Read more »

Affairs, 10 June 2020

IN THESE turbulent times it can be challenging for regional hacks to find a local angle on world events. Not so at the Belfast News Letter where Kenny Donaldson has penned an article “remembering the black lives murdered by Irish republican terrorists”. The piece lists two civilians and a further eight soldiers killed on duty… Read more »

Affairs, 4 June 2020

AS TEMPERATURES COOL after a scorching bank holiday, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan is now feeling the heat. Ryan has maintained a calm public posture since Catherine Martin signalled her intention to contest a leadership election, but even the normally placid Gonzaga boy was unnerved at the speed with which momentum swung behind his deputy…. Read more »

Affairs, 2 June 2020

THE SPEED and intensity with which unrest in American has come to dominate attention is in some contrast to the last wave of protests which broke out in 2014. This time around, Irish politicians, brands and celebrities climbing aboard the bandwagon, are finding that the issue is far from black and white. Groans were surely… Read more »

Affairs, 2 June 2020

READERS OF The Irish Times could be forgiven for thinking they’d accidentally taken out a Breitbart subscription over the past week, as a succession of columnists lined up to decry the lily-livered government’s refusal to hurry up the reopening of the country. A Friday double-whammy commenced courtesy of business hack Mark Paul, who lamented Ireland’s… Read more »

Affairs, 29 May 2020

THE LATEST SIGN of a return to politics as usual came in the Dáil on Wednesday when Micheál Martin poured scepticism all over government’s reopening plan. For Martin there is “no remaining serious justification” for the 5km exercise limit, distinction between different retailers is “arbitrary” and there is “no clear scientific basis” for the guidance… Read more »

Affairs, 28 May 2020

SUPERMAC’S BOSS Pat McDonagh is facing a backlash after an ill advised interview on RTE radio. Speaking on Today with Sarah McInerney, the burger baron likened the €350 emergency payment to “winning the lotto”.  This wasn’t his first contentious comment. In a 2003 interview with the Sunday Times, McDonagh moaned that “Ireland is no longer… Read more »

Affairs, 27 May 2020

WHILE MEMBER STATES squabble about the future cost of the pandemic at home, the bloc’s foreign affairs chief, Spain’s Josep Borrell, announced today that “the European Union has never forgotten the Venezuelan people”. The EU and Spanish governments have convened what they say is an “International Donors’ Conference in solidarity with Venezuelan refugees and migrants… Read more »

Affairs, 26 May 2020

THE ANCIEN RÉGIME at the Independent House will have been surprised to read recent remarks by Peter Vandermeersch, the new continental master in charge at INM. In an interview with AdWorld, the Mediahuis publisher recounts his astonishment at finding no digital strategy at the company when he arrived in Dublin last year. This lacuna was… Read more »

Affairs, 25 May 2020

MARK ZUCKERBERG’S FACEBOOK has been busy trying to divert attention away from more bad press. In recent weeks the tech company’s head lobbyist Dualta Ó Broin has impressed on civil servants Facebook’s shiny new commitments on the thorny issue of content moderation.  Ó Broin has lobbied Ben Ryan, Assistant Secretary at the Department of Justice… Read more »

Affairs, 25 May 2020

WHILE the difficult question of how to get the country back to work is likely to be subject to some argument in the coming months, the actions of tech companies, who have long styled themselves as a model to follow, are worth considering. Dublin based workers at Google, Facebook and Twitter were among the first… Read more »

Affairs, 22 May 2020

IN 2011 Enda Kenny set about his mission to make Ireland the “best small country in the world in which to do business.”  The key buzzword was “jobs”, which was affixed onto the title of the Enterprise Department.  Kenny along with Minister Richard Bruton hosted dozens of press conferences under the heading “Action Plan for… Read more »

Affairs, 21 May 2020

THE ONSET of civil war in the Green Party may have added a bit of spice to the political landscape but not everyone is impressed. While such a leadership challenge was predicted by Goldhawk over a month ago, many seasoned observers are now reaching for the smelling salts. The political scientists are restless with UCC’s… Read more »

Affairs, 20 May 2020

THE PATH to increased military spending has been well tended in recent months with Air Corps capability increasingly targeted as a weak spot in Irish neutrality.  Headlines of Russian bombers “near” Irish airspace dominated the early part of the year, a cause taken up with intensity by the Irish Times in particular.  There were articles… Read more »

Affairs, 20 May 2020

PRESSURE IS MOUNTING inside the Green Party as Catherine Martin is encouraged to challenge for the party leadership. A letter signed by four councillors urges the Rathdown TD to put herself forward when party elections are held later this Summer and makes a number of not so veiled criticisms of Eamon Ryan. Fans of Goldhawk… Read more »

Affairs, 19 May 2020

AS FAR AS portents of doom go, the re-emergence of Maureen Gaffney is a grim indication of national catastrophe. Having been a ubiquitous presence during the bailout years, the celebrity shrink has returned to guide a terrified public through the dark days of Covid-19. Just over a week into the early stages of lockdown, Gaffney’s… Read more »

Affairs, 15 May 2020

AT THE END of last month, Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed was finally forced to concede that meat factory workers are, by some distance, among the worst hit by the Covid-19 outbreak. The admission came only after opposition deputies had placed extensive details on the Dáil record (see The Phoenix 12/5/20). During that debate Creed… Read more »