Affairs, 27 July 2022

IF THERE was any doubt about how the Irish political landscape has moved on in recent years, what of the near silence surrounding this year’s MacGill Summer School? Joe Mullholland’s annual event bills itself as “the foremost political and socio-economic discussion forum in Ireland”, and for a time the Glenties gabfest enjoyed an outsized place… Read more »

Affairs, 25 July 2022

ECONOMIC HISTORIAN Adam Tooze has emerged in recent years as one of the Anglosphere’s foremost celebrity intellectuals. Just as likely to be found in the left-leaning London Review of Books as he is at a crucible of globalism like the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Columbia University professor has amassed influence and admirers across… Read more »

Affairs, 22 July 2022

ON THE grand scale of Irish banking controversies, AIB’s decision to terminate cash and ATM services at 70 branches ranks somewhere down the lower orders, but, in purely public relations terms, the move can be counted as something of a spectacular. Chief Executive Colin Hunt’s operation is trapped between customer expectation and the bank it… Read more »

Affairs, 22 July 2022

WHILE THE headlines have not been encouraging for the hospitality sector in recent weeks, it seems that Ireland still counts some unique attractions for foreign visitors. The European Parliament’s committee for civil liberties, justice and home affairs (LIBE) has announced plans for a whistle-stop tour in September, which will see MEPs vent their frustration with… Read more »

Affairs, 20 July 2022

GOOD NEWS for Ireland’s armchair generals with a conversion of “historic” proportions underway in Brussels. Neither economic crisis or pandemic were enough to shake EU member states from their own individual interests, but at long last security concerns have unlocked a collective response without comparison. The European Commission on Tuesday announced a new instrument of… Read more »

Affairs, 20 July 2022

WHEN IT comes to promoting political extremism, the biggest Irish newspapers are hard to beat. The Irish Times took comfort where it could from May’s Assembly elections in an editorial that hailed “Silent middle finds its voice.” With nationalism on top and the DUP in free-fall, the newspaper followed the same line as Dublin’s government… Read more »

Affairs, 20 July 2022

IRISH COMMENTARY has not troubled itself with remarks last week from John Bolton, long time US Republican war hawk who most recently served as national security advisor to the Trump White House. Discussing the actions of Trump supporters in Washington on January 6 2021, Bolton casually admitted US involvement in the overthrow of foreign governments…. Read more »

Affairs, 19 July 2022

FORMER VIRGIN Media Television MD Pat Kiely’s content production company BiggerStage has been quick out of the blocks since it launched in 2021. It is currently co-producing the third season of the US version of Name That Tune with Fox Alternative Entertainment (FAE), the in-house unscripted studio of Fox Entertainment. One interesting strand of the… Read more »

Affairs, 13 July 2022

VIRGIN MEDIA presenter Muireann O’Connell and former 2fm DJ Louise McSharry are in a neck and neck competition to garner the most headlines. Showbiz columnists and hacks with online space to fill regularly cover the women’s complaints over everything from their treatment by former employers to the material and gripes aired by RTÉ’s Liveline. You’d… Read more »

Affairs, 13 July 2022

WHILE HISTORY tells us that it is folly to underestimate the Russians in any conflict, western powers have taken comfort from Putin’s failure to dispatch with Ukraine in short and decisive manner. Russia’s fading star has allowed attention to be focused elsewhere, and it will be interesting to see if Ireland’s armchairs generals in politics… Read more »

Affairs, 12 July 2022

THE BRITISH Army is taking full advantage of the current climate with recruitment efforts going into overdrive. Recently installed chief of staff, General Sir Patrick Sanders, claimed that this generation is facing its own “1937 moment” in a speech broadcast on Sky News. Further headlines have been generated by new blockbuster style advertising campaign featuring… Read more »

Affairs, 12 July 2022

WITH MODERN universities increasingly obsessed with rankings, UCD will surely be alarmed to read a recent article in the Irish Times. Tara Street’s resident philosopher, Joe Humphreys, brings news that “free speech” is under threat at the college, at least if we are to believe the assessment of “United States-based non-partisan Foundation for Individual Rights… Read more »

Affairs, 12 July 2022

OIREACHTAS MEMBERS picking over the sustainability of RTÉ has seemingly done little to encourage belt tightening at Montrose. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) this week published a report on the national broadcaster’s present and future finances, recommending that first and foremost it must wean itself off a reliance on state funding. Notable among the 25… Read more »

Affairs, 6 July 2022

STRUGGLING PARENTS and even a “squeezed middle” are unlikely to heed Fine Gael’s latest round of childcare bluster. “It starts now” read the banner behind Leo Varadkar as he launched the Government’s plan to tackle exorbitant early years costs. Not a moment too soon, one would think – only this was in 2017, when the… Read more »

Affairs, 6 July 2022

THE IRISH TIMES took a dim view of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund in a June editorial, concluding that “golf has always been seen as a selfish sport. The defections of so many high-profile players would now also cast it as a greedy one, at odds with the very principle of equity at its core.”… Read more »

Affairs, 4 July 2022

AIRBNB IS currently wining and dining “hosts” as the company bids to protect its presence in the Irish accommodation market. While Airbnb has long been a target of renters competing for meagre housing supply, criticism has also recently been voiced by others in the tourism business. The Restaurants Association and Vintners Federation both complain that… Read more »

Affairs, 1 July 2022

WHILE CLARE Daly and Mick Wallace have become persona non grata among Dublin’s respectable opinion formers, the pair have long found new alliances since becoming members of the European Parliament. The Irish duo have seen their profiles raise considerably in recent months and this week sees Daly in an interview published by the American Committee… Read more »

Affairs, 1 July 2022

IT OUGHT to be considered a misnomer to describe the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier as a “cold case” given the attention that this investigation has received compared to others since 1996. The newspapers have nonetheless been given a fresh round of headlines this week following the announcement that An Garda Síochána is to… Read more »

Affairs, 30 June 2022

AS HER music promoter boyfriend Zach Desmond is gearing up to orchestrate the Longitude festival this weekend, Roz Purcell is preparing for the release of her new food range, Mafu Snax, and a new collection of her Hike Life clothing range. On the snacks front, the model-turned-influencer has teamed up with Monaghan food company, Nutri… Read more »

Affairs, 29 June 2022

WHAT A momentous gathering takes place in Madrid this week with leaders from around the world participating in events as part of the 2022 NATO summit. A number of firsts will take place on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday including: a formal invitation extended to recently neutral Sweden and Finland; it will be the first occasion… Read more »

Affairs, 24 June 2022

WITH FEAR and loathing long the dominant mood in budget stricken RTÉ, the opportunity to rally around Liveline has provided a brief moment of unity in an organisation otherwise characterised by ego battles and jealous anxiety over where the axe might fall. This is at least the impression left by some media reports on the… Read more »

Affairs, 24 June 2022

FINE GAEL will need to draw deep in its reserves of brazenness as Paschal Donohoe navigates not just the so-called cost of living crisis but the contradictions of his own party. The Government is presently trying to manage expectations, with senior figures insisting that there will be no new measures until budget day and that… Read more »

Affairs, 23 June 2022

GAYBO’S DAUGHTER Crona Byrne has been given much airtime over the past two years to broadcast her complaints over the travails faced by the childcare industry, describing at one point how she felt like a “punch bag” during the pandemic. Byrne is owner of Anacron Ltd, the company behind childcare facilities in Ballina, Tipperary, which,… Read more »

Affairs, 22 June 2022

GOOD NEWS is hard come by on the climate front, so Goldhawk was interested to read that Ireland has suddenly become best in class at recycling. Glowing highlights from Repak’s annual report are published this week by RTÉ, the Irish Times and The Journal, each with head-turning claims like “Ireland hits recycling targets for 24th… Read more »

Affairs, 22 June 2022

LOST IN recriminations over the President’s latest impromptu state of the nation is a deeper sense of existential dread stalking the old order. Even the most ardent government cheerleaders, not to mention the ideological foes Higgins accumulated down the years, all concede ruefully that a majority will readily concur with his assessment of Irish housing… Read more »

Affairs, 20 June 2022

IT LOOKS like a case of seller’s remorse for Pat Rabbitte, who laments the energy challenges currently facing the Government and consumers. The former Labour Party leader reminds Business Post readers that he predicted a risk of the state “sleepwalking” into a crisis in a column twelve months ago, but his crystal ball was of… Read more »

Affairs, 15 June 2022

GOLDHAWK IS reassured to see the Blueshirt order regain control of its history after a brief concession to the old foe. While Fine Gael is usually the last Irish political party associated with graveside oration, Senator Barry Ward has arranged for party faithful to gather at Deansgrange Cemetery each June to honour former Taoiseach, John… Read more »

Affairs, 15 June 2022

EXTRAORDINARY TIMES might call for extraordinary measures, but not so at the Department of Finance, as ministers and mandarins prepare to marshal their way through what is now called the “annual budgetary process”. For months now Government politicians have appeared in media broadcasts with little comfort to offer publicly beyond assurances that all will be… Read more »

Affairs, 9 June 2022

JIM O’CALLAGHAN posed as a most distinguished statesman in a recent opinion column when he called for a harder line in dealing with Brexit. Humility is hardly a value Jim is renowned for, being not just a rookie TD seeking to lead his party at the earliest opportunity but one who turned down a lowly… Read more »

Affairs, 8 June 2022

AFFABLE CHEF Neven Maguire brought his brand of goodwill to the Phoenix Park last weekend, when he gave a cookery demonstration at gardening and food event Bloom. Speaking of goodwill, accounts show that the Maguire’s company Lucon Ltd made a loss of €209,000 in 2020, because the value of “goodwill” was amortised from €1,086,000 to… Read more »