Affairs, 1 June 2022

GOLDHAWK SHUDDERS to think who among RTÉ’s “star talent” is next to receive their own current affairs vehicle following the demise of Claire Byrne Live. There was little left to scrape in the bottom of this particular barrel but the sudden departure poses a challenge for even the renowned efficiency at Montrose, which has less than… Read more »

Affairs, 1 June 2022

BRAINSTORM declared itself to be a “new series about new thinking” – so it’s clearly not going to be a documentary about RTE commissioning editors. Rather, it’s part of the Montrose’s so-called ‘Brainstorm initiative’, a strand of ‘content’ that in typical RTE fashion is a somewhat nebulous mishmash of science-themed programming. Its most recent manifestation,… Read more »

Affairs, 27 May 2022

GOLDHAWK IS flummoxed by Government plans to hive off some children into what are being called “special education centres.” With a long-anticipated shortage of classroom places looming this September, it is envisioned that some of those with intellectual disabilities are to be denied the opportunity of “mainstream” learning alongside their own peers, and will be… Read more »

Affairs, 26 May 2022

IT IS interesting to consider the impetus fuelling some elements of the current zeal for political reform in Leinster House. The Government plans to overhaul the Electoral Acts, beefing up the law to reflect new challenges posed by the current political age. An amendment bill published by minister Darragh O’Brien seeks to regulate online advertising,… Read more »

Affairs, 25 May 2022

REBEL GREEN Party TDs Neasa Hourigan and Patrick Costello are taking an interesting gamble in choosing to break ranks on the maternity hospital, expending whatever remaining leverage they might have on environmental concerns. With Mary Lou McDonald’s surplus expected to bring in a running mate in Dublin North Central, it is unlikely that both Neasa… Read more »

Affairs, 23 May 2022

WITH A new book out next week, fans can expect to see the green-fingered Diarmuid Gavin popping up all over the place on the PR trail. Clients hoping he will transform their gardens may be reassured that good things come to those who wait, if an account given by Francine Cunningham, wife of Mediahuis publisher… Read more »

Affairs, 20 May 2022

ALL OVER this country, in housing estates and country lanes, there are houses that are unkempt and seem—by comparison with their neighbours—anachronistic. The paintwork is peeling, the hedges ‘leggy’ and sprawling, their gardens littered with broken things. Colm Bairéad’s An Cailín Ciúin – an adaptation of Claire Keegan’s internationally critically acclaimed novella Foster – begins… Read more »

Affairs, 19 May 2022

WHAT WILL it take for the Government to face up to its responsibilities on medical laboratory testing? Following unparalleled scrutiny of the state’s lab capacity on foot of a cancer screening scandal and a global pandemic, this week sees frontline workers striking over pay parity and what the Medical Laboratory Scientists Association (MLSA) say is… Read more »

Affairs, 19 May 2022

WITH SUMMER upon us, the hospitality sector is facing pressures old and new. Though never short of complaints to fill media space, it seems that not all challenges emanate from outside the tourism business. The Restaurants Association and Vintners Federation are the latest to hit out at Airbnb, claiming that the dearth of accommodation is… Read more »

Affairs, 19 May 2022

PITY TO see a cloud left hanging over Fianna Fáil’s efforts to win the information war after Stephen Donnelly’s social media was turbo charged by robots. The minister, his party and the Department of Health have asked Twitter to investigate after a video from Donnelly’s account was shared hundreds of times in a matter of… Read more »

Affairs, 17 May 2022

LESS THAN 24 hours before cabinet proceeded to approve an unaltered agreement of ownership and governance at the proposed new National Maternity Hospital, St Vincent’s Healthcare Group (SVHG) finally faced questions at the Oireachtas Health Committee on Monday. Judging by the sparks that continued to fly during the following day’s leader’s questions, the contributions from… Read more »

Affairs, 13 May 2022

THAT THE British property market, media and many of its high profile sporting corporates exist today as extensions of oligarchy – English, Australian, American, Arab, Russian or otherwise – has been well documented down the years but Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has made it much more difficult to conceal that even the Conservative Party, gasp,… Read more »

Affairs, 13 May 2022

THE RELEASE of Bono’s memoir is “likely to be one of the big publishing events of the year” according to one Indo scribe and it will certainly be interesting to see how the U2 singer’s own efforts are received in comparison to the last serious book on the subject. Harry Browne’s 2013 polemic, The Frontman:… Read more »

Affairs, 11 May 2022

TAOISEACH Micheál Martin has been most impatient as the opposition continue to ask unhelpful questions about the proposed new National Maternity Hospital. While leaders’ questions has been fraught on the topic, down in Committee Room 4 at least, it falls to Stephen Donnelly to put a more gentle face on efforts to push this arrangement… Read more »

Affairs, 9 May 2022

WITH THE attention of the international media focused briefly on Assembly elections, the Dublin Government has been keen to stress that a border poll remains in the distance despite a nationalist victory. Three senior figures, Micheál Martin, Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney, have each responded to the outcome by insisting voters have signalled that their… Read more »

Affairs, 6 May 2022

IRISH INDEPENDENT hack Ellen Coyne often appears as someone in conflict with a previous version of herself. It was greeted with considerable surprise in 2020 when the feminist firebrand announced that her debut book was to be a memoir centred on personal Catholic faith. This dichotomy certainly generated some welcome intrigue for publishers Gill, though… Read more »

Affairs, 5 May 2022

PADDY COSGRAVE’S battle against corruption and cronyism in Ireland continues apace. But will Brazil be next on the list of targets or will he keep his head down? The Twitter outpourings of the mouthy moneybags over the last few days feature plenty of his trademark ‘observations’. He has opined on subjects from the An Bord… Read more »

Affairs, 3 May 2022

READERS WILL have noticed a great deal of variety in the deluge of headlines regarding accommodation for Ukrainian refugees, with everything from military barracks to modular housing being floated as potential solutions. The reason for this, Goldhawk understands, is that panic has gripped the departments responsible for housing and integration, and indeed the Taoiseach’s office,… Read more »

Affairs, 2 May 2022

WITH NORTHERN ASSEMBLY polling this week, Sinn Féin is campaigning on the line that “this election is about the future, about the next generation and what we can achieve if we work together.” Elsewhere, it is not just that Sinn Féin are indistinguishable from their Government rivals on the turf cutting issue, but the party’s… Read more »

Affairs, 2 May 2022

MEDIA DEBATES in Leinster House reliably provide an insight into the preoccupations of Oireachtas members, and the passage of the Online Safety and Media Regulations Bill will give TDs and Senators plenty of opportunity to vent their frustrations with political coverage. With a new Coimisiún set to replace the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, Fianna Fáil’s… Read more »

Affairs, 29 April 2022

IS STEPHEN Donnelly’s effort to reassert himself a sign that political survival is not written off just yet? According to the Irish Examiner, the health minister intervened after his junior, Anne Rabbitte, was reportedly prevented by HSE officials from holding one to one meetings with local service managers. Rabbitte says that she sought monthly “on the… Read more »

Affairs, 29 April 2022

WHILE RARELY original it can be illuminating at least to read what commentary from the international media (strictly anglophone) is reproduced for Irish audiences. Goldhawk frequently finds that some bright idea from the Economist, Spectator, Financial Times, etc, will appear a week or two later in the domestic opinion pages or weekend supplements, re-jigged and… Read more »

Affairs, 28 April 2022

“EVERYBODY IS entitled to their good name” Micheál Martin told the Dáil last year as he played down the extraordinary duration that two investigations under his department (IBRC est. 2015, NAMA est. 2017) are taking to reach their conclusions. Sitting in the same spot this week, An Taoiseach was overheard making a curt remark about… Read more »

Affairs, 26 April 2022

“WE HAVE suffered far too often from groupthink in this country” argues Daniel McConnell, who casts himself as the Irish Examiner’s answer to Voltaire. Groupthink certainly abounds, as McConnell is just one of a number of writers who have framed Sharon Keogan’s performance at the Oireachtas Committee on Surrogacy simplistically as a question of free… Read more »