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MAYHEM ON MERRION SQUARE

Date: February 20, 2025 -

AT LONG last the media (and Government) have caught up with Goldhawk’s investigation into the near €7m splurge on a useless information and communications technology (ICT) project (see The Phoenix 19/4/24) and attempts to keep the story under wraps (see The Phoenix 10/1/25). Now the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) beckons and the civil servants are… Read more »

PROFILE: VOGUE WILLIAMS

Date: February 20, 2025 -

WITH HER autobiography, Big Mouth, due out in May and a live show in Vicar Street scheduled for the same month, Vogue Williams’s professional and personal life has undergone a remarkable volte-face in recent years. The 39-year-old from Howth has gone from working as a DJ and model – where she stood on Grafton Street… Read more »

YOUNG BLOOD: PAUL LAWLESS

Date: February 20, 2025 -

AS THE Aontú party began a small but steady rise in the opinion polls throughout last year, the election to the Dáil in November of 28-year-old Paul Lawless from Mayo gave the party a chance to escape its one-man-band perception and present itself as a real party and a player with skin in the game…. Read more »

TRINITY COLLEGE LOWERS THE TONE   

Date: February 20, 2025 -

TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN (TCD) authorities will feel satisfied that it recently handled some ‘legacy’ racism in a deft manner. In 2022 students agitated that George Berkeley, after whom TCD’s modernist library was named, owned slaves and advocated slavery. Berkeley fell in the wake of ‘Rhodes must fall’ demonstrations in Oxford as well as moves against… Read more »

SNUBBING CILLIAN MURPHY

Date: February 20, 2025 -

THERE MAY have been some surprised cinephiles when the Bafta winners were announced last weekend. Where were the gongs for Small Things Like These, produced and starring one Cillian Murphy? What filmgoers may have been unaware of is that Small Things Like These had not even got itself a nomination under any of the Bafta… Read more »

HUNTING THE MI5 MOLE

Date: February 20, 2025 -

IT WILL soon fall to new Fianna Fáil justice minister Big Jim O’Callaghan to fully commence the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act, 2024. It assigns to An Garda Síochána the task of “protecting the State” from “espionage” and “unlawful acts that subvert or undermine… parliamentary democracy” and “acts of foreign interference that are, or… Read more »

KEVIN MYERS LIVES

Date: February 20, 2025 -

In recent years Goldhawk has been able to reveal the central role that Irish journalists have played in new media projects launched in Brussels that are linked to both Viktor Orbán and a longtime strategist for his Fidesz party, Patrick Egan. The fact that Kevin Myers has now joined this crusade against political correctness demonstrates… Read more »

SELLING GUINNESS MAKES SENSE ONLY FOR DEBRA CREW

Date: February 20, 2025 -

The buzz in London last month concerned the potential offloading by Diageo of its iconic Guinness brand. Although surprising to some, this is a proposition that has been floated over the last couple of decades on the basis that beer and spirits are apparently not a great business cocktail. What is different today is that… Read more »

FRANK MOLONEY’S JET TURBULENCE

Date: February 20, 2025 -

THE YEAR has started off with yet more turbulence for the Shannon-based private jet fleet operator Westair Aviation, which has been backed by heavy hitters such as former AIB chairman and Merrion Hotel co-owner Lochlann Quinn. Controlled by Frank Moloney through his Jets International vehicle, a number of backers have pumped moolah into Westair through… Read more »

ENGLISH THE LATEST IN ‘SINDO’ EXODUS

Date: February 20, 2025 -

THE ANODYNE clichés that departing Sunday Independent editor Alan English delivered to explain his sudden resignation, in a most accommodating interview with The Currency “chief executive” Tom Lyons, indicate a deeper reason than those outlined. English gave various personal reasons for his exit, including his co-living Dublin-Limerick arrangements and family circumstances. But the main reason… Read more »

VOL 43 NO 04

Date: February 20, 2025 -

PHILIP KING’S MUSICAL NOTES

Date: February 20, 2025 -

THE COMPANY founded by Philip King, South Wind Blows Ltd (SWB), best known for the RTÉ music series Other Voices, found itself in the spotlight last week. King’s company was identified as the recipient of a $70,000 grant from Washington for a so-called “DEI musical” that caught the attention of Elon Musk’s Doge crew. King… Read more »

CENTRAL BANK’S ISRAELI WAR BONDS

Date: February 20, 2025 -

ASTONISHINGLY, THE Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) is enabling the sale of Israel bonds in Europe. As David Landy of Jews for Palestine told a protest outside the CBI: “There is a straight line between the Central Bank and the genocide taking place in Gaza… Israeli war bonds have raised over €3bn since October 7th… Read more »

CHINESE ORDER

Date: February 20, 2025 -

MICHEÁL MARTIN made sure to get his mug in the papers this week when chumming up with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, who was here to discuss business with foreign affairs minister Simon Harris. Given the huge existing (and potential) trade relationship between the two countries, this fawning by both coalition party leaders is not… Read more »

EU WANTS WAR

Date: February 20, 2025 -

THE INSANE level of militarist, anti-Russian rhetoric that has engulfed EU states, including Ireland, is a classic case of decision makers believing their own propaganda. Worse, it could lead to the EU, again including Ireland, exacerbating relations with Russia and leading to further conflict, despite the end of Russia’s war with Ukraine. It is always… Read more »

BLIGHE AND DWYER VS THE LAW

Date: February 20, 2025 -

After his elimination at the European election count in June, a bullish Derek Blighe, leader of Ireland First (IF), declared: “This is only the beginning. We’re going to build on this.” Instead, in the months since this election, IF has lacked any coherent direction from the top while Blighe and Philip Dwyer have both been… Read more »

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Date: February 20, 2025 -

As in the pantomime, we suggest that the developers are attempting to stuff an ‘Ugly Sister’s foot’ into Cinderella’s delicate slipper. Pat Kenny on Bartra’s plan to build a nursing home near his back yard, Sunday Independent We want to democratise oral hygiene. Burst Oral Care CEO Hamish Khayat, Business Post He could easily pass… Read more »

HERE COMES SUMMER

Date: February 20, 2025 -

“What’s summer anymore?” That’s the question posed by one of around 200 farmers who took part in a recent research project run by Teagasc, Ireland’s state agri research agency. The standard chorus emanating from farmer organisations and the agri press alike is to downplay the impact of climate change and treat climate policies as if… Read more »

DARRAGH MCCULLOUGH’S HERD

Date: February 20, 2025 -

Congrats to Meath farmer and agri scribe Darragh McCullough on achieving his 10-year goal of growing his dairy herd to over 500 cows. His account of this success story in the Farming Indo mentions how climate impacts are one of the many challenges he and his partner faced. The normally effusive McCullough omitted to tot… Read more »

DUP TO SABOTAGE EXECUTIVE?

Date: February 20, 2025 -

The DUP’s two ministers in the northern executive – Paul Givan in education and Gordon Lyons in communities – are under fire from nationalist and Alliance assembly members for what is being seen as cronyism, favouritism, disregarding official advice and hostility to nationalist interests. Givan has form. On December 23, 2016, as communities minister, he… Read more »

FIANNA FÁIL FEMALE FEALTY

Date: February 20, 2025 -

FIANNA FÁIL’s female election candidates have doubled down against sustained criticism from feminists and others of the alleged male control freaks in their party. Several candidates who failed to take Dáil seats have mounted a sterling, public defence of their male hierarchy in a touching display of obeisance. Just one of the charges levelled against… Read more »

MATTIE McGRATH’S OLD FRIENDS

Date: February 20, 2025 -

FOLLOWING REPORTS of talks between Independent TD Mattie McGrath and his former party, Fianna Fáil, that never happened/broke down/are ongoing/were exaggerated in the media/etc, McGrath took a swipe at his former FF comrades in Tipperary South, specifically Clonmel. Mattie denied any notion that he had been negotiating a return to his old party saying, however,… Read more »

BARRY BOTTLES BILL ON PALESTINE

Date: February 20, 2025 -

DYNAMIC NEW Independent TD Barry Heneghan, who came over fierce radical like during the general election, has caused outrage among Palestinian supporters for reneging on a commitment to support the Occupied Territories Bill (OTB), which was contained in a Sinn Féin motion to the Dáil last week. Local SF activist Darragh Keogh asked the five… Read more »

MAYO’S LOST LEADERS

Date: February 20, 2025 -

TIME WAS when Mayo Fianna Fáil harboured two would-be taoisigh – Dara Calleary and Lisa Chambers. That was some years ago but even Calleary, now back in Cabinet, no longer retains delusions of national leadership, while Lisa has retired hurt from the game. Chambers was tipped to be a future FF leader by the Irish… Read more »

ALISON O’CONNOR’S GAZA GUFF

Date: February 20, 2025 -

AMID THE welter of approval from media ‘adults in the room’ (current code for Government supporters) for the Government’s abandonment of the Occupied Territories Bill, an especially pointed Sunday Times article by Alison O’Connor recently stood out. Alison is not exactly ad idem with Mary Lou or Richard Boyd Barrett but even Dana Erlich might… Read more »

HELPFUL HACKS

Date: February 20, 2025 -

THE WINNING roles played in the election campaign by ex-political press hacks Sarah Bardon and Ciara Phelan in policing the media as official spokespeople for the FF-FG Government has been a matter of some fascination. However, of no less significance is the flow of senior business reporters crossing the aisle to become mouth pieces for… Read more »

AFTER THE AGA KHAN

Date: February 20, 2025 -

IRISH HORSERACING lost a big supporter with the death of the Aga Khan IV, the 49th hereditary imam of the Shiite Ismaili Muslims. His green with red epaulets colours were familiar in the winner’s enclosure for many big races and have earned tidy sums for his preferred trainers down the years, such as John Oxx… Read more »

NOELLE’S CHINESE TAKEAWAY

Date: February 20, 2025 -

GOLDHAWK WASN’T too surprised to see a glowing report on the adventures of fake (sorry, sunless) tan queen Noelle O’Connor in the Sindo last weekend. She has big plans and it turns out that she has managed to attract some moolah from a pair of Chinese moneybags. Media-savvy Noelle has always proved adept at generating… Read more »

SCREEN IRELAND’S FEMALE LEADS

Date: February 20, 2025 -

THERE MAY have been some head scratching among movie makers earlier this month when the Sunday Times Culture mag ran a comment piece under the headline, “What stops women from making movies?” The answer would appear to be, very little. Back in 2015 Désirée Finnegan’s Screen Ireland (SI) announced a “six-point plan” to encourage more… Read more »

CAITRÍONA CROWE’S MEMO

Date: February 20, 2025 -

ELSEWHERE IN this issue (see p6), Goldhawk reports on the strong level of support (30%) in the near 900 submissions made to the Trinity Legacies Review Working Group (TLRWG) for renaming the college’s former Berkeley Library after Theobald Wolfe Tone. Not surprisingly, an assortment of other names also made it into the mix, with one… Read more »

HARRY’S HEAVY GOING

Date: February 20, 2025 -

THE MOST surprising aspect of the High Court action by popular Co Louth trainer Harry Rogers against the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) and BHP Laboratories is that it took so long to get to the starting gate. The case surfaced in the Sindo earlier this month as a result of a pre-trial motion but… Read more »

TIM HUSBANDS DISMOUNTS

Date: February 20, 2025 -

TIM HUSBANDS (MBE no less) rode off into the sunset from Leopardstown following the recent Dublin Racing Festival (DRF). Husbands had been in the saddle here for five years, after taking over from Pat Keogh in 2020. Tim’s previous roles included a short stint at Westport House in Co Mayo and as a tourism exec… Read more »

KEATING’S WORRYING LOSS-MAKER INSIDE FD TECHNOLOGIES

Date: February 20, 2025 -

OVER 24 years, Brian Conlon built up the hugely successful Newry-based First Derivatives group, now FD Technologies (FDT), into a highly profitable operation in the arcane world of compliance and supervision of financial derivatives, capitalised at £2bn before his sudden death in July 2019. It has taken his replacement as CEO, Séamus Keating, just four years… Read more »

WEE CARE’S WEDGE

Date: February 20, 2025 -

FIGURES JUST filed for the Belfast-controlled Wee Care nursery business, which has significant operations in south Co Dublin, show that founder Ian Buchanan has been scooping big bucks. In the not-too-distant past, he went to great lengths to keep a lid on the more sensitive details of his operation here. Wee Care Ltd ended up… Read more »

HAMISH KHAYAT’S OLD NUMBERS

Date: February 20, 2025 -

ONE HAMISH Khayat must have been flashing his pearly whites from ear to ear after last weekend’s gushing article in the Business Post. The 34-year-old – who believes it is his mission to “democratise oral hygiene” – was in Dublin to promote a new toothbrush from his California-headquartered Burst Oral Care (BOC) business, which now… Read more »

DERMOT PURCELL’S GOOD GOING

Date: February 20, 2025 -

FANS OF the sport of kings will have noted that well-liked racehorse trainer Harry Rogers has been back in the High Court with the state-funded regulatory body, Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB), and a Limerick-based drug testing company called BHP Laboratories (see p19). Both entities are defending the long-running case, which has its origins back… Read more »