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DANNY’S POOR FORM

Date: July 25, 2024 -

BOLSHY DANNY Dunne made another journey to the offices of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) in relation to his latest bout of bad behaviour. It looks like he may have got off pretty lightly this time, given his poor form to date. On July 9 the Robert Dore-chaired referrals committee found that under Rule… Read more »

TONY MARTIN’S CELEBRATIONS

Date: July 25, 2024 -

AS A result of his OTT celebrations following the win for Alphonse Le Grande at Newcastle last month, the nag’s suspended trainer Tony Martin also made a familiar trip to the IHRB offices to appear before the referrals committee, chaired by judge Siobhan Keegan. The Bowler Hats said Martin’s behaviour demonstrated a “flagrant disregard” for… Read more »

DENISE PHILLIPS’ CROWN PRINCE

Date: July 25, 2024 -

CONGRATULATIONS TO “award-winning hair professional” and social media fan Denise Phillips (aka Denise McLean), who has been named as a finalist in the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Ireland awards in the ‘Emerging’ category. Goldhawk was surprised to see no mention in the coverage of her business partner and co-founder of the Voduz hair care… Read more »

BILL DURKAN’S GUINEAS

Date: July 25, 2024 -

THERE WAS a lot of moolah being splashed about earlier this month in Newmarket and centre stage was moneybags Bill Durkan of Durkan New Homes, who admitted he had to “push the boat out a little” to purchase Star Runner at the July sale. The nag was knocked down to Bill’s assistant, Gary Bannon, for… Read more »

ROBBIE DOLAN’S EXTRAVAGANT VILLA

Date: July 25, 2024 -

A FEW weeks after first going on the market with a hefty €4.5m price tag, the opulent 8,500 sq ft Villa Barton in the K Club complex, Co Kildare, got another media outing in the Daily Mail earlier this month, as the sellers await a well-heeled golf fanatic to step up with the spondoolicks. It… Read more »

WHAT NEXT FOR OVOCA BIO INVESTORS?

Date: July 25, 2024 -

IN A surprise move after the failure of the clinical trials for Ovoca Bio’s Orenetide drug, the CEO, Kirill Golovanov, resigned last week. More surprising, perhaps. was the decision of American non-executive director Tim McCutcheon (previously a CEO of the company in its Ovoca Gold iteration) to step in as Golovanov’s replacement and also to… Read more »

SHARON BYRNE’S BIG BET

Date: July 25, 2024 -

THE LATEST accounts for the Irish Bookmakers’ Association (IBA) – the gambling lobby entity chaired by Sharon Byrne – provide an update on the heavy going associated with the running of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission Stakes. The IBA has found itself caught up in the midst of a major investigation by the CCPC,… Read more »

AKO AMIRI’S HAIR CUT

Date: July 25, 2024 -

A LITTLE over a year on from the collapse of the Just For Men Ltd (JFM) barbers and male grooming chain in Cork, the liquidator has submitted his report, which suggests that there is plenty still to untangle here. The main player here is director and shareholder Ako Amiri, while the other listed director is… Read more »

MUM’S THE WORD

Date: July 25, 2024 -

ACCOUNTS WERE filed last week for Associated Newspapers (Ireland) Ltd, the company behind the Oirish Daily Mail and assorted publications it has snapped up here, such as Business Plus magazine. Another of its acquisitions is the parenting website Everymum, which was sold off by Zahra Media Group (ZMG), the operation owned by John Mullins and… Read more »

JOE FOLEY V STEVE PARKIN

Date: July 25, 2024 -

AS PREDICTED by Goldhawk (see The Phoenix 5/4/24), the legal eagles have galloped on the track in the row between Ballyhane stallion master Joe Foley, and his minted former client, Clipper Logistics founder Steve Parkin. (In happier times,the latter had described Foley as “nearly family”.) The split was described as a “breakdown” in the relationship… Read more »

SPOOKY STARMER

Date: July 11, 2024 -

At long last, Britain’s Deep State can breathe a sigh of relief as the keys to 10 Downing Street are finally in a safe pair of hands – those of Sir Keir Starmer. Gone are the days when Britain’s spies withheld intelligence from Boris Johnson, a politician who – against the wishes of MI5 and… Read more »

PROFILE: JACK CHAMBERS

Date: July 11, 2024 -

THE MEDIA consensus – or should that be group think – is that the newly elevated finance minister, 33-year-old Jack Chambers, is Ireland’s very own John F Kennedy and the Fianna Fáil leader-in-waiting. There are other ways to describe Chambers, one being that of the… Read more »

YOUNG BLOOD: LISA JORDAN

Date: July 11, 2024 -

IT’S BEEN a busy few months for social media influencer and businesswoman Lisa Jordan (aka Just Jordan), with multiple product launches, a swanky new house and a best-dressed award that left her “an emotional wreck”. Jordan has two brands, Luna by Lisa (makeup and hair care) and a fashion line called Edit Row. While she’s… Read more »

TRINITY’S DEFINITION DILEMMA

Date: July 11, 2024 -

HAVING FACED down the college authorities in May over ties between Trinners and Israeli institutions, the TCD Students’ Union and the Trinity Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions group can’t have been overly impressed with last month’s decision to award former Belgian prime minister and hardcore Nato advocate… Read more »

JOHN MCGUIRK’S COURT CASES

Date: July 11, 2024 -

GOLDHAWK WONDERS if right-wing firebrand and Gript editor John McGuirk has had a chance to peruse the correction published in the latest issue of The Village magazine, given that he is ensconced in far-off Ukraine. The Village’s correction deals with a couple of minor inaccuracies in its cover story published in February this year, in… Read more »

PHIL HOGAN’S DOCTORATE

Date: July 11, 2024 -

CONGRATULATIONS TO former EU commissioner and current unofficial advisor to Simon Harris, Phil Hogan, who landed an honorary doctorate in science from University College Dublin. Goldhawk was eager to read the citation for the controversial lobbyist, who was forced to step down from his EU… Read more »

RORY GODSON’S TWEET

Date: July 11, 2024 -

STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS heavy-hitter Rory Godson doesn’t spend much time tweeting but he clearly likes to get some things off his chest. Last month, he was walking down the leafy street where he lives in London’s SW1 when he spotted a chap pissing on his neighbour’s doorstep. Rory made his disdain clear to the “guy, who… Read more »

JUSTIN BARRETT RIDES ON

Date: July 11, 2024 -

SOME OBSERVERS feared that a poor showing for new-right movements in Ireland in the local government and European Parliament elections might push a section of these movements towards more extreme politics. There is ample evidence that this fear of anger and disillusionment fuelling radicalisation was… Read more »

RAY MORAN’S TURNTABLE

Date: July 11, 2024 -

A DECISION is due shortly from the planners in Dublin City Council on an application for the retention of an unusual “vehicular turntable” in the driveway of an impressive three-storey Georgian pile on Upper Leeson Street, D4, near Burlington Road. It turns out that the house was recently acquired by moneybags medic Ray Moran of… Read more »

DOUBLE STANDARDS AT THE ‘IRISH TIMES’

Date: July 11, 2024 -

JUSTIFIABLY, AND admirably, newspapers, and TV and radio programmes reported and commented on the recent suspended sentence for soldier Cathal Crotty, who viciously assaulted Natasha O’Brien. Outrage was followed by reporting on Army and Garda tolerance of violent offenders and on the unending war on… Read more »

VOL 42 NO 14

Date: July 11, 2024 -

MACRON’S FRENCH EMPIRE CRUMBLES

Date: July 11, 2024 -

With French president Emmanuel Macron grappling with a complicated loss of power at home, his illusions about restoring the glory days of the French empire have also taken a battering with the announcement by Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger that they are forming an Alliance of Sahel States, which will support each other against external… Read more »

FROM SHANNON TO UKRAINE

Date: July 11, 2024 -

AN OMNI Air aircraft, N351AX, on contract to the US military, landed at Shannon last weekend from Rzeszow airport in the southeast of Poland. Rzeszow is the main supply airport for munitions and Nato soldiers going into Ukraine. The plane also made a stop at Tallinn in Estonia, which neutrality activists in Shannon say shows… Read more »

SEAN SWEENEY’S TRACK RECORD

Date: July 11, 2024 -

THE APPOINTMENT of New Zealander Sean Sweeney, CEO of Auckland’s City Rail Link project, as the head of the big MetroLink rail project in Dublin raised a few eyebrows, especially given the chunky €550,000 per annum pay package. He is coming a long way for sure but it is unclear whether Sweeney’s track record suggests… Read more »

RICH LIST LIQUIDATION

Date: July 11, 2024 -

GOLDHAWK WAS a little surprised to see a company that was previously controlled by the richest man in Ireland, Pallonji Mistry, was wound up by the High Court last month. Pallonji Mistry and his family found itself right at the top of those Irish rich lists for many years, with assets worth around €15bn, courtesy… Read more »

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S TALL THALES

Date: July 11, 2024 -

THE NUMBER and intensity of protests, including pickets and blockades of weapons manufacturer Thales UK plants, have ratcheted up significantly in recent months. The ire of pro-Palestinian and anti-war protesters has been provoked by a contract Thales UK has to supply parts for Watchkeeper drones to Israeli company Elbit Systems. The Watchkeepers were developed by… Read more »

LABOUR’S LAMENTABLE LAMMY

Date: July 11, 2024 -

New British foreign secretary David Lammy is a keen supporter of Nato. Appointed shadow foreign secretary by Keir Starmer in November 2021, he was quickly reassuring his new pals in Washington that the Corbyn era was over and there would be no change in UK foreign policy under Labour to that of the Tories. In… Read more »

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Date: July 11, 2024 -

It was as though Super Joe had recovered from his bout of kryptonite poisoning. Keith Duggan on Joe Biden successfully reading from a teleprompter, Irish Times A well-written book is like a meticulously crafted virtual-reality headset woven from words. Stefanie Preissner, Sunday Independent Life Magazine The key for the talented duo is to be the… Read more »

EMER HIGGINS’S U-TURN

Date: July 11, 2024 -

When running in the 2019 Dublin Mid-West by-election, Fine Gael’s Emer Higgins promised: “If elected, I will demand better public transport for our area.” She explained in a video the reason is the need to get people out of their cars “and on to a reliable service to get to and from work”. Higgins returned… Read more »

KEVIN MCPARTLAN’S HOT AIR

Date: July 11, 2024 -

“We stand at a critical juncture where the urgency of our climate crisis demands bold and decisive action”. These were the stirring sentiments in a recent Irish Times business-page article. The tree-hugger author was Kevin McPartlan, CEO of the, ahem, fossil fuel lobby group, Fuels for Ireland. McPartlan was given a free editorial run to… Read more »

SF’S TRIPLE CROWN

Date: July 11, 2024 -

Whatever about the fall from grace of Sinn Féin in the south, the party goes from strength to strength in the north. The British general election was nothing to do with the north. The Labour Party doesn’t fight elections in the north and the Conservative Party’s candidates in the few constituencies in which they stand… Read more »

STARMER: UNIONIST OR CIVIL RIGHTS CHAMPION

Date: July 11, 2024 -

BRITAIN’S NEW prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer (don’t forget the Sir), has made his first visit to the north since taking over in Westminster last week and he was greeted, if not effusively, at least with a degree of warmth and hope. Whether this hope will be born out is yet to be seen, but… Read more »

MICHAEL COLLINS TO REPLACE GREENS

Date: July 11, 2024 -

AS THE Greens go down in the polls and their ability to play a coalition role looks increasingly doubtful, there is quiet satisfaction in Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil circles that a new alternative coalition option appears to be now available. The rural-based Independent Ireland (II) party – led by TDs Michael Collins, Richard O’Donoghue… Read more »

TIME NOT ON MARY LOU’S SIDE

Date: July 11, 2024 -

Despite government insistence that it intends to run its full term and that there will be no general election this year, there is still feverish speculation that the date will in fact be brought forward and that early November looks likely. This speculation was spurred on by the budget being brought forward a week, an… Read more »

NEW SPECTRE HAUNTS MACRON

Date: July 11, 2024 -

There was a widespread sigh of relief in European Union circles at the astonishing news that the expected far-right dominance in the French parliament had been thwarted. But there was less relief at the fact that this setback for Marine Le Pen’s ambitions was brought about primarily by the New Popular Front (NFP), the united… Read more »

ULSTER-SCOTS’ PR

Date: July 11, 2024 -

TIME WAS when one of the few unionists to see positive benefits in the peace process was ludicrous Lord Laird, who milked the Irish and British taxpayer for millions in the noughties for the Ulster-Scots Agency, which he chaired and which championed the DIY language Ulster Scots. Laird resigned in 2004 following probes by the… Read more »