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JP McMANUS’S ANNUS HORRIBILIS

Date: October 31, 2024 -

THIS YEAR has turned out to be a forgettable one for Geneva-based zillionaire JP McManus. Hot on the heels of a ruling by a Barbados coroner that cocaine use played a role in the tragic death of his daughter-in-law, Emma McManus (wife of John McManus), one of JP’s more high-profile charitable concerns, the International Rugby… Read more »

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S U-TURN

Date: October 31, 2024 -

WHAT A rollicking Micheál Martin gave to coalition ‘partners’ Fine Gael last weekend, with justice minister Helen McEntee in particular and Taoiseach Simon Harris also getting politically assaulted in the process. The last refuge of the politician is often law‘n’order and it looks as if Martin has entered the electoral battle prematurely, judging by the… Read more »

LESLIE BUCKLEY’S HON DOC

Date: October 31, 2024 -

JUST LIKE Goldhawk’s favourite former EU Commissioner, Big Phil Hogan, former Independent News and Media (INM) chairman Leslie Buckley had to wait rather a long time to collect his cap and gown for an honorary doctorate of arts from his alma mater, UCC. It will be recalled (see The Phoenix 6/9/24) that the controversial Hogan… Read more »

HIGH-FLYING KITE

Date: October 31, 2024 -

IT HAS BEEN an eventful month for Darren Smith’s Kite Entertainment TV production outfit. Last weekend, its new series for RTÉ of Ireland’s Fittest Families was postponed following the tragic death of one of the young participants. A week earlier, however, Kite had landed the gig for an Irish version of the hugely popular BBC… Read more »

SHARON KEEGAN’S ‘EMPOWERMENT BRAND’

Date: October 31, 2024 -

GOLDHAWK IS sad to see that the leisurewear company set up by his favourite “inspirational leader”, Sharon Keegan, is being wound up next week. The liquidation is bad news for those who bought into the female empowerment blather that was the cornerstone of Keegan’s marketing spiel for her Peachy Lean brand. Among the backers are… Read more »

DOG FIGHT CONTINUES

Date: October 31, 2024 -

FOR THE last week or so the Facebook page of animal welfare group Working Animal Guardian (WAG) has been choc-a-bloc with emotional rhetoric following the euthanising of two bull breeds who had been surrendered into the system. Now the group is planning a protest against Heather Humphreys’ legislation, which bans the import, sale and rehoming… Read more »

VOL 42 NO 22

Date: October 31, 2024 -

BIZ POST BLUNDER

Date: October 31, 2024 -

READERS OF last weekend’s Business Post will have spotted a grovelling apology to one Ronan Minahan. But it looks like the issue has not gone away, with a High Court outing still pencilled in for November 11 as part of legal proceedings that kicked off in 2019. The Post’s mea culpa related to a December… Read more »

CHILD SAFETY POLITICAL DEBATE

Date: October 31, 2024 -

GIVEN THE recent public debate about child safety and the allegations made against Sinn Féin and party leader Mary Lou McDonald by Government parties, Goldhawk assumed that the latter would have voluminous material on the subject. This would include codes of practice, protocols and the necessary measures to respond to – as well as pre-empt… Read more »

CHAWKE AND CHEESE

Date: October 31, 2024 -

SOLICITOR MICHAEL FINUCANE has taken a High Court defamation action against thejournal.ie following its coverage of his clients’ appearance in court on charges of violent assault. Gardaí told the District Court in Newcastle West recently of distressing scenes at the Dunraven Arms, Adare, late at night when Bill Chawke and his sister, Alison Chawke –… Read more »

LOUISE RICHARDSON’S DEFENCE

Date: October 31, 2024 -

ON A trip back to the old sod recently, Louise Richardson – Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire – derided Irish neutrality as something that does not fit into any accepted interpretation of neutrality. She reminded us, unwittingly perhaps, that while we are not members of any military alliance, we act as… Read more »

SHARK ATTACKED

Date: October 31, 2024 -

LAST WEEK the appeal by racehorse trainer John ‘Shark’ Hanlon against the severity of a 10-month suspension for bringing the sport into disrepute resulted in a reduction of his ban to six months, with the probability that he will end up serving only a three-month suspension overall. It came a little late in the day,… Read more »

SIR GARRET MISLED BY HAROLD WILSON

Date: October 31, 2024 -

OPERATION DENTON, led by Sir Iain Livingstone, is looking at the 1974 Dublin-Monaghan bomb atrocities. It lays much emphasis on the fact it is an analytical review that is diligently scrutinising all of the relevant files. Goldhawk would like to suggest that it digs out the briefing papers prepared for PM Harold Wilson prior to… Read more »

EU’S BEST FORM OF DEFENCE 

Date: October 31, 2024 -

THE European Union’s appointment this autumn of Lithuania’s Andrius Kubilius as the blocs first defence commissioner is a clear sign of an increase in the momentum towards militarisation of the alliance. At the same time, the EU is negotiating defence partnerships with Britain, South Korea and Japan. While the Government’s much-vaunted Consultative Forum on International… Read more »

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Date: October 31, 2024 -

Like, I look at someone like Ian Dempsey and I feel like genuflecting. Anyone that sees that man should hug him. To have done what he has done [presenting breakfast shows] for well over 30 years is amazing. Donncha O’Callaghan, Sunday Independent Life Magazine If you’ve been holding your breath since the news arrived in… Read more »

HARRIS/FITZMAURICE AGREE ON AGRI

Date: October 31, 2024 -

With the general election just weeks away, competition is hotting up as to which politician can most cravenly capitulate to special-interest lobbying from the agri-industrial sector. Though relatively new in the job and a denizen of suburbia, Simon Harris has established himself as the most eager Taoiseach in years when it comes to agri boot-licking…. Read more »

DOIREANN BREATHNACH’S ADVICE

Date: October 31, 2024 -

Congratulations to climate warrior Doireann Breathnach for making quite a splash in her role with consultancy firm Accenture. She recently stood down as Irish Refugee Council chair and has also been a UN advisor. In a recent media interview she hectored environmentalists for being “too shouty at business” and failing to “meet business where business… Read more »

‘GIVAN’ THE OPPORTUNITY

Date: October 31, 2024 -

On October 16 Norma Foley was with the north’s education minister, Paul Givan (DUP), visiting schools in his constituency as they launched the Raise programme. It’s a mini version of the Deis (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) scheme in the south. The Government is allocating €24m under the Shared Island project to fund Raise,… Read more »

FINE GAEL IGNORES PALESTINE EU BODY

Date: October 31, 2024 -

FINE GAEL MEPs have brought a new meaning to the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign by Palestinian supporters with their own shunning of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with Palestine. Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan is chair of the delegation and her welcome message to members sets out its agenda for promoting peace in… Read more »

SHATTER: TD AGAIN OR MERE DISRUPTER?

Date: October 31, 2024 -

FINE GAEL activists in Dublin Rathdown are becoming a little edgy about former justice minister and Israel champion Alan Shatter’s general election campaign, which they fear could sabotage their chances of a seat gain in this most property-rich constituency. The long-time FG Dáil deputy was cruelly downed in 2014 by a sequence of circumstances that… Read more »

DALY TO HIT SOC DEMS AND GREENS?

Date: October 31, 2024 -

FORMER MEP Clare Daly lost her EU seat last June due to a combination of factors, with one being a media witch hunt against her because of her anti-western politics and the other a classic, far-left split created by People Before Profit running its candidate, TD Bríd Smith, against her. This greatly angered many on… Read more »

Ó FEARGHAÍL’S PA: ISRAEL SHOCK JOCK

Date: October 31, 2024 -

KILKENNY COMMUNITY RADIO listeners are privileged to regularly receive the views of intense supporter of Israel, presenter and producer Eugene Doyle, although his opinions may not be typical among the ‘cats’ of Kilkenny City or county. Doyle’s outlook on the Middle East would probably not accord either with those of his sometime boss, ceann comhairle… Read more »

SHANE ROSS’S RETURN

Date: October 31, 2024 -

SUNDAY INDEPENDENT editor Alan English will be relieved to welcome back former minister and long-time Sindo columnist Shane Ross after an absence since the summer. The ex-politician’s first, predictable column on returning was under the headline: “Can we believe a word Mary Lou says?” Meanwhile, there is still no sign of Ross’s threatened blockbuster, RTÉ:… Read more »

‘IRISH TIMES’ BRICS IT

Date: October 31, 2024 -

A SORROWFUL tone pervaded an Irish Times editorial last week regarding the Brics summit in Russia, with the first half of the tract concentrating on “eclipse of the empire” (no need to ask which empire the IT means). This was manifest, it argued, by the earth-shattering decision of Indian PM Narendra Modi and South African… Read more »

FIDGET FEET’S SHORTAGES

Date: October 31, 2024 -

LAST MONTH saw the launch at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in Limerick of Micheál Ó Súilleabháin: A Life in Music. The venue was certainly apt given that Ó Súilleabháin had founded the academy 30 years ago. Goldhawk was, however, more interested in a new publication from the dance company in residence… Read more »

MARY MCCARTHY’S ADDITIONS

Date: October 31, 2024 -

CONGRATULATIONS TO Mary McCarthy et al at the Crawford Gallery in Cork, who have just landed some acquisitions to bolster the national collection. Catherine Martin’s arts department has provided €69,000 to the recently shuttered gallery towards to purchase of Seán Keating’s Elijah with the Ravens, Version II and a self-portrait by the same artist; Camille… Read more »

KATY BROWN’S ALL-CLEAR

Date: October 31, 2024 -

THE BOWLER Hats of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) were kept busy last month. Along with backtracking on the high-profile Shark Hanlon horse carcass case, they concluded the investigation into their unsatisfying handling of an “adverse analytical finding” in relation to the Katy Brown-trained Petrol Head. As the outcome has resulted in the release… Read more »

ERIC McNAMARA’S GOOD BUY

Date: October 31, 2024 -

HAVING SADDLED five winners at September’s Listowel Harvest Festival, Rathkeale trainer Eric McNamara continued his recent hot streak when saddling Real Steel to a front-running success in Limerick’s BoyleSports JT McNamara Munster National. The now 11-year-old was a dual Grade 2 winner in 2020 for Willie Mullins before joining the Somerset yard of Paul Nicholls,… Read more »

SLOWLY DOES IT AT ABBBEYLEIX HOUSE

Date: October 31, 2024 -

IT WAS reported recently that John and Patrick Collison purchased a nice pile on Ailesbury Road, D4, which is now being given as the address of the boys’ parents, Denis and Lily Collison. That property has been registered in the name of a Delaware-registered entity called Fair City LLC. The two billionaire brothers tend to… Read more »

ALIAS TOM’S FASHION STATEMENT

Date: October 31, 2024 -

THE PROPOSED High Court winding up of Alias Tom Ltd – the company behind the eponymous high-end men’s fashion retailer off Dublin’s Grafton Street – does not have the support of founder Tom Kennedy but, given that he holds just 10% of the shares, this is not a factor. The 90% controlling stake here is… Read more »

PTSB STILL FAILING TO CHALLENGE PILLAR BANKS

Date: October 31, 2024 -

THE RECENT half-year figures for Permanent TSB (PTSB) reveal that annualised earnings for 2024 are around 15c, which leaves these shares on a prospective price/earnings multiple of 11. Although this is nothing to write home about, it is hard to see how CEO Eamonn Crowley can drive the bank forward given his clearly conservative streak,… Read more »

FD TECHNOLOGIES NOW A PALE SHADOW OF FORMER SELF

Date: October 31, 2024 -

THIS MONTH’S £230m sell-off of the original core derivatives activity of FD Technologies group – founded by the impressive Brian Conlon, who died in 2019 – really does mark the end of an era. What is unclear at this stage is how the slimmed-down entity will perform and whether it can generate sufficient growth in… Read more »

DEIRDRE VELDON’S SMOOTH RIDE

Date: October 31, 2024 -

READERS OF The Currency online business publication were treated to yet another gushing interview with a publishing figurehead at an acquisitive media group last week, this time in the form of Deirdre Veldon, group managing director of the Irish Times. The interview by Alice Chambers was predictably effusive in its treatment of Veldon, who comes… Read more »

KEITH MCDONNELL’S BIKE CRASH

Date: October 31, 2024 -

IT WAS something of a surprise to see a creditors’ meeting called for next week for an outfit called The Lazy Bike Tour Company Ltd. Currently in the saddle here is tourism entrepreneur Keith McDonnell, who these days is most closely associated with the successful Irish Whiskey Museum opposite Trinity College. The Lazy Bike Tour… Read more »

DUNNES STORES STATS

Date: October 31, 2024 -

THERE WAS much interest in the Sindo’s exclusive last weekend on the contents of the will of Frank Dunne, brother of Margaret Heffernan and the late Ben Dunne, who died in 2022 and left an estate valued at €267m. He was the biggest single shareholder in the sprawling Dunne Stores retail group, where the controlling… Read more »

BAD ATTITUDE

Date: October 31, 2024 -

THE DREADED taxman has tracked down a company that was set up in Cork to develop and distribute pet GPS systems. Back in 2015 Rochestown-based Chinese national Songtao Dai founded Attitude Technologies, primarily to offer “high-quality innovative and moderately-priced intelligent smart collars” for customers’ dogs and cats in order to give them “a deep understanding… Read more »