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SINN FÉIN’S WOES

Date: October 17, 2024 -

Mary Lou McDonald is fire-fighting on several fronts: north and south, in the media, the Dáil and the Stormont assembly. But the real battle is in the south. In the north, the fall out from the Michael McMonagle affair still continues. The committee that scrutinises the Executive Office is demanding answers from first minister Michelle… Read more »

PROFILE: PHIL HOGAN

Date: October 17, 2024 -

HE’S BACK. The most driven politician in Ireland – former EU commissioner Phil Hogan – has returned from Brussels to a crucial, albeit backstage role in Irish politics. This, after taking and losing a top-level EU commissioner’s post, which started in 2014 and ended in 2020 as a casualty of Golfgate and Ursula von der… Read more »

YOUNG BLOOD: SHANE MOYNIHAN

Date: October 17, 2024 -

WITH FIANNA Fáil still hovering on a disappointing 15% poll rating in Dublin, the party is desperate to find extra seats and is placing big hopes on Palmerstown councillor Shane Moynihan to spearhead an FF revival in the capital and take a seat in Dublin Mid-West. FF’s John Curran once held a seat here but… Read more »

A SPOOK NAMED SUE

Date: October 17, 2024 -

AS GOLDHAWK commented recently, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s recently deposed chief of staff (C/S), the spooky Sue Gray, had become a target for a variety of top Whitehall mandarins as well as jealous Labour Party staffers, some ministers and disappointed MPs who had not become ministers (see The Phoenix 23/8/24). On top of all… Read more »

IN PRAISE OF SIR MICK

Date: October 17, 2024 -

MICK SMURFIT must have been delighted with David Whelan’s gushing Succession documentary on him for RTÉ last week. Goldhawk was disappointed that it missed out on Sir Mick KBE’s most impressive achievements. Many viewers may have been scratching their heads as to why RTÉ was devoting an hour of airtime and precious taxpayers’ resources to… Read more »

MULCAHY’S FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES

Date: October 17, 2024 -

FANS OF Goldhawk will be familiar with Cork businessman extraordinaire Michael Mulcahy, who has quite the talent for organising awards ceremonies and hanging out with celebs and politicians (see The Phoenix 4/10/24). One politician who turns out to be a great supporter of Mulcahy is cathaoirleach of the Seanad, Jerry Buttimer. Mulcahy has been involved… Read more »

KATE O’CONNELL’S INDEPENDENT GAMBLE

Date: October 17, 2024 -

FINE GAEL handlers are being stingy with the truth when they claim that Kate O’Connell was not asked to run for the party at the upcoming general election in Dublin Bay South (DBS). As Goldhawk reported (see edition 4/10/24), O’Connell was in and out of the party’s Mount Street HQ in recent weeks and it… Read more »

THAMMY NGUYEN’S WORKOUT

Date: October 17, 2024 -

GOLDHAWK SPOTTED last week that a company with the innocuous name of CFBD Ltd has gone into liquidation on foot of its liabilities. This turns out to have been the entity behind the CrossFit gym business in Baldoyle, Co Dublin, operated by Tham ‘Thammy’ Nguyen and her hubby, Mark Gough. The irrepressible Nguyen – who… Read more »

VINCENT CROWLEY’S COMFY PILE

Date: October 17, 2024 -

ONE OF the more impressive properties to come on the market in recent weeks is a 3,700 sq ft redbrick Crampton-built pile on leafy Herbert Park in the heart of Dublin 4. Not surprisingly, the asking price is at the upper end of the range, coming in at a chunky €4.25m. The owner here turns… Read more »

INFALLIBLE ATTORNEY GENERALS

Date: October 17, 2024 -

GOLDHAWK IS not one bit surprised at former foreign minister Simon Coveney’s complaint about a “lack of balanced debate” regarding the Middle East conflict and that it was “driven by emotion”. The mature, statesmanlike Coveney appears to be concerned at the unbalanced reaction of emotional… Read more »

VOL 42 NO 21

Date: October 17, 2024 -

ZUZANA’S ZATISFACTION

Date: October 17, 2024 -

CONGRATULATIONS TO Co Waterford developer Shane Houlihan and his American wife, Zuzana Ratajova (previously a senior finance executive at the giant Turner Entertainment group and vice-president at CNN). They have just recorded a satisfaction of the hefty $438,000 judgment that was registered against them in 2022, courtesy of David Purcell and Margaret Halley, then with… Read more »

JIM BROWNE’S HEALTH CHECK

Date: October 17, 2024 -

CHILDREN’S HEALTH Ireland (CHI) – the outfit that runs the paediatric hospitals at Crumlin, Temple Street and Tallaght – is also closely connected to the development of the controversial €2bn new National Children’s Hospital (NCH). As a result, any applicants for the two vacancies that have just arisen on the board should be prepared for… Read more »

DREARY EU RHETORIC

Date: October 17, 2024 -

EOIN DREA wrote in Politico.ie last May that, despite the Ukraine war, “there’s one [EU] member country that won’t be helping to defend Europe any time soon. That country is Ireland.” He concluded his article saying: “Two things are certain: Ukraine will keep fighting; Ireland will keep freeloading.” A fortnight ago, again in Politico.ie, Dreary… Read more »

EAMON MARRAY’S SILK ROAD

Date: October 17, 2024 -

CONGRATULATIONS TO commercial barrister Eamon Marray, who got the thumbs-up earlier this month to ‘take silk’, joining the ranks of the handsomely remunerated senior counsel who populate the Law Library. He had made quite the impact back during the pandemic. There were fun and games in the Dublin County Registrar’s court in 2022 when Marray,… Read more »

HUMAN + UNKIND

Date: October 17, 2024 -

VISITORS TO the website for the vegan, cruelty-free cosmetics brand Human + Kind might not notice a single sentence at the end of the home page that refers to the copyright being held by “Zeon Healthcare, trading as Human + Kind”. This follows on foot of the quiet winding up of Human + Kind Ltd… Read more »

THATCHER’S IRON PRINCIPLES

Date: October 17, 2024 -

IN THE last edition of The Phoenix, Goldhawk reported how three former Irish diplomats had rallied to defend the reputation of the late Robert Armstrong, Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet secretary. And last week’s BBC special on the Brighton bomb underlined what an obdurate and even principled politician the ‘Iron Lady’ was when it came to the… Read more »

IRISH ‘ACTIVE CLUBS’

Date: October 17, 2024 -

Last October The Phoenix (see edition 20/10/23) detailed the activities of Comhaltas na nGaedheal (CnG), which is a local manifestation of the global network of right-wing combat sports groups or ‘active clubs’ that have developed throughout the US and Europe in recent years. With over 100 active clubs worldwide, it is notable the close links… Read more »

‘FUTURE TERRORISTS’ ALERT

Date: October 17, 2024 -

EU authorities have recently reached agreement on when a person should be regarded as a “potential terrorist” or as a “violent extremist threat”. Member states are being encouraged to enter data on these “potential terrorists” into European databases and information systems as, without any evidence, they claim there has been a significant rise in the… Read more »

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Date: October 17, 2024 -

A budget that is not too hot and not too cold [is an] extremely rare economic achievement. Paschal Donohoe speaking at a Business Post/Davy event We know in the short term that this “digital fentanyl” (a phrase coined by Mike Pence) has eradicated intellectual discipline and compromised the ability of teenagers (not all, of course)… Read more »

GREENS’ AN TAISCE PLANNING BILL

Date: October 17, 2024 -

“A shameful attack on [An Taisce’s] good work has been massively defeated.” So said Green TD Steven Matthews last week on X, celebrating the defeat of a vindictive bill that sought to remove An Taisce’s prescribed role as a statutory consultee in Ireland’s planning system. Matthews’ party colleague, Brian Leddin TD, explained that the bill sought… Read more »

MATT COOPER’S HOT AIR

Date: October 17, 2024 -

One of the features of our post-truth, Trumpian world is the increasing confidence of some commentators to disregard science, logic and other boring stuff peddled by what one of George W Bush’s aides derisively called the “reality-based community”.  Take Matt Cooper’s column in last Sunday’s Business Post. In one of the more disturbing comment pieces… Read more »

DUBLIN BOMBS: MORE DISCLOSURES

Date: October 17, 2024 -

When Drew Harris was appointed Garda commissioner in 2018, the public was assured that there was no conflict of interest between his new post and his former RUC/PSNI role. Harris had served as deputy chief constable of the PSNI and was deeply involved in RUC-MI5 liaison. Yet, a conflict arose over the greatest crime in… Read more »

MARY LOU NOT NOW IN FIRING LINE

Date: October 17, 2024 -

MARY LOU McDONALD’S leadership is under enormous pressure, according to the media, which is more ferocious even than Government parties in its pursuit of Sinn Féin over TDs Brian Stanley and Patricia Ryan and northern press officer Michael McMonagle. But SF members have a different take on the issues and on those they hold responsible… Read more »

TERRY GEORGE’S PICKET PLOT

Date: October 17, 2024 -

THERE WAS consternation among Palestinian solidarity groups in Galway when famed film screenwriter and director Terry George ignored a picket placed on the G hotel, which hosted the World Conference of Screenwriters. The G is owned by Israeli billionaire David Fattal, whose hotel chain has hosted events in Jerusalem to support the Israeli Defence Forces…. Read more »

BRIT SPIES TARGET RUSSIAN SPIES

Date: October 17, 2024 -

THE SUNDAY TIMES has over-reached itself with that story about a Putin “agent in the Oireachtas”. Stories about the use of a honeytrap – “a striking looking female agent (used) to entertain the politician romantically”, as the recent ST story put it – and other James Bond-type fantasies provoked much hilarity. That the story became… Read more »

ISRAEL’S ALLIES

Date: October 17, 2024 -

ISRAELI DIPLOMATS and PR spinners are aghast at the Irish response to the carnage in Gaza but they may have been pleasantly surprised at the benign treatment their state and the mad bombers of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) received from the Irish Times recently. IT journalist Ronan McGreevy reported recently on the anniversary of… Read more »

CRAWFORD GALLERY’S NEW LOOK

Date: October 17, 2024 -

ARTS MINISTER Catherine Martin is seeking to appoint a director to the board of the Crawford Art Gallery (CAG) in Cork but the successful applicant will be arriving immediately after the gallery has shut its door for a full two-and-a-half years. The vacancy was advertised at the start of the month and, given the huge… Read more »

BAD BEHAVIOUR

Date: October 17, 2024 -

THOSE HOPING for some real nitty-gritty in Susan Liddy and Fergal Rhatigan’s Screen Ireland-funded report for Women In Film & Television Ireland (WFT) – Behind the Scenes: Exploring Harmful Behaviours in the Irish Screen Industries – will have been left disappointed. Unfortunately, despite WFT claiming that “this comprehensive study examines the critical issue of harmful… Read more »

CHAMPIONS WEEKEND WOES

Date: October 17, 2024 -

WHEN REVIEWING the recent Irish Champions weekend, bookmaker Brian Keenan stated: “I was bored at Leopardstown and I love racing.” Keenan’s sentiments were echoed by his rails colleague, Brian Graham, who threw in his tuppence worth: “I was very disappointed with the atmosphere at Leopardstown. It never got going and a lot of people said… Read more »

JOORABCHIAN FLASHES THE CASH

Date: October 17, 2024 -

HIGH-PROFILE football agent Kia Joorabchian hit the headlines at Tattersalls when purchasing the second-highest ever priced yearling at the sale for a whopping 4,400,000 gns. The Frankel filly was acquired by the millionaire’s Amo Racing operation after a bidding duel with Mitsu Nakauchida and the horse will now go into training with Ralph Beckett. Beckett… Read more »

MARTINA BYRNE’S PR SKILLS

Date: October 17, 2024 -

THE BOARD of the National Gallery of Ireland (NGI) is back to its full complement following the appointment by arts minister Catherine Martin of Public Relations Institute of Ireland CEO Martina Byrne. Back in April the minister appointed three new directors to the NGI on foot of the exit of “accountant, poet and performer” Gary… Read more »

SHEIKH MOHAMMED V JOHN MAGNIER

Date: October 17, 2024 -

THERE WAS some unexpected evidence at the recent Goffs Book 1 Orby yearling sale of increasing dominance for Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum’s Godolphin operation in its regular head-to-head with John Magnier’s Coolmore crew. The sale saw Coolmore outgunned for all of the top three lots. Goldhawk was also interested to see a company registered in… Read more »

GLANBIA SHARES UNFAIRLY RATED BY MARKET

Date: October 17, 2024 -

SIOBHÁN TALBOT clearly made an impact at Glanbia over the decade of her reign up to last year and her successor, Hugh McGuire, has struggled to impress investors to date. A costly recent acquisition has not reversed the tide and Glanbia’s shares are well down since its latest figures were reported in August. It does,… Read more »

CLONTARF ENERGY’S LITHIUM LONG SHOT

Date: October 17, 2024 -

IT IS still not clear why John Teeling stood down as executive chairman of Clontarf Energy three years ago. It may be that he hadn’t got the appetite for drilling offshore Western Australia that the current CEO, David Horgan, clearly had. Today, the expensive Australian project has failed to deliver although it remains on life support,… Read more »

KEVIN DUNDON’S NEW RECIPE

Date: October 17, 2024 -

SO-CALLED ‘celebrity chef’ Kevin Dundon was rather modest during one of his (very) frequent media appearances recently, telling the Irish Examiner that his hotel was “treading water”. In reality, unlike many operators in the hospitality sector, Kev has very little to be concerned about. “We’re paying all our bills and we’re paying all our staff… Read more »