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AILISH KELLY’S COSMETIC CHANGES

Date: September 21, 2023 -

THERE WAS plenty of media coverage devoted to the announcement that Goldhawk’s old friends in The Avoca Clinic have received a whopping €7m courtesy of British equity fund BGF, with the likes of RTÉ, the Irish Times, the Indo all giving the deal a plug. Happily, a number of High Court legal actions in the… Read more »

‘IRISH TIMES’ UKRAINE U-TURN?

Date: September 7, 2023 -

HAS THE Old Lady of Tara Street finally realised that John Redmond-type calls to defend poor little Ukraine are really an effort to involve Ireland in that big battle between the beasts of East and West, Nato and the Brics? Worse, it looks as though… Read more »

PROFILE: JUSTIN BARRETT

Date: September 7, 2023 -

OVER THE almost four decades that Justin Barrett has been active on the extremes of Irish politics, he has shown a remarkable consistency in advocating a far-right ideology for which there has been little or no support. Whether he was acting in the role of public relations officer of the Borrisokane branch of Fine Gael,… Read more »

YOUNG BLOOD: ELISA O’DONOVAN

Date: September 7, 2023 -

THEY SAY that vengeance is a dish best served cold but there’s an added spice to the ambition of Elisa O’Donovan, the Limerick Social Democrat councillor, to take Green TD Brian Leddin’s Dáil seat in the next general election. In 2021, Leddin was forced to… Read more »

LIMERICK LEGAL SPATS

Date: September 7, 2023 -

HIGH COURT proceedings have just been issued – for the second time – by Limerick legal eagle and environmental campaigner Michelle Hayes against architectural historian, commentator and public relations officer Emma Gilleece, who is a familiar face in Irish Georgian Society circles as well as RTÉ. These are not the only actions currently faced by… Read more »

VANISHING VANISHING TRIANGLE

Date: September 7, 2023 -

THE GARDAÍ have been coming under fire in recent months and it may be the case that the boys and girls in blue are happy enough that, The Vanishing Triangle, a proposed fictionalised account of the real-life disappearances of several young women in the Leinster area was nowhere to be seen in Virgin Media Television’s… Read more »

DAVID HARVEY’S HOT SEATS

Date: September 7, 2023 -

CONGRATULATIONS TO David Harvey, producer of this week’s documentary on John Gilligan. The media-savvy and politically connected producer garnered huge exposure for his show, not least from RTÉ, where he is a director. Harvey, however, has many strings to his bow and is a significant figure in the Irish arts and culture sector. Monday’s Confessions… Read more »

COLM O’ROURKE’S NEW ROLE

Date: September 7, 2023 -

MEATH LEGEND Colm O’Rourke, who has been enjoying no little success in his role as manager of the county GAA team, which won the Tailteann Cup by beating Down in Croker in July, has also been installed as a manager of a very different sort. O’Rourke, who landed a couple of All-Ireland winner’s medals in… Read more »

PAUL STENSON’S NEW HAT

Date: September 7, 2023 -

THERE IS no sign of former loudmouth cafe owner Paul Stenson finding someone to stump up a few bob for his White Moose brand, “one of the most unique food business businesses in the world”. He has, however, got back in business in the west with a new partner. Stenson generated more than his fair… Read more »

LUKE COMER’S LONG SHOT

Date: September 7, 2023 -

MONEYBAGS DEVELOPER Luke Comer holds the record in Ireland for training the longest-priced winner, He Knows No Fear, having won at Leopardstown three years ago at odds of 300/1. He came pretty close to repeating that feat when his Navajo River turned over the Joseph O’Brien-trained odds-on favourite Fisherman’s Beach to win at 200/1 at… Read more »

MARTIN DYAR’S LISTOWEL GIG

Date: September 7, 2023 -

THIS WEEK sees the new director of Listowel Writers’ Week (LWW) festival unveiled and it is clear that, unlike his predecessor, Martin Dyar is no outsider. As fans of Goldhawk are well aware, the 2023 shindig was a fraught operation, given that the Arts Council had moved to impose a significantly greater degree of professionalism… Read more »

FERGAL NAUGHTON AND THE BRENNANS

Date: September 7, 2023 -

SO, GLEN Dimplex heir Fergal Naughton and his missus, Rachael, are the new owners of Dermot Desmond’s Georgian townhouse on Merrion Square in D2, having lashed out €9.25m. The couple have been chucking their money around down in Kenmare too, although the actual state of affairs at Francis and John Brennan’s high-profile hotel business is… Read more »

VOL 41 NO 18

Date: September 7, 2023 -

THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING

Date: September 7, 2023 -

AS THE Russian war with Ukraine grinds to a brutal winter stalemate, there are increasing tensions between Ukrainian citizens in Ireland – namely ethnic Ukrainians and ethnic Russians normally domiciled in Ukraine – an ominous development to which justice minister Helen McEntee’s departmental officials appear oblivious. Since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, more than 90,000… Read more »

POST PARTING

Date: September 7, 2023 -

ALONGSIDE Swedish giants Bonnier buying into the Business Post, a share restructuring has seen Derek Butler’s Endeavour Fund emerge as the second-biggest shareholder. This follows the exit of New York-based Liam Lynch’s Irish Studio Media Publishing, owner of the Irish Central website. It will be interesting to see how Lynch did out of the deal,… Read more »

FAR-RIGHT ‘SECURITY’

Date: September 7, 2023 -

The internet has had a huge impact on the growth of far-right organisations. Instead of having to face the predictable political opposition on the streets, they can distribute propaganda, meet, fundraise etc online. But a recurring problem for the far right has been the hacking… Read more »

ELUSIVE FINGERPRINTS

Date: September 7, 2023 -

THE MCGURK’S Bar bomb massacre in Belfast in 1971 claimed 15 lives. In 2011 the Police Ombudsman NI reported that it had no evidence relating to the three vehicles driven by the killers. It emerged a few weeks ago that it had a fingerprint ledger… Read more »

CYBER WAR IN EUROPE

Date: September 7, 2023 -

In May Dr Richard Browne, the director of Ireland’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), revealed to the Oireachtas committee on foreign affairs that his organisation has been providing “non-lethal aid” to Ukraine but that he would not “go into all of the details of what we’ve been doing”. Given the more recent revelation that Ireland’s… Read more »

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Date: September 7, 2023 -

Conceived in grave debt on a former stockade for political prisoners in colonial Sydney, passed through the healing hands of the great Mandela, then sold like a sack of potatoes to uncaring merchants, but somehow still alive. Now passed on to us to nurture and cherish. Let the festival begin. Matt Williams on the Rugby… Read more »

RYAN BOWS TO BIG TECH

Date: September 7, 2023 -

Big Tech likes to be a law unto itself, free of pesky regulations, taxes and accountability. That’s why so many tech giants locate in Ireland. However, having to compete with the rest of us for precious resources such as electricity and water is increasingly cramping their style. And with data centre energy consumption rapidly approaching… Read more »

MCMANUS’S HOT AIR

Date: September 7, 2023 -

RTÉ TV’s autumn schedule includes too much of “Official Ireland’s latest pet cause”, Irish Independent columnist Darragh McManus claims. The pet cause he refers to is a phenomenon that will cause at least a billion deaths this century on its current trajectory, according to a new study published in the scientific journal Energies. Yeah, but… Read more »

PSNI CRISIS

Date: September 7, 2023 -

The PSNI is in crisis. That’s not only because of the decision of chief constable Simon Byrne to resign on Monday. Morale is in pieces after the huge data breach that saw the names, ranks and roles of all 10,000-odd officers and civilian staff published… Read more »

GOVERNMENT ACHIEVEMENTS!

Date: September 7, 2023 -

MICHEÁL MARTIN and his backroom team must be flummoxed at Fianna Fáil’s latest poll rating – at 18% the party is 3% behind Fine Gael and 15% behind Sinn Féin. This is despite FF minders’ recent publication and dissemination of a document entitled “ACHIEVEMENTS IN GOVERNMENT 3 YEARS IN OFFICE – AUGUST 2023 FIANNA FÁIL”…. Read more »

BARRETT’S BLUNDER

Date: September 7, 2023 -

NATIONAL PARTY ‘leader’ Justin Barrett (see profile, p14) gave 24 hours advance notice on social media last Sunday of a speech he intended to deliver to the nation the following night (Monday). As he made this announcement, speaking in sombre tones as if he were Daniel O’Connell addressing a monster meeting, Barrett pledged to clarify… Read more »

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S MISSION

Date: September 7, 2023 -

THE PRESS statement from the Department of Foreign Affairs about the visit of Micheál Martin to the Middle East is measured and make no bombastic claims about the seismic effect the Tánaiste’s visit to the region might have. The description of the visit of Micheál Martin as one to the Middle East is a little… Read more »

DID COMMISSION DO DOWN LABOUR?

Date: September 7, 2023 -

SUPPORTIVE MEDIA pundits and Labour members themselves have already seized on the constituency revisions to explain why the party faces electoral Armageddon in the near future and how it is down to the Electoral Commission’s perverse emphasis on three-seat constituencies and so on. But as… Read more »

BANKING PROFESSOR O’KELLY

Date: September 7, 2023 -

HOW REFRESHING to read an argument about the big banks’ behaviour that does not pander to the populist mob and tells it like it truly is in the grown-up world of high finance – despite the bleating of customers complaining about very poor interest rates while the banks cream it via European Central Bank rates…. Read more »

MEDIAHUIS’S LEGAL BILLS

Date: September 7, 2023 -

TWO THINGS are clear from the latest reports of the legal battle involving Mediahuis, ex-Independent News and Media (INM) chairman Leslie Buckley and 19 individuals suing the company. Firstly, the allegation that Buckley was acting on behalf of Denis O’Brien – the major INM shareholder at the time of Buckley’s alleged illegal data theft of… Read more »

IRELAND’S SARAJEVO

Date: September 7, 2023 -

THE NUMBER of approving, even hyperbolic comments published in the Irish Times in the last two years about the book, Great Hatred: The Assassination of Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson MP, penned by the newspaper’s esteemed journalist, Ronan McGreevy, would amount to a small book itself. In September 2021, the IT told readers that as… Read more »

CAROLINE DOWNEY’S LABEL

Date: September 7, 2023 -

AS HOZIER’S new album, Unreal Unearth, continues to generate oodles of hype, both here and abroad, it is interesting to see that the record label most closely associated with the singer in Ireland, Rubyworks, has just published chart-topping accounts. For Hozier’s manager, the news represents another boost. Hozier is managed by Caroline Downey, best known… Read more »

TIM HYDE’S TREATMENT

Date: September 7, 2023 -

TIMMY HYDE is best known as the custodian of the famed Camas Park Stud near Cashel and is recognised as one of the top breeders and pin-hookers around. He also holds a trainer’s licence, mostly to run a few family-owned horses for his grandchildren to gain experience on, but he received a minor slap on… Read more »

MARISSA CARTER’S ‘RETURN’

Date: September 7, 2023 -

THE SUNDAY Times reported at the weekend that Marissa Carter is “back at the helm” of her Cocoa Brown fake tan operation, although fans of Goldhawk are aware that the tanning queen has been making the right noises in recent months, having previously made it clear that she was positively browned off with her business… Read more »

CIRCLING FITZWILLIAM SQUARE

Date: September 7, 2023 -

THERE HAS been some activity at the rather exclusive Fitzwilliam Square Association (FSA), where a couple of new locals have landed on the board. Meanwhile, there is no sign of progress in the opening up of Fitzwilliam Square park – the only one of the city’s five Georgian parks in private ownership. Back in April… Read more »

BANK OF IRELAND’S BUMPER PROFITS NO SURPRISE

Date: September 7, 2023 -

THE BANKS have been in the spotlight in recent weeks and it is easy to see why. Bank of Ireland’s (BoI) recently published half-year figures reveal unprecedented levels of profitability and, given that the bank may be looking at an after-tax surplus for 2023 of a gobsmacking €2bn, the shares look grossly undervalued on a… Read more »

NO LOVE FROM RUSSIA FOR PETRONEFT

Date: September 7, 2023 -

DOING BUSINESS in Russia has, not surprisingly, become increasingly difficult during the reign of Vladimir Putin, reaching a nadir as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Failing to toe the line can make life very difficult for investors and the downing of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s plane marks the latest chapter in the… Read more »

MAURICE PRATT’S PRESCRIPTION

Date: September 7, 2023 -

HEALTHCARE GIANT Uniphar recently reported a healthy looking set of results for 2022, boasting a profit before tax of over €58m. There have, however, been some linked companies liquidated last month that have gone under the radar, although the listed Uniphar had nothing to say on the matter when asked by Goldhawk. Presumably they would… Read more »