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BROWNSTOWN’S PANAMA PARENT

Date: July 27, 2023 -

A PIECE in last weekend’s Business Post puffed up the sprawling Brownstown Regency estate outside Navan, Co Meath, which has just come on the market with a total price tag (including the 560 acres of land) of a cool €9m. With its “magnificent reception rooms”, wine cellar, equestrian facilities, and dairy farm, the property should attract… Read more »

WAITING AT EXPANDING IMMA

Date: July 27, 2023 -

WITH IMMA boosting its collection courtesy of some munificence from arts minister Catherine Martin, there will be an expanded collection waiting for the incoming chair of the museum whenever he or she is finally put in place. Earlier this year, Martin advertised for expressions of interest in the role of chairperson in Kilmainham. This was… Read more »

KINGSPAN SHARES CLEARLY NOT FIRE RESISTANT

Date: July 27, 2023 -

WHILE KINGSPAN is in the news for the wrong reasons again – this time due to criticism of its sponsorship deal with Ulster Rugby – the really big concern is, of course, the final report of the Grenfell Inquiry due later this year. The Irish insulation behemoth has shipped serious damage over its handling of… Read more »

HOLY MOLY!

Date: July 27, 2023 -

HATS OFF to Garry O’Sullivan, who is proving that even if it is notoriously difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven, the editor of the Irish Catholic has no trouble filling the boots. Last year, publisher Garry set up a new… Read more »

IAN REDMOND’S BUM NOTE

Date: July 27, 2023 -

DESPITE THE much hyped efforts of the Give Us the Night campaign, Dublin’s rapidly declining nightlife offering was dealt another blow this month with the closure of the Tramline nightclub off D’Olier Street in D2. A notice posted by the owners stated, “The pandemic, together with the costs now associated with running a business in… Read more »

DERMOT DESMOND’S DIRECTOR

Date: July 27, 2023 -

DERMOT DESMOND continues to slowly ring the changes at his Sporting Emporium casino business off Grafton Street. Last month, he pulled in the skills and expertise of Carol Markey, the number cruncher who currently acts as a director of the next-door Zozimus cocktail bar, a project of Dermo’s son, Dery. As fans of Goldhawk are… Read more »

PATRICK KIELTY’S RIGHT HAND MAN

Date: July 27, 2023 -

WHILE THERE has been plenty of media coverage of the gap between the pay packet for the incoming host of The Late Late Show, Patrick Kielty and the rather well remunerated Ryan Tubridy, the saving will not be all it’s cracked up to be. When… Read more »

BARTH O’NEILL’S INTERESTING LENDER

Date: July 27, 2023 -

AN ENTERTAINING tussle between Kerry builder Barth O’Neill and his lender, Golden Door Lending (GDL), was settled in the Four Goldmines recently. In 2018, O’Neill’s construction firm, Dunboy Greener Homes (DGH), was a borrower with GDL where the main player is Cheng Bi, who hails from far off Vanuatu. Cheng holds his shares in the… Read more »

NIAMH BRENNAN’S TRANSPARENCY

Date: July 13, 2023 -

AS THOSE RTÉ committee hearings concluded this week, the focus moved to the clean up at Montrose, which is being spearheaded by Niamh Brennan (aka Mrs Michael McDowell). The question must be, why. Last week, media minister Catherine Martin announced “an independent root-and-branch examination of… Read more »

PROFILE: PEADAR TÓIBÍN

Date: July 13, 2023 -

ONE OF the most prolific TDs with an impressive array of interventions on everything from health to homelessness, immigration and, of course, abortion is the Meath West deputy Peadar Tóibín, leader of Aontú, which is one of the smallest political parties in the state and certainly the youngest. Tóibín could have been a significant player… Read more »

YOUNG BLOOD: DAITHÍ DE RÓISTE

Date: July 13, 2023 -

DUBLIN HAS been infertile territory for Fianna Fáil for some time but the party hopes that the newly elected lord mayor of the city, 35-year-old Ballyfermot councillor Dáithí de Róiste, can reverse the trend of recent years and lead a fight back of sorts in… Read more »

JUDGE HALPIN V RTÉ

Date: July 13, 2023 -

THE LESS than media shy judge Anthony Halpin garnered himself a fair few headlines last week when he gave RTÉ execs and ‘talent’ both barrels while overseeing the prosecution of people for non-payment of the TV licence fee. He has been the subject of the odd headline himself in the past. The “appalled and disgusted”… Read more »

HOLLY AND THE ‘SINDO’

Date: July 13, 2023 -

THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT appears to be still infatuated with Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns and has gone to extraordinary lengths to promote her in the perhaps over-optimistic belief of its political specialist, Jody Corcoran, that Holly is destined to be taoiseach after the next general election. On Cairns’s election as leader in March, the Soc… Read more »

DOIREANN GARRIHY’S SPLASH

Date: July 13, 2023 -

AS REPORTS emerged of the various money-making wheezes of RTÉ broadcaster Doireann Garrihy, Montrose claimed it was an “editorial” decision to host a number of 2FM parties on boats owned by her “family business”. Garrihy’s father, Eugene, is MD of Dublin Bay Cruises (DBC) and the company’s website states that the ferry company is owned… Read more »

DIRECT MESSAGES DIRECT TO GCHQ

Date: July 13, 2023 -

IRISH MINISTERS, senior civil servants and others in authority are going to have to take care while using Twitter to transmit ‘direct messages’, known by users as DMs. They are not a safe method of cloistered communication. Goldhawk suggested (see The Phoenix 5/5/23) that a factor in the dismissal of right-wing Fox News mega star… Read more »

NIALL FORTUNE’S MISFORTUNE

Date: July 13, 2023 -

GOLDHAWK is surprised to spot that a couple of ventures owned by burger king Niall Fortune of Eddie Rocket’s fame are going into liquidation this week, both having availed of the Revenue Commissioners’ debt warehousing scheme that is now landing participants with interest bills. Fortune has been a fixture on the burger joint scene since… Read more »

RICHARD FORD’S FESTIVITIES

Date: July 13, 2023 -

MAUREEN KENNELLY’S support of the new regime at Listowel Writers’ Week looks likely to land the Kerry gig a rather high-profile new president – Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Ford. A new festival programmer is also on the cards. Arts Council boss Kennelly was a high-profile presence at last month’s Writers’ Week and was photographed with… Read more »

VOL 41 NO 14

Date: July 13, 2023 -

TRIPLE-LOCK MYTHS

Date: July 13, 2023 -

THE BIG argument behind the frustration of Leo Varadkar and Micheál Martin, who feel blocked from getting young Irish people to tool up and go to war with the big boys in the west, is that the triple lock on sending Irish troops abroad shackles… Read more »

SHANE ROSS’S CURRENCY EXCHANGE

Date: July 13, 2023 -

LAST WEEKEND, Shane Ross fixed his sights on Montrose, which comes as no surprise given that the former politician is penning a book on the Tubridy debacle. One of those who caught Ross’s eye was RTÉ board member and deputy chair Ian Kehoe, who is also editor of The Currency news website, which competes with… Read more »

RTÉ BOSSES’ TORMENT

Date: July 13, 2023 -

DAVID NALLY, RTÉ editorial adviser, RTÉ content (salary €150,000), was obviously aggrieved at being ‘dragged’ into the Montrose maelstrom last week by Irish Times columnist Justine McCarthy. But given his role and remuneration as well as his professional altercation with journalist Fran McNulty, Nally appears… Read more »

NOEL KELLY’S PORSCHE

Date: July 13, 2023 -

NOEL KELLY’S arrival at Leinster House on Tuesday came as a great disappointment to Goldhawk given the blaze of advance publicity about the Mr Big of super agents for the stars and what acquaintances described as his appetite for “the best suits and the best… Read more »

BAKHURST’S BLITZKRIEG

Date: July 13, 2023 -

WHILE RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst has attracted plaudits for “hitting the ground running”, maybe he is moving too fast. Certainly, Kev wasted no time before announcing the standing down of the broadcaster’s so-called executive board and its replacement with a “temporary interim leadership team”…. Read more »

UP IN SMOKE IN CHILE

Date: July 13, 2023 -

INVESTORS IN the Sandyford-based Mainstream Renewable Power (MRP) must be aghast at losses continuing to accumulate – €630m in 2022, following on from a loss of €87m in 2021. Founded by former chief executive of Bord na Móna and former Airtricity CEO Eddie O’Connor, he and other Irish investors retain a significant stake, although 58.4%… Read more »

FAR RIGHT ALLY WITH PRO-LIFE

Date: July 13, 2023 -

NUMBERS AT the annual Rally for Life, organised by the Life Institute, have continued to fall. Only a few thousand showed up this year, despite organisers supplying posters and banners for marchers as well as memes and hashtags in advance to help promote the gathering… Read more »

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Date: July 13, 2023 -

Ryan Tubridy has a lovely home. It is a mirror of its owner – congenial with no excess bulk. Justine McCarthy, Irish Times Her My Fair Lady-inspired hat of swirling red crinoline by milliner Carol Kennelly from Tralee, Co Kerry, featured ivory roses and a sea of billowing red tulle that caught the breeze on… Read more »

BANKS’ GLOBAL CLIMATE ARSON

Date: July 13, 2023 -

Citibank’s European HQ in Dublin’s docklands was bedecked with rainbow flags for last month’s Pride festival. Nothing unusual there – Pride has become swamped by corporate branding in recent years. But what makes Citibank’s ‘Pride-washing’ particularly cynical is that the bank is a major funder of a regime with one of the world’s worst records… Read more »

LANSDOWNE OIL’S SUNSET

Date: July 13, 2023 -

It finally looks like it’s curtains for the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), which allows corporations to sue governments if policy decisions – including climate action – affect their anticipated profits. Last week EU energy commissioner Kadri Simson signalled the EU would pull out of the… Read more »

ORANGE DISORDER

Date: July 13, 2023 -

After Wednesday’s parade through Belfast – easily the largest in the north – July 12 Orange marches face radical changes. An internal review by the Belfast County Grand Lodge recommends halving the length of the route, currently 10 miles – five out and five back. Controversially, the review proposes abolishing the lunch-time speeches at ‘The… Read more »

HELEN’S LEADERSHIP CAMPAIGN REVIVAL

Date: July 13, 2023 -

WHAT A remarkable exclusive the Irish Times delivered to its readers last Saturday week, with a large colour photo of justice minister Helen McEntee dominating the front page. The accompanying blurb said: “Nobody has said it to my face. Helen McEntee on sexism, ambition and returning to work after maternity leave. Jennifer Bray speaks to… Read more »

MILITARY COUP INSIDE GREENS

Date: July 13, 2023 -

REACTION INSIDE the Green Party to its barely reported debate about abandoning the triple-lock mechanism – which requires Dáil, government and UN Security Council approval to send Irish troops abroad – has provoked consternation at the top and bottom of the party. At top level, former leader and minister John Gormley managed to amend a… Read more »

THE TRAVELLER’S RETURN

Date: July 13, 2023 -

ANTI-TRAVELLER and anti-social welfare recipient, presidential campaigner Peter Casey has been negotiating a pact with TD Mattie McGrath’s Rural Independent Group (RIG) to form a new, rural-based party. But the canny McGrath knows that Casey always has his own agenda and that another crack at… Read more »

DON’T HOLD THE FRONT PAGE

Date: July 13, 2023 -

SOMETIMES IT’S not what you print but what you don’t print that tells a tale and, among those journalists who are somewhat conflicted by the RTÉ/Ryan Tubridy affair, Brendan O’Connor of the Sunday Independent and RTÉ is a prime example. However, he and Sindo editor Alan ‘Ben Bradlee’ English, contrived to offer a semi-plausible rationale… Read more »

ANTON SAVAGE’S CLIENTS

Date: July 13, 2023 -

LISTENING TO The Communications Clinic (CC) public relations manipulator, Anton Savage, interviewing film producer and media guru David Puttnam about public service broadcasting and the RTÉ crisis on Newstalk last weekend was a most elevating experience. They spoke of the contradictions between public service broadcasting and the private market, a subject that Anton knows a… Read more »

WHAT’S THE STORY, RORY?

Date: July 13, 2023 -

RETIRED DIRECTOR of strategy Rory Coveney said two things about his and RTÉ’s disastrous project, Toy Show The Musical, last week. The first was that he had received a lot of advice from people in the music industry and nobody said not to go ahead… Read more »

WHAT RICHARD SAID

Date: July 13, 2023 -

IN THE midst of sell-out hearings into the RTÉ debacle, there was a near-empty Dáil for the sitting to adopt the report of the Budgetary Oversight Committee on the costly Section 481 film tax credit. Given the absence of chair Barry Cowan, Richard Boyd Barrett presented the report to the Dáil, with junior minister Jennifer… Read more »