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December 4 - December 17, 2015
Affairs of the Nation
MARY ROBINSON’S EXPENSIVE ARCHIVE
THE NEWS from the west of Ireland last week was that the Mary Robinson Centre (MRC) in Ballina is set to open in 2017. What is far from clear at... Read more »
DAVID AGAR’S SEMI-D
THINGS are looking bleak for poor David Agar, the auctioneer and property developer who hit the headlines following a prescient interview in 2012, in which he complained that Nama... Read more »
FIANNA FÁIL’S ‘NO’ TO GOVERNMENT
THAT disavowal of coalition government by Fianna Fáil’s Billy Kelleher is as devious as it is amusing. FF talking about rebuilding the party from the opposition benches and spurning power... Read more »
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DERMOT DESMOND’S BAD BET
DERMOT DESMOND is digging in his heels in an attempt to stymie the proposed merger of betting giants Ladbrokes and GalaCoral. Behind his public anger is the fact that Dermo’s... Read more »
VARADKAR’S ABORTIVE MOVES
WHAT an unusually moderate and discreet stance Leo Varadkar took during Fine Gael’s abortion row last week. That row was triggered by James Reilly’s dramatic interview but it was Frances... Read more »
BANG BOYS GO BUST
A LITTLE late in the day, the Taxman has registered a judgment of €236,000 against ‘delinquent director’ Simon Stokes, whose restaurateur family previously ran the well-known Unicorn restaurant in Dublin... Read more »
Henderson’s Ham-Fisted HR Hiccup
EVEN though the Irish Daily Mail’s flamboyant MD Paul Henderson hasn’t previously been shy about putting journalists’ noses out of joint, it appears that he may have finally overstepped the... Read more »
FIONA’S FOOT IN THE DOOR
ONE Dáil candidate who cannot be described as a token female selected to fulfill the gender quota is Fine Gael’s Fiona McLoughlin Healy in Kildare South. Fiona is sitting TD... Read more »
Exotic Alliance adds another specimen
LORD Ross’s Independent Alliance becomes more exotic and eclectic by the hour and the latest target for his parliamentary grouping is Sinn Féin TD, Sandra McLellan. Sandra is a bruised... Read more »
Pillars of Society
Kevin Bakhurst
WHILE former BBC executive Kevin Bakhurst (50) affects to be ”thinking” about whether to apply for the vacant RTÉ director general’s job, the hacks... Read more »
The Young Bloods
Oisín Hanrahan
LAST MONTH’S Web Summit marked the return to Ireland of Oisín Hanrahan (31), a Dubliner who has apparently managed to raise over $100m for... Read more »
Mater Private Network Announces €4.5m Investment in Cancer Services in Mid-West Region for 2025
A €4.5m investment in cancer services was outlined at an event celebrating an important treatment milestone of the Halcyon Linac radiotherapy treatment system at Mid-West Radiation Oncology Centre (MWROC)... Read more »
Fit to Print?
WHO CONTROLS INM?
A RECENT paean of praise to Pat Kenny from Sunday Independent columnist Eoghan Harris was followed the week after by Kenny’s own composition of self-praise in the same newspaper, in... Read more »
LEGAL EAGLES’ NEST IMPREGNABLE
THE castration of ex-justice minister Alan Shatter’s legal services bill by justice minister Frances Fitzgerald has been roundly criticised, condemned even, by all sections of the media; well, almost all.... Read more »
Indo onto IS?
A FRONT-page splash in the Sunday Independent as well as further articles in the Indo reported that “Ireland’s top Islamic State terror suspect” is “providing logistical support for ISIL fighters... Read more »
Last Refuge
BRENDAN HOWLIN’S LEADERSHIP CAMPAIGN
FINGER pointing at Alan Kelly for the recent leak about Labour’s election prospects to both The Irish Times and Irish Independent could be a devilishly clever diversion by the real... Read more »
CORK ELECTION FEUDS
CONVULSIONS inside the four main parties in Cork East could result in three sitting TDs out of four – David Stanton and Tom Barry (Fine Gael), Sean Sherlock (Labour) and... Read more »
Bog Cuttings
MAN TELLS JUDGE HE WILL ‘BRING HIM TO JUSTICE’ A 53-YEAR-OLD man, charged with carrying a knife and being drunk and a danger, told a district court judge that he... Read more »
GRANDMOTHER REPEATEDLY KICKED MAN A “MULTI-TASKING” grandmother who repeatedly kicked a man on the ground as she held onto a pram has been given a suspended sentence. Michelle Conroy of... Read more »
MAN WHO DEFECATED IN DERRY CITY CENTRE SHOUTED ‘UP THE RA’ AS TROUSERS FELL DOWN A MAN who defecated in Derry city centre shouted ‘up the RA’ when his trousers... Read more »
Bird's Eye View
DIRTY WAR: IN DENIAL
THE Northern Secretary, Theresa Villiers, told the House of Commons with a straight face that she “wholly dissociated” herself from SDLP MP Mark Durkan’s description of the Troubles as a... Read more »
Wigs on the Green
LABOUR LAWYERS LAY DOWN LAW
THE neutering of Alan Shatter’s Legal Services Bill by his successor as justice minister, Frances Fitzgerald, has as much to do with the Labour Party as Fine Gael or even... Read more »
Beyond the Pale
CLAIRE CULLINANE’S RECORD
THE FOUR-SEAT constituency of Cork East is shaping up to be a crowded field come the next general election, and one of the Independents expected to throw her hat into... Read more »
The Hot Air Brigade
All I’m saying is I didn’t make a record to sell like I’d sold with my family. I made a record of songs I had written. To be honest, I’m... Read more »
High Society
BERNIE GALLAGHER’S ARTISTIC CREDENTIALS
INTERESTING to see Newstalk radio reporting that the purchasers of one of the Beit collection paintings are John and Bernie Gallagher of Doyle Hotels... Read more »
THE OTHER COOLMORE STUD BOOK
A CONTROVERSIAL book written by William Jones, an ex-employee of Coolmore Stud, is causing quite a stir inside Irish racing and has already attracted... Read more »
THE FLYING VETS
THERE WAS good news last month for veterinary couple and owners of Swordlestown Little Stud in Co Kildare – Des Leadon and Mariann Klay – when they offloaded a colt... Read more »
Local Business Raising Awareness About the Dangers of Skin Cancer
SUNiRE is the brainchild of Linda Chanders – a wife, mother, and entrepreneur, who faced the life-changing diagnosis of malignant melanoma in 2021. She discovered a small black spot... Read more »
Behind the Scenes
Committee Review Board Chair
ANOTHER new chairman of a national cultural institution, David Harvey, was also up before the Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht recently. This concerned his appointment to the... Read more »
PAUL SHOVLIN’S NATIONAL LIBRARY GIG
THERE WAS very good news last month for the National Library of Ireland, when the Government announced a major refurbishment of the building on Kildare Street. However, there are still... Read more »
MICHAEL NOONAN’S CHRISTMAS MOVIE
IT IS odds-on that planning permission for a ‘change of use’ submitted by Limerick’s Troy Studios will sail through this week. The ‘Part 8’ application was submitted to Limerick Council... Read more »
BAZ ASHMAY’S INTER-NATIONAL EMMY
THERE WAS plenty of media coverage of a rare International Emmy awarded to a show produced by an Irish player – Baz Ashmawy. This was for his TV series, 50... Read more »
Sport of Kings
META OSBORNE’S NEW REGIME
AN UNUSUAL clause inserted into Simon Coveney’s disputed Horse Racing Ireland Act 2015, is the one that permits the Bowler Hats to form a limited company under the Companies Act... Read more »
THERE GOES THE NEIGHBOUR-HOOD
THE IRISH Harness Racing Association (IHRA) and its chairman, Mark Flanagan, who recently won the battle to stage a trial meeting of its trotters at Dundalk Stadium, is set to... Read more »
FOXROCK’S RETURN RIDE
FOXROCK, the Barry Connell-owned handicapper at the centre of the high-profile Punchestown missing shoes enquiry last May, made his seasonal reappearance at Navan recently. The Ted Walsh-trained gelding was making... Read more »
Moneybags
Ryanair flying high with EasyJet model
THE MARKET has taken a real shine to Ryanair since it adopted the new ‘cuddlier’ business model, but the share price is now flying... Read more »
John McCann’s doomed UTV strategy
READERS OF The Phoenix were advised from the outset that John McCann’s decision to launch a separate broadcasting channel in the Republic of Ireland,... Read more »
Navigating the Trump Era: Gold as a Harbour in Uncertain Times
This week, Donald Trump’s inauguration marks a significant shift in the global landscape. It also brings some economic uncertainty to Ireland. Numerous institutions and commentators have highlighted the risks... Read more »
Briefcases
More Surprises From Shanghai
FINALLY, the saga of Financial Plaza Shanghai Ltd (FPS), the British Virgin Islands company owned by around 140 Irish investors, who together spent €30m on an apartment building in Shanghai,... Read more »
Brian Murphy’s Bum Note
The Taxman is investigating a Cork accountant named Brian Murphy – a former partner at Deloitte – for various alleged tax related offences. It is alleged that Murphy submitted a... Read more »
Shanny in the Slammer
SPARE A THOUGHT for a Meath accountant named Kenneth Shanny, who was jailed last month at Trim Circuit Court for various tax related offences. The beancounter received a three-year sentence... Read more »
Eddie Sweeney’s Latest Challenge
PROPERTY developer Eddie Sweeney may be a familiar name thanks to his appearance in the Mahon Tribunal report in 2012, which was highly critical of the businessman in relation to... Read more »
Oisín Hanrahan Hits Back
HANDY – the US-based online booking company for cleaners which was co-founded by Irish tech entrepreneur Oisín Hanrahan – is currently involved in two ‘worker classification’ lawsuits by some of... Read more »
Creditors’ Meeting For Intrade
INTERESTING to see that a creditors’ meeting has been called for Intrade The Prediction Market Ltd and its related company, Trade Exchange Network Ltd (TEN). The meeting is set to... Read more »
Fishy Fiddler Fined
MARK FISHER is not yet clear of the mess he got into with his property management company, Global Property Care Ltd (GPC). Having been restricted last year from acting as... Read more »
A Family Run Hotel – 100 Years of History
Nestled in the heart of Killarney, The Lake Hotel offers a perfect blend of traditional elegance and modern luxury. With its stunning lakeside location, this four-star hotel boasts breathtaking... Read more »
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