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January 15 - January 28, 2016
Affairs of the Nation
MARTIN’S LEFT TURN
THIS weekend’s Fianna Fáil ard fheis will resonate to thunderous attacks on the ‘right wing, uncaring, Thatcherite’ etc Fine Gael, as Micheál Martin finally defines his party as being left-of-centre... Read more »
MAHON: ASKING THE RELEVANT QUESTIONS
DOES environment minister Alan Kelly know what the Mahon Tribunal’s been up to since he nodded through, last February, its disposal of crucial documentary evidence that underscored its inquiries? If... Read more »
FLANAGAN FURIOUS OVER HALAWA
FOREIGN minister Charlie Flanagan was not best pleased to see Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan rip apart his softy-softly strategy on Ibrahim Halawa – held now for nearly 900 days... Read more »
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Croke Park’s Newest Hospitality Experience
THIS EXCLUSIVE section blends the hospitality experience of Croke Park with a social, shared space, giving you the best of both worlds to enhance your match-day experience. Located in... Read more »
JUDGE MALONE’S LIBEL WIN
ATTORNEY GENERAL Máire Whelan made the interesting suggestion recently that the defamation laws should be reformed to allow more latitude to court reporters. Whelan floated the idea that no unwitting... Read more »
AFTER McGONAGLE AT NCAD
IT PROBABLY did not come as too much of a surprise to observers of the goings on in Dublin 8 that the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) is... Read more »
PETER MALBASHA’S ‘MISLEADING’ EVIDENCE
THERE WAS at least one red face in Nama last month following the outcome of a High Court case concerning the developer, Garrett Kelleher, in which a Nama official named... Read more »
Saudi Allies?
THE RETICENCE of Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan to issue a statement condemning the execution of 47 people by the King Salman bin Abdullaziz regime in Saudi Arabia at... Read more »
BERGERAC LIVES
HOW can an ex-garda get himself involved in legal proceedings against a newspaper in Sark, a small island in the Channel Islands (population 600)? Former garda Denis O’Sullivan has just... Read more »
THREE RING CIRCUS IN MAYO
FINE GAEL and Enda Kenny’s’ target of three seats in the Taoiseach’s revised four-seat Mayo constituency will be even harder to achieve than their triumph in taking four seats out... Read more »
Pillars of Society
Mary Robinson Now
FORMER president Mary Robinson has carved out quite a career for herself post the Áras as a globetrotter extraordinaire, most notably with high profile... Read more »
The Young Bloods
John O’Donnell
INDEPENDENT councillor (34) from Donegal was one of the stars in last month’s RTÉ Investigates exposé, where he was secretly filmed appearing to solicit... Read more »
Seals in Dublin Bay Thriving Amidst Major Port Developments
Seals are an integral part of Dublin Bay’s marine biodiversity, frequently observed along the coast from Sandycove to Bull Island and within the Dublin Port area. Despite large-scale marine... Read more »
Fit to Print?
IRISH TIMES ELECTION CAMPAIGN
SUNDAY BUSINESS POST deputy editor and political editor, Pat Leahy, is defecting to The Irish Times after his two months notice expires at the end of February – in the... Read more »
DENIS O’BRIEN’S BUSINESS EDITOR
PERHAPS the most sensitive post in Irish journalism – INM group business editor – is about to be conferred on Irish Independent associate editor and legal editor, Dearbhail McDonald. Remarkably,... Read more »
Last Refuge
PERRY DISASTER FOR FG
PRESUMABLY the Standards in Public Office (Sipo) will not insist that the massive half-a-million euro legal costs for Fine Gael’s High Court case against John Perry TD should be counted... Read more »
HOWLIN’S BALANCING ACT
IT has gone largely unreported but Brendan Howlin has blown a large hole in Joan Burton’s central election message that Labour’s return to government with Fine Gael is essential to... Read more »
JOAN’S GOOD NEWS
JOAN BURTON’S Department of Social Protection jumped to her defence recently against a most impertinent suggestion from rival general election candidate, Dublin West Independent councillor David McGuinness. McGuinness issued a... Read more »
Bog Cuttings
EXPOSED BUTTOCKS TO POLICE A MAN whose behaviour ‘has echoes of Braveheart’ was ‘embarrassed’ by his actions, a court has heard. Derry Magistrate’s Court heard that 24-year-old Raymond Rogan exposed... Read more »
Bird's Eye View
ARLENE MUST STOP McGUINNESS
LAST Monday Arlene Foster took over formally as First Minister in the North. A month ago the betting was on Nigel Dodds, deputy leader, MP for North Belfast and leader... Read more »
Beyond the Pale
GALWAY PRINCIPAL’S “DISCIPLINE PROBLEMS”
ALL is far from well at Galway Jesuit secondary school, Coláiste Iognáid – more commonly referred to as ‘the Jes’ – where school principal Mary Joyce is engaged in a... Read more »
The Hot Air Brigade
The Hot Air Bridage
Donal Skehan and his wife Sophie are moving to Los Angeles next month and are believed to be house-hunting in the Santa Monica area… The couple walked down the aisle... Read more »
High Society
SHUTTING THE STABLE DOOR
WHILE THERE has been good news for Coolmore Stud Down Under (see p23), John Magnier et al continue to expend considerable energy ensuring that... Read more »
GERALDINE KARLSSON’S HIGH NOTES
AS PREDICTED by Goldhawk (see The Phoenix 18/12/15), the finances at Wexford Festival Opera (WFO) are taking on the proportions of a tragedy. Maybe... Read more »
TOM HIGGINS’ SWISS STORY
WOULD-BE space cadet and former Irish Psychics Live phoneline operator Tom Higgins has reinvented himself in recent years as an art dealer of sorts. However, the multi-millionaire hasn’t quite shaken... Read more »
Orla Kiely: A Life in Pattern at National Design & Craft Gallery
The highly anticipated Orla Kiely: A Life in Pattern exhibition has arrived at Design & Crafts Council Ireland (DCCI) National Design and Craft Gallery in Kilkenny. Running from February... Read more »
Behind the Scenes
THE ABBEY’S LABOUR OF LOVE
THE BACKLASH against the Abbey Theatre’s testosterone-fuelled 1916 centenary programme – ‘Waking The Nation’ – has been well-ventilated. Rather less has been said about how director Fiach Mac Conghail managed... Read more »
FUNDING THE ‘REBELLION’
THE AUDIENCE for RTÉ’s much-hyped 1916 drama Rebellion, which debuted last week, may not be aware that this programme is effectively owned by an overseas producer in the form of... Read more »
Sport of Kings
LUCINDA VS THE BOOKIES
RENUA LEADER Lucinda Creighton has been making waves in the racing industry lately with her party’s manifesto, which plays to the horsey set gallery. The fledgling political party is calling... Read more »
CILLIAN RYAN DISMOUNTS
SWORDLESTOWN STUD, which was purchased by the late Cathal Ryan in 1999 and bequeathed to his son, Cillian Ryan, in 2007, has ceased breeding operations after dispersing its broodmares to... Read more »
LOOKING UP DOWN UNDER
IT’S NOT very often that Coolmore don’t publicise news of a major victory, but that was the case recently when John Magnier’s Australian operation, run by heir apparent Tom Magnier,... Read more »
RTÉ’S RIVALS ENTER THE GATE
THE SEISMIC uprooting of Channel 4 Racing as the broadcaster of UK racing’s terrestrial TV rights for more than 30 years, may have knock-on implications for RTÉ’s ailing sports department.... Read more »
Reviews
REBELLION – RTÉ 1
THE LATEST version of the 1916 Rising is told from the viewpoint of three fictional characters: Elizabeth (Charlie Murphy), a privileged Church of Ireland medical student who joins the Irish... Read more »
Movies
ROOM – DIRECTED BY LENNY ABRAHAMSON
LENNY ABRAHAMSON has been the critics’ darling for over a decade since his excellent debut feature Adam and Paul (2004). With Room, adapted by Emma Donoghue from her best-selling novel,... Read more »
EAST OF BERLIN – PROJECT ARTS CENTRE
FROM Sophocles to McDonagh, Western drama is rife with troublesome parent-child relationships. It’s no surprise for the misdeeds of one generation to be passed on as curses to the next.... Read more »
Moneybags
Did Denis O’Brien turn a profit on Topaz deal?
THE SURPRISE sale of Denis O’Brien’s Topaz to the giant Canadian Couche-Tard group raises more questions than it answers. The most obvious question is... Read more »
Origin Enterprises has recipe for success
IN MARCH last year, Owen Killian’s Aryzta made the strategic decision to dispose of its controlling interest in Origin Enterprises. Aryzta raised €627m cash... Read more »
Dublin Bay Cruises: Sustainable Corporate Entertainment
Premium Corporate Entertainment. Exciting Update on Our Sustainability Journey Dublin Bay Cruises is proud to share our ongoing commitment to reducing our environmental impact, aligning with Fáilte Ireland’s sustainability... Read more »
Briefcases
FF Feud
ROSCOMMON Fianna Fáil members are a sensitive bunch and a libel case taken by Cllr Ivan Connaughton against Independent MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan (see The Phoenix 18/12/15) is not the... Read more »
Thomas Byrne sues the Worst
STRUCK-OFF solicitor Thomas Byrne was jailed in 2013 for 12 years for financial fraud, but the former legal eagle continues to cast a shadow from behind bars. Byrne is currently... Read more »
Paddy Keane’s Unfair Dismissal
SOME more bad news for well-known Galway solicitor Paddy Keane, who practises at Keane Solicitors in Galway city and who has various other business interests. One of Keane’s ventures is... Read more »
Back In Court With Greg Kavanagh
LOOKS like developer Greg Kavanagh is set for more courtroom action. Last month yet another High Court case initiated against a Kavanagh-fronted company. Kavanagh’s New Generation group, backed by UK... Read more »
Tom Keane’s Bust-Up
MORE to report on Dublin accountant Tom Keane, who is battling on several fronts and is currently facing three separate disciplinary inquiries by the accountancy body, the Certified Public Accountants... Read more »
School Boss’s Examination
WHEN controversial language school Eden College went bust back in 2014, over 1,000 students were left out of pocket, with the school having previously been accused of faking students’ attendance... Read more »
Disqualifying Chris Fleming
A FORMER boss of a chain of gyms has been disqualified from acting as a company director for nine years. Businessman Chris Fleming was a director of a company called... Read more »
Bennett Company Goes Bust
A PROPERTY development company part-owned by Westmeath-based builder Christopher Bennett – of the well-known building firm, the Bennett Group – has collapsed into liquidation. The company in question, Jewelbury Ltd,... Read more »
More Tax Trouble For Sean Rainey
ONE of the larger settlements recorded on last month’s list of tax defaulters published by the Revenue was made by CDRN Partnership, a property development venture part-owned by Goldhawk’s old... Read more »
Coillte Opens Applications For 2025 Forestry Scholarship Programme
Up to €20,000 in scholarships is available to support careers in Ireland’s expanding forestry sector. Following the success of its inaugural programme, which awarded scholarships to three students, Coillte... Read more »
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