Affairs of the Nation

Helen Boyle

Affairs of the Nation

BAILING OUT CORK FILM FESTVAL

WHILE IRELAND’S movie moguls were schlepping their wares around Cannes market stalls this week, a more mundane financial drama about another veteran film festival was discreetly making its way centre... Read more »
Bertie Ahern

Affairs of the Nation

BERTIE’S FOREIGN DIPLOMACY

BERTIE AHERN has recently been talking up again his fabled Mr-Fix-It skills and how these talents have been utilised abroad – by grateful world leaders and peace negotiators. one presumes.... Read more »
Mike Nesbitt

Affairs of the Nation

UNIONISTS DEMAND ‘NORMAL’ POLITICS

THERE’s more to Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader Mike Nesbitt moving into opposition in Stormont than meets the eye. Of course, the reasons given are in the usual high moral... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

Richard Dunne

Affairs of the Nation

DUBLIN COLLEGE LINKED TO PANAMA PAPERS

THE Panama Papers keep throwing up intriguing names. Goldhawk noticed that one David Kennedy Sr – with a registered address at Southcliff House, Les Ruisseaux Estate, St Brelade, Jersey –... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

David Hall’s emergency

MORTGAGE CAMPAIGNER David Hall was one of the more high profile, non-elected participants in the recent negotiations to form a new government, being regularly photographed or filmed alongside Independent TD... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

SHANE ROSS’S KEY DEMAND

THE first test of transport minister Shane Ross’s mettle is not the Luas strike, but the imminent appointment of several judicial appointments to be made under the discredited Judicial Appointments... Read more »
Enda Kenny

Affairs of the Nation

THE GENTLE BLACK AND TAN

THE TAOISEACH, Enda Kenny, and foreign minister, Charlie Flanagan, have shown admirable compassion in arranging for victims of the Easter Rising to be commemorated in a special ceremony next Thursday.... Read more »
Justin Carthy

Affairs of the Nation

REVIEWING JUSTIN CARTHY AT LADBROKES

THE REVELATION last week that Ladbrokes is “reviewing” the role of Justin Carthy, who handles the betting giant’s high roller clients, has surprised observers given the sensitive nature of the... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

PHOENIX APPEAL IN CONTEMPT CASE ALLOWED

IN a judgment delivered in the Court of Appeal on May 11, 2016, Ms Justice Irvine, Mr Justice Hogan and Mr Justice Sheehan unanimously decided to allow the Phoenix Appeal... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Pillars of Society

Enda Kenny

IS Enda Kenny the luckiest politician in modern Irish politics, or is he Fine Gael’s answer to ‘the most brilliant, the most cunning, the... Read more »

The Young Bloods

alice-mary-higgins

The Young Bloods

Alice Mary Higgins

THE election of Alice Mary Higgins has been one of the more interesting storylines of the 2016 Seanad elections. The daughter of President Michael... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Fit to Print?

Politically correct?

DOES Irish Times columnist and ex-Fianna Fáil back room functionary, Noel Whelan, not believe he should retract and apologise for his entirely erroneous and faintly ridiculous assertion that Sinn Féin... Read more »
Vincent Browne

Fit to Print?

VINCENT BROWNE’S SUCCESSOR

TV3 management is anxiously calculating just how long Vincent Browne will wait before retiring from his late night show and is scouring the media for the very particular type of... Read more »
Lynn Boylan

Fit to Print?

SF MOVES AGAINST O’BRIEN “MONOPOLY”

FANS of The Irish Times and Irish Examiner – but not those of the Irish Independent – will have read recently a report on media monopoly in Ireland (part of... Read more »

Last Refuge

Helen McEntee

Last Refuge

REGINA Vs HELEN IN MEATH

ENDA KENNY’S stunt in leading his cabinet women into the Dáil ahead of the lads saw him include his new chief whip and junior minister, Regina Doherty, among them. But... Read more »
Averil Power

Last Refuge

ENDA’S ‘INDEPENDENT’ SENATOR?

IT’S a good thing Irish Independent editor Fionnan Sheahan is not an arrogant control freak with megalomaniac tendencies, given the embarrassing efforts of senior politicians to curry favour with him.... Read more »
Janice Boylan Irish Military Mali Coolock Says No IFP Hermann Kelly Timmy Dooley Aontú Mal O’Hara Fintan O’Toole Josepha Madigan Eoghan Harris Ukraine War Micheál Martin Middle East Philip Ryan Seán Clancy Simon Coveney Hugo MacNeill Mountbatten Neasa Hourigan Green Party Martin NPT Ivana Bacik Independents Limerick Hospital Overcrowding Barry Cowen

Last Refuge

Lowry FG ‘deal’

THE Healy-Rae brothers may be cute, but Michael Lowry is cute out, as they say beyond the Red Cow roundabout. Lowry’s claim that he has an “understanding” with the Fine... Read more »
Janice Boylan Irish Military Mali Coolock Says No IFP Hermann Kelly Timmy Dooley Aontú Mal O’Hara Fintan O’Toole Josepha Madigan Eoghan Harris Ukraine War Micheál Martin Middle East Philip Ryan Seán Clancy Simon Coveney Hugo MacNeill Mountbatten Neasa Hourigan Green Party Martin NPT Ivana Bacik Independents Limerick Hospital Overcrowding Barry Cowen

Last Refuge

FINIAN AND CHARLIE

IT’S Cuban cigars, not fags, that super junior minister Finian McGrath should be smoking. During negotiations for government with Fine Gael’s foreign minister, Charlie Flanagan, Finian wrung two major policy... Read more »

Last Refuge

LABOUR PARTY FACING CIVIL WAR

THE trouble with the six Labour TDs’ plot to stop the seventh, Alan Kelly, becoming party leader is that a negative strategy usually leads to negative results. The TDs’ priority... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

bog cuttings

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings (20 May 2016)

CLAIMED ‘KNIFE’ WAS FOR CHECKING TYRES “DO you not know who I fucking am? I’m Hairy Paddy’s son.” So said Terry McDonagh (28), An Sruthán, Castlebar to a garda after... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Fowl Emissions

NAUGHTEN’S SPLIT PERSONALITY

HAVING heard Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary calling for cyclists to be shot and Danny Healy-Rae insisting that climate change is God-made, environmentalists could have been forgiven for thinking they had endured... Read more »

Wigs on the Green

Feargus Flood

Wigs on the Green

JOE MURPHY JNR VS THE BEAKS

FEW Phoenix readers will have been surprised to see that someone has launched a rocket into the already smouldering wreckage of the hapless Mahon Tribunal. Joseph “Junior” Murphy will next... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Jackie Lavin

The Hot Air Brigade

The Hot Air Brigade

I’m a very different person to when I started The Saturday Night Show. I’m more mature, less full of shit. Brendan O’Connor, Sunday Independent (submitted by reader) I don’t think... Read more »

High Society

High Society

Donal Flinn

High Society

IN THE ROUGH AT DRUID’S GLEN

THE HAPLESS members of Druid’s Glen Golf Club in Co Wicklow got a surprise last week when a vulture fund sought to appoint a... Read more »

High Society

Moya Doherty and John McColgan

High Society

RIVERDANCE PAIR’S PENTHOUSE

RTÉ chairman Moya Doherty and her hubby and Riverdance partner, John McColgan, have put their Howth pile, Dane’s Hollow, on the market for a... Read more »

High Society

Consuelo O’Connor

High Society

JODIE RONAN’S HORSEPLAY

INTERESTING to see Jodie Ronan, daughter of Johnny ‘Buccaneer’ Ronan, popping up in the High Court in relation to one of daddy’s many legal battles. Jodie has recently scaled back... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Fearghal O’Boyle

Behind the Scenes

FEARGHAL O’BOYLE’S EXAMINATION

THE PUBLISHING business in Ireland is a tough one and the latest company to feel the heat is The Columba Book Service Ltd, which has just had an examiner appointed.... Read more »
jim-sheridan

Behind the Scenes

JIM SHERIDAN’S ‘SECRET’ PROBLEM

IT’S A far cry from 2003 for film director Jim Sheridan. Back then, he was finishing his autobiographical opus, In America, and fronting a campaign to prevent Charlie McCreevy doing... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Sport of Kings

HYDE AND SEEKING

THERE WERE quite a few Irish connections to the recent Kentucky Derby winner, Nyquist. The superstar colt, unbeaten in eight runs, was bred by Tim Hyde Jnr of Camas Park... Read more »
David Nicholls

Sport of Kings

DANDY NICHOLLS’ COURT DATE

WELL-KNOWN trainer David ‘Dandy’ Nicholls currently finds himself in serious trouble with a looming court case in which he is accused of sexual assault. The 59-year-old Nicholls, a former jockey,... Read more »
Kieren Fallon

Sport of Kings

KIEREN FALLON’S RENAISSANCE

KIEREN FALLON is enjoying something of a renaissance since his move back to his native Ireland a few months ago. Not for the first time, Fallon surprised the racing community... Read more »
Robbie McNamara

Sport of Kings

CULLOTY’S COMPETITION

ROBBIE McNAMARA has launched his training career, just over a year after the racing fall that ended his riding career and left him paralysed from the waist down. This may... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Moneybags

Hostelworld’s success could attract competition

IT IS hard to believe that the tiny online youth hostel booking business which IT geek Ray Nolan and Tom Kennedy – a hostel... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Paddy Power Betfair shares on very high rating

PADDY POWER has been a phenomenally successful business and, following the merger with Betfair, it is in a commanding position in the lucrative gambling... Read more »

Briefcases

Barry Maloney

Briefcases

Globo forced to the wall

INTERESTING to see Globoforce Group’s notice in The Irish Times last week, announcing that the company is seeking to reduce its capital. Maybe they should be focused on trying to... Read more »
Anne Cunningham

Briefcases

Taxassist needs assistance

LOOK up the definition of irony and you might find a reference to Anne Cunningham Ltd in the dictionary. The Clane, Co Kildare-based company, which trades as part of the... Read more »

Briefcases

Property company left for the buzzards

SPARE a thought for Buzzardstown Properties Ltd, which was placed in receivership last week on foot of a 2003 mortgage with First Active PLC. Developers Henry Prestage and Aidan Scully’s... Read more »
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Briefcases

Liquidator’s bad day in court

AN INTERESTING judgment was handed down in the High Court a couple of weeks ago when a liquidator failed in his attempt to restrict three members of the same family... Read more »
living-room

Briefcases

Dublin publicans’ tangled web

A COMPANY that owns popular Dublin sports bar, The Living Room, is facing a winding up petition in the High Court after losing a personal injuries claim. Andrew Quigley is... Read more »
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Briefcases

CARB gets Frank with accountants

THE CHARTERED Accountants Regulatory Board (CARB) has had a busy couple of weeks. One unlucky accounting firm in Galway has had its investment authorisation revoked by CARB after failing to... Read more »
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Briefcases

Veneto is Finito

ITALIAN banking operation Veneto Ireland Financial Services Ltd is to be wound up and placed in voluntary liquidation. The company – where local directors include financial consultant Adrian Masterson –... Read more »
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Briefcases

Investigating Dan McCarthy

A COUNTY Cork vet who recently found himself in trouble with the Department of Agriculture has plenty on his plate. Dan McCarthy pleaded guilty earlier in the month to impeding... Read more »