Affairs of the Nation

marcella-corcoran-kennedy

Affairs of the Nation

WATERING DOWN THE DRINKS BILL

THE lobbying blitz by the massively resourced alcohol and retail industry was conducted by some interesting, if predictable, players and many Oireachtas members said they had never seen anything quite... Read more »
irish-times

Affairs of the Nation

RED INK AT THE ‘IT’

THE FINANCES of The Irish Times have come under a lot of scrutiny over the last week or so courtesy of the Sindo and its biggest shareholder, Denis O’Brien. Looking... Read more »
brian-mcdonagh-ecd

Affairs of the Nation

BRIAN McDONAGH VS APPLE INC

WICKLOW LANDOWNER Brian McDonagh has put the kibosh – at least temporarily – on Apple’s giant U850m proposed data centre in Athenry. Having cleared the various planning hurdles, Apple is... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

feargus-flood

Affairs of the Nation

FLOOD TRIBUNAL COSTS SET TO SOAR AGAIN

THE DUMPING of virtually all findings of the Flood / Mahon Tribunal against previously named parties (see The Phoenix, 25/3/16) does not mean the ending of this hugely expensive legal... Read more »
21/07/2014 Aidan Eames of Eames Solicitors, reading a statement from Angela Kearns to the media outside the Four Courts yesterday(Mon) after a High Court hearing.Pic: Collins Courts

Affairs of the Nation

TAKING ON SOLICITOR EAMES

SURELY ONE of the busiest legal eagles in town is Aidan Eames, the former Fianna Fáil-appointed senator and ex-member of FF’s national executive, who is currently involved in high profile... Read more »
patrick-obrien

Affairs of the Nation

‘IT’ TURNS BLIND EYE TO CHILD ABUSE SCANDAL

MOST media covered the recent catalogue of child sex abuse offences by religious lay worker Patrick O’Brien who pleaded guilty to 51 sample counts of abusing 14 children over a... Read more »
Gerry Adams

Affairs of the Nation

DISSIDENTS SET TO DUMP ARMS?

THE LAUNCH of a new dissident Republican party, Saoradh, recently would indicate more militarism, not less, given the bellicose political statements emanating from its inaugural meeting in Newry. But there... Read more »
Lelia Doolan

Affairs of the Nation

ANOTHER PLOT TWIST FOR LELIA DOOLAN

TWO REVEALING documents have been released to Goldhawk under the Freedom of Information Act concerning the increasingly expensive (€9.3m and counting) Solas ‘Picture Palace’ shambles in Galway. Meanwhile, there was... Read more »
micheal-martin

Affairs of the Nation

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S EYE ON RUSSIA

WHAT a pugnacious western warrior and protagonist of Russia’s Vladimir Putin Micheál Martin is turning out to be as he pillories the pesky Ruskies in speech after speech in the... Read more »
Bog Cuttings

Affairs of the Nation

Bog Cuttings

Protein bar thief looked fit and healthy A 25-YEAR-OLD Waterford man appeared at Carrick-on-Suir District Court charged with stealing €124 worth of protein bars from a supermarket. Darren Lee of... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Ruth Coppinger

Pillars of Society

Ruth Coppinger TD

RUTH COPPINGER’S clever manipulation of the abortion issue has helped to give the AAA/PBP a three-point boost to 9% in the latest Red C... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Annie-Hoey

The Young Bloods

Annie Hoey

Annie Hoey (28) made headlines last month when, as president of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), she led a 15,000 strong march... Read more »

Fit to Print?

garrett-harte

Fit to Print?

AFTER GARRETT HARTE AT NEWSTALK

THE announcement of Newstalk editor-in-chief Garrett Harte’s resignation came five days before the JNLR ratings for all stations. Coincidence? Hardly. But the shrewd Harte may have made his decision as... Read more »
daily-mail

Fit to Print?

Mail hardship

GALLEY slaves at the Irish Daily and Sunday Mail were summoned to MD Paul Henderson’s annual state-of-the-nation address and, after years of slashed editorial budgets, job losses and increased workloads,... Read more »
MARK HUMPHRYS

Fit to Print?

BARREL OF LAUGHS FROM MARK HUMPHRYS

THE SUNDAY TIMES has recently published more than one column from DCU lecturer Mark Humphrys, the latest of which says that if Palestinians are poor “it is their fault they... Read more »

Last Refuge

brendan-ogle

Last Refuge

BRENDAN OGLE’S NEW LEFT PARTY

A PROJECT to set up another socialist party, in the Dáil and outside, is being masterminded by Unite trade union official Brendan Ogle, a central figure in the Right2Water campaign... Read more »
Shane Ross

Last Refuge

ROSS RUNS RINGS AROUND O’DONOVAN

WATCH out for a severe rebuke to the government and implicitly for junior sports minister Patrick O’Donovan from Sports Ireland (SI) chairperson Kieran Mulvey this week at the opening of... Read more »
Leo Varadkar

Last Refuge

Harris retracts

A SIGN that Leo Varadkar is edging ahead of Simon Coveney in the Fine Gael leadership stakes is the cringing effort by Sindo columnist Eoghan Harris to get onside with... Read more »
micheal-martin

Affairs of the Nation

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S EYE ON RUSSIA

WHAT a pugnacious western warrior and protagonist of Russia’s Vladimir Putin Micheál Martin is turning out to be as he pillories the pesky Ruskies in speech after speech in the... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

Affairs of the Nation

Bog Cuttings

Protein bar thief looked fit and healthy A 25-YEAR-OLD Waterford man appeared at Carrick-on-Suir District Court charged with stealing €124 worth of protein bars from a supermarket. Darren Lee of... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

tony-mcloughlin

Fowl Emissions

FRACKING: WHAT’S IN A NAME?

ANTI-FRACKING campaigners are not quite sure whether it’s too soon to celebrate – Clare Daly warned those gathered at the Dáil last week not to “put away your placards just... Read more »

Bird's Eye View

Arlene Foster

Bird's Eye View

ARLENE FOSTER BLOWS OUT DUBLIN

OSCAR WILDE said there was only one thing in life worse than being talked about and that’s not being talked about. Currently that’s Martin McGuinness’s position. As if he’s on... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Paul Williams

The Hot Air Brigade

The Hot Air Brigade

“The Garda Commissioner would have all her Gestapo in Garda headquarters, in the Kremlin, searching my phone,” he snarls. “That’s when I get angry.” Paul Williams on Newstalk, as reported... Read more »

High Society

High Society

kim-gilbert-wrightrhs

High Society

KIM GILBERT’S NEW CLUB

LAST WEEK brand new gig venue opened on Dublin’s South Anne Street, fronted by night club king – Michael Wright of The Wright Venue... Read more »

High Society

GILLIAN RONAN

High Society

GILLIAN RONAN’S RETURN

TWO YEARS after exiting Kildare Street where she fronted a restaurant that typified the boom times, Gillian Kelly (aka Gillian Ronan), sister of property... Read more »

High Society

david-davies-lhs

High Society

GEORGIAN SOC COURTS THE YANKS

LAST WEEK the Irish Georgian Society (IGS) gala dinner in the US was held at the University Club in New York, with Beth Dater president of the American board heading... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

hugh-maguire2

Behind the Scenes

HUGH MAGUIRE’S SUCCESSOR?

GOLDHAWK is wondering when the board of the Hunt Museum in Limerick will get around to advertising for a new director. The position has been vacant for nearly six months,... Read more »
catherine-heaney

Behind the Scenes

SILENCE AT THE MUSEUM

OPPOSITION is clearly building to the farcical plan to shift the Seanad into the National Museum of Ireland’s educational spaces on Kildare Street, with letters to The Irish Times and... Read more »
Katie Holly

Behind the Scenes

DISHING OUT THE HALLOWEEN TREATS

IT’S THAT time of year when the cashiers at the Revenue and Annie Doona’s Irish Film Board (IFB) announce their latest hand-outs of apples or nuts to the hungry film... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Shona Dreaper from the Punchestown racing festival enjoying day two of the Cheltenham racing festival Pic:Mark Condren 12.3.2014

Sport of Kings

CALLING ALL OWNERS

IT’S GOOD to see Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) has wasted little time in allocating some of its generous budget for 2017 with the announcement of a new beefed-up ownership department.... Read more »
michael-oleary

Sport of Kings

O’LEARY GETting SOFT?

MICHAEL O’LEARY has found himself a new trainer and could there possibly be a hint of sentiment attached to his decision to send 15 young horses to Eddie Hales? Hales,... Read more »
Michael O'Leary

Sport of Kings

Mick O’Leary’s penny-pinching

GIGGINSTOWN House Stud seems well on its way to treating its riders in the way Ryanair treats its pilots. Boss of both operations Michael O’Leary recently wrote to several amateur... Read more »

Sport of Kings

SLAP ON THE WRIST FOR DORAN

AS GOLDHAWK revealed (see The Phoenix 26/8/16), owner Tom Doran was rather aggrieved with the Turf Club over a case at the Galway Festival, where his horse, Ondamoura, finished second... Read more »
James Gough

Sport of Kings

GOUGH’S QUEST CONTINUES

The ongoing saga involving Jimmy Gough and the Association of Irish Racehorse Owners (AIRO) is the gift that keeps on giving and it seems there are plenty more worms left in... Read more »

Reviews

THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE - THE GAIETY

Reviews

THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE – THE GAIETY

FEW COMPANIES and playwrights have enjoyed such an interdependent relationship as Druid and Martin McDonagh. Audiences could be forgiven for wondering whether, after two decades, the two still have much... Read more »
Cian-Kinsella

Reviews

TMI/SCORCHIO – RTÉ 2

IT WAS perhaps fitting that in Halloween week, that most terrifying of phrases – new RTÉ comedy show – should emerge from the crypt. Clearly feeling that 18- to 25-year-olds... Read more »
all-we-shall-know

Books

ALL WE SHALL KNOW – DONAL RYAN

THE TIPPERARY author’s two previous novels (The Spinning Heart and The Thing About December) successfully explored the dark brutal side of Irish rural life. So much so that Donal Ryan... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

anne-heraty

Moneybags

Carroll and Heraty’s focus unlikely to boost CPL share price

PAUL CARROLL and his wife, Anne Heraty, run the successful 26-year-old Irish CPL Resources job agency and, had they adopted a less cautious strategy,... Read more »

Moneybags

Frank-Daly-NAM

Moneybags

Nama damned by Project Eagle report

THE SPECIAL report of Seamus McCarthy, Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), on Nama’s sale of its Northern Ireland portfolio – Project Eagle – is... Read more »

Briefcases

john-gormley

Briefcases

Hammond Lane’s heavy metal

HAMMOND Lane Metal Ltd (HLM), a Dublin-based subsidiary of metal recycling giant Clearway Disposals, filed its latest accounts last week which revealed a mixed bag for the outfit. The good... Read more »

Briefcases

Stunning behaviour in Newcastle West

GALWAY rockers The Stunning, fronted by brothers Joe and Steve Wall, went public last week with a row that’s been brewing between them and music festival organisers in west Limerick.... Read more »
marc-macsharry

Briefcases

Ready for strike-off

GOLDHAWK spotted an interesting company listed for striking off the register recently. Marc MacSharry Properties Ltd. Marc MacSharry Properties (MMP) is an auctioneers and property valuation company named for its... Read more »
article default

Briefcases

Other strike-offs

SEPARATELY, Osberstown Developments Ltd – the property company through which the Millennium Park business complex was bought for over €310m by Nama developers Gerry Prendergast, Paddy Sweeney and Tom Considine... Read more »

Briefcases

Redhill car crash continues

THE long-running saga of Redhill Properties Ltd continued last month when the company had a tax judgment registered against it – a mere four months after its fifth receiver was... Read more »
john-taylor-2

Briefcases

Baron Taylor’s hefty losses

ONE interesting company to file accounts recently was BOL Pubs Ltd, which trades as O’Loughlin’s Pub in Birr, Co Offaly. The unassuming pub company is owned by Baron John Taylor... Read more »
Ger Madden

Briefcases

Ger Madden’s bad day in court

IT TURNS out that Goldhawk’s old pal Ger Madden was declared bankrupt in the High Court earlier this year. The former Radio Limerick One (RLO) station boss, who has had... Read more »