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April 7 - April 20, 2017
Affairs of the Nation
PRIVATISING BUS ÉIREANN
AFTER Maggie Thatcher defeated the British coal miners back in the 1980s she went on to privatise the British transport system, with disastrous consequences for workers and consumers alike. The... Read more »
Derek Richardson’s Pitch Battles
RUGBY FANS had plenty to cheer last weekend when Leinster advanced to the semi-finals of the European Champions Cup beating English premiership leaders Wasps. It was not such a good... Read more »
GEORGE SOROS’S ‘OPEN SOCIETY’
THE NAME of zillionaire George Soros has been popping up in Ireland quite a lot in recent times, courtesy of his well endowed and influential US-based Open Society Foundation (OSF).... Read more »
Sponsored Content
Bank of Ireland: Supporting Farmers Through Wet Weather Challenges
As the wet weather persists Bank of Ireland is encouraging under-pressure farmers to swiftly engage with their accountants, financial advisers or banks to explore the range of flexible financing... Read more »
A TERRIBLE JUDICIARY IS BORN
DID Shane Ross foment insurrection inside a section of the legal establishment, namely the Law Society, which has just plunged a dagger in the back of the judiciary and the... Read more »
GO TO JAIL!
NOW resident on the Court of Appeal following the interminable and costly Flood/Mahon Tribunal, Judge Alan Mahon was at the centre of an interesting appeal recently. Mahon sent former haulage... Read more »
Relationship Breakdown
SO FAREWELL then to Relationships Ireland (RI), which has just filed the resolution to wind itself up and appoint the ubiquitous Kieran Wallace as liquidator – 33 years after it... Read more »
UCC’S CONTROVERSIAL CONFERENCE
TO THE surprise of no one involved in organising the controversial Cork conference, International Law and the State of Israel: Legitimacy, Exceptionalism and Responsibility, the event passed off last weekend... Read more »
PROVOST PRENDERGAST’S NOISY PERK
A REPORT in Trinity College’s student newspaper Trinity News has raised a few eyebrows about Provost Patrick Prendergast, whose perks of office include free accommodation in the magnificent Provost’s House.... Read more »
HALAWA’S FRIENDS AND FOES
AN altercation in the Dáil between Green TD Eamon Ryan and Richard Boyd Barrett, People Before Profit, has unlocked a power play that helps to explain the absence of solidarity... Read more »
Pillars of Society
Alan Kelly, TD
THERE is an official and an unofficial agenda at this month’s Labour Party conference. The first is an attempt to breathe life into the... Read more »
The Young Bloods
Katie Ascough
SHARP INTAKES of breath were practically audible from college campuses across the country last month when Katie Ascough (20), a conservative anti abortion activist,... Read more »
ESB: Reducing Energy Costs for Your Business
ESB’s Smart Energy Services are driven by the belief that electricity holds the key to a brighter, more sustainable future. Its mission is to create a brighter future, powered... Read more »
Fit to Print?
MYERS AND MOTHERS’ MILK
EXHIBITING characteristic tenderness for society’s victims, Sunday Times columnist Kevin Myers condemned those “pseudo republican papist zealots” and Irish society as a whole for conspiring to “stigmatise unmarried mothers”, as... Read more »
Post V. INM
DAVID McWILLIAMS has disappeared from the pages of the Sunday Business Post and is now disporting his flamboyant talents in the Saturday edition of the mid-market Irish Independent. Post editor... Read more »
Last Refuge
LEO’S SOUNDBYTES V SIMON’S CHAT-UP
IN THE space of just nine days to last weekend, Leo Varadkar made eight pointed leadership statements or gestures highlighting the political differences between himself and Simon Coveney. But while... Read more »
REACTIONARY RENUA RENEWAL
RENUA leader and Offaly councillor John Leahy is hardly Lucinda Creighton but he has moved to the fore as the single saviour of the party that has more money than... Read more »
FF Split on Gardaí
WHO speaks for the bulk of Fianna Fáil members on the question of whether Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan should be forced out of office? John McGuinness or justice spokesperson Jim... Read more »
BERTIE’S BOY ABANDONED?
THE latest effort to reintroduce Bertie Ahern to Fianna Fáil crashed and burned at last week’s Comhairle Dáil Ceantair meeting in Dublin Central. Rumour spread that the meeting would hear... Read more »
Bog Cuttings
The play is the thing for the Healy-Raes THERE was another packed house in Castleisland recently as hundreds came out to see the much talked-about play, The Rise and Rise... Read more »
Fowl Emissions
ECO WARRIORS OF DESTINY
IS FIANNA FÁIL in danger of becoming the party of the environment? The wonders of new politics have allowed grassroots campaigners to arm-twist Micheál Martin’s party into resisting at least... Read more »
Bird's Eye View
BROKENSHIRE’S BROKEN STRATEGY
JAMES BROKENSHIRE, Britain’s hapless northern secretary, has managed to produce unanimous agreement among the northern parties on one point. They all use the word shambolic to describe the talks that... Read more »
The Hot Air Brigade
I’m just human. I’ll be human at best, and I’ll try to be the best human I can be, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t want you to put... Read more »
High Society
RATING THOSE RICH LISTS
WHILE IT is generally accepted that the so-called rich lists published by the Sunday Times and Sindo are of little real value to those who want to know what Irish... Read more »
ANNA LIN’S WARDROBE
LOTS OF activity to report for Patrick and Anna Lin Parsons of Birr Castle – or Lord and Lady Oxmantown as they are now known. Patrick, eldest son of Brendan... Read more »
Experience Unmatched Luxury at Centara Reserve Samui, Thailand
Embark on a journey of modern sophistication amidst an idyllic tropical haven at Centara Reserve Samui in Thailand, where unforgettable stories come to life. As the inaugural gem... Read more »
Behind the Scenes
PATRICK SUTTON’S RESIGNATION
A FILING in the Companies Office last week showed, Patrick Sutton, long-time Director of the Smock Alley 1662 theatre in Dublin’s Temple Bar, stepped down as a member of the... Read more »
CRAFT COUNCIL CANDIDATES
THE CLOSING date has now passed for those who fancy serving on the board of the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland (DCCI), where jobs and enterprise minister Mary Mitchell... Read more »
ANNIE DOONA’S AGENDA
WHILE THE new board members of the Irish Film Board (IFB) get their feet under the table, and chair designate Annie Doona awaits her Oireachtas Committee rubber stamp, the recent... Read more »
Sport of Kings
MAGNIER AND SHEIKH MOHAMMED
THE LONG-RUNNING and entertaining coolness between the Coolmore and Godolphin powerhouses looks to be finally fizzling out. For many years there has been a quasi trade embargo between the two... Read more »
PAT DOYLE’S LATE CALL
AN INTERESTING scenario was revealed at Cork races recently after the Pat Doyle-trained Kaiser Black won a five-runner maiden hurdle in effortless fashion. His trainer revealed after the race that... Read more »
BLUEBLOODS AT NAAS
NAAS RACECOURSE manager Tom Ryan was no doubt excited to have hosted the opening day of the flat season recently, after the curtain-raiser was transferred to Naas from the Curragh... Read more »
Wayne Jordan’s Rough Ride
ON JUST his second ride for Aidan O’Brien since joining the Ballydoyle squad of jockeys, Wayne Lordon found himself in hot water with the Dundalk stewards last week over the... Read more »
KIERAN FALLON’S FUTURE
FORMER MULTIPLE champion jockey and all round troubled soul, Kieran Fallon, is seriously considering a training career. Fallon has spent the winter in Dubai riding track work for Godolphin trainer... Read more »
Books
CARNIVALESQUE – NEIL JORDAN (BLOOMSBURY CIRCUS)
IN BOTH his fiction and films, Neil Jordan has frequently been drawn into dream worlds of ghosts and tangled fairytale horror. This latest novel returns to the changeling idea as... Read more »
Reviews
THE EFFECT – PROJECT ARTS CENTRE
AFTER PRODUCING a few notable pieces for the stage, British writer Lucy Prebble seems to have moved on from theatre to TV comedy, chirpy guest columns for the likes of... Read more »
THE SECRET SCRIPTURE – DIRECTED BY JIM SHERIDAN
ALTHOUGH IT sticks to a conventional approach familiar from the hoariest of melodramas, Jim Sheridan’s adaptation of Sebastian Barry’s Booker-nominated novel The Secret Scripture does at least buck one particular... Read more »
Moneybags
High-risk investment in the Ardagh Group
LAST MONTH Paul “the Cooler” Coulson managed to raise €295m by floating off 7% of the Ardagh Group SA on the New York Stock Exchange. This is fresh equity for... Read more »
CRH needs the right person in the chair
IN JUST over three years since his appointment as chief executive in January 2014, Albert Manifold has done an excellent job running CRH. A significant part of his success has... Read more »
SMEs and Trends in Accounting in Ireland Today
Moore Ireland is a leading Irish provider of accountancy and advisory services for smart, commercially ambitious enterprises seeking the highest standards in client service and expertise. The firm is... Read more »
The Hot Water Brigade
Leo Sherlock’s late filing
TWO separate civil actions for breach of copyright against Goldhawk’s old pal Leo Sherlock are about to kick off in Ardee District Court. It will be recalled that Sherlock, who... Read more »
Nicholas O’Connor’s woes continue
SPARE a thought for accountant Nicholas O’Connor who has just had his practising certificate withdrawn by Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI) following a review by the institute’s quality assurance committee. Although... Read more »
Cathal Pendred’s retirement plan
FORMER Irish mixed martial artist Cathal Pendred is currently making the move into acting but a set of accounts filed recently by his company suggests that life after hanging up... Read more »
Ian Tighe’s eye-watering losses
MORE on Jed Dowling, the festival director behind Dublin LGBTQ Pride which reported a large deficit for 2015 in its latest set of accounts filed in February (see The Phoenix... Read more »
John Flanagan’s park-and-ride
CLARE businessman John Flanagan had a rare good day in the High Court recently in a case taken by his company Diamrem Ltd against Clare County Council. The judgment by... Read more »
David Coulson’s Tax Judgment
GOLDHAWK spotted an interesting name in the latest issue of Stubbs Gazette. Dalkey businessman David Coulson had a €146,000 judgment registered against him at the end of March by the... Read more »
AINTREE ANTICS
WHILE ZILLIONAIRE Geneva tax resident JP McManus won his third Aintree Grand ...
ROSS LEWIS’S RICH DISH
AS USUAL, there was plenty of speculation last month ahead of the ...
MULLINS’S ROUGH DIAMOND
While Patrick Mullins’s victory aboard Jasmine De Vaux provided his father, Willie ...
PEDRO DE AZAMBUJA’S DOUBLE FAULTS
WITH AN asking price of no less than €5.5m, the Georgian Kilquade ...
IRISH OSCAR PLOT SPOILERS
Despite all the hoopla around the successful Oscar run by Cillian Murphy ...
KILLIAN POYNTON’S HIGH NET WORTH CLIENTS
GREEN BIRD Ltd, a company catering to the needs of so-called “high ...
SMOCK ALLEY’S BAD REVIEW
WITH DUBLIN City Council (DCC) preparing to take over Smock Alley Theatre ...
APPEALING BEHAVIOUR
THE REVELATION last month that the IHRB had been described by consultants ...
EN POINTE!
THE DECISION by Anne Maher’s Ballet Ireland (BI) to withdraw a piece ...
CORRECTING CHRISTINE DAVIES
THERE WAS some bad news for the glamorous Christine Jane Davies, owner ...