Current Issue

Affairs of the Nation

Affairs of the Nation

ST. SUSAN’S HALO SLIPS

HOW comforting for the Fine Gael-led government that new chief justice, Frank Clarke, a strong Blueshirt down the years, should go some way to capitulating to the measures in the... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

CINEMA PLOTS IN GALWAY

CHAPTER 15 of the Comptroller & Auditor General’s 2016 report, ‘Grant Funding of Galway’s Art House Cinema’, will not come as news to readers of Goldhawk’s chronicling of Lelia Doolan... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

BRENNAN EXITS IAA FOR €240,000 EU SLOT

WHILE MOST of the focus in relation to the Ryanair flight cancellation farce has been on Mick O’Leary and his airline, what about the role of the supervisory authority here... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

CIVIL WAR ON INISHBOFIN

MINISTER for Culchies, Ringer (aka minister for rural and community development, Michael Ring) along with culture and the Gaeltacht minister Heather Humphreys and her junior minister, Joe McHugh, are in... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

CIARA KELLY’S COMPANY

THINGS ARE looking up for Ireland’s best known GP, Ciara ‘Operation Transformation’ Kelly, who is itching to take over from George Hook on Newstalk’s primetime lunchtime radio slot, High Noon.... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

Curious Obit

AN intriguing death notice in The Irish Times recently announced the death of Michael John de Clare Studdert (78), who died in Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire. A former Church of England... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

POWER STRUGGLE DIVIDES HUMANISTS

THE Humanist Association of Ireland (HAI) has had various differences in the last few years as its membership has increased in this secular age. Guest speakers at HAI gatherings, such... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Pillars of Society

Profile: Matt Cooper

HAS Matt Cooper’s self esteem got the better of his professional judgment? Signing up to a TV3 duet – or duel? – with Ivan... Read more »

The Young Bloods

The Young Bloods

Young Blood: Robert Troy TD

Can enigmatic Fianna Fáil TD Robert Troy live up to head-office expectations and bring in a second seat in the Longford-Westmeath constituency, a critical... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Fit to Print?

DENIS O’BRIEN TO DUMP NEWSTALK?

HAS the penny finally dropped with Denis O’Brien about his troublesome and loss-making radio station, Newstalk? The word is that he is preparing to quit and George Hook’s lamentable remark... Read more »

Fit to Print?

IRISH TIMES’ POST HASTE

DID Liam Kavanagh, MD of The Irish Times DAC, lose the run of himself when he said his company would have a look at buying the Sunday Business Post as... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Martin’s PR

THE lyrical odes to Micheál Martin penned almost weekly by Sindo columnist Eoghan Harris must surely be reddening the Fianna Fáil leader’s cheeks. Last Sunday, Harris referred to Leo Varadkar’s... Read more »

Last Refuge

Last Refuge

ZAPPONE ON THE MOVE AGAIN?

WHAT a dependable and supportive cabinet member the ‘Independent’ minister for children, Katherine Zappone, is turning out to be as her weekend remarks on the Eighth Amendment referendum indicate. But... Read more »

Last Refuge

DARA MURPHY’S EURO JOB

THE post of director of elections for the European People’s Party (EPP) at the European elections in 2019 sounds like a most responsible position, given that the EPP is the... Read more »

Last Refuge

Ogle’s New Party

BRENDAN OGLE’S putative plans for a new quasi party or movement of the Left are well advanced. Resources have been secured from his union, Unite, as well as support from... Read more »

Last Refuge

FIANNA FÁIL AND THE NORTH

THE Vlad v. Mary Lou WWE show in the Dáil is the latest blood sport to grip the body politic. It is working out nicely for both sides, with each... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

SIMPLE SIMON IS FLOUNDERING

LAST Thursday at the All-Ireland Civic Dialogue talking shop on Brexit, Simon Coveney asserted once again that it is “madness” for him to be in Brussels talking about the north... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

bouncers Abused LISTOWEL District Court heard that a 25-year-old man had too much drink on the Saturday of Listowel Races and became abusive to security staff at the Three Mermaids... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Fowl Emissions

CITIZENS’ ASSEMBLY STRIKES AGAIN

WHEN politicians want an issue to go away, a favourite ploy is to bury it alive in a talking shop. If that was the real motivation behind the establishment of... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

The Hot Air Brigade

The Hot Air Brigade

But I suppose our signature style is kind of rustic, country French with varying degrees of château glam and a touch of rock ‘n’ roll – comfortable and chic. Interior... Read more »

High Society

High Society

torres retreats to sunnier climes

A COUNTY Kildare stud near Maynooth is to go to auction at the Carton House Hotel later this month and bidding is expected to be strong. Certainly, the owners of... Read more »

High Society

Windfarm upsets Gianni Forte

A HIGH COURT ruling last week by Judge Robert Haughton represented a potentially very costly blow to the owners of the impressive Strancally Castle in Co Waterford, Michael and Giancarla... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Behind the Scenes

NGI misses john yeats MASTERPIECE

FANS OF Goldhawk will not have been surprised at the latest state splurge on Yeats items, both ahead of and at Sotheby’s so-called ‘Yeats Family Collection’ auction last month in... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

TAPPING THE TAXMAN

THE REVENUE’S latest figures for Section 481 film and TV production tax beneficiaries have just been released at a time when Goldhawk hears the Taxman is looking to crack down... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Sport of Kings

ANYONE FOR RACING?

WITH THE emphasis these days on the efforts of Brian Kavanagh et al at Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) and racecourse managements around the country to get punters through the gates,... Read more »

Sport of Kings

MICHAEL O’HAGAN’S RETURN

MICHAEL O’Hagan was back in the limelight recently, making a splash at Tattersalls Ireland’s Yearling Sale when he purchased the top lot for €230,000. Just over five years ago, the... Read more »

Sport of Kings

MULLINS MAKES HAY

SPARE A thought for Harry Kelly and Philip Rothwell, who are the latest trainers to fall victim to the particular skills of Willie Mullins. Trainers hate to see an owner... Read more »

Sport of Kings

More millions for Ballylinch’s John Malone

AS FANS of Goldhawk are aware, the decade-long standoff between the two superpowers, Coolmore and Godolphin, looks like ancient history and, as predicted, Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum’s buying team got... Read more »

Reviews

Reviews

DUBLIN THEATRE FESTIVAL

AT 60, Dublin Theatre Festival is the grand dame of Ireland’s cultural calendar. But punters can be forgiven for scratching their heads over the landmark anniversary programme. Director Willie White,... Read more »

Books

MIDWINTER BREAK – BERNARD MacLAVERTY (JONATHAN CAPE)

KNOWN MAINLY for his skillfully crafted short stories, Bernard MacLaverty’s first novel since 2001 takes place over four days of sightseeing in a wet and wintry Amsterdam. The story is... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Ryanair’s “ugly face of capitalism”

IT IS hard to believe that a company as large and successful as Ryanair could possibly walk itself into the nightmare it has created with its pilots. But it’s not... Read more »

Moneybags

Smurfit Kappa going through the motions

Smurfit Kappa, now led by the 53-year-old Tony Smurfit, is only going through the motions of surviving from day to day without addressing its key strategic deficiency – having a... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

The Hot Water Brigade

Peter Conlon’s dynamic problem

BAD NEWS for former ‘Rich List’ regular Peter Conlon, who has reinvented himself as a charity technology guru courtesy of his Ammado platform, used by the likes of the Red... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

Oliver Connolly’s Russian connection

SO FAREWELL then to the Russia Irish Cultural Foundation (RICF), a strange outfit incorporated to “promote cultural awareness and the advance of cultural relations between Ireland and Russia”, but which... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

Lindsey Holmes’s blind date

SURPRISING perhaps that the assorted showbiz hacks have not reported on the PR boo-boo associated with TV3’s much anticipated new show, Blind Date, fronted by the ubiquitous Al Porter. Presumably,... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

How €2,000,000 was wasted on 23 Wolfe Tone St

THE PUBLICATION of the 2016 annual report of Seamus McCarthy, the Comptroller & Auditor General (C&AG), featured a number of long-running cases, with one of the more interesting focusing on... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

Mark Monks’ “audacious” behaviour

THE HIGH Court has just issued a ruling on proceedings taken by Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) against one Mark Monks, which effectively brings to an end a saga stretching back... Read more »