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December 1 - December 14, 2017
Affairs of the Nation
That Frances and Leo deal
WHEN the dust settles on the election that nearly was it will be the confidence and supply deal that Leo Varadkar agreed with his Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald as much as... Read more »
McCABE: ‘RIGHT THE WAY THROUGH’
ONE man with a keen interest in the entire Fitzgeraldgate saga is Colm Smyth, senior counsel for then garda commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan and whose intended line of questioning based on... Read more »
Big Sam’s Irish team
A STRUGGLING company called Pulse Fusion F6 was tackled by the taxman last month, almost leaving some footballing suits with egg on their faces. The low profile firm is the... Read more »
COMMITTEE TROUBLE IN TRINNERS
A TYPICALLY toxic student row in Trinity College Dublin has led to the ousting of the Trinity Publications chair by her own committee. Interestingly, former chairwoman Clare McCarthy is a... Read more »
PATRICK LENAGHAN’S RIVER CASINO
SOME BAD news for Goldhawk’s old pal, hotelier Patrick Lenaghan, who’s been through the wars in the past decade. His name will be familiar to readers over his assorted business... Read more »
Farrell’s Food
WHAT A surprise to see one of achingly trendy Dublin restaurateur John Farrell’s eateries on the wrong end of a judgment for a paltry €10,000. Farrell is the brains behind... Read more »
Pillars of Society
Profile: Dr Ciara Kelly
THAT Dr Ciara Kelly, one of Ireland’s most articulate feminist journalists, should replace George Hook in his prime time Newstalk slot is beyond irony.... Read more »
The Young Bloods
Young Blood: Dave “Blindboy Boatclub” Chambers
BLINDBOY BOATCLUB – real name Dave Chambers (33) – has gone from off-the-wall comic as one half of The Rubberbandits to omnipresent cultural figure... Read more »
Fit to Print?
LEO VARADKAR LOSES SINDO
ANOTHER leaked spin from the spinners in the Strategic Communications Unit (SCU) recently emphasised the Grand Canyon separating the SCU from Fine Gael in government. Whatever, and even though this... Read more »
Union Militant
THE accolade bestowed on Vincent Browne by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) – a life membership certificate – at a recent ceremony will have given a nice warm feeling... Read more »
Last Refuge
MICHEÁL MARTIN GETS OUT OF JAIL
THE discovery of documents buried within the justice department and which destroyed Frances Fitzgerald saw Micheál Martin leap from bungling Fianna Fáil leader to conqueror of the Taoiseach and his... Read more »
Fine Gael’s military ambitions
TUCKED away on page 7 of The Irish Times recently readers of the paper of record were informed in a short article of the trifling detail that Ireland is to... Read more »
COVETOUS CORK BLUESHIRTS
THAT most earnest of journalists, Newstalk’s Chris Donoghue, has joined equally earnest foreign minister Simon Coveney as special adviser and his responsibilities will be ginormous as his brief will be... Read more »
Alan Kelly’s leadership race
THE Frances Fitzgerald/Maurice McCabe crisis threatened the leadership of both Leo Varadkar and Micheál Martin in the event of poor results for either in a premature election. How amusing, then,... Read more »
Hush Hush
MANY STONES UNTURNED
THE MURDER of comedian Patrick Kielty’s father is key to understanding the Loughinisland massacre and the wider campaign by loyalist murder gangs in collusion with state forces. Celebrity American film... Read more »
Suzanne Jackson’s €1m blog
‘BEAUTY AND lifestyle’ blogger Suzanne ‘So Sue Me’ Jackson is really starting to clean up with her online activities but not everything is proving fashionable. Jackson continues to generate headlines... Read more »
FANCY THAT
(Hildegarde) Rearguard Naughton was the first Fine Gael TD to call for Frances Fitzgerald to go. Rearguard was elected on the 14th count taking the last seat of five in... Read more »
Bog Cuttings
‘That’s no reason to plead guilty’ JUDGE Kevin Kilrane refused to accept the guilty plea of a man who said he was only pleading guilty because he felt the justice... Read more »
Fowl Emissions
IRELAND IS THE WORST IN EUROPE
BILLS TO ban fossil fuel exploration are like buses: you wait years for one and then two come along at once. Within a few days in November, Green Party leader... Read more »
Bird's Eye View
INDIRECT RULE FOR THE NORTH?
LEO VARADKAR told the Dáil on November 20 that if Sinn ] and the DUP couldn’t cobble together an executive he would call a British-Irish Intergovernmental Council (BIIGC) meeting in... Read more »
The Hot Air Brigade
They [20th Century Fox] contacted me and were like, “Would you like to have a speaking part in a movie?” And I was like, “Yes!” I told my sister and... Read more »
High Society
Anne Anderson’s new role
THERE have been some comings and goings at Druid Theatre in Galway. The good news is that the new star act could generate a fair few dollars for Gary Hynes’s... Read more »
Bloodstock Money
GOOD NEWS for bloodstock breeder Dermot Cantillon and his missus, Meta Osborne, outgoing Turf Club senior steward. The bloodstock business has bounced back strongly in recent years and Cantillon is... Read more »
STERN’S EXPENSIVE ESTATE
THERE IS still no sign of a buyer for the €7.5m Liss Ard estate outside Skibbereen owned by the filthy rich Swiss Stern family. Good job they have been making... Read more »
Behind the Scenes
IT’S A SMALL WORLD
WHILE THE most talked about article in last week’s Irish Times Christmas supplement was, of course, the profile of one Al Porter – concluding with the “flamboyant” comic’s prediction that... Read more »
ARTS HEADS PLAYING CATCH-UP
LAST WEEK’S sitting of the joint Committee on Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht focused on the topical issue of sexual harassment and bullying in the arts world and featured contributions... Read more »
FICTION LAUREATES LINE UP
IT’S THAT time of year again, when the great and good of the Irish literary establishment line up for Merrion Square’s beauty contest to seek selection as the Laureate for... Read more »
Sport of Kings
DECLAN McDONAGH DOWNSIZED
JOHN OXX’S decision not to retain a jockey for next season has left Declan McDonagh without a first jockey position at any yard but will hardly give him too many... Read more »
PUNTERS GET BURNED
ANTE-POST punters with an eye on the November Cheltenham meeting are unlikely to be toasting JP McManus and his racing manager, Frank Berry, after a swift change of heart over... Read more »
McNAMARA’S PAPER PROBLEM
FANS OF Goldhawk will know of the Turf Club’s handy earner of fining trainers U350 for administrative infringements on recording of vaccinations in horse’s passports. Generally this is an expensive... Read more »
DRUG TALK
IRISH Grand National winning jockey Ger Fox recently took up the position of assistant trainer to Gavin Cromwell and Goldhawk wonders if the Meath rider knew what was coming down... Read more »
Books
FUNNY BUSINESS – ALAN SHATTER (POOLBEG)
IT’S EASY to mock Alan Shatter and it’s very hard to like him. This book could well be regarded as his effort to change these two things. On the first... Read more »
Reviews
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN – ABBEY THEATRE
VAMPIRES SMELL funny. Or at least they do according to Swedish writer John Ajvide Lindqvist, whose bestselling 2004 novel is currently in an adaptation on the Abbey main stage. It’s... Read more »
he: A NOVEL – JOHN CONNOLLY (HODDER & STOUGHTON)
THE “he” of John Connolly’s title is Arthur Stanley Jefferson, born in Lancashire and who went on to become the thin part of the famous comedy duo, Laurel and Hardy.... Read more »
Moneybags
Market fails to value Providence assets
THE UNFORTUNATE shareholders in Providence Resources have been through tough times and the latest setback was the double dud in the South Porcupine – the so-called Druid and Drombeg wildcat... Read more »
Mick Hoynes cashes in at Merlyn
IT IS most impressive that going from a tiny start in 2000, Mick Hoyne built up his showers operation Merlyn Industries to the point where he has just been able... Read more »
The Hot Water Brigade
Leo Fitzgerald beats back the vultures
CONGRATULATIONS to Dublin publican Leo Fitzgerald, brother of moneybags pub mogul Louis Fitzgerald, who had a pretty decent result in the Four Goldmines recently. Fitzgerald’s company Wingview Ltd – the... Read more »
Manley Construction’s medical trouble
INTERESTING to see Meath construction outfit Manley Construction Ltd (MCL) has been served a notice of termination by the HSE on the site of the new €5m unit at Nenagh... Read more »
Taxman catches up with Maurice Muldoon
GOLDHAWK spotted a tax judgment for a meagre €25,000 registered against hapless Co Meath businessman Maurice Muldoon. Once upon a time, Muldoon was behind Cantec North East (CNE) Ltd, a... Read more »
Paddy Byrne’s planning problems
THERE’S NO questioning the ambition of builders Paddy Byrne and Danny Whelan of Victoria Homes. But, as a quick scan through planning documents shows, they haven’t had the luck to... Read more »
Patrick Rainsford is not Emused
EMUSE Corporation Ltd has finally gotten around to filing its scary accounts for 2015. The Mount Street D2 software outfit, where chief executive Patrick Rainsford clearly has a lot on... Read more »
Taxman Cometh
A FEW interesting names popped up recently after having judgments registered against them by the taxman, among them Clontarf events promoter Donal Bolger. The Revenue hit Bolger for close to... Read more »
Gobbledygook
A new economic plan for Ireland – David McWaffle, Irish Times Unlike hosting the Rugby World Cup, the global economy is no longer an “all-or-nothing” game of nations pitted against... Read more »
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