Affairs of the Nation

Gemma O'Doherty

Affairs of the Nation

GEMMA’S BRITISH COMRADES

GEMMA O’DOHERTY is positioned distinctly to the right on the political spectrum, but her rallies and those of other anti-immigrant ‘Irish patriots’, like the National Party, increasingly see followers waving... Read more »
Leo Varadkar

Affairs of the Nation

DR VARADKAR’S DILEMMA

TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar has been defended by his party colleagues as a doctor with experience of management practice in the health service after yet another PR howler attacking medics for... Read more »
Dermot Desmond

Affairs of the Nation

MARKING DERMO’S CARD

WHAT AN extravagant splash the Sunday Business Post published on the “Billionaire investor. Media mogul. IFSC visionary… patriot and a fearsome litigant”, Dermot Desmond, last weekend. The massive, trillion-word feature... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

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Affairs of the Nation

ARAMARK RATTLED

Is food services giant Aramark starting to panic about the boycott of its cafes and restaurants by students at the University of Limerick (UL)? It certainly looks that way. The... Read more »
Queen Elizabeth

Affairs of the Nation

IVY’S PR BLITZ

SOME rather ingratiating advertisements appeared in the national dailies recently, thanking Irish customers of The Ivy restaurant, the ritzy eatery that opened in Dublin’s Molesworth Street in the summer. It... Read more »
Jamie Heaslip

Affairs of the Nation

LOVIN MEDIA’S SAUDI LOVE IN

Irish businessman Emmet O’Neill must be shocked at some of the articles being published by Lovin Saudi, a franchise of his Lovin Media Group. Lovin’s expansion into Saudi Arabia was... Read more »
Karan O'Loughlin

Affairs of the Nation

JOHN ARKINS’S HEADACHE

THE TIMING of Prime Time’s recent breathless exposé of the Irish film industry was less than perfect for the Irish Film Workers Association (IFWA), the ‘union’ that has been getting... Read more »
Brian Hayes

Affairs of the Nation

LOST LEADER BRIAN HAYES

RICHARD BRUTON is the man that effectively blocked MEP Brian Hayes’s planned route back to the top in national politics. But judging by his recent remarks on Irish banks, the... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Eoghan Murphy

Pillars of Society

POSH BOY MURPHY’S NOBLESS OBLIGE

FOR ALL his Leo-style skinny neck ties and multifarious photo ops of him emerging à la the Man from Atlantis from muscle-rippling sea swims,... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Paul Williams

Fit to Print?

PAUL WILLIAMS’S EXIT

NEWSTALK BREAKFAST’S joint host, Paul Williams, met with managing editor Patricia Monahan last Thursday and, following a fraught discussion, it was agreed that the next morning’s programme would be his... Read more »
Leslie Buckley

Fit to Print?

EXITING THE INDO

TWO more INM executives shuffled off last week, both of whom held senior positions during recent convulsions at the group. Chief peoples officer Celine Doyle – who previously worked for... Read more »
Miriam O'Callaghan

Fit to Print?

MIRIAM’S MANY MEDIA FANS

RSVP magazine was back promoting Miriam O’Callaghan for all its worth this month, with the presenter splashed across the front page under the headline “Miriam – straight from the heart... Read more »

Last Refuge

Eamon Ó Cuív

Last Refuge

MARTIN FLEES THE NORTH

ÉAMON Ó CUÍV and senator Mark Daly have been depicted as mavericks for endorsing Sorcha McAnespy, Independent councillor, as a Fianna Fáil candidate in the north’s local elections. But the... Read more »
Tiernan Brady

Last Refuge

FF DUBLIN EURO DOG FIGHT

TWO Fianna Fáil ‘names’ – Conor Lenihan and Barry Andrews – are jockeying for the party’s Dublin nomination for the European elections. However, they could both be eclipsed by the... Read more »

Hush Hush

John Downey arriving at the High Court

Hush Hush

FORENSIC PURSUIT OF DOWNEY

THE PSNI’s pursuit of John Downey contrasts with its failure to hunt down those who committed a raft of serious crimes in the same historic period. Especially when it is... Read more »
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Hush Hush

SHARON BANNERTON’S NEUTRALITY

THERE HAS not been much love shown by the media to presidential runner-up Peter Casey. Even the normally cuddly Ryan Tubridy got his claws out for the interview on The... Read more »

Bird's Eye View

Theresa May

Bird's Eye View

DUP VS THERESA MAY

“COME YE out from among them and be ye separate and touch not the unclean thing.” St Paul’s injunction from Corinthians was Paisley’s guiding text that led him to establish... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Vogue Williams

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Good luck getting me out of this skirt! I can only imagine how cringe it looks when I make Spencer take these pictures of my outfit. Hopefully nobody ever catches... Read more »

High Society

High Society

Patrick Doran

High Society

PATRICK DORAN’S HIGH RAILINGS

SOON-TO-BE resident of Shrewsbury Road in the heart of D4, packaging moneybags Patrick Doran, has just suffered a setback for his plans to install... Read more »

High Society

Judy Woodworth

High Society

JUDY WOODWORTH’S GOOD AND BAD NEWS

THERE WAS bad news last week when Wicklow County Council shot down a proposal from the Judy Woodworth-chaired Alfred Beit Foundation (ABF) to convert... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Rebecca Moynihan

Behind the Scenes

AFTER FILMBASE IN TEMPLE BAR

THE APPLICATIONS are in from arts organisations seeking to move their headquarters to the cultural hub that is Dublin’s Temple Bar. The prize is the old Filmbase offices on Curved... Read more »
Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

Behind the Scenes

REPLACING JOHN MCAULIFFE

AFTER FIVE years, John McAuliffe has finished his term as a member (and deputy chair) of the Arts Council. This is the start of a period of regime change on... Read more »
Emma Donoghue

Behind the Scenes

SOAKING UP THOSE FILM FUNDS

ANNIE DOONA’S Screen Ireland posted its third-quarter funding allocations last week. As with every round, there is the usual, dominant set of recipients, the established companies that soak up much... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Luke Comer Ban

Sport of Kings

LUKE COMER’S COLTS

LUKE COMER’S long-running quest to train a winner continues, but the developer has upped his game recently, spending freely on fresh blood. At the Tattersalls Horses In Training sale recently,... Read more »
Christophe Soumillon

Sport of Kings

WHIPPING UP A STORM

AS ANIMAL rights escalate further up the agenda, it looks like racing’s culture is going to have to get its house in order. The use of the whip has always... Read more »
Brendan Duke Adrian Murray Mick Bailey

Sport of Kings

ELLIOTT BACKS SAMCRO

SO, WHAT to do with Samcro? Hailed by Davy Russell last year as the second coming, trainer Gordon Elliott fanned the flames of the horse’s reputation any time he spoke... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Gene Murtagh

Moneybags

MONEYBAGS PROFILE: GENE MURTAGH

GENE MURTAGH is chief executive of one of Ireland’s most dynamic companies of recent time – Kingspan. Although he is only 47, he has... Read more »

Moneybags

Eugene Murtagh

Moneybags

MONEYBAGS PROFILE: EUGENE MURTAGH

EUGENE MURTAGH’S story features an incredible rise to the big time, taking place mostly off the radar (no honorary doctorates for the media-shy Cavan... Read more »

Brief Cases

Ronan Lynch

Brief Cases

SEAN LYNCH TACKLES THE ‘IRISH TIMES’

INTERESTING to see that the Irish Times is being sued by a popular Dublin 2 pub. The Swan Bar on Aungier Street and its owners – Sean and his son,... Read more »
Dermot Foster

Brief Cases

TAXMAN LOCKS ON TO BASTA

MORE headaches for the team behind Sligo lock and door manufacturing plant Basta Parsons Ltd, with the taxman filing a winding-up petition. This follows the company’s appointment of an examiner.... Read more »
Hot Water Brigade default

Brief Cases

ADRIAN BLANC’S BILL

SPARE a thought for Foxrock businessman Adrian Blanc, who has just been whacked by vulture fund Launceston to the tune of €2.3m. Blanc (also known as Adrian Le Blanc) and... Read more »
Judge Peter Kelly

Brief Cases

TRIBUNAL GROUNDS LEGAL EAGLES

A COUPLE of troubled legal eagles have found themselves on the wrong side of the Law Society again. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has censured and fined Limerick City solicitor Christoper... Read more »