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The magazine with the Inside Stories
February 23 - March 8, 2018
Affairs of the Nation
LEO VARADKAR’S ELECTION TIMELINE
MEDIA hints of Fine Gael’s plan to cut and run to the country this year are spot on and while lacking detail they reflect a specific strategy being discussed not just at cabinet level but in the middle ranks of... Read more »
The taxman and the film awards
THE MOSTLY low wattage audience at last week’s IFTAs awards bash at the Mansion House may have been surprised by host Deirdre O’Kane’s “trailer” joke when referring to Traveller actor John Connors. But there would also have been raised eyebrows... Read more »
MURPHY’S LAW V LAW SOCIETY
THE mother of all legal battles between the Law Society and former solicitor Colm Murphy is due in the High Court in April following two decades of litigation. Between 1999 and 2008, the Kenmare lawyer appeared before the Solicitors Disciplinary... Read more »
Niall McGarry’s turnover
FLASHY entrepreneur Niall McGarry was in his usual confident mood recently when he announced that the Irish end of Maximum Media operation was expected to record turnover of €8m for the most recent 12 months, up from the €6m figure... Read more »
REDMOND’S RECORDING
INTERESTING to see controversial Independent councillor Keith Redmond playing a central role in an investigation of waste operators by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC). The waste industry has been of significant interest to local politicians given allegations of... Read more »
Warmongers
“PESCO also has absolutely nothing to do with the creation of an EU army. Nothing in the treaties provides for the creation of an EU army.” So said Junior Minister for Defence Paul Kehoe with a straight face as he... Read more »
Pillars of Society
Profile: Mary McAleese
THE VATICAN’S boycott of former President of Ireland and devout Catholic feminist Mary McAleese – The Outsider as her unofficial biographer Justine McCarthy christened... Read more »
The Young Bloods
Young Blood: Carol Nolan TD
CAROL NOLAN’S 2016 election win for Sinn Féin in the three-seat Offaly constituency was a surprise. There will be another one if she hangs... Read more »
Fit to Print?
David McWilliams’s double dip
IT’S a hard job getting new material – but rehashing your own is a bit cheeky. Financial superstar hack David McWilliams – “ranked 10th most influential economist in the world”, according to his website – wrote a penetrating article on... Read more »
ALIVE! AND KICKING
BOTH sides in the abortion referendum have exhorted their foot soldiers to be respectful and moderate in tone when arguing the case for Yes or No. However, Catholic special forces at Alive! newspaper have launched a shock and awe campaign... Read more »
Leo’s Loyal Fan
“DURING the Fine Gael leadership campaign I supported Leo Varadkar and strongly opposed Simon Coveney.” So claimed Eoghan Harris recently in his Sindo column in a revisionist exercise that would make Roy Foster blush. What Harris actually did was to... Read more »
Last Refuge
RINGER THREATENS TO GO INDEPENDENT
ONLY when Enda Kenny became Fine Gael leader and then Taoiseach did he manage to best his Mayo running mate, Michael Ring, at general elections in Mayo. Now Ringer, Rural and Community Affairs Minister, is privately threatening to resign from... Read more »
AK47 Ultimatum
IT IS just under five months since Deputy Alan Kelly gave Labour leader Brendan Howlin “less than” six months to either shape up or ship out. That deadline means Howlin has a week or so to save his leadership before... Read more »
SINN FEIN DISSIDENT IS IN DEMAND
SINN FÉIN’S latest political casualty, Cllr Noeleen Reilly, will be a loss to the party and will doubtless take a chunk of first preference votes from sitting TD Dessie Ellis at the next general election in Dublin North-West (DNW) if... Read more »
Student Life
Clare McCarthy’s comeback
CONGRATULATIONS to Trinners student Clare McCarthy who has just been reinstated as chair of Trinity Publications on a technicality. Fans of Goldhawk will recall that McCarthy was removed from her position as head of the Pubs committee in November last... Read more »
Fowl Play
Joe Schmidt’s tactics
THE long-standing love-in between the IRFU and rugby journalists reportedly came to an abrupt end a fortnight ago when Irish coach Joe Schmidt cancelled the traditional post-match press huddle after Ireland’s Six Nations encounter with Italy. In reality, the scrap... Read more »
Fowl Emissions
MERLIN NAUGHTEN
IT’S NO secret that wishful thinking remains the main policy weapon the government deploys when it comes to hitting tough international commitments on climate change. What’s less well understood is the staggering extent to which even the experts are engaging... Read more »
Sacred Cows
The government’s new national development plan had that “one for everyone in the audience” feel, including a lavish commitment to spending €22bn, or a fifth of total budget, on tackling climate change. The commitment to invest €4bn to retrofit 45,000... Read more »
Bird's Eye View
DUP-TORY DEADLOCK
FOR THE second time in two months, Theresa May turned up to seal a deal only for the DUP to whip it off the table. The first occasion, on December 4, saw May’s deal with the EU on the border... Read more »
Foreign Frolics
PYONGYANG REVISITED
SOME interesting coincidences around the proposed visit to North Korea by ministers John Halligan, Shane Ross and Finian McGrath have been clocked by members of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (CCÉ). Last October Comhaltas magazine Treoir republished a 26-year-old article from the... Read more »
The Hot Air Brigade
I must own a hundred pair of denim jeans, each serving their different purpose. Fashionista and designer Pippa O’Connor quoted on her website, Submitted by reader We’re the new Iniesta and Xavi of teatime TV. TV3’s Martin King on his... Read more »
High Society
TICKLED PINK IN AVOCA
ACCORDING TO a puff piece by Sean Gallagher in the Sindo last weekend, social media and selfies have led to a boom for cosmetic surgery procedures as “the pressure on women to look their best has never been greater”. Apparently,... Read more »
Serious Profits
WITH THE death of Alan Potts last year and Rich Ricci becoming more cautious with his spending, there was a worry that the boutique sales for Irish horseflesh would suffer a bit at the top end without the help of... Read more »
Alistair Tidey’s sale
AN IMPRESSIVE house on Merrion Square has gone on the market with a hefty €3.5m price tag, although it looks like the owners here will drop a few bob, having bought at the top of the market. The D2 pile... Read more »
Behind the Scenes
LITTLE DRAMA AT THEATRE AWARDS
THIS WEEKEND in the National Concert Hall, the theatre industry’s glitterati will dutifully assemble for the Irish Times Theatre Awards. The 20-year-old ritual gives the luvvies an excuse to glam up, and gives the newspaper’s marketing department some tickets and... Read more »
US Arts Dosh
WITH THE long delayed $62m Irish Arts Centre project in New York again under the spotlight, it was interesting to see the response from Culture Minister Josepha Madigan to SF’s Peadar Tóibín’s question earlier this month on further state support.... Read more »
Sport of Kings
AFTER AT THE RACES
THE FALLOUT following the recent shock news that At The Races will cease to broadcast Irish racing on its channel is continuing to have an impact and there are set to be multiple casualties. For starters it is a serious... Read more »
BRYAN COOPER’S RARE RIDES
BRYAN COOPER’S latest retainer looks to have come to an end after a very brief association. In November last year, Cooper got drafted in to ride all the UK-trained horses owned by Allan Potts. Most of these were handled by... Read more »
DENIS EGAN’S LATE LATE SHOW
THE ACTING stewards at the Dublin Racing Festival came in for quite a bit of flak over their failure to investigate the poor performance of some high profile Willie Mullins horses that had drifted alarmingly on the exchanges shortly before... Read more »
Reviews
THE APPROACH – PROJECT ARTS CENTRE
AT THE turn of the millennium, Mark O’Rowe’s ultra-violent plays exploded like a fat line of speed up the nostrils of the Irish theatre establishment. The likes of Howie the Rookie and Crestfall shocked and thrilled punters, with Tarantino-esque levels... Read more »
THE YOUNG OFFENDERS – RTE 2
BASED ON writer-director Peter Foott’s underwhelming but uber-popular 2016 movie of the same name, The Young Offenders is a co-production between RTÉ and the Beeb’s online yoof channel, BBC Three. A sitcom on two teen tearaways in Cork might seem... Read more »
Books
IN WHITE INK – ELSKE RAHILL (APOLLO LILLIPUT)
THIS COLLECTION of 11 short stories follows Elske Rahill’s 2013 debut novel Between Dog and Wold. The French-based Irish writer specialises in exploring many of those disquieting moments that people prefer to keep private. Rahill’s central characters are mostly women... Read more »
Moneybags
Kelly Martin cashes in at Malin
MALIN CORP, the life sciences group floated in 2015, is one of the strangest corporate entities ever to feature on the Irish Stock Exchange, with a remuneration strategy the board/executives might believe to be fair game but which is almost... Read more »
Shareholders boxed in at Smurfit Kappa
SMURFIT KAPPA is the biggest cardboard box company outside of North America – and the biggest in Europe and South America. It is obvious that the group needs to make a major acquisition across the Atlantic. Unfortunately, chief executive Tony... Read more »
The Hot Water Brigade
Dr Pearse Phelan’s Midas touch
A COMPANY called Midas Health and Sports Ltd has just called in the liquidator after the operation went downhill. The principal here is colourful entrepreneur Dr Pearse Phelan but creditors will be hoping for better outcomes than at the last... Read more »
Chris Shiel’s Star Wars gig
CONGRATULATIONS to Galway high-flier Chris Shiel whose aviation company, 21st Century Aviation Ltd, had a bumper 2017. Shiel is best known for an ill-fated 2015 tender for a state contract to operate the Aran Islands air service but luckily customers... Read more »
Greg Kavanagh’s Ballycrag bother
INTERESTING to see the taxman getting tough with Arklow developer Greg Kavanagh’s property empire. In a second Kavanagh-related scrap in as many months, the taxman has moved to wind up two property companies linked to the former New Generation Homes... Read more »
Cormac Lohan’s holiday home
ROSCOMMON solicitor Cormac Lohan had a tax judgment for over €124,000 registered against him at the end of January. Lohan, who practises as Lohan & Co Solicitors in Athlone, Co Westmeath, has had run-ins with the Revenue before and last... Read more »
Nick Munier’s taxing year
FORMER celebrity restaurant impresario Nick Munier had a judgment for close to €80,000 registered against him at the beginning of February. It’s been a tough start to the year for former MasterChef maître d’ Munier who, fans of Goldhawk will... Read more »
Peter Reaney’s ‘religious beliefs’
ANOTHER setback for colourful Mayo businessman and blogger Peter Reaney. Originally a plasterer by trade, Reaney dipped into property development in 2006 when he purchased a site in Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon. He received planning permission to build three blocks of... Read more »
Drinks on House
A COMPANY called Sykes Hotel Group (SHG) Ltd has just been hit with a judgment for €30,000 over unpaid rates – a familiar story for the outfit. SHG – owned by brothers Trevor and David Sykes – is the company... Read more »
Michael D to appear on Dragons’ Den
INM Car Boot Sale
TRUMP VISIT CALLED OFF
GANGSTERS OFFENDED BY BALACLAVA ‘HIJACKING’
KAREN BRADLEY’S TOURIST GUIDE TO NORTHERN IRELAND
