Affairs of the Nation

Brian Hayes

Affairs of the Nation

FINE GAEL: OPEN WAR ON NEUTRALITY

FINE GAEL’S four MEPs have been chosen to open up a new front against Irish neutrality with their document to be released this week urging the abandonment of Irish neutrality... Read more »
Martin Fraser

Affairs of the Nation

MARTIN FRASER’S REVIEW

THAT opposition parties should criticise the selection of Martin Fraser to review the Strategic Review Unit (SCU) – over which Fraser himself presides – is entirely understandable. But as the... Read more »
Judge Con O’Leary

Affairs of the Nation

JUDGE CON O’LEARY’S ‘OBJECTIVE BIAS’

EYEBROWS WERE raised in legal circles recently at the colourful tone of a High Court ruling that pulled no punches when criticising a well-known and experienced judge. Indeed, the kicking... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

Rachel Moran

Affairs of the Nation

RACHEL MORAN V ROISIN INGLE

AN INTERESTING Twitter spat surfaced last weekend when high profile anti sex trade campaigner Rachel Moran attacked the producers of The Irish Times Women’s Podcast – Róisín Ingle and Jennifer... Read more »
iftas

Affairs of the Nation

IFTA’S HAPPY ENDING

GOOD NEWS for fans of the Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTAs). The team behind the annual orgy of backslapping have managed to pull off a surprise ending to their... Read more »
Pádraic Ó'Giolláin

Affairs of the Nation

HOTTINGER’S WEALTHY FAMILIES

MONEY MAY make the world go around for the super rich but it also helps provide a nice earner for those charged with keeping rich people rich, including the likes... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

MACLENNAN’S FAVOURITE TEAM

CONGRATULATIONS to former Telegraph group chief executive Murdoch MacLennan who will be named chairman of Independent News & Media (INM) this week. In an interesting break from the past, the... Read more »
Francesco Saverio Fontana

Affairs of the Nation

WESTERN NAZI FRONT

THE outgoing UK head of counter terrorism, Mark Rowley, used his final speech last month to stress the high level threat from racist and fascist groups and revealed that four... Read more »

Pillars of Society

President Michael D Higgins

Pillars of Society

Profile: President Michael D Higgins

IS Michael D Higgins a shoo-in for a second term as president? The dotty professor aura built up around him over the years has... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Ben Conroy

The Young Bloods

Young Blood: Ben Conroy

CURRENTLY one of their top academy players, 2018 should see Oxford young fogey Ben Conroy (24) called up to the Pro Life Campaign’s (PLC)... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Miriam Lord

Fit to Print?

IRISH TIMES BUYS SCU SPIN

THE IRISH TIMES heaped ridicule on the €1.5m outlay on the national plan orchestrated by the government’s Strategic Communications Unit (SCU). But there is disquiet in the IT over its... Read more »
Kathryn Thomas

Fit to Print?

POOR CLAIRE SISTERS

POOR Claire Byrne must be feeling left out as Arnotts launches its Spring Summer 18 Catwalk Show, “an evening of style and elegance” with Miriam O’Callaghan, Kathryn Thomas, Lottie Ryan... Read more »

Last Refuge

Catherine Noone

Last Refuge

Catherine Noone’s complaint

SENATOR Catherine Noone’s complaint about a Fine Gael colleague and senator’s dismissive, misogynist and patronising treatment of her appears to have died a death to the relief of both parties... Read more »
Mary Lou McDonald

Last Refuge

MARY LOU’S COALITION DILEMMA

THE only people more horrified by the prospects of a Fine Gael/Sinn Féin coalition than the Sunday Independent are many members of SF. Leo Varadkar’s comments on Brexit, a United... Read more »
Tony O’Reilly

Last Refuge

‘PAYBACK TIME’

IN an amusing article in the Sunday Independent last weekend Liam Collins accused Rupert Murdoch’s Irish titles of regularly “taking a side” in politics. In a lengthy diatribe Collins argued... Read more »
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Last Refuge

KATE HOEY’S TRACK RECORD

NOT even the DUP has explicitly called for the abandonment of the Good Friday Agreement but British Labour Party MP Kate Hoey, originally from the north, has done so, provoking... Read more »
Jim Daly

Last Refuge

CORK PROBLEMS FOR BLUESHIRTS

THE shrieks of betrayal from former Cork North-West Deputy Áine Collins at the recruitment of Independent Cllr John Paul O’Shea indicates Fine Gael’s desperation in trying to claw back seats... Read more »

Student Life

Shane De Rís

Student Life

Testing times for Trinners students

IT LOOKS like those most-esteemed chaps on Trinity College’s board have managed to spectacularly piss off students. It was announced on Monday that the college was going to introduce a... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

Bog fire Inflames passions A CASTLEREA motorist was put off the road for six months and fined €650 for telling a garda to “fuck off.” Derrick Boyden, John Morley Road,... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Sean Kelly

Fowl Emissions

WHEN IS A DECISION NOT A DECISION?

WHEN IT comes to getting big dirty fossil fuel infrastructure past the various political and regulatory obstacles, the choral harmony of performers at local, state and EU levels is truly... Read more »
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Fowl Emissions

PIPELINE TIMELINE

IN 2016, when Enda Kenny’s economic adviser Andrew McDowell became Ireland’s nominee for the €275,000-a-year job of vice-president of the European Investment Bank (EIB), the then Taoiseach had to defend... Read more »

Bird's Eye View

Theresa May

Bird's Eye View

IRELAND’S TARIFF NIGHTMARE

THE FAMOUS “backstop” in the December EU report commits Britain to maintaining full alignment with the rules of the internal market and customs union “which now or in the future... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Send Bread

The Hot Air Brigade

HOT AIR BEAST FROM THE EAST SPECIAL

Why is everyone always so worried about our staff?? Half of them live on the same block, it’s their choice if they want to work – and shockingly some do!... Read more »

High Society

High Society

Josepha Madigan

High Society

WILL STATE ACQUIRE LUGGALA?

WITH Garech de Brún’s Wicklow pile, Luggala, still for sale for a whopping E28m (not including the €550,000 stamp duty) over a year after... Read more »

High Society

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High Society

DERMOT CANTILLON’S BITCOINS

CONGRATULATIONS to Dermot Cantillon and the gang at Tinnakill House stud for their marketing coup of offering a two-year-old colt for four bitcoins. Not... Read more »

High Society

Alison Doody

High Society

ALISON DOODY’S NEW ROLE

INTERESTING to see the name Alison Doody O’Reilly appear among the cast of the callover list for Cork’s Circuit Court hearings, which features cases due to be pencilled in for... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

John Harris

Behind the Scenes

MUSIC FESTIVAL’S SOUR NOTE

SPARE A thought for the team behind New Music Dublin (NMD) festival. Thanks to the weather ‘event’, the musical event was cancelled… for the second time in three years. NMD... Read more »
Mary McGuckian

Behind the Scenes

McGUCKIAN’S DIRECTOR’S CUT

Although The total cost of the Section 481 tax credit for filmmakers in 2017 has not yet been calculated, the Revenue told Goldhawk the cost of the measure in 2016... Read more »
Gerry Gannon

Behind the Scenes

GERRY GANNON’S GET-OUT CLAUSE

AS INCOMING director of the National Museum of Ireland (NMI) Lynn Scarff prepares for her new role, the museum is facing yet more bullying claims and, more significantly, could have... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Michael Grassick

Sport of Kings

PASSPORT PROBLEMS

THE IRISH Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) released its 2017 integrity statistics recently, some of which made for interesting if concerning reading. Goldhawk has previously highlighted the increase in fines being... Read more »
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Sport of Kings

DORAN SWITCHES STABLES

IT’S NOT often that Gordon Elliott has horses removed from his yard to be sent to another trainer but London-based builder Tom Doran obviously feels his string could do with... Read more »
Kerri Radcliffe

Sport of Kings

PHOENIX RISING SLOWLY

PHOENIX THOROUGHBREDS has been a name on a lot of bloodstock players’ lips this past year and the emerging force in world bloodstock is beginning to see some results from... Read more »
Jessica Harrington

Sport of Kings

CHELTENHAM’S GREEN GLOSS

IRISH PUNTERS will flock to Cheltenham this year high on confidence following last year’s phenomenal results. Irish trainers were responsible for more winners than their British counterparts for the first... Read more »

Reviews

Ian Toner

Reviews

LOOK BACK IN ANGER – GATE THEATRE

THEATRE-GOERS like to reaffirm their own highbrow taste. Regardless of what’s happening on stage, interval banter typically features thoughtless questions like, “Don’t you love it?” Not so on Parnell Square... Read more »
Restless Souls

Books

RESTLESS SOULS – DAN SHEEHAN (WEIDENFELD & NICOLSON)

SET IN the 1990s, this ambitious debut novel focuses on the close friendship between three Dubliners in their mid-20s. When Tom Dempsey returns after three years in war-torn Bosnia, Karl... Read more »
Karen Hassan

Reviews

SOFT BORDER PATROL – BBC One

THE SECRET of comedy, they say, is timing and if that were the only benchmark, then Soft Border Patrol, which kicked off on BBC One Northern Ireland last week, would... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Carl McCann

Moneybags

McCann’s Dole deal could attract Japanese predator

TOTAL PRODUCE’S Carl McCann is now buying, in phases, Dole Food Company from its 95-year-old owner, Dave Murdock. The same Murdock tried to do... Read more »

Moneybags

David Lewis

Moneybags

Tesco’s big deal means trouble for Musgrave

WITH SALES of £56bn, Tesco is the world’s second-largest grocer. The company went through a sticky patch in 2014, however, due to falling sales... Read more »

Briefcases

Nivek Dunne

Briefcases

Nivek Dunne’s Celbridge scheme

CONGRATULATIONS to Nivek Dunne who is dipping her toes into the property game. A company linked to Dunne, Aterna Developments Ltd, is set to apply for permission to build 124... Read more »
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Briefcases

Stanley brothers’ Swanward struggles

INTERESTING to see in Iris Oifigiúil that a property vehicle controlled by the Stanley family had a receiver appointed to it courtesy of a Jersey-anchored vulture fund. The Stanleys –... Read more »
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Briefcases

Bad news for Quesada creditors

THE scheme of arrangement has just been filed with the Companies Office for Quesada Developments Ltd, where unsecured creditors are set to be disappointed. Fans of Goldhawk will recall that... Read more »
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Briefcases

John Ryan’s latest setback

GOLDHAWK’S old pal, Monkstown businessman John Ryan popped up again recently after having another judgment registered against him. Former Anglo Irish banker Ryan will be familiar to fans of Goldhawk... Read more »
Pat Barrington

Briefcases

Pat Barrington under the gun

SPARE a thought for gun-toting Co Clare businessman Pat Barrington and his wife Carmel Barrington, who had a setback in the Four Goldmines recently. The Kilrush couple have been embroiled... Read more »
Al Porter

Briefcases

RTE’S TWITTER PROBLEM

NEARLY four months after the RTÉ One Twitter account sent out bizarre tweets in response to someone who accused comedian Al Porter of inappropriate behaviour, the national broadcaster is remaining... Read more »