Affairs of the Nation

Brian Hayes

Affairs of the Nation

FINE GAEL’S WAR GAMES

CAREFULLY crafted PR spin on Tánaiste Simon Coveney’s attendance at the EU foreign affairs council this week referred to Ireland’s active role in shaping the EU’s security and defence policy.... Read more »
Miriam O’Callaghan

Affairs of the Nation

MIRIAM O’CALLAGHAN’S TV SLOT

RSVP magazine’s current edition gives a two-page spread to Miriam O’Callaghan NOT hosting her Saturday Night with Miriam show for the first time since 2005. Murrium explained that she dropped... Read more »
Dery Desmond

Affairs of the Nation

FIVE GUYS, ONE CRITIC

GOLDHAWK certainly enjoyed Catherine Cleary’s demolition of the new Five Guys burger joint in her Irish Times review earlier this month. It turns out that she has form when it... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

Drew Harris

Affairs of the Nation

COMMISSIONER DREW HARRIS AND MI5

THE APPOINTMENT of PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Drew Harris as the new Garda Commissioner – flagged by Goldhawk (see The Phoenix 15/6/18) – may be politically correct in that he... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

PETER O’BRIEN’S ‘HAPPENINGS’

ONE PERSON benefiting from the sweltering summer weather is ‘socially conscious’ entrepreneur Peter O’Brien, who is behind the Happenings event business that has recently been packing in punters. One of... Read more »
Leo Varadkar

Affairs of the Nation

JIM GIBNEY’S JUBILATION

ANY DOUBTS about Sinn Féin’s lustful intentions towards Fine Gael and a possible coalition partnership will have been allayed by longtime SF strategist Jim Gibney writing in The Irish News... Read more »
Sean Sherlock

Affairs of the Nation

SHERLOCK’S BOOZY CONSTITUENCY

SOME of Labour deputy Sean Sherlock’s parliamentary colleagues wondered if the Cork East TD had drink taken when he moved his unusual amendments to the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill undermining... Read more »
Mel Gibson

Affairs of the Nation

MEL GIBSON V MACDARA KELLEHER

CONGRATULATIONS to filmmaker Macdara Kelleher who received good news from the Superior Court of California last week in relation to an expensive row concerning a new $25m Mel Gibson film.... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

GUNBOAT DIPLOMACY

THAT cordial encounter between Sinn Féin TD Martin Ferris and British royal Prince Charles in Kerry allowed the former IRA commander an opportunity to exhibit his particular brand of gunboat... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Eamonn Rothwell

Pillars of Society

EAMONN ROTHWELL

THE BOTCHED arrival of the giant WB Yeats car ferry represented a bloody nose for Eamonn “Rottweiler” Rothwell, the loaded chief executive of Irish... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Angela Nagle

The Young Bloods

ANGELA NAGLE

IRISH WRITER and self-promoter extraordinaire Angela Nagle (34) has been fighting for her reputation recently. After a remarkable 12 months that saw her career... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Deirdre Veldon

Fit to Print?

ROMAN FEUD AT THE IRISH TIMES

IRISH TIMES efforts to dispense with longtime Rome correspondent Paddy Agnew without decent recompense are developing into a legal saga in Rome with Judge Baroncini apparently unimpressed by management at... Read more »

Fit to Print?

THE FAMINE HACK

FRETTING recently over the possible erosion of Irish devotion to Britain and its royal family engendered by Brexit, Irish Times columnist Stephen Collins engaged in a spectacular display of revisionism... Read more »
Sean Lemass

Fit to Print?

JODY CORCORAN PROTESTS (TOO MUCH)

BARRISTER and ex-politician Noel Whelan’s weekly Irish Times columns do not normally provoke much angst but a recent reference to a Sunday Independent story being “political spin” appears to have... Read more »

Last Refuge

Helen McEntee

Last Refuge

HELEN McENTEE FOR EUROPE

LOOKS as though Fine Gael’s junior Europe Minister Helen McEntee has seen the writing on the wall in Meath East as well as the ministerial stakes given that her constituency... Read more »
Shane Ross

Last Refuge

FG AND JUDGES STILL FIGHT SHANE ROSS

THE rearguard action by judges and their Fine Gael supporters against Shane Ross’s Judicial Appointments Bill has reached the stage of political and legal hand-to-hand fighting with several strikes against... Read more »
Eoin Ó Broin

Last Refuge

SINN FÉIN COALITION SPLITS

A SINN FÉIN ard fheis campaign by front bench housing spokesperson Eoin “Brainiac” Ó Broin TD to unseat longtime apparatchik Dawn Doyle as general secretary was perhaps more significant than... Read more »
Kate O’Connell

Last Refuge

O’CONNELL RED FLAG

KATE O’CONNELL’S spin machine scored a hit with a recent Mail on Sunday splash – Minister Faces Revolt Led By Kate O’Connell, screamed the ‘special report’ on the front page.... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS

Bog Road resident’s dangerous driving AT HIS four-day trial at Galway Criminal Court, John Conroy (23), of 2 Bog Road, Ballinrobe denied 13 counts of dangerous driving including breaking red... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Denis Naughten

Fowl Emissions

NAUGHTEN’S REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY

“PLEASE IGNORE the email you received earlier!” It’s a subject line that’s guaranteed to make you go back and actually read the email you ignored earlier. Denis Naughten came up... Read more »

Bird's Eye View

Arlene Foster

Bird's Eye View

NEW FACE FOR ARLENE FOSTER

ARLENE FOSTER has thrown herself into an outreach campaign in the last month. In rapid succession she visited Muslims in Belfast for the festival of Eid complete with respectful shawl... Read more »

Wigs on the Green

Lennon - Harry Kane

Wigs on the Green

HELEN LUCEY’S LUCRE

LISTOWEL solicitor and coroner for Kerry North and West Helen Lucey awaits her sanction from High Court President Peter Kelly, who may decree next week that she must pay restitution... Read more »
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Wigs on the Green

OLAF TYARANSEN’S LIBEL LETTERS

IT WAS interesting to see music journalist Olaf Tyaransen post on his Facebook page recently about being “cast out of several realms that [he’s] used to operating in”. One realm... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Louise O'Neill

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

I could hear someone quietly sobbing, and jolted when I realised it was me. Louise O’Neill attends a stage adaptation of her own book, Asking For It, Irish Examiner, Submitted... Read more »

High Society

Fionnuala and Anthony Brabazon

High Society

JACK BRABAZON GETS IN THE GROOVE

PRESUMABLY Anthony Brabazon and his wife, Fionnuala (aka Lord and Lady Ardee) were delighted with the glowing coverage of Killruddery House in the Sunday Business Post magazine last weekend. With... Read more »
Consuelo O’Connor

High Society

MICHAEL DUFFY’S RDS REWARDS

THERE IS the usual backslapping in the latest annual report of the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) where things are looking good – especially for some senior management suits. Certainly, there... Read more »
Lisa Duffy

High Society

LISA DUFFY’S MALTESE FASHION

INTERESTING TO see the name of Lisa Duffy pop up in relation to an online row with the mysterious Instagram account Bloggers Unveiled. This has resulted in all manner of... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Willie White

Behind the Scenes

WILLIE WHITE’S WOES

THE OFF-STAGE drama for the Dublin Theatre Festival has seen an Arts Council cut in funding for 2018. It looks like the writing was on the wall for the board,... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

HARRY’S NEW GAME

HARRY CROSBIE (OBE) has been keeping busy with plans for his own gaff and the Vicar Street venue. He has also been fighting yet another legal action. Last weekend, the... Read more »
Lionel Shriver

Behind the Scenes

ANNIE DOONA’S BALANCING ACT

LIONEL SHRIVER’S outburst in The Spectator rubbishing publisher Penguin’s diversity policies (ie taking into account the gender, sexuality, etc of those to be published) led Goldhawk to take a look... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Ken Bolger

Sport of Kings

KEN BOLGER’S TAX BILL

KEN BOLGER, a nephew of trainer Jim Bolger, found himself on the receiving end of some unwanted attention from the dreaded taxman. As a result of a non-declaration of income,... Read more »
Brendan Duke Adrian Murray Mick Bailey

Sport of Kings

FRANKIE DETTORI’S CONTRACT

THERE IS little love lost between Frankie Dettori and his previous employers at Al Shaqab Racing. Dettori was retained by Sheikh Joaan Al Thani’s Qatari outfit for the last five... Read more »
Henry Beeby

Sport of Kings

GOOD AND BAD AT GOFFS

HUGE SUMS of money were again being splashed around for national hunt ‘playthings’ at the Goffs Land Rover Sale earlier this month and a similar scenario is quite likely at... Read more »
Amer Abdulaziz

Sport of Kings

AMER ABDULAZIZ CHALLENGES JOHN MAGNIER

THE LUXEMBOURG registered thoroughbred investment fund Phoenix Thoroughbreds and its associated personnel have been generous in providing newsworthy snippets this year – and the long-running saga with their horses and... Read more »
Ed Dunlop David Dunsdon Sarah Lynam Rebecca May Wayne Hassett Eoin O'Brien Michael Burke Aine O’Connor Ashroe Diamond Thomand O’Mara Peter Keatley Timmy Hyde Coolmore All About Sunday Colin Keane Ronan Whelan JP McManus Jessica Harrington Dundalk Racecourse Paul Hensey Irish National Hunt Horse-racing Doping Paddy Walsh Tom Kelly Suspension

Sport of Kings

PHILIP BYRNES’S APPEAL

HAVING HAD a recent four-day Navan ban for careless riding overturned on appeal, jockey Philip Byrnes again returned to the IHRB to appeal his latest ban for the same offence.... Read more »

Moneybags

Jonathan Laredo

Moneybags

LOTS OF ROOM FOR GROWTH AT YEW GROVE

ON THE one hand it is not surprising that another Irish property REIT has been launched on the Irish-UK stock markets given the huge volume of funds attracted into the... Read more »
Brian Hall

Moneybags

DUDS AND DITHERING AT AMINEX PLC

GIVEN THAT Aminex went into production in Tanzania for the first time in April 2016, the first full year figures from the gas field surfaced in the 2017 accounts. Shareholders... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

David Miller

The Hot Water Brigade

DAVID MILLER FEELS THE BURN

IT LOOKS like the company behind the Énergie Fitness gym in Parkwest has run its last race. Fitness guru David Miller and his wife Linda Miller are the largest shareholders... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

MICK BEIRNE’S ROCKY ROAD

BAD news for Royal County businessman Mick Beirne of engineering company Embassy Contractors Ltd, who was named on the Revenue’s latest list of tax defaulters recently. The Leitrim native, based... Read more »
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The Hot Water Brigade

FRANCIS DOOLEY’S ‘UNSATISFACTORY DOCUMENT’

CONGRATULATIONS to Wexford businessman Francis Dooley who got some rare good news from the High Court earlier this month. Dooley has had his share of court dates since 2010 and... Read more »
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The Hot Water Brigade

AIB WHACKS TOM FURLEY

MORE hard cheese for troubled Dublin businessman Tom Furley, who has just been slapped with a hefty €3.5m judgment courtesy of AIB. Castleknock-based Furley has been embroiled in a scrap... Read more »
Jonny Davis, Paddy Davis, Sharon Davidge

The Hot Water Brigade

DAVIS BROTHERS SNOWED UNDER

AN INTERESTING little company called Après Entertainment Ltd has just gone to the wall after running out of dosh. At a recent creditors’ meeting, accountant Christopher Harmer was appointed liquidator... Read more »
Eileen and Jason Denham

The Hot Water Brigade

LAST ORDERS AT HANGAR

A COMPANY called Mahned Ltd has just had a tax judgment for €64,000 registered against it. This turns out to be the entity behind the popular Hangar music venue and... Read more »
Rupert Murdoch

The Hot Water Brigade

RUPERT MURDOCH’S CASH INJECTION

THE Dirty Digger has given Dublin-anchored Storyful Ltd another dig-out. Documents just filed with the Companies Office show Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation pumped €12m into Storyful at the end of... Read more »
Giovanni Viscardi

The Hot Water Brigade

BAGOTS HUTTON WHINE BAR

THE owners of Bagots Hutton ‘wine emporium’ on Ormond Quay in D1 have gone to the High Court to challenge the redevelopment of the neighbouring Ormond Hotel. They were much... Read more »