Affairs of the Nation

Rachel Allen

Affairs of the Nation

RACHEL ALLEN’S SURPRISE DISH

WHILE CELEBRITY chef Rachel Allen is off to Italy next month to film with the BBC Good Food Channel, back in Cork ‘Rachel’s’ restaurant has served up a surprise dish.... Read more »
Drew Harris

Affairs of the Nation

DREW HARRIS: OMERTA

A MOTION from Donegal County Council urged the government last week to cancel the appointment of Drew Harris as garda commissioner because of his “close working relationship with the British... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

MACGILL SCHOOL’S ANTI-NEUTRALITY LINE-UP

THE UPROAR over the male-dominated panel of speakers at Joe Mulholland’s MacGill Summer School was not replicated when the gender-neutral but anti-neutrality list of speakers on “Making Europe More Secure”... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

Finian McGrath

Affairs of the Nation

GRANNY GRANT ROW

THE REACTION to Shane Ross’s granny grant budgetary demand was a classic re-run of the usual Fine Gael inspired media onslaught depicting the Alliance minister as some spoilt, political delinquent.... Read more »
Sophie Toscan du Plantier

Affairs of the Nation

IAN BAILEY ‘STING’

PERHAPS the most serious allegation made by Ian Bailey, soon to be tried in France in his absence, on the charge of murdering Sophie Toscan du Plantier, is that gardaí... Read more »
Keiran Mulvey

Affairs of the Nation

KIERAN MULVEY’S JOURNEY

FORMER Workers’ Party member and trade union leader Kieran Mulvey may be a little embarrassed at the tardiness of INM in accepting his appointment to join the board. INM’s board... Read more »
Keith Spencer

Affairs of the Nation

KEITH SPENCER’S COURT DATE

HIGH-FLYING barrister Keith Spencer BL will have to wait until October to see what Judge Seamus Noonan has in store for him after some document alterations at the High Court... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

DECLAN DOOLEY’S NEW MOVE

INTERESTING to see Declan Dooley popping up as a player in the Enda O’Coineen vehicle set up to buy the Sunday Business Post from Conor Killeen. Dooley will be known... Read more »
Paul Blanchfield

Affairs of the Nation

PAUL BLANCHFIELD’S CLOSED VAULTS

THE APPOINTMENT of an examiner to Frontier Entertainment Ltd must come as a shock to the company’s founder – broadcaster-turned-investor Paul Blanchfield – who recently announced that his €5m tourist... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Michael O'Leary

Pillars of Society

PROFILE: MICHAEL O’LEARY

THIS WEEK, strike action has been scheduled at Ryanair bases in Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Sweden and The Netherlands. This represents the apex in the... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Emmet Kirwan

The Young Bloods

YOUNG BLOOD: EMMET KIRWAN

Opinionated actor and writer Emmett Kirwan (38) is fast becoming one of the most recognisable faces in Irish theatre. Making his silver screen debut... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Noel Whelan

Fit to Print?

WHELAN SPURNS PRESIDENCY

WHAT an interesting sequence of statements emanated from barrister, Irish Times columnist, ex-Fianna Fáil election candidate and putative presidential candidate Noel Whelan in the last month or so. On June... Read more »
Diageo Dana An Garda Síochána IT Trust No Stone Unturned Irish Times Black Friday Vicky Conway

Fit to Print?

SUSAN MITCHELL’S DISGRUNTLED DOCTORS

TWO radically different takes on the CervicalCheck crisis were published last weekend by Sunday Times journalist Justine McCarthy and Sunday Business Post health editor Susan Mitchell. McCarthy described how well-known... Read more »
Leslie Buckley

Fit to Print?

DON’T MENTION THE WAR

DENIS O’BRIEN will be pleased to know that RTÉ is watching his back as he contends with various begrudgers in some parts of the media. Marian Finucane’s summer hols substitute... Read more »

Last Refuge

Alan Kelly

Last Refuge

AK47 SALVO AGAINST HOWLIN

BRENDAN HOWLIN fought back against a flurry of statements from various councillors and other Labour Party members demanding his replacement as party leader last week. And he will have clocked... Read more »
Mary-Lou McDonald

Last Refuge

SF BORDER POLL ‘U-TURN’

SINN FÉIN has done a U-turn of sorts on the timing of a border poll, but its political opponents as well as some media, a frenzied Irish Times in particular,... Read more »
Anne Marie McNally

Last Refuge

SOC DEMS: STALE BUT NOT MALE

CONGRATS to the Social Democrats, whose political ambition belies their effete image as cuddly, social justice champions and who recently eclipsed their left-wing rivals at the Danielle Carroll Summer School... Read more »
Willie O'Dea

Last Refuge

O’DEA SLAPS IT UP TO MARTIN

REPORTS claiming that Willie O’Dea is part of a simmering revolt against Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin are well wide of the mark. But his demand for a ‘fiver-for-all’ social... Read more »

Hush Hush

Jeffrey Donaldson

Hush Hush

DUP FOREIGN POLICY

AN INDIGNANT letter to The Irish Times this week from the London Embassy of the Kingdom of Bahrain defended its human rights record and the deployment of “northern Irish experts”... Read more »
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Hush Hush

SIMON COVENEY’S HEADACHE

CANADA’S militant pursuit of human rights in Saudi Arabia will have left foreign minister Simon Coveney at a loss as he watches the Canadians steal a march on Ireland. Canada... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS

Pigs and pepper spray A CAVAN man, who was pepper-sprayed by gardaí after he verbally abused them outside his home, avoided jail time before a recent sitting of Virginia District... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

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Fowl Emissions

PEAT BOG SOLDIERS

IT HAS been a cruel summer for Irish agriculture. This follows hot on the heels of what was one of the coldest springs in decades. Grass growth in March and... Read more »
Michael Creed

Fowl Emissions

MICHAEL CREED’S COAXING

WHILE THE gardens of south Dublin may have been wilting as the hosepipe ban took effect, there is little public awareness of just how devastating this year’s extreme weather events... Read more »

Bird's Eye View

Micheál Martin

Bird's Eye View

FIANNA FÁIL TO DEVOUR SDLP?

For more than a decade the Fianna Fáil vulture has been hovering over the stricken SDLP as the party stumbles and falls across what for it are the electoral deserts... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Gavin Duffy

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

There are approximately 700,000 people around the country who are involved in rural pursuits – hunting, shooting, fishing – who are involved in farming etc and they know me. They... Read more »

High Society

High Society

Miriam O’Callaghan

High Society

KEEPING UP WITH MIRIAM

THERE WAS plenty for fans of Miriam O’Callaghan to savour in last weekend’s Sindo, which featured a fawning interview with the broadcaster by hack... Read more »

High Society

Consuelo O’Connor

High Society

DOMINIC WEST’S ‘EXCLUSIVE RENTAL’

ALTHOUGH THE impressive Glin Castle attracted plenty of attention when it and the surrounding 400-acre estate were placed on the market in 2016 with... Read more »

High Society

Denis O'Brien

High Society

DINNY’S SECOND CHANCE

GOLDHAWK spotted a planning notice for some works to be carried out at Ballynahinch Castle estate, where Denis O’Brien is now the owner of the upmarket hotel. He will be... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Eugene Downes

Behind the Scenes

EUGENE DOWNES’S FESTIVAL RATING

WITH THE Kilkenny Arts Festival (KAF) kicking off this week, it is interesting to note that the Arts Council (slightly) reduced its grant to the beano in 2018. This followed... Read more »
Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

Behind the Scenes

MICHAEL STARRETT’S SUCCESSOR

WITH HERITAGE Council chief executive Michael Starrett retiring after a whopping 22 years in situ, the search is on for a new candidate to fill the job. Mazars, the management... Read more »
Christine Molloy

Behind the Scenes

SCREEN IRELAND’S HAPPY AUDIENCE

ANNIE DOONA’S Screen Ireland (previously the Irish Film Board) recently released its second-quarter funding decisions, with just over €5.5m of public lolly divvied out to the successful applicants in the... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Nick Bradley

Sport of Kings

NICK BRADLEY’S BAD BATCH

GORDON ELLIOTT’S first venture into training two year olds last year was a successful one, especially when the bunch assembled by syndicate specialist Nick Bradley and Elliott’s trusted lieutenant Mouse... Read more »
Charles Byrnes

Sport of Kings

CHARLES BYRNES’S GALWAY GLOOM

CHARLES BYRNES is a trainer the bookies fear when the money is down, but the shrewd Limerick man found the going tough at Galway, where the battle began in the... Read more »
Brendan Duke Adrian Murray Mick Bailey

Sport of Kings

TOUGH GOING FOR O’BRIEN

TRAINER EXTRAORDINAIRE Aidan O’Brien is unaccustomed to a downturn in the form of his expensive string, but the Ballydoyle maestro has recently had to exercise patience with his steeds as... Read more »
Willie Mullins

Sport of Kings

WILLIE MULLINS’S STRATEGY

IT WAS a beano of a week for Willie Mullins in Galway, winning the feature race on three of the first four days, and only missing out on the Galway... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Bob Etchingham

Moneybags

APPLEGREEN NEEDS TO MOVE INTO FAST LANE

THE BIG acquisition of a majority stake in UK motorway service operator Welcome Break is transformative for Applegreen. However, predictably the deal has been... Read more »

Moneybags

Kirill Golovanov

Moneybags

OVOCA’S BIZARRE SWITCH OFFERS HUGE UPSIDE POTENTIAL

IT IS clearly very odd that a company that has long traded in the natural resources sector has, overnight, turned itself into a pharmaceutical... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

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The Hot Water Brigade

SULLIVAN’S ALE-ING BREWERY

IT’S BEEN a year since a confident Alan Quane, chief executive of Sullivan’s Craft Brewery (1702) Ltd, assuredly told thejournal.ie’s business section, fora.ie, that the company’s sales were well ahead... Read more »
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The Hot Water Brigade

GEORGINA APPELBE’S JUDGMENT

MORE woe for the Appelbe family of West Cork. A subsidiary of Howard Stanley Marks’s Oaktree Capital has just registered a judgment for a stomach-churning €3.5m against Georgina Appelbe, wife... Read more »
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The Hot Water Brigade

SALLYANN LUYKX’S COURT DATE

GOLDHAWK’s old pals Huibrecht and Sallyann Luykx have managed to get on the wrong side of the Revenue yet again. Readers will recall that the Belgian-born businessman and his wife... Read more »
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The Hot Water Brigade

STRIKING OFF IMELDA LEAHY

INTERESTING to see that hapless Carlow legal eagle Imelda Leahy has been struck off the Roll of Solicitors for taking €174,000 from a dead client’s account. Fans of Goldhawk will... Read more »
Roly Saul

The Hot Water Brigade

SOUR TASTE AT ROLY SAUL’S

SPARE a thought for Roly Saul who has just closed the doors of his Dundrum bistro and called in the liquidator after a decade in business. Saul is best known... Read more »
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The Hot Water Brigade

DENIS BEGLEY’S BANKING BLUES

SPARE a thought for Westmeath auctioneer Denis Begley, who was slapped with a judgment for €181,000 by ACC Bank recently. Begley, the principal at DNG Begley estate agents in Athlone,... Read more »
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The Hot Water Brigade

CARB’S PUBLISHING POLICY

DUBLIN accountant Sean Whelan hasn’t done his sums. The dreaded taxman has just registered a judgment for €32,000 against him, which could see Whelan fall foul of the Chartered Accountants... Read more »
Philip Martin

The Hot Water Brigade

PHILIP MARTIN’S PROBLEM KID

RECENT results haven’t exactly been muy bueno for “born-again Mexican” Philip Martin’s Blanco Nino Ltd. Readers will recall that Martin’s company manufactures “authentic” South American food in, er, Clonmel, Co... Read more »
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The Hot Water Brigade

DUNDALK BUSINESSMEN BOWL A SPARE

CONGRATULATIONS (of sorts) are in order to the consortium of Louth businessmen who own the 2-acre Dundalk Sportsbowl complex on Racecourse Road. Accounts filed recently by the vehicle behind the... Read more »
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The Hot Water Brigade

NIALL MELLON LATEST TAX BILL

IT’S BEEN a long summer for Niall Mellon, who has just had a second tax judgment registered against him in the space of two weeks. Mellon – best known for... Read more »