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October 19 - November 1, 2018
Affairs of the Nation
SAUDIS SILENCE IRISH GOVERNMENT
THERE HAS been a deafening silence from foreign minister Simon Coveney and the government at the apparent murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by agents of Saudi Arabia in its Istanbul... Read more »
SINN FÉIN POPPYCOCK-UP
THERE is war at all levels of Sinn Féin over presidential candidate Liadh Ní Riada’s statement that she would wear the poppy if elected president. The message has gone out... Read more »
GRAHAM HOLLAND’S DOGGED STRATEGY
A HIGH Court judgment by Judge Tara Burns, dismissing a challenge by greyhound trainer Graham Holland, refers to an audacious claim of bias made against an industry player who happens... Read more »
Sponsored Content
Cantor Fitzgerald Ireland – US Election Countdown: A Pivotal Moment for Global Financial Markets
The US presidential election is now just over a month away, with its outcome likely to have significant implications for global financial markets. The US not only accounts for... Read more »
NO LOVE FOR LABOUR
The Irish Congress of Trade Union’s Raise the Roof rally attracted a crowd of around 12,000, by and large uniting various campaigns and groups around the cross-party motion on homelessness.... Read more »
PAT CAREY’S MEDIA TRIAL
THE smearing of garda whistleblower Sgt McCabe has been well and truly demolished with Justice Charleton’s tribunal report being just the latest exoneration against the charge of child abuse. But... Read more »
IRISH TIMES STYLE
THE Irish Times marked the centenary of its most esteemed editor ever, Douglas Gageby, with a tribute from Joe Breen – “a man above the rest” – but decided not... Read more »
HUGHES BOYS’ GAMBLE
WHILE THE Hughes family has been having some problems with its €50m Westport House project, the good news is that Cathal and the rest of the clan have got the... Read more »
Pillars of Society
PROFILE: CHARLIE FLANAGAN
JUSTICE MINISTER Charlie Flanagan will not have been discommoded by the latest Charleton Tribunal report. The report damns ex-Commissioner Martin Callinan and his sidekick,... Read more »
The Young Bloods
YOUNG BLOOD: JOHN MCGAHON
Fielding a general election candidate who is currently involved in a garda investigation is not an ideal scenario in politics. In fact, it is... Read more »
The Pensions Authority : 10 Tips to Understanding Retirement Saving
Engage with your future – decide and plan for the lifestyle you want in retirement and work out how to save for it. The average person retiring today has... Read more »
Fit to Print?
NÓIRÍN VS MEDIA
EX-GARDA COMMISSIONER Nóirín O’Sullivan appears to have been rehabilitated by Justice Charleton’s findings, but if no journalist offered a scintilla of evidence against her at the tribunal, she still bears... Read more »
DENIS NAUGHTEN’S MOBILE
DENIS NAUGHTEN scuttled back to base the day after his resignation last week and straight into an interview with Shannonside FM in what was clearly the beginning of a campaign... Read more »
FRANK MCDONALD’S HIT LIST
TRULY FRANK is the title of long-time Irish Times environment correspondent Frank McDonald’s newly published memoir, in which he pays off a few scores and then some. Not even the... Read more »
Last Refuge
CANNEY’S NEW ALLIANCE
NEW JUNIOR minister Seán Canney may or may not be grateful to his former colleagues in the Independent Alliance, but they are responsible (along with Denis Naughten, of course) for... Read more »
BEWARE PERFIDIOUS ALBION!
HISTORIC FEAR of treacherous England has provoked the government into warning ministers to “resist unwarranted advances” from their British counterparts. The fear is that such “unsolicited contacts” are part of... Read more »
VARADKAR TO PULL PLUG?
LEO VARADKAR and some of his Fine Gael cabinet members now regret that they did not act on their political instincts last summer and go for an election when things... Read more »
HAS BYRNE BURNED HER BRIDGES?
FOLLOWING her threat not to vote confidence in housing minister Eoghan Murphy, junior minister Catherine Byrne emerged from her meeting with Murphy and Leo Varadkar to state that she had... Read more »
Hush Hush
LICENCE TO KILL: MARTIN O’HAGAN
The murder and state detention of journalists is currently worldwide news, but the anniversary last month of the slaying of Sunday World journalist Martin O’Hagan went by mostly unremarked. However,... Read more »
PAUL POGBA’S BRAND
WHILE MANCHESTER United fans have been despairing at the underwhelming performance of superstar Paul Pogba, the Irish end of the story continues to play out. Last year, it emerged that... Read more »
Student Life
SÍONA CAHILL’S BUDGET BLUES
YOU would have needed to get up early to catch the Union of Students of Ireland’s (USI’s) response to the Budget earlier this month. The national union organised an 8am... Read more »
MICHEÁL GANLEY’S GIG
KILL ALL Normies author Angela Nagle was in Trinity College recently to speak at an event with right-wing YouTuber Carl Benjamin. More interesting than their snore-fest debate on identity politics... Read more »
SHANE ROSS’S CHEQUE BOOK
WHILE THE sports focus in the media this week has been on Martin O’Neill’s Republic of Ireland team, things have been moving apace at Hockey Ireland. It looks like the... Read more »
Bog Cuttings
BOG CUTTINGS
Bus station black out A MAN got so drunk that gardaí found him with his pants down around his ankles. Inspector Gary McPolin said Darren McGrath (46), who lives in... Read more »
Fowl Emissions
BRUTON THE SAVIOUR?
“I’ve never seen such quiet panic about climate change. It finally hit the political class last week that this isn’t our grandchildren’s problem; we’re all gonna die pretty soon.” This... Read more »
HOT AIR BROADCASTERS
While reaction to the IPCC’s dire latest report has been notably strong in some of the newspapers, what of the broadcast media? Virgin’s Tonight show mostly continued its smart-alecky mockery... Read more »
Bird's Eye View
DUP: NEVER ON SUNDAY
“NO ONE likes us, we don’t care. We are Millwall, super Millwall. We are Millwall from the Den.” Sung to the tune of Rod Stewart’s Sailing, Millwall football fans’ fearsome... Read more »
The Hot Air Brigade
THE HOT AIR BRIGADE
Huberman brings a trace of Sarah Silverman, Kristen Wiig and Anna Faris – and a heavier dollop of Sharon Horgan – to an otherwise conventional set-up. Peter Crawley reviews the... Read more »
High Society
DERMOT DESMOND’S NEW TRUSTEE
DERMOT DESMOND’S favourite cultural institution, the Chester Beatty Library (CBL), has been beefing up its board of trustees recently (see The Phoenix, 5/10/18). Alongside... Read more »
DOMINIC WEST’S PARTY BARN
THE LATEST plug for Glin Castle comes courtesy of the Irish Examiner, where readers are told that the posh wedding and party venue is... Read more »
VINCENT CARTON’S BIG GARDEN
IT’S NOT everyday that a prime Dublin 4 property is put up for sale just a few months after its purchase, but that is what has happened to the big... Read more »
Matt the Thresher – Dublin’s Foremost Seafood Bar & Grill
Located in the heart of Georgian Dublin, just off Baggot Street, Matt the Thresher is Dublin’s favourite seafood restaurant. From the sea to your plate, the restaurant offers the... Read more »
Behind the Scenes
SLOWLY DOES IT AT IMMA
THERE IS still no sign of white smoke at Kilmainham, where they are waiting for a new director to replace the long-departed Sarah Glennie. The number of applicants for the... Read more »
JOSEPHA MADIGAN’S CREATIVE SPENDING
THE TENSIONS between the Arts Council and the Department of Culture over the emergence of Creative Ireland (CI) are well known. The new body poses a problem for Merrion Square... Read more »
MEL GIBSON’S TAXING ISSUE
THE MOVIE suits don’t generally wash their dirty linen in public, which is why Mel Gibson’s spat with Voltage Pictures – producers of the Dublin-shot The Professor and the Madman... Read more »
Sport of Kings
BHA CRACKS THE WHIP
PATRICK MULLINS found himself the subject of some unwanted attention recently, when his winning ride aboard his father’s Rathvinden in the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham last March was voted... Read more »
MELISSA MARGOLIS MAKES WAVES
WHEN THE Gordon Elliott-trained Kuiper Belt landed the valuable Lartigue Hurdle at Listowel last month, it gave fledgling owner Melissa Margolis her biggest success. That success was short-lived, however, as... Read more »
CONROY’S FLASHY PROFIT
WHILE THE moolah being splashed out at Goffs showed that the going is very good these days, the market for bloodstock remains selective and unpredictable. A yearling needs to tick... Read more »
ABDULAZIZ UPS THE ANTE
IT WILL be recalled (see The Phoenix, 29/6/18) that Phoenix Thoroughbreds supremo Amer Abdulaziz pledged this year at Royal Ascot to develop his bloodstock investment fund into a global player... Read more »
Moneybags
ACCOUNTING GOBBLEDYGOOK AT GREENCOAT RENEWABLES
FROM THE off, it has been very difficult to understand exactly what is going on inside Greencoat Renewables. The company’s revenue base – the... Read more »
GOING IS GOOD FOR GOFFS
THE LENGTHY spat between John Magnier and Sheikh Mohammed Al-Maktoum was not good for Robert J Goff & Co, with Maktoum’s Godolphin breeding and... Read more »
Gold: A Safe Haven for Pensions in Uncertain Times
YOU HAVE no doubt heard about the record-breaking year that gold is having. At the time of writing, it is up 27% in dollar terms. If you were to... Read more »
The Hot Water Brigade
PAUL DOHERTY’S LATEST VENTURE
GOLDHAWK spotted a small Dublin tech company called Software Design Ltd (SDL) that went into voluntary liquidation at the end of August. Happily, one of the directors is already back... Read more »
DONALL DOOLEY GOES BUST
HARD luck to former high-flying developer Donall Dooley, who has just been adjudicated bankrupt in the High Court. Fans of Goldhawk will not be too surprised with this result –... Read more »
LEGAL EAGLES GROUNDED
THERE might be some tension at the next Southern Law Association shindig after two Cork City solicitors had judgments registered against them by rival legal eagles. Gail and Michael Enright... Read more »
TAXMAN SKINS TOM HOGAN
THE dreaded taxman has lasered in on Galway businessman Tom Hogan. The Carrowbrowne man, who is listed as a director at a company called BB Medical Skincare Ltd (BBMS), has... Read more »
WINDING UP THALMAN HEALTH
THE MUCH-VAUNTED Cork healthcare start-up Thalman Health Ltd is calling in the liquidator. The company, which straddled the Atlantic, operating in Cork and San Francisco, has declared itself insolvent ahead... Read more »
JEFFREY AIRD’S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES
POSH interior design company Clive Christian Ireland (CCI) Ltd is heading for liquidation. A creditors meeting is scheduled for next week for the business, which is run by Dublin designer... Read more »
ED HEAPHY’S SUPREME COURT APPEAL
HARD luck to Cork banking consultant and former businessman Ed Heaphy, who had his appeal against a Bank of Ireland judgment slapped down in the Supreme Court recently. These days,... Read more »
DAVID HERLIHY’S SECOND STRIKE-OFF
MORE on struck-off solicitor David Herlihy’s Law Society scrap. The former Limerick legal eagle was back in the Four Goldmines last week, where he was described by High Court president... Read more »
Government to Raise Pension Fund Threshold Starting in 2026
Pat Ryan, Principal, Pat Ryan Pensions Limited ON SEPTEMBER 18, the Minister for Finance announced the Government’s intent to raise the standard fund threshold (SFT), following months of speculation.... Read more »
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SHARK SLAPPED
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DEREK ICETON’S DISMOUNT
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HERITAGE TRUST SEATS
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