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November 30 - December 18, 2018
Affairs of the Nation
ZAPPER ZAPS HER CONSTITUENCY
THE DANCING on children’s minister, Katherine Zappone’s political coffin that Fine Gael and media commentators have engaged in could be most premature judging by the astounding efforts — and resources... Read more »
DENIS O’BRIEN’S AWARD
CONGRATULATIONS TO Denis O’Brien, who has landed an honorary fellowship from the National College of Ireland (NCI). It is the least the great educator deserves given his strong ties, financially... Read more »
DANA LIBEL SAGA: CHAPTER 1
DANA’S libel settlement with the Sunday World this week is just the beginning of a long, litigious war for the singer and former presidential candidate who, along with her brother,... Read more »
JACKIE LAVIN’S LITIGATION
INTERESTING to see Jackie Lavin once again suing Bill Cullen (this time with Ulster Bank). The happy couple have been down this road before. The latest proceedings come just a... Read more »
WHO FEARS TO SPEAK?
EARLY LAST month, French President Emmanuel Macron demanded the creation of a “real European army”, arguing in apocalyptic mode that “we have to protect ourselves with respect to China, Russia... Read more »
OOOPS! THE MONEY IS GONE
FANS OF Goldhawk will be familiar with the lengthy liquidation saga at Ralph Christians’s Magma Films, where the end is finally in sight. However, despite the huge worldwide success of... Read more »
LORRAINE HIGGINS FOR EUROPE?
FORMER LABOUR senator Lorraine Higgins has suddenly become a lady that lunches with Blueblouse women and has been tweeting in support of the same Fine Gael ladies on various topics.... Read more »
UCD PRESIDENT’S MAR-A-LAGO
AUSSIE GO-GETTER and UCD president Andrew Deeks has caused academic eyebrows to arch with his grandiose projects, including the €48m creative design centre; a circa €200m new sub campus; and... Read more »
LUKE COMER’S HEAVY GOING
ALTHOUGH ONLY a handful of people in this country can claim to be richer than developer Luke Comer, he finds himself being sued in the High Court by a couple... Read more »
Pillars of Society
PROFILE: MARY LOU MCDONALD
WITH Mary Lou McDonald installed as Sinn Féin president, party members expect a serious electoral breakthrough in the post-Gerry Adams era. But after an... Read more »
Fit to Print?
INM AWARDS ANGST
BEING BEATEN into second place by The Irish Times – again – in the NewsBrands journalism awards, the Sunday and Irish Independent editorial heads put a brave face on it... Read more »
THE IT VS SHANE ROSS
THE OLD Lady of Tara Street will need smelling salts if or when Shane Ross’s execrable Judicial Appointments Bill is passed into legislation. The Irish Times’s deference to the judiciary... Read more »
SLASH AND BURN AT ‘IRISH DAILY MAIL’
A PURGE of staff journalists, a cull of columnists and cuts for some of the more highly paid personality columnists is under way at the Irish Daily Mail as the... Read more »
Last Refuge
BRIAN HAYES’S FLAK OVER BANK JOB
THE PHOENIX readers will recall that, when MEP Brian Hayes departs the EU Parliament next summer, his new job will be chief executive of the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland... Read more »
MCALEESE BOWS OUT
FIANNA FÁIL HQ’s strenuous efforts to foist Justin McAleese on Dublin Rathdown have blown up in their faces – and local party members are not exactly mourning the exit of... Read more »
FEMALE, PALE BUT NOT STALE
A SURPRISINGLY tense selection battle recently took place for the honour of representing the Labour Party in the local elections for Cabra-Finglas – part of the Dáil constituency of Dublin... Read more »
FINE GAEL’S HARD TARGETS
THOSE WHO wonder why Leo Varadkar is afraid to pull the trigger and go for a general election, despite Fine Gael’s continuing poll lead over Fianna Fáil, should look at... Read more »
Hush Hush
BORIS, JEFFREY AND BAHRAIN
THE SHAM elections held over the last week in Bahrain coincided with a report from the Irish section of human rights group Front Line Defenders (FLD). The group reported instances... Read more »
Bog Cuttings
BOG CUTTINGS
Judge is a true Citizen A man who had come to Derry with his girlfriend to celebrate his birthday was asked to leave a city centre hotel due to the... Read more »
Fowl Emissions
BRUTON REVOLUTION?
IF EARNEST speeches by politicians promising radical, courageous action on the climate crisis were the measure of real achievement, Ireland would by now be a world leader in this field.... Read more »
RTE’S CONFUSING CLIMATE
The Irish media’s performance on climate change came under an unflattering spotlight with the recent launch of a book by former Indo scribe David Robbins, now at DCU. He found... Read more »
Bird's Eye View
FOSTER’S FINALE
LAST WEEKEND’S DUP conference turned out to be a damp squib. It coincided with the sealing of the Brexit deal in Brussels and the beginning of Theresa May’s frantic fortnight... Read more »
Foreign Frolics
ISRAEL FIGHTING ON TWO FRONTS
By Ramzy Baroud The November 12 botched Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip delineates Tel Aviv’s recent unusual failure to utilise its army as a tool to achieve Palestinian... Read more »
The Hot Air Brigade
THE HOT AIR BRIGADE
Contenders… What does that tangibly mean? Joe Schmidt on Ireland’s World Cup chances It was not all a thing of classical beauty. Not poetry. Much of the time a shift... Read more »
High Society
ANN MARIE NOHL’S NEW ROLE
AN ARCHITECTURAL business was quietly wound up a few weeks ago, which would not normally pique Goldhawk’s interest, but it turns out that one of the players here is former... Read more »
WINDING UP THE TONY RYAN TRUST
HAVING HANDED out just over €2m to various entities last year (and more than €15m during its lifetime), the Tony Ryan Trust has now run out of money and is... Read more »
CASARI’S COMEBACK
THE RETURN of Giorgio Casari to the Dublin restaurant scene has been much anticipated and a new venture in Ranelagh is on the cards. However, he is not actually a... Read more »
Behind the Scenes
JOSEPHA MADIGAN’S BIASED BURSARIES
NOT SURPRISINGLY, there was little (ie no) outcry after Josepha Madigan unveiled the government’s latest gender-based culture wheeze, which takes the form of the “Markievicz bursaries”. It is hard to... Read more »
THE ABBEY’S NEW NUMBER CRUNCHER
CULTURE MINISTER Josepha Madigan has been busy making appointments to the boards of some national cultural institutions. One of these is accountant Peter Lowry, who has popped up at the... Read more »
SELINA CARTMELL VS GRAHAM McLAREN
IT’S THE time of year when our two biggest institutions announce winter and spring programmes – ones that will leave audiences and, more importantly, the Arts Council scratching their heads.... Read more »
Sport of Kings
GOING GETS TOUGH AT GOFFS
THESE ARE testing times for a lot of people in the bloodstock industry and breeders were recently reminded that there is no demand at the moment for much of the... Read more »
HENRY BEEBY’S HEADACHE
IT IS not only breeders who took a hiding at the sales as the reduction in demand clearly hit the auction houses. Turnover at the six-day Goffs November Foal and... Read more »
BRYAN COOPER’S LATEST CHANCE
BRYAN COOPER’S career as a jockey is sometimes compared to a rollercoaster ride and the Kerryman could find himself on the way back up again thanks to a new arrangement... Read more »
CRISTINA PATINO’S NINE NAGS
WHEN A flat yearling is sold at public auction, it qualifies for a programme of two-year-old maiden races the following year, restricted to horses sold at public auction up to... Read more »
Moneybags
MAINSTAY SHARE COLLAPSE COULD TEMPT INVESTORS
THE COLLAPSE in the share price of Mainstay Medical earlier this month has seen million wiped off the company’s market capitalisation. However, the market overreaction could present opportunities for intrepid... Read more »
GARY MCGANN FAILS TO DELIVER FOR ARYZTA
SINCE THE appointment of Gary McGann as chairman of Aryzta in December 2016, the share price has fallen from €40 to its current €1.20, a drop of 97%. This is... Read more »
The Hot Water Brigade
DAVID LYNCH’S WINDFALL
THE DAVID Lynch-owned Capital Cover Group (CCG), which includes Brennan Insurances – one of the country’s oldest insurance operators – was bought by Donal Cronin’s Arachas Corporate Brokers late last... Read more »
JOHN BYRNE JNR’S VAST PROFITS
ACCOUNTS JUST filed for a company called Santenay Ltd shine a clear light on the vast wealth of the principals in the property empire, which was built up over decades... Read more »
BRENDAN HALLIGAN’S D2 DESTINATION
GOLDHAWK has reported on the rise and rise of Brendan Halligan’s Ireland China Institute, but not all Sino-Gaelic endeavours are thriving. Earlier this month, the dreaded Revenue registered a judgment... Read more »
WILL DOWLING’S LANGUAGE PROBLEM
WITH LOTS of businesses seeking a slice of the growing English-language tuition sector, there have been a few casualties. One entity that has now sought the protection of the courts... Read more »
PADDY MCKILLEN’S PROFITS
WHILE THE media has increasingly focused on the ubiquitous Paddy McKillen jnr’s exhausting expansion of the Press Up group, behind the scenes his dad, moneybags Paddy McKillen snr, continues to... Read more »
SONYA LENNON’S MANY HATS
WITH MOVES being made to introduce gender-based professorships in universities and the news agenda increasingly featuring discussions about the level of female participation in assorted sectors, it is clear that... Read more »
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