Subscribe Now
May 17 - May 30, 2019
Affairs of the Nation
LABOUR TARGETS CLARE DALY
THAT Irish Times poll, which showed Labour EU Dublin candidate Alex White (8%) within spitting distance of Green candidate Ciarán Cuffe (9%) and left Independent Clare Daly (10%), sent a... Read more »
SEX’N’DRUGS’N’ROCK’N’ROLL
ONE FEELS sure that Chris Goodey will be able to sort out that contretemps with the National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP) – of which he is chief executive –... Read more »
JONATHAN GRAHAM’S BOXING BOUTS
WHILE HE has been busy on the campaign trail in the Palmerstown-Fonthill ward in South County Dublin, Fianna Fáil councillor Jonathan Graham may have been distracted by a recent knockout... Read more »
Sponsored Content
Dovida’s Live-in Care Service
A compelling alternative to nursing home care, delivered by the most experienced care provider in Ireland Michael Wright, Director of Growth, Dovida Ireland Growth in nursing... Read more »
SOC DEM ASYLUM
SOCIAL DEMOCRAT candidates have been campaigning energetically in the elections but, behind the scenes, the row over local election candidate Ellie Kisyombe still festers. The spat between the leadership and... Read more »
FEUDS IN SICILY AND DROGHEDA
THE Drogheda Leader freesheet splashed a sensational scoop across its front page recently, telling the population, already terrified by a local gang feud, that Drogheda is the “second most dangerous... Read more »
TARGETING JOHN ARKINS
IT IS more than a year since Screen Ireland chief executive James Hickey told a Joint Oireachtas Committee that a forum on industrial relations issues in the film and TV... Read more »
GORDON ELLIOTT’S ALSO RANS
IT MAY have been just as well that Gordon Elliott wasn’t present in Punchestown last week when Willie Mullins was busy making hay. The Elliott team – currently under the... Read more »
Pillars of Society
PROFILE: CIARÁN CUFFE
WITH CLIMATE catastrophe nigh and finally impinging itself on the popular Irish consciousness, can the Green Party revive itself politically? In particular, can the... Read more »
The Young Bloods
YOUNG BLOODS: PETER HORGAN
When Brendan Howlin said recently that his moribund Labour Party needed “a new beginning” on Cork City Council (CCC), he wasn’t exaggerating. After a... Read more »
ESB’s Ardnacrusha Power Station Reopens for Free Public Tours This Summer
ESB is once again running guided tours at Ardnacrusha Power Station in Co Clare this summer, offering the public a rare opportunity to explore one of Ireland’s most significant... Read more »
Fit to Print?
CREATING THE NEWS
YOU HAVE to hand it to whichever Sunday Independent newsroom hack came up with last weekend’s front page headline, “Varadkar’s €3bn tax cut in doubt – new broadband risk to... Read more »
SUNDAY TIMES VS HUAWEI
The vigorous US campaign to persuade western countries to block Chinese telecoms giant Huawei (allegedly because of the risk of Chinese espionage or sabotage) has spread to the Irish media.... Read more »
DANA’S CROSS-BORDER LIBELS
EX-PRESIDENTIAL candidate and singer, Dana, took the Sunday World for a sum not far off €200,000 plus mammoth legal costs in the Belfast High Court last November (see The Phoenix,... Read more »
Last Refuge
CASEY STILL BENT ON DÁIL
RIVALS OF Sinn Féin MEP Matt Carthy have harped on his intention to run for a Cavan-Monaghan seat in the Dáil, regardless of whether he retains his European Parliament seat... Read more »
FG’S TEENAGE PROHIBITION
FINE GAEL senator Catherine Noone had to back-pedal rapidly last week following her demand that the legal age limit for alcohol be raised from 18 to 20 years as in... Read more »
POSTER GIRL ANNE RABBITTE
FIANNA FÁIL’S Midlands North West (MNW) EU candidate, Anne Rabbitte TD, continues to blunder in her election campaign, with the most recent boo-boo coming when Roscommon Town was plastered with... Read more »
ELECTRIFYING DEIRDRE CLUNE MEP
ANOTHER MANUFACTURED row – similar to the spat between amazons Mairead McGuinness and Maria ‘Rose’ Walsh – broke out last week in the South constituency between Fine Gael EU candidates... Read more »
Hush Hush
IRA ‘VETS’ WARNING SHOTS
FOOTAGE last month of Saoradh dissident republicans jostling a BBC reporter outside Derry’s courthouse received widespread coverage. But more serious stuff involving IRA members past and present has been going... Read more »
JEFFREY DONALDSON’S BAHRAINI PALS
THE DUP’S Jeffrey Donaldson has come over as the essence of sweet reason in comments about the Irish language and also about the responsibility of “both sides” in dealing with... Read more »
Student Life
LABOUR’S STUDENT HACKS
That two former Union of Students in Ireland (USI) presidents are making their electoral debuts for the Labour Party in this month’s local elections is hardly a surprise. The party... Read more »
Bog Cuttings
BOG CUTTINGS
His trousers ‘simply fell off’ A JUDGE in Strabane has suggested that a Sion man buy a new pair of trousers after the defendant was convicted of indecent behaviour. Deputy... Read more »
Fowl Emissions
CLIMATE DENIERS RETREAT
Ireland this month became only the second country in the world to declare a climate emergency. In fact, we went even further than the UK in including biodiversity. The move... Read more »
JOHN MCGUIRK’S U-TURN
As the climate crisis has finally gone politically mainstream, the reaction within the Irish media has been instructive. On the one hand, figures like Eamon Dunphy, Matt Cooper and Mario... Read more »
Bird's Eye View
ALLIANCE LONG SHOT
After the local government elections in the north on 2 May, the media north and south for once agreed in their analysis. This was ‘new territory’. The ‘middle ground’ had... Read more »
Wigs on the Green
LOWER-RANKED JUDGES
LEO VARADKAR delivered a speech at the Law Society’s annual bash last Friday, but a slight frisson went through the room following an awkward remark from An Taoiseach about the... Read more »
PATRICK QUIRKE’S LAWYERS
THE Patrick Quirke murder trial was noteworthy in that the wealthy farmer – who established a company called Breansha Farms Ltd that only paid out €25,000 in wages in 2017... Read more »
The Hot Air Brigade
THE HOT AIR BRIGADE
The bullies who run @DublinAirport banned me from filming the ‘multi faith’ room today, which is effectively a mosque. Tweet by Dublin MEP candidate and ‘investigative journalist’ Gemma O’Doherty Health... Read more »
High Society
DAN MORRISSEY’S €5.5M PILE
IT’S NOT every day that a €5.5m house goes on the market in Co Dublin, but that is the case with the very private... Read more »
TONY GANNON’S CHARITY
ACCOUNTS recently filed for Tony Gannon’s investment management operation, Abbey Capital, show that profits continue to roll in. Happily, a chunk of the moolah... Read more »
BELLA HUDDART’S SOFT PILLOWS
READERS OF The Irish Times were given a crash course this month in how to short-let a property by making it “stand out from the crowd”. One of the experts... Read more »
CEA: There is No Such Thing as Director-lite
THE Corporate Enforcement Authority (CEA) enforces any breach of company law by companies or the directors of a company. Michael Dillon, CEA’s Director of Legal, explains that... Read more »
Behind the Scenes
SARAH DURCAN’S NOMINATION
GOLDHAWK was recently perusing the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Abbey Theatre and spied a regulation that could be interpreted to cause a headache for one of the... Read more »
SARAH DILLON’S €2M FUND
FANS OF Goldhawk will be aware of the Western Region Audiovisual Producers (WRAP) Fund thanks to the nascent body’s first funding decision – €200,000 for the Element Pictures project Calm... Read more »
RTÉ’S COMPLIANCE CONCERNS
FANS OF Irish daytime TV will be familiar with Today with Maura and Daithí, fronted by the dream team of Maura Derrane and Daithí Ó Sé. This is the daily,... Read more »
Sport of Kings
NAAS’S LUCK OF THE DRAW
WITH CURRENT Naas Racecourse manager Tom Ryan about to head off to the Middle East to take up an advisory role within Saudi Arabia’s racing industry, the next Naas manager... Read more »
BARRY CONNELL’S NEW NAGS
ONE JUMPS owner whose enthusiasm has been tested in the latest season is Barry Connell. After a disastrous performance that yielded only seven winners – his worst in 10 years... Read more »
HAYES OUT FOR THE COUNT
The Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) introduced more stringent whip rules recently and jockeys, especially those riding on the flat have been finding it tough to adapt to the new... Read more »
O’LEARY’S QUIET LANDING
DESPITE BEING crowned leading jumps owners for the fifth year in a row, Mick O’Leary’s Gigginstown House Stud had a rather poor Punchestown Festival, welcoming back just two winners from... Read more »
Movies
THE DIG – DIRECTED BY ANDY AND RYAN TOHILL
ANY FILM coming out of Northern Ireland and titled The Dig is, even if not overtly, a ‘Troubles’ film, likely to be viewed as an allegory of post-conflict unease. That... Read more »
Reviews
WINGMAN – RTÉ ONE
THE LATEST Baz Ashmawy vehicle got off to a typically improbable start when the manic-eyed presenter assured viewers that, “with the right help, anything is possible”. This new exercise is... Read more »
Moneybags
GREEN REIT SALE DOESN’T MAKE SENSE
THE ANNOUNCEMENT by Steve Vernon on April 15 that the Green Reit board “has taken a decision to initiate a process for the sale... Read more »
CHOPPY WATERS IN STORE FOR ROTHWELL’S ICG
LAST YEAR was a bad one for Eamonn “Rottweiler” Rothwell’s Irish Continental Group (ICG). He is now looking to bounce back, but the shares... Read more »
Croke Park’s Newest Hospitality Experience
THIS EXCLUSIVE section blends the hospitality experience of Croke Park with a social, shared space, giving you the best of both worlds to enhance your match-day experience. Located in... Read more »
Brief Cases
JAMES KEARNEY’S ‘UNDUE INFLUENCE’
A JUDGMENT for €98,000 has just been registered by AIB against a small property vehicle, Rostaff Developments Ltd. This is the Galway construction outfit, controlled by Ballinasloe builder James Kearney,... Read more »
SIMON KENNEDY’S ‘BATTLEGROUND’
THERE WAS more woe for colourful Wexford solicitor Simon Kennedy in the High Court recently concerning his scrap with a bank over an €800,000 debt. It has been a case... Read more »
MYLES CROFTON’S BOOM-ERA BUDDY
DUBLIN developer Myles Crofton’s comeback is well and truly under way. The Irish Times reported this month that he has applied for permission to demolish his 11,300sq ft Blackrock mansion,... Read more »
BERNIE MADOFF’S IRISH FEEDER FUND
OVER A decade after details emerged about the huge Ponzi scheme operated by US fraudster Bernie Madoff, a filing in the Companies Office here sheds some light on the current... Read more »
LISA DUFFY’S CREDITORS MEETINGS
GOLDHAWK NOTES that two companies in the Cari’s Closet retails fashion group are being wound up, with creditors’ meetings due to be held next week for Cari’s Closet Cork Ltd... Read more »
TOP MARKS FOR RM
SPARE A thought for Michael and Brendan Kelly’s KPW Print operation in Ballinasloe, which has missed out on a contract with the State Examinations Commission (SEC). It will be recalled... Read more »
Orla Kiely: A Life in Pattern at National Design & Craft Gallery
The highly anticipated Orla Kiely: A Life in Pattern exhibition has arrived at Design & Crafts Council Ireland (DCCI) National Design and Craft Gallery in Kilkenny. Running from February... Read more »
Popular Stories
