Current Issue - The Phoenix Magazine

Affairs of the Nation

Affairs of the Nation

IAN BAILEY: ‘L’HEURE DE VÉRITÉ’?

THE WIDESPREAD, public atmosphere of blood lust in France against Ian Bailey, the alleged murderer of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, ratcheted up in the period before Bailey’s Paris trial in... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

GAS MAN KELLY

As Blueshirt MEP Seán Kelly returns to Brussels for a third term, he might want to reconsider his zealous support for Shannon LNG, the enormous gas import terminal in north... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

GREEN WAVE OR RIPPLE?

WILL THE green wave translate into more Green TDs? And if Eamon Ryan leads the party into another coalition with a right-wing party, can that bring about the ‘system change’... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

SINN FÉIN MELTDOWN

MARY LOU MCDONALD had no forewarning of Sinn Féin’s electoral catastrophe in the opinion polls. Red C had SF consistently around the 13%-14% mark, while other polls put them closer... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

MARIA BAILEY’S DILEMMA

DÚN LAOGHAIRE TD Maria Bailey and Fine Gael have pretty much talked themselves into inevitable suspension of the Dáil deputy, which will lead to a dilemma if the general election... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

FEEHILY FIGHTS ON

YOU CAN see why An Garda Síochána and the justice department want rid of the Policing Authority – chaired by the formidable Josephine Feehily – which is to be subsumed... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

ÁINE MORIARTY’S DELAYED RELEASE

EARLIER THIS year (see The Phoenix, 8/2/19), Goldhawk raised the ghastly spectre of a hiatus in Áine Moriarty and Deirdre Hopkins’s annual red carpet luvviethon, the Irish Film and Television... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

SEAMUS MALLON VS JOHN HUME

SEAMUS MALLON’S “parallel consent” proposal for a United Ireland – aka a new, super-unionist veto – is the political love child of his fraught relationship with St John Hume. As... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Pillars of Society

PROFILE: DENIS DESMOND

WITH THE summer cycle of superstar rock gigs and music festivals set to kick off next month, MCD will be the biggest act by... Read more »

The Young Bloods

The Young Bloods

YOUNG BLOOD: HUGH O’CONNELL

Like a promising football team that falls short of winning promotion to the top flight, the Sunday Business Post is having its starting line-up... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Fit to Print?

PRESS COUNCIL — SECRET INFO

WHAT AN intriguing postscript at the end of last weekend’s Sunday Business Post’s publication of the Press Council’s rejection of its appeal against an adverse ruling. The council had ruled... Read more »

Fit to Print?

MEDIAHUIS SPANNER IN IT WORKS

THE IRISH TIMES gave the Mediahuis takeover of INM a guarded endorsement, saying the new owners offered a fresh start for the group and that, on paper, it looked like... Read more »

Fit to Print?

RTÉ’S POLITICAL PRIORITIES

WHILE RTÉ’S coverage of the election counts was up to its usual high standard, the scheduling of EU election debates – easily the most watchable TV political coverage – was... Read more »

Last Refuge

Last Refuge

MARIA BAILEY: NOT THE REAL TARGET

THE FURORE created by Michael McDowell’s attack on Dún Laoghaire TD Maria Bailey and her compo case over that fall from a hotel swing may have masked just who McDowell’s... Read more »

Last Refuge

OLIVIA BUCKLEY VS SHANE ROSS

FIANNA FÁIL’S local election results in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown will have given Micheál Martin much to consider as it has put a question mark over two strong female candidates at the... Read more »

Last Refuge

MARIA WALSH’S MILITARISM

IT WAS a close-run thing in the end for Fine Gael EU candidate Maria Walsh in Midlands North West and her gung-ho military-style soundbytes certainly boosted her campaign. But despite... Read more »

Last Refuge

THE NEXT GOVERNMENT

NOW FOR the real election. Both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil (along with desperate pleas from Labour leader Brendan Howlin) posit the prospects of either big party cobbling together a... Read more »

Hush Hush

Hush Hush

STAKEKNIFE INQUIRY COLLAPSE

The underwhelming response to the selection of Simon Byrne as the PSNI’s new chief constable shows that the media missed two bigger stories in relation to the appointment. Firstly, as... Read more »

Hush Hush

CAPTAIN NAIRAC’S REPUTATION

THE CAMPAIGN to sanitise the reputation of British Army undercover operative Captain Robert Nairac, shot dead and disappeared by the IRA in 1975, continues. The Irish Times recently reported assurances... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS

Priest chased by camper van man A PRIEST in Newtownards, Co Down, was forced to flee from an intoxicated man following a “bizarre” attempted attack. CCTV footage shows Fr Roland... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Fowl Emissions

CLIMATE SPEAK

If rhetoric could reduce emissions, Ireland would by now be a world leader rather than laggard. The ‘green wave’ hype of recent days meant that politicians used to tagging... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

CONOR SKEHAN’S ‘SCIENCE’

While climate denial has become a mug’s game, a new variant has emerged, which is to deny that biodiversity loss and ecological collapse is actually occurring. Architect, former housing agency... Read more »

Bird's Eye View

Bird's Eye View

REMAINERS 2 — BREXIT 1

AS PREDICTED (see The Phoenix, 17/5/19), if Alliance leader Naomi Long got ahead of SDLP leader Colum Eastwood and/or the UUP’s Danny Kennedy, she would be elected MEP. Secondly, the... Read more »

Foreign Frolics

Foreign Frolics

COVENEY’S MIDDLE EAST CHARADE

WHAT A deafening silence there has been from foreign minister Simon Coveney on the Middle East “deal of the century”, produced by Donald Trump’s son-in-law and advisor, Jared Kushner. The... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

I grew up on the sideline of a GAA pitch. I play fair, I don’t play offside. Fine Gael TD Maria Bailey on Today with Sean O’Rourke Friday’s elections for... Read more »

High Society

High Society

JANE’S STRAY HORSES

A COMPANY called Animal Security Ltd has been quietly dissolved. The name may not be too familiar to readers, but it previously operated under the name Cantor Equine and held... Read more »

High Society

BRIAN RANALOW’S INVESTMENT

INTERESTING to see Dublin moneybags and artist Brian Ranalow investing a wedge of cash in Genos Investments Ltd this month. Genos is a big shareholder in Hanpak Ltd, the innovative... Read more »

High Society

FRANK AND THERESA McNAMARA’S ADVENTURES

THIS WEEK saw the return to court of the proceedings by a culture fund, Apollo Global, against one-time ‘celebrity’ couple Frank and Theresa McNamara, with the Yanks seeking to force... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Behind the Scenes

SELINA CARTMELL’S OLD SHOWS

NEXT WEEK sees the return to the Gate of the hit show at the northside theatre, Roddy Doyle’s The Snapper. Given it had a near three-month run only a year... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

PAT MOYLAN’S GRANT

CONGRATULATIONS to former Arts Council chair Pat Moylan who is again to tour her smash hit show, Angela’s Ashes The Musical, two years after it packed the punters in during... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

SHARON HORGAN’S LATEST PAYDAY

AS THE annual Cannes film junket (which featured a rare Irish success) came to a close on Sunday, it coincided with the arrival of Screen Ireland’s first-quarter gravy train. James... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Sport of Kings

GOOD NEWS FOR HENRY BEEBY

NOEL HAYES must be one of the luckiest owners in the game and has struck gold again through his Sunday Racing Club with the sale of the two-year-old Sunday Sovereign.... Read more »

Sport of Kings

CURRAGH GOLD CUP LOSING ITS GLITTER

WITH THREE Group 1 races on the card, the Irish Guineas Festival is of the highest class, but the newly refurbished Curragh is in danger of one of those Group... Read more »

Sport of Kings

LUKE COMER CASHES IN

MONEYBAGS Luke Comer enjoyed probably his finest moment as a trainer when Raa Atoll pulled off a well-executed plan in winning a Group 2 race in Berlin recently. There are... Read more »

Sport of Kings

HEFFERNAN’S NOT SO ROUGH RIDE

BALLYDOYLE stalwart Seamie Heffernan is having quite a lean season by his standards, having yet to get to double-figure winners, but there was definitely a case of one result that... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

TOTAL PRODUCE’S DOLE PROBLEM

INVESTORS IN Total Produce would be forgiven for not getting the full picture from the 2018 annual report. The acquisition of only a 45% stake (so far) of the giant... Read more »

Moneybags

AMINEX SHARES FAIL TO REFLECT POTENTIAL IN TANZANIA

AMINEX HAS farmed out the development of its gas discovery in Tanzania with a $105m development deal, wherein it is fully carried through to full production and looking at a... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

The Hot Water Brigade

CLOCK TICKING FOR CHOCKABLOCK

THE COMPANY that was behind the impressive Carton House estate in Co Kildare – Chockablock Ltd – is to be the subject of a creditors’ meeting next month. The main... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

OLGA SHAJAKU’S LATEST VICTORY

MORE GOOD news for Goldhawk’s favourite Russian lawyer, Olga Shajaku, who got a good result from the Supreme Court last week, which means her long-running efforts to reverse the awarding... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

THOMAS COOK’S HAPLESS INVESTORS

GOLDHAWK was interested to spot that among the casualties in the Thomas Cook Group share meltdown is the pension fund of the Northern Ireland Local Government Office (NILGO), which has... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

RICHARD SPENCE’S SALON SETBACK

THINGS HAVE turned ugly for Beautifi, the beauty technology outfit established by Richard Spence a few years ago to ‘revolutionise’ the salon booking experience. While the company had plans to... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

RED INK AT PINK SANDS

THE REVENUE has registered a judgment against a company called Pink Sands Property Investments Ltd, which has form when it comes to this sort of thing. The Pink Sands name... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

DENIS DESMOND’S INVESTMENTS

IN THIS issue, Goldhawk profiles promoter extraordinaire Denis Desmond, who has quite a varied array of investments. While some are connected to MCD’s area of expertise, DD has also found... Read more »

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