Affairs of the Nation

Emmanuel Macron

Affairs of the Nation

MALI: VARADKAR HUMOURS MACRON

CYNICAL DEFENDERS of Irish neutrality will likely argue that the announcement last weekend of the Army Ranger Wing’s deployment to Mali – described by the UN as its most dangerous... Read more »
Deirdre Conroy

Affairs of the Nation

CONROY’S CLAIM

NOT SURPRISINGLY, there has been increased media focus on all politicians’ compensation claims since the Maria Bailey affair. This should ensure there is a healthy public appetite for a High... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

VLAD’S OPTIMISM

LEO VARADKAR told his parliamentary party last week that he wants, nay expects, that Fine Gael will have a complement of at least 10, and hopefully 12, seats more than... Read more »
Mary McAleese

Affairs of the Nation

MARY McALEESE’S GULF GIG

WHILE MARY Robinson took significant flak earlier this year for her intervention in a feudal Emirate royal family row, another former Irish president, Mary McAleese, has developed ties to the... Read more »
David McWilliams

Affairs of the Nation

DAVID MCWILLIAMS’S ADVICE

THE ANNUAL Dalkey Book Festival gets under way this weekend with its founder, the one and only David McWilliams, sharing the spotlight with the likes of Stephen Fry and David... Read more »
Marie Sophie Hingst

Affairs of the Nation

TCD GRADUATE’S HOLOCAUST STORY

A bizarre story is emerging from Germany about an Irish-based historian and blogger who has found herself in a spot of bother over her research. German national Marie Sophie Hingst,... Read more »
Punchestown 2

Pillars of Society

Mary Lou McDonald

Pillars of Society

PROFILE: MARY LOU MCDONALD

MEDIA COMMENT on the dangers facing Mary Lou McDonald’s leadership of Sinn Féin after the recent elections was predictable. However, and unusually, the political... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Saoirse McHugh

The Young Bloods

YOUNG BLOOD: SAOIRSE McHUGH

Saoirse McHugh, the 28-year-old genetic scientist from Achill Island, stormed into public consciousness with an impressive display in the Midlands North West constituency European... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Stephen Donnelly

Fit to Print?

STEPHEN DONNELLY VS ‘WICKLOW TIMES’

FIANNA FÁIL’S health spokesperson, Wicklow TD Stephen Donnelly, did not have a good local election, with internal rows contributing to the party losing out on two seats in Bray –... Read more »
Diageo Dana An Garda Síochána IT Trust No Stone Unturned Irish Times Black Friday Vicky Conway

Fit to Print?

SOOTHING SHANE ROSS

THE Sunday Independent stood by its long-time journalist, now sports minister, Shane Ross, last weekend, allowing him much space to vindicate his effort to bask in Katie Taylor’s glory at... Read more »
Frank Fitzgibbon

Fit to Print?

FOREIGN MEDIA

INDIGNATION from PR and lobbying maestro Karl Brophy and others at those who were not exactly sympathetic to the abandonment of the Times Ireland print edition and its redundant journalists... Read more »
Escape to The Lake Hotel

Last Refuge

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin

Last Refuge

Ó RÍORDÁIN’S DOUBLE STRIKE

AODHÁN Ó RÍORDÁIN recently made a most paradoxical call for Labour leader Brendan Howlin to lead the party into the next general election and then oversee a generational change, but... Read more »
Bertie Ahern

Last Refuge

DRUMCONDRA MAFIA RIP

FIANNA FÁIL’S local election success in north Dublin was not replicated by voters in the rare auld North Inner City (NIC) area, where its three candidates came 11th (Imran Khurshid),... Read more »
Olivia Buckley

Last Refuge

RATHDOWN: BRENNAN OR BUCKLEY FOR FF?

THE FAILURE of former Fianna Fáil press officer Olivia Buckley to take a council seat in Dundrum has not deterred party HQ from its intention to ensure that she is... Read more »
Paul McAuliffe

Last Refuge

DUBLIN — FIANNA FÁIL AT THE GATE

SUDDENLY DUBLIN, for long a desert for the party, has become Fianna Fáil’s oyster. While the local election swing from FF to Fine Gael in Dublin as a whole was... Read more »

Hush Hush

Drew Harris

Hush Hush

DREW HARRIS’S GONG

The AWARD of a Queen’s Police Medal (QPM) to Garda commissioner Drew Harris brought zero adverse comment in the Irish media, but it raises questions nonetheless. Firstly, there is the... Read more »
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Hush Hush

STAKEKNIFE INQUIRY BLUNTED

This week’s news of a legal challenge to Operation Kenova (the ‘Stakeknife’ inquiry), by the family of murdered Belfast pensioner Francisco Notarantonio, leaves the inquiry exposed as the window dressing... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS

Doonbeg full of ‘arse-licking shoneens’ As the clock ticked down in anticipation of the visit of President Donald Trump, one man took the journey from Newmarket in County Cork to... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Danny McCoy

Fowl Emissions

IBEC’S CHEAP CLIMATE CHANGE

While agri interests tend to grab the headlines, the real lobbying muscle in Ireland resides in employers’ group Ibec. For years, it has had little to say publicly on climate... Read more »
Climate Action EU Livestock NDC Claude Etchelamendy Ed Brophy Richard Boyd-Barrett Kish Dale Crammond Frank Mitloehner Shell Greenwashing Meta Data Centres Ireland

Fowl Emissions

MIXED WEATHER AT MONTROSE

RTÉ treated us to the very best – and worst – in environmental programming in recent weeks. On the plus side, RTÉ Investigates detailed decades of scandalous environmental negligence by... Read more »

Bird's Eye View

Gerry Adams

Bird's Eye View

ADAMS LAYS DOWN THE NEW LINE

In his blog, Léargas, on 6 June Gerry Adams posted what now will be in effect the definitive Sinn Féin policy on a border poll. It was detailed and closely... Read more »

Wigs on the Green

Frank Clarke

Wigs on the Green

GO TO JAIL – AGAIN!

THAT MOST tenacious barrack room lawyer and former haulage contractor, David Walsh, is still at large after fighting an order to jail him for criminal contempt through the Circuit Court,... Read more »
Ian Bailey

Wigs on the Green

LEGAL AMBUSH FOR IAN BAILEY?

IAN BAILEY’S predictable conviction, in absentia, by a vengeful French judicial system will proceed to the more difficult process of a third attempt to extradite him to France to serve... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Emily Hourican

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

I don’t think it’s a bad thing – being an outsider is not the same as being an outcast. It isn’t, for me, a feeling of isolation or loneliness. Emily... Read more »

High Society

Consuelo O’Connor

High Society

BERNARD KIRK’S BOARD

WITH THE recent departure of a couple of directors, the board of Philanthropy Ireland (PI) is looking a little light in numbers, with up to six vacancies now existing. It... Read more »
Roy Barrett

High Society

ROY BARRETT’S D4 PILE

A PROPERTY in the heart of Ballsbridge has just come on the market with a hefty €5.75m price tag. The impressive Ailesbury Road house was bought seven years ago in... Read more »
Eva-Maria Bucher Haefner

High Society

MORE MILLIONS FROM HORSEY SET

THE REOPENING (at last) of the revamped Curragh racetrack, complete with a brand new four-tiered stand was marked by some unexpected whistling noises in the impressive stand courtesy of the... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Jennifer Zamparelli

Behind the Scenes

JENNIFER ZAMPARELLI’S REVIEW

THE NEW look 2FM has been attracting mixed reviews following its makeover, but one of the players, former Breakfast Republic co-presenter Jennifer Zamparelli, might want to tune out the comments.... Read more »
Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

Behind the Scenes

PETER AIKEN’S CHARGE

WITH THE musical festival season in full flow post-Slane, the focus now moves to other big shindigs such as Electric Picnic, Body and Soul, Longitude and the new kind on... Read more »
Katie Holly

Behind the Scenes

KATIE HOLLY’S IMPRESSIVE CUT

IS THERE any state agency, aside Screen Ireland (chaired by Annie Doona), where some 8% of its ‘loan’ budget is mopped up by interests associated with one of the agency’s... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Kenneth Alexander

Sport of Kings

ALEXANDER’S ASSETS

IT’S LITTLE wonder that Kenny Alexander, the chief executive of GVC Holdings, has been happy to splash the cash over the last 18 months to increase his racing interests. It... Read more »
Michael O'Flynn

Sport of Kings

MICHAEL O’FLYNN’S COOLMORE CONNECTION

AN INTERESTING ownership alliance has emerged involving a little-known horse named Piece of Paradise. The two-year-old filly was bred by property developer Michael O’Flynn’s Rockfield Farm and, despite being listed... Read more »
Mick Bailey

Sport of Kings

LYNN HILLYER’S CONCERNS

DESPITE INCREASED penalties, random stable inspections, educational seminars and more frequent out-of-competition testing, Irish racing still has a major issue on its hands when it comes to doping. Denis Egan’s... Read more »
John Oxx

Sport of Kings

OXX EXPERIMENT FAILS TO DELIVER

BIG THINGS were expected this season when John Oxx and Patrick Prendergast combined their racing strings, which gave a much-needed shot in the arm to Oxx’s dwindling numbers. But the... Read more »

Moneybags

Michael O'Leary

Moneybags

O’LEARY UNSCATHED BY RYANAIR’S PROFIT TAILSPIN

ANNOUNCING RYANAIR’S results for the year to March 2019, Mick O’Leary tried to minimise the negatives while advising that earnings had fallen a very hefty 29% from €1.45bn to just... Read more »

Moneybags

FALCON OIL HOPING FOR GOOD NEWS DOWN UNDER

FRACKING is a hugely controversial issue in this country and elsewhere. The Australian government introduced a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in September 2016 – a move that badly affected Falcon... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

Giovanni Viscardi

The Hot Water Brigade

GIOVANNI VISCARDI’S BOOZE BILL

MORE woe for Giovanni Viscardi and Brian Deery, the owners of Bagots Hutton wine bar on Ormond Quay, D7, which closed temporarily last year. Urban Entertainment Ltd, the trading entity... Read more »
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The Hot Water Brigade

HAVANA HEAT

SWORDS LASER treatment clinic Havana Therapy Ltd is having some trouble with the local authority. Fingal County Council slapped the company, controlled by father and son duo Keith and Gary... Read more »
Eugene McDermott

The Hot Water Brigade

EUGENE MCDERMOTT’S ‘ABUSE OF PROCESS’

FORMER stud farmer Eugene McDermott has been battling a vulture fund in the Four Goldmines, but the going was heavy for the Kildare man in the Court of Appeal recently.... Read more »
Arkady Etingen

The Hot Water Brigade

AARON ETINGEN’S COLLEGE BLUES

GOLDHAWK recently spotted some activity at IBAT Ltd, the trading entity behind the Dublin-based private college of the same name, and it looks like the owners have some swotting to... Read more »
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The Hot Water Brigade

NICHOLAS O’CONNOR’S TAX BILL

FORMER Wexford accountant Nicholas O’Connor has had yet another tax judgment registered against him, this time for just over U6,000. The ex-number cruncher will be familiar to fans of Goldhawk... Read more »
Catherine Wiley

The Hot Water Brigade

GOD AND MAMMON AND ACCOUNTS

CONGRATULATIONS to the board of the Catholic Grandparents Association Ltd (CGA) who have moved to prevent it being struck off the Companies Register for failing to file accounts. The bad... Read more »
Siian Smyth and David McWilliams

The Hot Water Brigade

DAVID MCWILLIAMS’S BOOKS

FANS OF self-styled “economist, author and broadcaster” David McWilliams (see p5) will presumably be making their way to south County Dublin this weekend for his Dalkey Book Festival, now in... Read more »
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The Hot Water Brigade

VIRGINIA KEOGH’S PETITION

INTERESTING to see a High Court petition being lodged earlier this month by the main shareholder in profitable Limerick property company Willowhurst Developments Ltd. She is seeking to wind up... Read more »