Affairs of the Nation

Simon Coveney

Affairs of the Nation

SAUDIS BACK IRELAND AT UN

FOREIGN MINISTER Simon ‘Covetous’ Coveney and Iveagh House mandarins will have been pleased at receiving Saudi Arabia’s support last week for the government’s aching desire to win a seat on... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

O’LEARY’S ‘HELL’

AS BREXIT neurosis sweeps the country, the citizenry can always turn to the sagacious and comforting insights of Michael O’Leary. The Ryanair boss said this week that Britain would agree... Read more »
Judge Peter Kelly

Affairs of the Nation

JUDGE KELLY VS JERRY BEADES

WILL JUDGE Peter Kelly ever be rid of that inexhaustible lay litigant, Jerry Beades, whose legal actions to block Kelly’s appointment as High Court president have now been heard in... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

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Affairs of the Nation

MORE LEFT SPLITS

POLITICAL splits on the Left are mirrored by the disintegration of the Take Back the City (TBTC) campaign a year after its headline grabbing occupations. TBTC was a coalition of... Read more »
Mark Kennelly

Affairs of the Nation

ENDA KENNY’S CADDY

CONGRATS TO Mark Kennelly, former chief of staff to Enda Kenny during his reign as taoiseach, who has landed the plum post of Golf Ireland CEO in a hotly contested,... Read more »
Katherine Zappone

Affairs of the Nation

ZAPPER FOR UN?

KATHERINE ZAPPONE’S appointment as the government’s “special envoy” in the urgent quest for a UN security council seat is a strange one, even allowing for Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tánaiste... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

FRESH CLIMATE

It seems that not everyone was thrilled with last month’s college campus walkout as part of the global ‘climate strike’. Although UCD gave its students a partial amnesty from classes... Read more »
Michael Quinn

Affairs of the Nation

NIGERIAN ARMS AND BILLIONS

Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID), founded by the late Mick Quinn, recently won an €8.6bn award against the Nigerian government, with the support of British home secretary Priti Patel (she... Read more »
Diarmuid Wilson

Affairs of the Nation

SENATOR WILSON VS LADY KILBRACKEN

A FEUD between Fianna Fáil senator Diarmuid Wilson and Lady Kilbracken is now the subject of an inquiry by party leader Micheál Martin, with recriminations and allegations echoing around Co... Read more »

Pillars of Society

John Arkins

Pillars of Society

PROFILE: JOHN ARKINS

THE IRISH film and TV business is a glamorous one to outsiders and Leo Varadkar milked his Hollywood visit – ‘to double’ the E1bn... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Paddy Holohan

The Young Bloods

YOUNG BLOOD: PADDY HOLOHAN

As if being a vocal Republican and former professional mixed martial artist wasn’t enough to unnerve the chattering classes, Sinn Féin councillor Paddy Holohan... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Marty Whelan

Fit to Print?

MARTY WHELAN’S JERUSALEM JUNKET

VIEWERS OF RTÉ’s coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest final in May will have heard presenter Marty Whelan speak of a “visit to Jerusalem earlier in the week”, noting “it... Read more »
Pat Leahy

Fit to Print?

DIM FORECAST

WHAT A mischievous suggestion was recently published in the Irish Mail on Sunday in a speculative forecast about a Fianna Fáil/Green Party coalition – and a potential government press secretary,... Read more »
Diageo Dana An Garda Síochána IT Trust No Stone Unturned Irish Times Black Friday Vicky Conway

Fit to Print?

‘MAIL’S’ MALE TALE

The Irish Daily Mail boasts of its special attention to women readers, but it’s uncertain how an online feature headlined “Dublin strippers reveal what it’s really like to work in... Read more »

Last Refuge

Willie O'Dea

Last Refuge

FF FRONTBENCH MEDICATION

MICHEÁL MARTIN will not be pleased to see the row between Willie O’Dea and the more ‘responsible’ Fianna Fáil frontbench members spilling over into the media. The FF spokesperson on... Read more »
Paul Gogarty

Last Refuge

FG WHITEWASH IN BY-ELECTIONS?

LEO VARADKAR delivered a decidedly downbeat prediction for Fine Gael in the four upcoming by-elections – “only one of the seats is guaranteed” – but even that may be optimistic... Read more »
Paul Murphy

Last Refuge

THE FIRST ITEM

INTERNECINE FEUDING within the far Left can be incomprehensible, but two things are clear about TD Paul Murphy’s apostasy and departure from the Socialist Party, aka, Solidarity. Firstly, he has... Read more »
Emmet Stagg

Last Refuge

LABOUR’S ‘NEW GENERATION’

‘GENERATIONAL CHANGE’ is how the party has pitched the withdrawal of Labour’s Wicklow general election candidate, Jack O’Connor, with Cllr Paul O’Brien replacing the ex-SIPTU boss. And the quest for... Read more »

Northwind

Northwind

UNIONIST ‘CONSENT’

Earlier this week, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said, “The Irish government has always been open to a role for Stormont in any solution to Brexit.” He added, “It’s right that the... Read more »

Hush Hush

Imre Arakas

Hush Hush

ALL-IRELAND KINAHANS

AN EAST European 9mm Makarov semi-automatic pistol, or PM, is not one traditionally associated with gangland crime here in Ireland. However, the formerly unusual Makarov handgun that was used to... Read more »

Student Life

Jemil Saidi

Student Life

JUDGE MCDONAGH’S DUCAC DOWNFALL

A fiery row at Dublin University Central Athletic Club (DUCAC) has culminated in its most-esteemed chairman losing his re-election bid to a fourth-year engineering student. The outgoing chair just happens... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS

A hairy situation A FAIRHILL man who called a Blarney garda a “bald fucker” told a court today he had no problem with baldness and said he was bald himself.... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

John Fitzgerald

Fowl Emissions

GREAT GAS GUYS!

“IT’S OIL OVER!” declared the Irish Daily Mirror’s front-page headline, heralding Leo Varadkar’s ‘historic’ announcement at the UN Climate Summit in New York that Ireland would end oil exploration. It... Read more »
Climate Disinformation Coillte 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

SAFE CITY

Dublin City Council has closed College Green to traffic on several Sundays recently, as an “experiment” – presumably to test whether civilisation would collapse. There was confusion about why steel... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Maria Steen

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

What are some of the hallmarks of paganism? Obvious examples include nature worship, ritual sacrifices and doomsday prophecies, all of which are present in the climate justice cult.” Maria Steen,... Read more »

High Society

High Society

Juerg Von Geitz

High Society

JUERG VON GEITZ’S ROLEX

AN INTERESTING set of proceedings has just been initiated in the Circuit Court featuring Dublin financier Juerg von Geitz and the long-established Dawson Jewellers... Read more »

High Society

Consuelo O’Connor

High Society

GREHAN’S STUD

INTERESTING to see Glenkerrin Homes boss Ray Grehan registering a couple of business names with a distinctly horsey ring to them. After being declared... Read more »

High Society

Ian Switzer and Elizabeth Balbirnie

High Society

LIZ BALBIRNIE’S INTERIOR DESIGN

PROPERTY PORN continues to prove popular at RTÉ, where such programmes proliferate the airwaves. At the top of the tree is surely Home of the Year (HOTY), which gives viewers... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

Behind the Scenes

THE ABBEY’S CASTING CHALLENGE

STILL NO sign of a new board member at the Abbey Theatre, where there is a vacancy for someone who knows how to write plays. The vacancy was advertised a... Read more »
Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

Behind the Scenes

BROWN BAG FIGURES

CONGRATULATIONS to Brown Bag studios founder Cathal Gaffney, who is in the middle of a purple patch. Figures just filed by a company called Niagara Films Ireland Ltd (NFI) reveal... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Ken Condon

Sport of Kings

CONDON APPEAL FAILS

Curragh trainer Ken Condon has experienced the dizzying highs of racing with his stable star, Romanised, and the Classic-winning colt has certainly delivered some rollercoaster emotions to connections this season.... Read more »
Rachael Blackmore

Sport of Kings

BLACKMORE’S BIG APPLE EXPERIENCE

It’s not unusual for some of the world’s top flat jockeys, like Ryan Moore and Frankie Dettori, to be riding in different parts of the world on consecutive days. They... Read more »
Brendan Duke Adrian Murray Mick Bailey

Sport of Kings

SUPREME OR NOT SUPREME

The highly successful syndicate racing club Supreme Racing has been the victim of a vengeful doppelganger, who has set up an imitation Twitter site. The club’s top brass – whose... Read more »

Reviews

Once Twice, three

Books

ONCE, TWICE, THREE TIMES AN AISLING

When the publishing phenomenon that is Aisling landed with the first Oh My God, What A Complete Aisling novel in 2017, it followed a well-worn fish-out-of-water trope as Aisling navigated... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Tony O’Reilly Jnr

Moneybags

TONY O’REILLY JNR’S PROVIDENCE PANTOMIME

DEALING WITH the Chinese on the development of the Barryroe oilfield was never going to be easy, but it did hold out the brief... Read more »

Moneybags

Charlie Gallagher

Moneybags

ABBEY’S IRISH PERFORMANCE LOOKS EMBARRASSING

CHARLIE GALLAGHER has managed to take his family shareholding in the ‘listed’ Abbey plc house-building group from 24% to 82%, while failing to take... Read more »

Brief Cases

WAVF Castleknock Hospitality BAL Susan Bergin Tixserve EOG Fergal Naughton hot-water-brigade def

Brief Cases

CREDITORS’ BEEF WITH NYHAN BROTHERS

DISGRUNTLED creditors of Rostella Properties Ltd received an update on the company’s troubled liquidation last week, but a report, prepared and presented to the creditors’ meeting by liquidator PJ Lynch,... Read more »
Giovanni Viscardi

Brief Cases

BAGOTS HUTTON’S LATE FILING

GOLDHAWK spotted some recent activity at Urban Entertainment Ltd. This is the company behind the troubled Bagots Hutton restaurant and wine bar on Ormond Quay, D7, which has been embroiled... Read more »
WAVF Castleknock Hospitality BAL Susan Bergin Tixserve EOG Fergal Naughton hot-water-brigade def

Brief Cases

GILMARTIN AGAIN

GOLDHAWK got a blast from the past when he saw a receiver had been appointed recently to a small property company called Dalmark Inns Ltd by vulture fund Cerberus. The... Read more »
WAVF Castleknock Hospitality BAL Susan Bergin Tixserve EOG Fergal Naughton hot-water-brigade def

Brief Cases

VULTURES SWOOP ON SEAMUS GILLEN

SEAN Lyons – the man behind controversial plans for a refugee reception centre in Oughterard, Co Galway – isn’t the only direct provision entrepreneur with headaches at the moment. Offaly... Read more »
WAVF Castleknock Hospitality BAL Susan Bergin Tixserve EOG Fergal Naughton hot-water-brigade def

Brief Cases

JEFF LEO’S OTHER HEADACHE

THE appointment of an examiner to Dublin data compliance and software outfit Altada Technology Solutions Ltd isn’t the only issue on former Morgan Stanley banker Jeff Leo’s plate. A separate... Read more »
WAVF Castleknock Hospitality BAL Susan Bergin Tixserve EOG Fergal Naughton hot-water-brigade def

Brief Cases

NOT EMUSED!

ANOTHER year, another scary set of accounts filed by Emuse Corporation Ltd. This is the D2 tech company that makes software for interactive TV programming used by the likes of... Read more »
Eileen and Jason Denham

Brief Cases

JASON DENHAM’S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES

MORE bad luck for Jason Denham. It looks like the Castleknock businessman couldn’t stand the heat at his high-end kitchen-fitting company, where the liquidator is being called in after just... Read more »