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October 4 - October 17, 2019
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 »
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 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 »
Sponsored Content
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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
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
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 »
Seals in Dublin Bay Thriving Amidst Major Port Developments
Seals are an integral part of Dublin Bay’s marine biodiversity, frequently observed along the coast from Sandycove to Bull Island and within the Dublin Port area. Despite large-scale marine... Read more »
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 »
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 »
‘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
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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
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
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
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 »
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
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
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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
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 »
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 »
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 »
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
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 »
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 »
Dublin Bay Cruises: Sustainable Corporate Entertainment
Premium Corporate Entertainment. Exciting Update on Our Sustainability Journey Dublin Bay Cruises is proud to share our ongoing commitment to reducing our environmental impact, aligning with Fáilte Ireland’s sustainability... Read more »
Briefcases
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
Coillte Opens Applications For 2025 Forestry Scholarship Programme
Up to €20,000 in scholarships is available to support careers in Ireland’s expanding forestry sector. Following the success of its inaugural programme, which awarded scholarships to three students, Coillte... Read more »
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