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The magazine with the Inside Stories
November 29 - December 12, 2019
Affairs of the Nation
MAIL’S (FE)MALE ‘ETHOS’
EVOKE.IE, website of the Mail titles newspaper group (DMG Media Ireland), hosts a timely and most cautionary article this week about the perils of foolish, drink-fuelled behaviour at office Christmas... Read more »
DUBLIN TOWN’S TASK
THE ROW over the designation of part of Dublin 2 as the Grafton Quarter continues to reverberate and Dublin City Council remains under pressure to review the decision, which was... Read more »
BLOXHAM PARTNERS ON THE HOOK?
AFTER ALMOST a decade of inactivity, a High Court action involving the Solicitors Mutual Defence Fund (SMDF) and the various partners in the failed Bloxham stockbroking firm is about to... Read more »
COVENEY ‘SUPPORT’ FOR PALESTINE
AS EVENTS in the Middle East degenerate, Simon Coveney’s masterful Palestinian strategy has been laid bare. This follows Fine Gael’s revelation that its commitment in the programme for government to... Read more »
MULLANE’S MEDAL
THERE WAS good news for mobile advertising tech businesswoman Triona Mullane this week when she landed the EY Entrepreneur of the Year award in the emerging category. But she may... Read more »
KBC’S SMART PR
THE WHIZZ media handler for KBC – the bank that told the Central Bank to “turn the page” on the tracker mortgage scandal – is Feargal Purcell, former government press... Read more »
COMMUNICATING WITH COMMUNICORP
NEXT MONTH’S meeting of the compliance committee of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) concerning bans imposed by Denis O’Brien’s Communicorp group on certain journalist will be eagerly watched by... Read more »
JUDGE GEARTY’S VIEW
THE RECENT appointment of Mary Rose Gearty SC to the High Court bench means that two female barristers involved in the prosecution of Anglo-Irish Bank-related cases – Gearty and Úna... Read more »
LIZ BRENNAN’S MOVIE MONEY
THE DEADLINE has now passed for submissions to the Workplace Relations Commission, which is carrying out an ‘audit’ of the film and TV sector, focused on “industrial relations generally”. One... Read more »
Pillars of Society
PROFILE: NOEL GREALISH
INDEPENDENT TD Noel Grealish was the first politician of substance to emit nakedly racist and even sectarian remarks before stealing away from public glare;... Read more »
The Young Bloods
YOUNG BLOODS: CONOR GALLAGHER
It’s been a bumper year for Irish Times crime correspondent Conor Gallagher (34), who has won fans and scooped awards for his widely praised... Read more »
Fit to Print?
NOT IN FRONT OF THE HACKS
‘SMILING CHILDREN, not sour-faced journalists’ is the best description of the urgent stratagem deployed by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and communications minister Ricky Bruton at the signing and launch of the... Read more »
MATT COOPER’S MARKETING
IF SUNDAY Business Post editor Richie Oakley can surmount his awe of the paper’s new columnist, Matt Cooper (Richie’s editorial mentor at the Sunday Tribune 21 years ago), he might... Read more »
D’ARCY SPURS GARDA PR CAMPAIGN
IT’S UNLIKELY that junior minister Michael D’Arcy will get much credit if the flurry of Garda activity in the violent campaign surrounding Quinn Industrial holdings (QIH) results in convictions. But... Read more »
Last Refuge
BEYOND THE RAINBOW
HAS ANYONE noticed the make up of the ruling coalitions on the four Dublin councils? In Dublin City it is Fianna Fáil, Greens, Labour and Social Democrats. In Dún Laoghaire... Read more »
SARA MOORHEAD’S REPORT
A MATTER of the most important, nay, vital national interest will be addressed in the Seanad next week as members of the upper house discuss the burning issue of payment... Read more »
SOC DEM SPLITS
SOCIAL DEMOCRAT political director Anne-Marie McNally is not expected to mount much of a challenge in this week’s Dublin Mid-West by-election and a certain faction within her party probably won’t... Read more »
BORDER POLL: NO RISK?
GOVERNMENT MINISTERS and a multitude of academics, diplomats and other establishment figures have warned of catastrophic outcomes if a border poll on a united Ireland is held any time soon... Read more »
Hush Hush
LORD BEW DISAPPEARS
Paul Bew, or ‘Baron Bew of Donegore’, played a key role in the now discredited Boston Tapes project. However, so far, Bew – former advisor to unionist leader David Trimble... Read more »
LESLIE REYNOLDS’S RECEIVERSHIP
GOLDHAWK spotted last week the cessation of the long-running receivership of a company called Leslie Reynolds & Co, where number cruncher Declan Taite has completed the eight-year-long process. It turns... Read more »
Bog Cuttings
BOG CUTTINGS 3723
What a nightmare A DONEGAL insomniac, who hadn’t slept for three days, woke up in a school after causing nearly €2,000 worth of damage. Patrick McNamee (29) broke into the... Read more »
Fowl Emissions
LOAVES AND FISHES
The biblical tale of the miracle of the loaves and fishes has nothing on Ireland’s world-beating beef and dairy sectors, which, if we are to believe the hype, are now... Read more »
DARRRAGH MCCULLOUGH’S ATTACK
Are Ireland’s farmers at risk of becoming social pariahs? This claim was made not by the usual farmer-bashing eco types but by a son of the soil, Meath farmer and... Read more »
The Hot Air Brigade
THE HOT AIR BRIGADE
People only ever say to me, ‘My god, you work very hard and all those children’.Miriam O’Callaghan, RSVP magazine, submitted by reader RTÉ needs root-and-branch reform. And I am better... Read more »
High Society
ABDULAZIZ’S PHOENIX FIASCO
FANS OF the turf will have been fascinated by the Racing Post revelation that the founder of the Phoenix Thoroughbreds ‘regulated fund’, Amer Abdulaziz, has allegedly been funding his global... Read more »
WILLIAM MCGLADE’S ‘SWAGGER’
THE 28-year-old William McGlade must be delighted with the plug for his upmarket Airbnb-style venture, HipHipStay, in the Business Post last weekend. Aimed at the market for short term renting... Read more »
SIMONE ROCHA’S PERFECT WEEKEND
LONDON-BASED Irish fashion designer Simone Rocha popped up in the Financial Times’s super glossy ‘How to Spend it’ supplement last weekend to reveal just how down to earth she is.... Read more »
Behind the Scenes
QUESTIONS FOR THE ABBEY
EARLIER THIS month, the Abbey Theatre published its 2018 annual report, which generated mainly positive media coverage. However, there are some unusual entries that bear further scrutiny by chair Frances... Read more »
JIM SHERIDAN’S GOOD NEWS
IT IS three years since Goldhawk reported on the then prospects for Jim Sheridan’s adaptation of Sebastian Barry’s The Secret Scripture (see The Phoenix, 23/9/16). Funded by Screen Ireland (SI)... Read more »
MOYA DOHERTY’S STRIKE OFF NOTICE
GOLDHAWK WAS surprised to see some of the companies owned by Moya Doherty and John McColgan listed for striking off by the Companies Office for failing to file accounts. Clearly,... Read more »
Sport of Kings
KEVIN DOYLE’S NEXT GOAL
SINCE RETIRING from a successful soccer career, ex-Ireland international star Kevin Doyle has been keeping himself busy developing the family’s Slaney River Stud in Wexford and adding to the farm’s... Read more »
NOEL MEADE’S NEW TEAM
TED WALSH Jnr has experienced a varied career over the past decade, ranging from stints with the Irish Field and the Racing Post to running a hardware store and selling... Read more »
IT’S A LONG TIME TO TIPPERARY
IRELAND’S ongoing wait for a second all-weather track isn’t coming to an end anytime soon if the chatter from Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) is anything to go by. While Tipperary... Read more »
JOHN CLARKE’S CONSULTING
HAVING SOLD his former Newmarket-based Plantation Stud to Mick O’Leary a few years ago, it looks like Dermot O’Rourke is consolidating his bloodstock activities at his Keredern House Stud in... Read more »
Moneybags
RYANAIR’S BOTTOM LINE BOOSTED BY BOEING’S BAD NEWS
NOT TOO many observers realise that the ongoing Boeing 737 Max debacle has had a beneficial side-effect for Ryanair shareholders, as it has put a stop to Mick O’Leary’s growth... Read more »
GLANBIA’S ACQUISITION STRATEGY FAILS TO DELIVER
FROM BEING one of the darlings on the stock market, Glanbia’s star has waned over the last year. The shares fell back from a peak of U19 in March 2019... Read more »
The Hot Water Brigade
STRIKING OUT FRANCESCA DE CATALDO
AFTER a few quiet years, it was interesting to see Killiney businesswoman Francesca De Cataldo pop up, not once but twice in the last few months. The company behind posh... Read more »
MYLES CROFTON’S NEW PROJECT
HOW interesting to see Myles Crofton back in the headlines thanks to his involvement in a plan to develop 300 homes in Monkstown. Crofton, alongside fellow boom-era developer Bernard Doyle,... Read more »
NO MERCY FOR BRENDAN AND SHEILA HADE
NOVEMBER has been a very bad month for Goldhawk’s old pals, Brendan and Sheila Hade, whose prayers have gone unanswered. Rathfarnham-based Brendan Hade is well known to fans of Goldhawk... Read more »
WINDING UP EAMONN MCCANN
A NEW YORK-based energy company called Hydromine Inc is petitioning the High Court to have Lugano Properties Company Ltd, a small Dublin 4 property vehicle, wound up. Lugano turns out... Read more »
PANDA WASTE’S TIME WASTING
INTERESTING to see another judgment registered against one of the companies in Ireland’s largest waste management group. The €44,000 hit comes courtesy of a factory operative who previously won a... Read more »
LIAM HOWARD’S PAPER PROFITS
CONGRATULATIONS to Kilworth, Co Cork businessman Liam Howard, who is retiring after 41 years as the owner and proprietor of the Avondhu, the Fermoy-based newspaper and website. Howard has just... Read more »
JIM FERRY’S FINANCES
COUNTY DONEGAL illegal waste operator Jim Ferry has had plenty on his plate in recent times, so it is unlikely he will lose too much sleep over the fact that... Read more »
‘NO HOPE’ FOR HOUSE COLLAPSE SURVIVORS
THE STORY OF DARA OF TWO PLACES
THOSE FAI ACCOUNTS BY THE NUMBERS
BEEF PROTESTS UPDATE: FARMERS THREATEN ‘NO MORE PULLING IN’
CD OF THE SEASON
