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The magazine with the Inside Stories
August 14 - August 27, 2020
Affairs of the Nation
THE GREENS AND MILITARISM
THE DEFENCE section in the programme for government is littered with references to Ireland’s military neutrality — five mentions in just over half a page — and a final sentence... Read more »
DINNY’S REALIGNMENT
HIGH COURT judge Brian Cregan got knocked back by Leo Varadkar earlier this year when asking for an extension to the deadline for delivering his report on the sale of... Read more »
FRANCESCA’S ‘LIVELINE’ LASHING
PRESUMABLY, THE chief executive of Bank of Ireland, Francesca McDonagh, knew she was in trouble when Joe Duffy dismissed her “blasé” comments about the bank’s customers being responsible themselves for... Read more »
LYONS’S SHARE OF ASYLUM LOLLY
WHILE MUCH of the focus relating to the midlands lockdown has been on the meat plants, clusters in direct provision centres have also featured, as is the case with the... Read more »
DAMN POLLS AND…
THE LATEST political poll – by Behaviour & Attitudes for the Sunday Times – was headlined, “Varadkar and Fine Gael soar in polls”. It added that Sinn Féin had “climbed... Read more »
HUME’S PR PROCESS
JOHN HUME Jnr, a public relations and lobbying consultant, is hardly in the same line of business as his late father, to whom he paid tribute at his funeral recently.... Read more »
HUMPHREYS CALLS IN THE TAXMAN
A RIVETING judgment emerged out of the High Court last month when Judge Richard Humphreys ruled that a food company, CGI Food Services, must continue to pay ex-financial controller John... Read more »
HUME/MALLON AXIS
MUCH HAS been made of the two ‘big beasts’ of the SDLP, John Hume and Seamus Mallon, both now dead, whose perseverance helped to enable the peace process. In fact,... Read more »
ARKINS VS ELEMENT
NEARLY A year ago – following a joint request by ICTU, SIPTU and the lobby group Screen Producers Ireland – an audit of the independent film and TV drama production... Read more »
Pillars of Society
PROFILE: PAUL GALLAGHER
CHIEF LAW officer in the state – for the second time – is senior counsel Paul Gallagher, whose reverential sycophants in the Law Library... Read more »
The Young Bloods
YOUNG BLOODS: LORNA BOGUE
AN EXPLOSION of environmental awareness has brought opportunities as well as challenges for the Green Party. Dáil rivals are responding to voter concerns by... Read more »
Fit to Print?
‘SINDO’ REVISIONISM ON JOHN HUME
NEWLY ENSCONCED Sunday Independent editor Alan English oversaw a well-crafted but highly revisionist special section last weekend on his newspaper’s diatribes against the late John Hume during the 1990s because... Read more »
SUNDAY TIMES PLAYBOOK
NO FAFFING around at the Sunday Times (unlike the Sindo) this weekend, where MI5’s favourite newspaper played it straight from the British political and military playbook. Unionist supporter Newton Emerson... Read more »
VINCENT CROWLEY’S CV
THE SPECTACLE of a former chief executive suing his former employer for breaches of data protection and privacy makes for compelling viewing and there will be much interest in the... Read more »
Last Refuge
VLADIMIR BRUTON’S VIRILITY
RICHARD BRUTON’S macho triathlon through his Dublin Bay North constituency grabbed the headlines, as intended, but not so much for its stated goal – the government’s initiative to promote staycations... Read more »
MICHEÁL MARTIN’S PARTY PLEDGE
HAS MICHEÁL MARTIN become utterly detached from rank-and-file members and even TDs of the party he leads or is he simply disinterested in their opinion of him? The interview he... Read more »
TROUBLESOME GREENS
THAT DISSENTING abstention by Green junior minister Joe O’Brien signifies more than just a temporary wobble by the Dublin Fingal TD. It challenges the view that a large majority of... Read more »
Hush Hush
BOYS AND GIRLS OF THE OLD BRIGADE
Boris Johnson’s bestowal of peerages to a former militant supporter of the IRA’s armed struggle, along with the DUP’s Nigel Dodds and the DUP-supporting Kate Hoey, did not get the... Read more »
JAMES MYLER’S PILE
DESPITE THE pandemic, some owners of substantial properties have not been deterred from sticking them on the market. One of those happy to venture out is high-flying James Myler and... Read more »
Bog Cuttings
BOG CUTTINGS
‘STEAMERS AND SCUMBAGS’ Gavin Rainbow (36) of Crawford Street, Bruff, pleaded guilty to using threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour and to public intoxication following an altercation late last year. Gardaí... Read more »
Fowl Emissions
COOL COURT CLIMATE
Imagine ordinary citizens being able to take the government to court to hold them to account for their climate inaction. That was the appalling vista painted by barristers for the... Read more »
The Hot Air Brigade
THE HOT AIR BRIGADE
We were looking for a giant and found a man whose life made all our lives bigger. Bono commemorates John Hume, Irish Times John was a source of wisdom about... Read more »
High Society
SONYA LENNON’S QUALITY ASSURANCE
AN ARTICLE in the Irish Times last week highlighted the call for a state-backed quality assurance mark for entities that commit to making progress on gender equality. The recommendation was... Read more »
GERARD MAGUIRE’S FINE WINE
GERARD MAGUIRE has just picked up a number of shares in his Almax Wines Ltd, the company behind the high-profile 64 Wine shop and wine bar in Glasthule, south Co... Read more »
THE WINCKWORTHS’ CLOUDS
WHILE BUSINESSES continue to monitor the impact of Covid-19, the online sector has been best protected to date. A company that appears well suited to trading via the internet is... Read more »
Behind the Scenes
MOOLAH FOR SI BOARD MEMBERS
THE RELEASE date for Screen Ireland’s annual report is always unheralded and slow to arrive. While Goldhawk is regularly told to wait for the report to get answers to questions... Read more »
THE GREAT BOOK’S BENEFICIARIES
WITH RTÉ preparing to broadcast a documentary next week on The Great Book of Ireland (GBI), maybe some light will be thrown on the divvying up of the proceeds from... Read more »
Sport of Kings
McMANUS DOUBLES DOWN
DESPITE THE absence of spectators, the allure of ‘setting one up’ for Galway remains strong and one man experienced in pulling off a successful Galway gamble is Swiss-based moneybags JP... Read more »
EMMETT MULLINS’S ID ISSUE
EMMETT MULLINS will be glad to see the back of this summer. The talented young trainer recently found himself in the headmaster’s office again, after one of his horses could... Read more »
Books
A TRAVELLER AT THE GATES OF WISDOM – JOHN BOYNE
JOHN BOYNE’S 12th novel for adults takes place across more than 2,000 years and 50 countries. The sprawling, 430-page story addresses familiar social issues at pivotal moments in history, but... Read more »
Moneybags
C&C SHAREHOLDERS DESERVE EXPLANATION FOR CEO EXIT
THE UNPLANNED departure of a CEO, requiring the chair to step in as temporary boss, is rarely a sign that things are going well. With Stephen Glancey jumping ship from... Read more »
VERMILION ENERGY’S CORRIB EXPERIENCE
OFFSHORE OIL and gas exploration have been attracting plenty of attention, with the Greens (and Sinn Féin) pushing a ban on this activity and on the importation of liquefied natural... Read more »
The Hot Water Brigade
RAMONA NICHOLAS’S BAD MEDICINE
GOLDHAWK WAS surprised to see one of the many companies in the Cara Pharmacies group, fronted by the former Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist Ramona Nicholas, ending... Read more »
AMER ABDULAZIZ’S EXIT
PHOENIX Thoroughbreds – the so-called regulated fund run by the bolshy Bahrain entrepreneur Amer Abdulaziz that has millions of euro invested in the international racing and bloodstock industry – has... Read more »
SLIPPING AND SLIDING IN SLIGO
FOR THE second time in three years, the racing surface at Sligo racecourse has been deemed unfit for purpose, with racing abandoned after four races there last week. This is... Read more »
PETE QUEALLY’S PET FOOD
WITH THE midlands undergoing lockdown, it is interesting to see that accounts have just been filed for one of the operations that recently succumbed to a Covid-19 outbreak – Irish... Read more »
IT’S CURTAINS FOR US, SAYS ARTS INDUSTRY
NEW PLAN FOR LIVING WITH FIANNA FÁIL
BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLIST REVEALED
JOHN DELANEY’S BOOK REVIEW
‘BREXIT BILL SHAMBLES NOT A SHAMBLES’ – BORIS
