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August 28 - September 10, 2020
Affairs of the Nation
O’CALLAGHAN LURKS
PERSONALITIES IN the news and in crisis are EU Commissioner Phil Hogan and ex-attorney general Séamus Woulfe, but the real political crisis is the progressive deterioration of Fianna Fáil and... Read more »
HUMANISTS AT WAR
ALTHOUGH THE Humanist Association of Ireland (HAI) boasts an “informal, friendly and inclusive environment”, major changes are afoot in the relationship between the organisation and its celebrants that are to... Read more »
PATRICIA QUINN’S APPRAISAL
A CHARITY database fronted by Patricia Quinn is about to undergo an appraisal process that could end up with its funding being cut. Based on her previous experience, Quinn might... Read more »
LOBBYING AG SÉAMUS WOULFE
THE BELEAGUERED former attorney general, Séamus Woulfe, has been a long-time supporter of former climate action minister, Richard Bruton (as well as a long-standing Fine Gael member), who was crucial... Read more »
THEO DORGAN’S ‘GREAT BOOK’
NO DOUBT University College Cork president Patrick O’Shea was delighted with the programme broadcast last week on RTÉ about the university’s acquisition of The Great Book of Ireland (TGBI), the... Read more »
BIG PHIL AND VLAD
THE BARELY noticed but distinct difference between statements about EU commissioner Phil Hogan’s fate from Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar last weekend reflects the long-standing bond between Vlad... Read more »
COVID FILM PLOT THICKENS
HEARING ABOUT concerns in filmmaking circles regarding a small Covid-19 outbreak on a production, Goldhawk sent a series of queries to so-called ‘stakeholders’ in the sector in an attempt to... Read more »
STICKS AND STONES
IT HASN’T been the most auspicious start to a parliamentary career for new Green Party senator Róisín Garvey. “Fuck her,” the former Clare county councillor wrote about deputy leader Catherine... Read more »
EXODUS CHAPTER 11
IF Colm McCann’s book, Apeirogon, wins the Booker Prize or even makes it on to the short list next month, the murmurings of debate that can already be heard will... Read more »
NOEL KELLY’S GANG
WITH POOR Sean O’Rourke’s planned return to the airwaves scuppered by ‘Golfgate’, a prime Saturday lunchtime slot has just opened up on RTÉ radio. One man keeping an eye on... Read more »
Pillars of Society
PROFILE: MICHELLE O’NEILL
On January 23, 2017, Gerry Adams announced Michelle O’Neill’s appointment as Sinn Féin leader in the north to succeed Martin McGuinness who had stepped... Read more »
The Young Bloods
YOUNG BLOODS: AISLING DOLAN
BUOYED BY consistent strong opinion poll standings, Fine Gael is intensifying its efforts to win extra seats in the next general election, especially in... Read more »
Fit to Print?
‘POST’ MITCHELL MED WARS
HEALTH MINISTER Stephen Donnelly’s bad press can hardly be laid at the door of his new policy advisor, former Business Post health and deputy editor Susan Mitchell. But Mitchell will... Read more »
SHINNERS V JOE DUFFY
TO INADVERTENTLY provoke a defamation action from one Sinn Féin TD could be regarded as misfortune, but to do so against another SF TD on the same programme looks like... Read more »
FINTAN GET’S IT WRONG!
MOST IRISH TIMES readers and certainly those who work in the IT editor’s office would dismiss the notion of Papal infallibility, but they do expect Fintan O’Toole to always get... Read more »
Last Refuge
SCHOOL MARM FOLEY IN HOT SEAT
FROM LOWLY councillor to the cabinet in one fell swoop, education minister Norma Foley has the political weight of the Kingdom and the country on her shoulders. If the schools... Read more »
ALAN KELLY’S GHQ STAFF
NEW LABOUR party leader Alan ‘AK47’ Kelly heads up a party of six TDs. The party has enjoyed a consistent poll rating of around 5% throughout 2020 but has been... Read more »
TAOISEACH’S NEW PERSPECTIVE
AN INDIGNANT Micheál Martin gave the then taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, quite a ticking off in June last year when quizzing him on the soaring cost of the Irish Bank Resolution... Read more »
Hush Hush
ANOTHER BRIAN NELSON VICTIM
The abduction and torture of a registered blind, Belfast Catholic in the 1970s lends a new twist to the story of Britain’s top agent in the UDA, Brian Nelson –... Read more »
HACKETT UNDER FIRE
While two high-profile ministerial casualties at Agriculture have grabbed the headlines, the Greens junior minister for land use and biodiversity, Pippa Hackett, is also now in the firing line. Hackett... Read more »
Bog Cuttings
BOG CUTTINGS
Sin Bin Seamus Treanor (34) of 13 Burnside, Lower Main Street, Letterkenny, appeared at Letterkenny District Court charged with three counts of criminal damage. Judge Paul Kelly heard that, in... Read more »
Fowl Emissions
FLANN O’BRIEN LOGIC
Joy was unconfined in dairy circles with the recent exciting news that good old-fashioned cows’ milk was “better for the environment” than those das-tardly soy-based alternatives. No less an authority... Read more »
Bird's Eye View
A SHARED CONFUSION
IT WAS probably just as well that Boris Johnson made off as soon as he could from his meeting at Hillsborough Castle on August 13, leaving Micheál Martin to do... Read more »
The Hot Air Brigade
THE HOT AIR BRIGADE
All of us must display solidarity as we try to stamp out this common plague. Phil Hogan, Twitter, submitted by reader “What would happen RTÉ if half the newsroom was... Read more »
High Society
LISA MCGOWAN’S NEW VENTURE
THIS WEEK, the case featuring influencer Lisa McGowan of Lisa’s Lust List and Facebook Ireland was back in court, with McGowan seeking the identities of anonymous online posters who, she... Read more »
JACKIE HAIGH’S HOUSES
INTERIOR DESIGNER and art collector Jackie Haigh and her hubby, Adrian, have just put their Anglesea Road pile on the market, with an asking price of €2.5m, having picked it... Read more »
MARK O’KEEFFE’S HOTLINE
THE IMPACT of the black economy on the hairdressing and make-up sector, post-Covid-19, is making itself felt as some stylists opt to quit the day job and offer a home... Read more »
Behind the Scenes
ALAN DUGGAN’S LOBBYING
IT WAS only a matter of months after James Hickey retired from the chief executive role at Screen Ireland that he landed some new directorships – including Galway Film Resource... Read more »
VALUING LOUIS LE BROCQUY
NEXT MONTH’S auction by Sotheby’s of 19 works owned by Mick Smurfit should shine some light on the current perceived worth of a painting by Louis le Brocquy, which has... Read more »
Sport of Kings
DAVID KEOGHAN ROLLS THE DICE
WHEN THE Fozzy Stack-trained Aloha Star was demoted from second to third for causing interference to the favourite, The Lir Jet, in the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh... Read more »
GALLOPING ODDS AT TRAMORE
TRAINED BY Gordon Elliott, Enzani will be the subject of Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) interest when he runs next, after a peculiar outing at Tramore on August 14 that... Read more »
Books
STRANGE FLOWERS – DONAL RYAN (DOUBLEDAY)
SINCE The Spinning Heart was longlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Prize, Donal Ryan has been winning consistent praise for his slight but assured “recession-lit” novels. Much of his fiction... Read more »
Moneybags
CHEAP AIB SHARES DON’T REFLECT RECOVERY POTENTIAL
AIB BOSS Colin Hunt must be wondering why he is coming under fire in the media, with the Irish Times, for example, accusing him of taking a “much higher than... Read more »
CASHING OUT AT IPL PLASTICS
ARYZTA AND Origin were spin-offs from Philip Lynch’s IAWS, with the other remnants transformed by him into a conglomerate and brought together under the re-christened name of One 51, for... Read more »
The Hot Water Brigade
SWEENEY BOYS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
THE YOUNG Sweeneys of Clifden will hardly have enjoyed the notoriety lent to them by coverage of the 80 or so members of the Oireachtas golfing society in recent days,... Read more »
LARRY MURRIN’S JAZZ BLUES
POOR OLD Larry Murrin – who owns the Sole Seafood and Grill restaurant on South William Street, D2 – has just got some bad news. Murrin has spent the last... Read more »
DERMOT SMURFIT’S ROLLERCOASTER RIDE
AS ANY good gambler knows, what goes up must come down. Dermot Stopford Smurfit, the now not-so-young tyro who’s been up and coming with his Game Account Network (GAN) online... Read more »
CROSBIES’ LANDMARK MOVE
The oddly named Bontury Ltd is being dissolved by its owners. This turns out to have been known previously as Landmark Media Investments Ltd, which was the company established by... Read more »
CHECKING OUT OF THE WESTCOURT
THE OWNERS of the Westcourt Hotel on West Street in Drogheda, Co Louth, are treading familiar ground after calling in the liquidator. The trading entity behind the hotel is Powerscourt... Read more »
ALI RYAN’S TWEETS
WITH TENSIONS rising between the hacks and the political minders (see p12), such as the health minister’s special adviser Colette Sexton – the former Business Post journalist and Edelman PR... Read more »
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