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Affairs of the Nation

Affairs of the Nation

SEPARATION OF POWERS AND CRONIES

THE MUCH-vaunted separation of powers between government ministers and the judiciary works along the following lines: the party or parties in power appoint their party associates to the bench, which... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

SLOWLY DOES IT AT JAAB

THERE HAS been a lot of focus on the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board (JAAB) since the Séamus Woulfe story blew up. One issue that has been overlooked, however, is the... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

ANNE HERATY’S PANDEMIC BONUS

ANNE HERATY has been celebrating her personal €90m pay day from the takeover of CPL Resources by Outsourcing Inc. Presumably, the Japanese are most impressed with her recruitment company’s Covid-19... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

A TALE OF TWO REPORTS

LAST MONTH the Irish Times reported on a review of the impact of anti-prostitution legislation enacted in 2017. The report, from UCD’s Sexual Exploitation Research Programme, turns out to have... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

FLANAGAN’S ‘TROUBLES’

PERHAPS UNNERVED by media coverage of his courageous effort to rehabilitate the gentle Black and Tans, Charlie ‘BlackandTanagain’ Flanagan reacted negatively to recent coverage he received from Mail on Sunday... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

MARTIN’S SPIN DOCTOR

THE NEW government press secretary and former editor of the Irish Sun, Paul Clarkson, is not the first Rupert Murdoch executive to seduce a Fianna Fáil leader and taoiseach, as... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

NO INVITE FOR FLORA OKOBI

AN award for colour-blind stupidity should surely be granted to officials and councillors involved in the recently launched Meath and Louth Migration Strategy. According to the Drogheda Independent, neither the... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

RUC AND FAKE NEWS

ONE EXPECTS the pro-unionist Belfast News Letter to publish vigorous denials by former RUC Special Branch officer William Matchett that RUC/loyalist collusion was a pervasive reality. But Matchett is described... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

COLM O’GORMAN’S SUBSCRIBERS

COLM O’GORMAN, executive director of Amnesty International Ireland (AII), dragged the human rights organisation further into the highly emotive trans-gender debate last week when he tweeted that he was “proud”... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

RTÉ’S CHEAP SEATS

WITH THE Committee on Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sports and the Gaeltacht having advertised for expressions of interest in the four existing vacancies on the board of RTÉ, the bad... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Pillars of Society

PROFILE: TOM ARNOLD

THE JUNE 2020 Programme for Government (PfG) commits to publishing a new national 10-year strategy for the food industry within six months that will... Read more »

The Young Bloods

The Young Bloods

YOUNG BLOODS: VICKI NOTARO

WITH HER salty language and strong social media presence, Tallaght ‘hun’ Vicki Notaro is busy breathing new life into VIP Publishing. Taking the reins... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Fit to Print?

REAL SURRENDER

It has not been a good two weeks for those still fighting the War of Independence, seeking a different result. Eoghan Harris’s Sunday Independent column shed copious tears for British... Read more »

Fit to Print?

POETRY SURPRISE

DUBLIN LIBERALS at the Irish Times appear to have liberated their new charges at the Waterford News & Star, previously owned by Irish Examiner owners Landmark before the IT took... Read more »

Fit to Print?

BAH HUMBUG!

HACKS as well as Bob Cratchit and other staff at the Irish Daily Star were overcome with gratitude at the recent munificence bestowed upon them by the new owners, Reach.... Read more »

Last Refuge

Last Refuge

POLLS: REBELS PAUSE

A GLIMMER of hope for Fianna Fáil and its leader, An Taoiseach Micheál Martin, came with weekend polls showing the party up one point (to 12%) and three points (to... Read more »

Last Refuge

SINN FÉIN MEMBERS SUSPENDED

SINN FÉIN has just got tough with recalcitrant members in Leitrim, suspending two of them for breaching party policy on the direct provision issue. Most, but not all, SF members... Read more »

Last Refuge

FIONNÁN SHEEHAN LETS FLY

IRELAND EDITOR at Independent News & Media Fionnán Sheahan’s past affiliation to Fine Gael (Young FG chairman at UCC) has been cited by some – unconvincingly – as evidence of... Read more »

Last Refuge

O’ROURKE FIGHTS FOR GOOD NAME

BATTLING EX-TD Frank O’Rourke is taking on Facebook and Twitter in the High Court and, if the Kildare North Fianna Fáil politician’s record is anything to go by, the court... Read more »

Hush Hush

Hush Hush

CHARLIE FLANAGAN’S TROUBLES TROUBLE

Unionist psyops victim Eugene Reavey was recently vindicated in the UK parliament and former justice minister Charlie Flanagan was quick to join in the applause. But it is Charlie ‘BlackandTanagain’... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS

Out Of His Depth Bantry District Court heard the case of a man who tried to escape gardaí by jumping into Bantry Bay before having to be rescued as he... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Fowl Emissions

THE MOO CREW

GIVE ME a child until seven and I will give you the man. That old Jesuit slogan has been clearly taken to heart by the embattled agri-industrial sector, as it... Read more »

Claude Etchelamendy Ed Brophy Richard Boyd-Barrett Kish Dale Crammond Frank Mitloehner Shell Greenwashing Meta Data Centres Ireland

Fowl Emissions

DAVID MCMANUS’S CV

Growing anger over the nearly €20m in government funding for the embattled greyhound industry spilled over recently on to RTÉ’s Claire Byrne Live show, where Soc Dem TD Holly Cairns... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

What I had started to do with online corporates, I had started to talk about “massive action”… I started talking publicly about how I was going to get on The... Read more »

High Society

High Society

ROBERT O’BYRNE’S GEORGIAN DOC

THE COVER of the 2020 review from the Irish Georgian Society (IGS) features an Anthony Palliser painting of the society’s founder Desmond Guinness, who died last August. Not surprisingly, the... Read more »

High Society

JAMIE’S FITNESS PROBLEM

ONE OF the sectors badly hit by the pandemic has been the gym business, with Nphet deciding that having a beautiful body is non-essential. It is surprising then to see... Read more »

High Society

JOHNNIE COOKE’S COSTLY DISH

IT LOOKS like the latest recipe tried out by ‘celebrity chef’ Johnnie Cooke has failed to hit the spot and his company is now off the menu. This is bad... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Behind the Scenes

GLORIOUS HANDOUTS

THE FILM and TV funding agency Screen Ireland (SI), still rolling with three board vacancies since the start of the year, has announced its latest round of funding for the... Read more »

Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

Behind the Scenes

EOIN MURPHY’S NEW HAT

NEXT WEEK, Sunday World showbiz hack Eoin Murphy will join education minister Norma Foley’s team of advisors. Film director Lenny Abrahamson may be glad to see him move from the... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Sport of Kings

PAUL BYRNE’S BIG PLANS

IN JULY, when The Shunter made his debut for trainer Emmet Mullins at Tipperary after an unproductive spell for his previous trainer, it was a well-publicised and costly outing that... Read more »

Sport of Kings

RACECOURSE BLUES

THE NEWS that British racecourses can welcome back not just owners but also limited crowds with immediate effect is in stark contrast to the prognosis from Association of Irish Racecourses... Read more »

Sport of Kings

MULLINS PREPARES FOR BATTLE

WILLIE MULLINS has finally taken the wraps off his army of national hunt stars after resisting running them until well into November. His practice of avoiding Down Royal’s headline meeting... Read more »

Reviews

Reviews

THE LATE LATE TOY SHOW – RTÉ ONE

FOR MOST of the past year, broadcasters have been desperately looking for inventive ways of filling the schedules – and cheering people up. Predictably, last weekend’s Late Late Toy Show... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

ANNE HERATY’S RECORD AT CPL RESOURCES

IN SELLING her recruitment company, CPL Resources, for €316m, CEO and main shareholder Anne Heraty has hit the jackpot and will personally walk off with €90m, while her separated husband,... Read more »

Moneybags

ORIGIN ENTERPRISES FAILS TO HIT OWN TARGETS

IN THE 2019 annual report, Rose Hynes, chair of Origin Enterprises, advised her shareholders of “medium-term financial targets to 2023 of upwards earning growth” of between 5% and 9% and... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

The Hot Water Brigade

CORMAC FARRELLY’S CONTRACTS

AN INTERESTING ruling last month saw Judge John O’Connor refuse to block a senior agricultural hack from moving to the Farmers Journal from her position with digital farm news publisher... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

KATHERINE SWEENEY’S TANGLES

WITH HAIR salons re-opening now that the country is out of Level 5, coiffeurs all over Ireland will be coining it in the next few weeks. One of those who... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

WEBSITE WARNING

GOLDHAWK WAS interested to see a warning notice appear on the website of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) relating to a website selling phones, tablets and other hand-held... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

SARAH NEWMAN’S MASK

SARAH NEWMAN announced her return to commercial life in the Business Post last year in an emotional and candid interview. The interview outlined how Newman, who now lives between London... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

STOKES FAMILY PLANNING

IT HAS been an uphill battle for Pia and Jeff Stokes – formerly of the renowned Unicorn restaurant off Stephen’s Green – and the recent efforts to get planning on... Read more »