Affairs of the Nation

Judge Yvonne Murphy

Affairs of the Nation

‘I. TIMES’ SILENT ON BETHANY BABY HOME

FOLLOWING JUDGE Yvonne Murphy’s report last month into mother and baby homes, The Phoenix published an investigation, ‘Bethany Baby Home and the Irish Times’ (see edition, 29/1/21). The article criticised... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

EAMON RYAN’S PRIORITIES

THE DECISION of Dublin City Council to reject an application by the ESB to change the much-loved Georgian Museum on Lower Fitzwilliam Street to apartments is not one that reflects... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

UNA MCGURK’S FIGHTBACK

OUTSPOKEN SENIOR counsel Una McGurk received an apology from Irish Legal News (ILN) last week over an article in the online publication. It turns out that she is taking rather... Read more »
Mary Robinson

Affairs of the Nation

MARY ROBINSON’S PR DISASTER

MARY ROBINSON has faced a barrage of criticism since the BBC’s report on the plight of Sheikha Latifa, the hapless daughter of United Arab Emirates prime minister Sheikh Mohammed al... Read more »
Mary Aiken

Affairs of the Nation

MARY AIKEN’S PAYDAY

GOLDHAWK WAS delighted to see that celebrity cyberpsychologist Mary Aiken has made a fair few bob out of her involvement with a US television crime show. Aiken’s profile was significantly... Read more »
Angela Merkel

Affairs of the Nation

‘SPINELESS TEAM EU’

CHEERY COMMENT from Irish Times Europe correspondent Naomi O’Leary recently – “Millions more doses secured for Ireland” – came a day after the infinitely more pessimistic prognosis from the paper’s... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

SIMON COVENEY’S PROMISES

REMEMBER HOW foreign minister Simon Coveney made theatrical and rhetorical gestures about recognising Palestinian statehood and breaking with the EU consensus on foreign policy if the Israelis made one more... Read more »
Tim Cullinan

Affairs of the Nation

FARMING FACTS

IT’S TOUGH work trying to put a positive PR spin on the environmental train wreck otherwise known as the Irish beef and dairy sector. Thanks to the recent stampede to... Read more »
Eugene Regan

Affairs of the Nation

EUGENE REGAN’S FRIENDS

WELL-CONNECTED former senator Eugene Regan has been reappointed to the Court of Justice to the EU for another six-year term following the intervention of court president Koen Lenaerts, who told... Read more »
Jack Chambers

Affairs of the Nation

CASHIERED CHAMBERS MARK 11

MINISTER CHAMBERS is still the subject of military disputation after the Minister for Defence (and foreign affairs), Simon Coveney, broke him down from the ranks (see The Phoenix, 29/1/21). Covetous... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

CLARIFICATION

An article in the issue of January 29, 2021, referred to the establishment by Noel and Jacinta McMahon of an online dating agency called Perfect Partners. In fact, this business... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Daragh O'Brien

Pillars of Society

PROFILE: DARRAGH O’BRIEN

HOUSING AND local government minister Darragh O’Brien has three tasks in hand: one is to conquer or at least ameliorate the housing crisis; two... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Caroline Foran

The Young Bloods

YOUNG BLOOD: CAROLINE FORAN

HAD SHE been born into a different generation, Caroline Foran might have taken an alternative path to helping people to ‘own’ their vulnerability. While baby... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Leo Varadkar

Fit to Print?

VLAD’S RHETORIC

THE WORLD’S press has been enthralled by the audacious Aussies as they square up to the tech giants who appear to have made Australia a test case for their effort... Read more »
Alex Maskey

Fit to Print?

ALEX MASKEY V IRISH TIMES

IRISH TIMES legal affairs correspondent Colm Keena wrote a lengthy feature article on Sinn Féin on March 5 last which purported to outline the alleged stranglehold that unelected people have... Read more »
Patricia Devlin

Fit to Print?

‘IRISH TIMES’ REMEMBERS

HAS THE centenary of Northern Ireland unhinged the Irish Times? It has just spent a week publishing a stream of articles and interviews involving defenders of the British empire, unionists... Read more »

Last Refuge

Maria Byrne

Last Refuge

FRIENDS AT COURT

THE INDO’S Fionnan Sheahan mischievously remarked recently that Fine Gael Seanad byelection candidate Maria Byrne is “a real favourite of Tánaiste Leo Varadkar’s office”, while also writing that she would... Read more »
Neasa Hourigan Green Party Martin NPT Ivana Bacik Independents Limerick Hospital Overcrowding Barry Cowen

Last Refuge

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S MEDIA OFFENSIVE

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S media offensive has caused him some problems (‘mixed messages’ etc) but it also appears that he has had some traction recently and the Business Post argued last weekend... Read more »
Mary Lou McDonald

Last Refuge

SINN FÉIN’S ELECTORAL GROUND WAR

SINN FÉIN’S spectre is stalking the land again as its extraordinary election result last February was diminished only by its failure to run enough candidates, a mistake that will be... Read more »

Hush Hush

Stephen Martin

Hush Hush

UNTURNED STONES

STEPHEN MARTIN, a top PSNI crime officer centrally involved in the decision to launch a criminal investigation into the journalists who probed the 1994 Loughinisland massacre, is one of four... Read more »
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Hush Hush

SUING OPERATION KENOVA

THE STAKEKNIFE farrago continues to unravel with Operation Kenova now being undermined by legal action. The murder of Belfast pensioner Francisco Notorantonio by the UDA in October 1987 was central... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS

“F*** You” Michael Mongan (26) of 4 Riverside Apartments, Castlerea, apologised to Castlerea District Court after shouting “fuck you” at Judge James Faughnan when he passed a five-month prison sentence.... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Marie Donnelly

Fowl Emissions

FF GREENER THAN RYAN?

“PASSING THIS legislation … means we can now move away from fossil fuels and give our complete focus to our plans to transition to renewable energy,” declared the Green Party’s... Read more »
Claude Etchelamendy Ed Brophy Richard Boyd-Barrett Kish Dale Crammond Frank Mitloehner Shell Greenwashing Meta Data Centres Ireland

Fowl Emissions

MARIE DONNELLY’S BAD START

THERE WERE high hopes for Marie Donnelly, the former Brussels bureaucrat recruited by Eamon Ryan as the new chair of the Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC). After five years of... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Mary Robinson

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

I didn’t actually want to talk to her and increase the trauma over a nice lunch. Mary Robinson reflecting on lunch with ‘troubled’ Princess Latifa, Sunday Independent, submitted by reader... Read more »

High Society

Karon Jacobson

High Society

KARON’S ZEN APPROACH

The “extraordinary” 10,000 sq ft ‘Ananda’ in Killiney, Co Dublin, is some spread and apparently viewers will be forgiven “for thinking it’s the latest Bel Air listing in sunny LA”.... Read more »
Consuelo O’Connor

High Society

NEVEN MAGUIRE’S NEW RECIPE

WITH THE ubiquitous celebrity chef Neven Maguire on screen with the rerun of his ‘Spanish Trails’ series, there has been some corporate tidying up taking place. Maguire has had an... Read more »
Helen Turkington

High Society

HELEN TURKINGTON’S PROPERTY PLAY

THE PROPERTY section of the Irish Times featured a big spread on a ‘boutique eight property scheme’ in Terenure, D6, with the four- and five-bedroom units on the market for... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Sarah McInerney

Behind the Scenes

SUPER SARAH’S REVIEWS

READERS OF Mick Heaney’s radio reviews in the Irish Times were treated to another instalment in his long running editorial infatuation with presenter Sarah McInerney earlier this month. Smitten Heaney’s... Read more »
Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

Behind the Scenes

CATHERINE MARTIN’S EMPTY SEATS

WHILE THE Green Party continues to be engaged in its off-screen rumblings, it is to be hoped that culture minister Catherine Martin’s attention is not further diverted from the task... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Sheikh Mohammed

Sport of Kings

KIDNAP CONUNDRUM

BBC’S LATEST Panorama investigation into the current wellbeing and whereabouts of Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum’s daughter, Sheikha Latifa, made for uncomfortable viewing, and not just for Mary Robinson. The focus... Read more »
Davy Russell

Sport of Kings

RUSSELL’S REVENGE

DAVY RUSSELL’S opinions tend towards the forthright but, nevertheless, he caught unsuspecting viewers by surprise live on Racing TV recently. The jockey was a phone-in guest on Nick Luck’s Luck... Read more »
Jason Morris

Sport of Kings

POINT-LESS

RECENTLY, Horse Racing Ireland came under fire over the lack of opportunities for lower grade flat horses at Dundalk and the backlog of these horses with nowhere to compete. After... Read more »
Keri Brion

Sport of Kings

AMERICAN SIGH

THE EXPERIMENT of American trainer Keri Brion in basing a handful of horses in Ireland this year, while the US jumps season continues its hiatus, has proved a frustrating ordeal.... Read more »

Reviews

Crime World

Podcasts

CRIME WORLD – NICOLA TALLANT 

WITH TRUE crime podcasts all the rage, now might be an opportune time for somebody to do a mystery series on what happened to all the great shows newspapers promised... Read more »
Suzie McAdam

Reviews

HOME OF THE YEAR – RTÉ ONE

NOW IN its seventh series, Home of the Year is back with seasoned presenter Hugh Wallace taking centre stage as always. The “design legend” is joined by two new excitable... Read more »

Moneybags

Michael O'Leary

Moneybags

RYANAIR FACING TURBULENCE FROM LEANER WIZZ AIR

WITH MICK O’Leary now forecasting Ryanair will incur further significant losses in the last three months of its current year ending March 2021, this outlook is coming into line with... Read more »
Alan Linn

Moneybags

PROVIDENCE SHAREHOLDERS PREPARE FOR BOND BOOST

IT WAS reported in the Business Post recently that Providence Resources’ farm-out partner, SpotOn Energy, had approached the Irish exploration company about a potential merger. This was not too surprising... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

Dermot Desmond

The Hot Water Brigade

DERMOT DESMOND’S CELTIC CROSS

IT GOES from bad to worse for Dermot Desmond in Glasgow, where Celtic continue to fall off the pace set by bitter rivals Rangers, and the club announced a loss... Read more »
Michael O'Callaghan

The Hot Water Brigade

MICHAEL O’CALLAGHAN’S PLANNING FENCE

MICHAEL O’CALLAGHAN, the tyro horseracing trainer known for his ability to spot a bargain, has found himself on heavy ground over efforts to build a house and a new training... Read more »
Brian Comer

The Hot Water Brigade

THE COMERS’ COURT OF KINGS

A FALL at the final hurdle for the horse-mad brothers, Brian and Luke Comer, as their bid to turn some holiday apartments into permanent residences in Killarney were scuppered by... Read more »
Rick Larkin

The Hot Water Brigade

THE LARKINS’ TAXING TIMES

THE ACCOUNTS just filed for Vieira Ltd don’t make for pleasant reading for Goldhawk’s old pal Rick Larkin. The figures reveal that in 2019, Vieira – where Rick is joined... Read more »
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The Hot Water Brigade

AL MAKTOUM’S FOUNDATION

WITH FORMER president Mary Robinson in the spotlight thanks to the BBC’s programme featuring her controversial visit to Dubai, it is interesting to note that the accounts have just been... Read more »
Tapaas Chakravarti

The Hot Water Brigade

BUNGLE BOOK IN GALWAY

FANS OF Goldhawk will be interested to see that the receivership of the Irish end of a multi-million-euro Indian animation outfit, associated with international TV shows such as Jungle Book,... Read more »