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June 04 - June 17, 2021
Affairs of the Nation
TANKS, NOT HOUSES
LAST CHRISTMAS Goldhawk wrote that a planned reform of the Defence Forces would result in two things: the end of Irish neutrality and serious investment in military hardware (see The... Read more »
AIRO’S HEAVY GOING
THE GOING at the Association of Irish Racehorse Owners (AIRO) continues to be heavy. Chairman Brian Polly and member James Gough are already suing the organisation in the High Court,... Read more »
MOYA DOHERTY’S LEGAL ADVICE
THE PLOT thickens at RTÉ, where four vacancies on the board remain unfilled for months and now the legal eagles have been called in. It will be recalled (see The... Read more »
EVANS-FREKE’S ESCAPE
GOLDHAWK’S favourite millionaire Wall Street banker, Stephen Evans-Freke, has had plenty to celebrate in recent weeks. First a plan for some houses near his splendid Castel Freke in Co Cork... Read more »
POL CORRS SPLIT ON BELARUS
THE ETHICAL antennae of Irish political correspondents rarely twitch when members of their own peer group fall foul of the law as evidenced by the loud silence when film makers... Read more »
ISRAEL: WHAT NEXT?
LITTLE OR no attention was paid by the media to a widely circulated video of the raising of the Irish flag to the sound of our national anthem – in... Read more »
JIMMY MENTON’S MEDICAL RECORD
THE LATEST arrival on the board of exploration company Providence Resources is James ‘Jimmy’ Menton, the former number cruncher who has played a central role in the proposed move of... Read more »
JERUSALEM OR JERUSALEMA?
HORIZON 2020 is an EU scheme to stimulate economic growth as well as create jobs… “to ensure Europe produces world-class science, removes barriers to innovation” and so on. With €8bn... Read more »
CATHERINE MARTIN’S FILM CREDIT
CONGRATULATIONS TO communications minister Catherine Martin, who successfully shoe-horned herself into the PR blitz around the quarterly dishing out of funds to film and TV companies by the Broadcasting Authority... Read more »
PADRAIG HIGGINS’S TANGLE
A HAIR salon business part-owned by Cork number cruncher Padraig Higgins has just been wound up but, it turns out, he is also involved in movie business financing. Higgins incorporated... Read more »
Pillars of Society
PROFILE: IVANA BACIK
FEAR STALKS the Fine Gael heartlands of Dublin 2, 4 and 6 as the Dublin Bay South byelection looms and with it the unthinkable... Read more »
The Young Bloods
YOUNG BLOOD: NIALL HORGAN
AS THE chief executive of trendy athleisure brand Gym+Coffee, Niall Horgan’s most impressive achievement in business has been to persuade millennials and yummy mummies... Read more »
Fit to Print?
DEFAMING THE NORTH’S DPP
MANY RTÉ listeners might wonder why the Today With Claire Byrne programme asked a British defence correspondent to ruminate about the recent acquittal of two parachute regiment soldiers accused of murdering Official IRA... Read more »
SUING THE SUNDAY TIMES
FOLLOWING AN incorrect report in the Sunday Times last March that the Smithwick Tribunal had found that a garda sergeant in Dundalk had colluded with the IRA to kill senior... Read more »
‘DAMNING JUDGMENT’ IN KERRY
‘KERRY’S EYE’ editor Ger Colleran is not the sort of person to gloat in victory but his reporting of a win at the Press Council – in an appeal against... Read more »
Last Refuge
GEOGHEGAN’S MEMORY LAPSES
FINE GAEL’S perfectly modelled candidate in the Dublin Bay South byelection, James Geoghegan, has had the shine taken off him since declaring his intention to succeed resigning housing minister Eoghan... Read more »
MEATH MINUTES UNDER LOCK AND KEY
A STAND-OFF between elected councillors and executive officials in Meath could be heading for an embarrassing public confrontation. Seven Independent councillors, as well as a Labour councillor and one from... Read more »
JOHN PAUL PHELAN’S ANGST
JOHN PAUL PHELAN certainly has a way with words. His description of Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney bluffing their way through a Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting last February with... Read more »
Hush Hush
THE EU AND AFRICA: BACK TO THE FUTURE
GIVEN ITS capacity for Orwellian speak, the EU’s unveiling of something called the European Peace Facility (EPF), should make one sit up and pay attention. Finally signed off in March,... Read more »
Bog Cuttings
BOG CUTTINGS
‘DODGY CIGARETTES’ Kevin Doherty (45) of Fern Park, Derry, pleaded guilty in Derry Magistrates’ Court to the fraudulent evasion of customs duty charges on goods for selling ‘dodgy cigarettes from... Read more »
Fowl Emissions
OIL INDUSTRY SURRENDERS?
FOR DECADES, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has been the de facto voice of the global fossil fuel industry. Just last July, it warned that the resurgence of Covid-19 was... Read more »
TIM CULLINAN’S MINIMUM TARGET
THE COMMON Agriculture Policy “is a tumour in the EU’s body politic”. This is the considered view of the distinctly right-of centre Economist magazine, which explained how 20% of the... Read more »
The Hot Air Brigade
THE HOT AIR BRIGADE
It is so important when dressing or designing any room to have a chat with it first. Designer Kit Kemp, Irish Examiner, submitted by readers Some of them have been... Read more »
High Society
KIESWETTERS’ STUD FEES
RACING IS not for the faint-hearted, at least in financial terms, and the relatively new bloodstock business based out of Barnane Stud in Co Tipperary managed to build up losses... Read more »
ALISON’S ORANGERY
A PLANNING application has been lodged to convert a substantial Ballsbridge property back to residential use. It was lodged in the name of one Alison Quinn – daughter of Lochlann... Read more »
BERNIE GALLAGHER’S BATHROOMS
THERE IS trouble brewing in leafy Herbert Park, Ballsbridge, where a substantial plan to revamp a protected house has elicited some strong opposition from neighbours and An Taisce. The couple... Read more »
Behind the Scenes
LIQUIDATING THE STRYPES
THE STRYPES, like a succession of Irish bands, were once (not so long ago) the next big thing but announced their break-up in 2018. More recently, they appeared together as... Read more »
SCREEN IRELAND MOOLAH
SCREEN IRELAND has announced its funding decision for the first quarter of 2021. The loans are the first to be published since the recently appointed chair designate, Susan Bergin, and... Read more »
Sport of Kings
HUNTING LOGO HUNTER
RACEHORSES CAN make fools of even the top players in the game – think of Willie Mullins selling subsequent Grade 1 winner Skyace for a mere £600 to John ‘Shark’... Read more »
KENNY’S KEBAB WOES
FORMER SENIOR gambling suit Kenny Alexander has become used to seeing his name in the headlines – linked to his star racing mare Honeysuckle (Champion Hurdle winner at Cheltenham) –... Read more »
BANKING ON THE MORANS
GORDON ELLIOTT and his team at Cullentra House will be crossing their fingers that there will be no loss of racing focus by the yard’s major investors – Noel and... Read more »
PHILIP ROTHWELL’S BAD DAY
WICKLOW TRAINER Philip Rothwell enjoyed his best year for a long time last season, which included training three winners at the Punchestown festival. But, he endured a frustrating day at... Read more »
Moneybags
GLANTUS BOTTOM LINE HIT BY PUNITIVE INTEREST RATES
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT companies can prove irresistible to investors, who love nothing more than a ‘platform’ to throw their money at, despite the setbacks experienced by the likes of Datalex. The... Read more »
RYANAIR SHARES OVERVALUED WHEN COMPARED WITH IAG
FLYING HIGH these days is the Ryanair share price despite the very evident turbulence. For some reason the airline is valued not far off its peak valuation of 2017, despite a... Read more »
The Hot Water Brigade
LUCINDA KELLY’S POP-UPS
WHAT POPS up must fall down, it appears. Popertee Ltd, the business set up by Lucinda Kelly six years ago, before attracting significant state backing, is being wound up at... Read more »
VISUAL’S POOR PICTURE
THINGS AREN’T looking any better at the VISUAL arts centre in Carlow, where the colour red still dominates the accounts. The good news is that at least a little problem... Read more »
LUNDIN’S €50M
A BLAST from the past with the winding-up of a company called Lundin Mining Ltd. The Lukas Lundin-chaired Canadian mining giant has operations around the globe, from Europe to South... Read more »
KING OF THE CASTLE
THERE WAS good news for former Wall Street banker Stephen Evans-Freke recently, when a proposed property development near his Co Cork castle got the thumbs down. Evans-Freke, son of Peter... Read more »
BIROL NADIR’S PATIENT BACKERS
STILL NO sign of Birol Nadir’s long-awaited platform “on which real fans can interact with real stars and engage with others who share their interests and passions!” Meanwhile the losses... Read more »
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