Affairs of the Nation

Ian Bailey

Affairs of the Nation

IAN BAILEY’S STAR WITNESS

THE RE-EMERGENCE in the Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder saga of Marie Farrell – once the garda’s star witness against so-called suspect Ian Bailey and later the star witness in... Read more »
Synodal Times

Affairs of the Nation

LEAVING LISSADELL

LAST MONTH, it was reported that the impressively renovated Lissadell pile on leafy Shrewsbury Road in D4 has been sold for a whopping €11m to property developer extraordinaire Pat Crean.... Read more »
Synodal Times

Affairs of the Nation

RÓISÍN INGLE’S TWEETS

LAST MONTH’s ruling against the Carlow Nationalist by the press ombudsman over the paper’s wrong story on the ‘body-shaming’ of girls at Presentation College Carlow left a few red faces... Read more »
Sharon Alston

Affairs of the Nation

SHARON ALSTON’S MUSIC NOTES

GOLDHAWK WAS delighted to se that his favourite music festival organiser and vet, Sharon Alston, was one of the lucky recipients of arts minister Catherine Martin’s €25m hand-out last month... Read more »
Jeffrey Donaldson

Affairs of the Nation

DONALDSON THE ‘MODERATE’

DUP DARLING of RTÉ and the Irish Times, new party leader Jeffrey Donaldson has been presented as the civilised alternative to creationist Edwin Poots and other backwoodsmen in the party.... Read more »
Louise Lovett

Affairs of the Nation

WOMEN’S COUNCIL’S CRITICS

THE NATIONAL Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) found itself in the spotlight last month in relation to the endless gender identity debate. Given how much public money the council gets... Read more »
Ned O'Sullivan

Affairs of the Nation

IRELAND’S PAST VERSUS FUTURE

ROLE REVERSAL between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil on the national question has been a feature of politics in recent years but FG’s Leo Varadkar and FF senator Ned O’Sullivan... Read more »
Synodal Times

Affairs of the Nation

MARY DALY’S LECTURE

PROFESSOR MARY E DALY, one of the members of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, is already in hot water for declining an invite to address the oireachtas... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Lynn Boylan

Pillars of Society

PROFILE: LYNN BOYLAN

LYNN BOYLAN’S decision to pick up the gauntlet for Sinn Féin in the Dublin Bay South (DBS) byelection appeared to inject a frisson into... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Doireann Garrihy

The Young Bloods

YOUNG BLOOD: DOIREANN GARRIHY

HER SHINY new 2fm breakfast show has been described as “an aural assault of inanity”, (Larissa Nolan, Indo), and her comedy sketches on The Doireann Project were... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Veronica Guerin

Fit to Print?

THE KILLING OF VERONICA GUERIN

THE 25TH anniversary of journalist Veronica Guerin’s murder by gangsters was marked, for the first time in the quarter of a century since, by qualified admissions that perhaps the Sunday... Read more »
Stephen Collins

Fit to Print?

COLLINS TURNS ON VLAD

TÁNAISTE LEO VARADKAR should be concerned at the apparent disillusionment of the IT’s Stephen Collins – with not only FG but its leader. Last February, he was relatively positive as... Read more »

Last Refuge

James Geoghegan

Last Refuge

FINE GAEL’S CUNNING BYELECTION PLAN

WHAT A clever ploy Fine Gael came up with in the Dublin Bay South (DBS) byelection (before that Irish Times poll) with minister Simon Harris warning that unless the other... Read more »
David Stanton

Last Refuge

BLUESHIRTS REVOLT

DISCONTENT AMONG the Fine Gael grassroots at what is described as the control freakery of Leo Varadkar and the party’s career officials has simmered for some years with the usual... Read more »
Cllr Nick Killian

Last Refuge

MINUTE MEATH MATTERS

EFFORTS BY nine Meath county councillors to prise from council officials the recordings of their own council deliberations on the county development plan (see The Phoenix, 4/6/21) have been fended... Read more »

Hush Hush

Ger Daly

Hush Hush

ACCENTURE’S BORDER WARS 

MORE THAN 80 million people were forced from their homes globally during the year, with almost 35 million of these seeking refuge or asylum in other countries, 42% of them... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS

Hiding Under Duvet Derry Magistrate’s Court heard the case of Paul Carr (29), who was handed a suspended prison sentence and fined for possessing cannabis and for causing criminal damage... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Fowl Emissions

Fowl Emissions

SINDO’S SF HEADACHE

MEDIATION BETWEEN an aggrieved Derry woman and the Sindo over claims that the newspaper published incorrect assertions about her is due to take place next week as a preliminary to... Read more »
Micheál Martin

Fowl Emissions

AN TAISCE ‘TREASON’

“WE WOULD like to acknowledge your important intervention on the matter of the challenge by an Taisce to the planning permission for the proposed cheese plant at Belview, Co Kilkenny,” gushed Glanbia Ireland CEO... Read more »

Clerical Errors

Mary Kenny

Clerical Errors

THE MARYS’ HOLY WAR

IN AN arcane spat for the unofficial title of ‘Defender of the Faith’, Mary Kenny, the conservative Catholic writer has chided Mary McAleese, the darling of liberal Catholics and former... Read more »
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid

Clerical Errors

€100M DOWN THE SWANEE

IT CAN’T be easy to spend €100bn and get absolutely nothing for your money, but the EU’s Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) has pulled it off. That’s how much was squandered... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Ciara Kelly

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

That I feel at my most decadent now when I eat cheese. Ciara Kelly on embracing middle age, ‘Life magazine’ Sunday Independent Lineker has developed such a glossy TV persona... Read more »

High Society

Gerard McNaughten

High Society

GERARD’S TILES OF DOSH

WITH CINEMA owners complaining about the social distancing restrictions hitting their bottom line since reopening last month, it was not surprising to see the Irish Film Centre (IFI) highlighting the... Read more »
Abdullah Al Naboodah

High Society

IAIN WRIGHT’S AMAZING HOME

A HOUSE with a rather picturesque setting has been put on the market, complete with Hollywood CV. It is being offloaded for a hefty sum by an asset manager with... Read more »
Hubie de Burgh

High Society

HUBIE DE BURGH’S DOWNSIZING

GOLDHAWK SPOTTED the dissolving of a company called Huma Bloodstock Ltd last month, which was a business set up a couple of decades ago by bloodstock consultant extraordinaire Hubie de... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Denis Desmond & Caroline Downey

Behind the Scenes

DESMOND’S HIGH NOTES

SINCE THE pandemic kicked in, arts minister Catherine Martin has been handing out grants like snuff at a wake and her latest announcement related to €25m to assist venues and... Read more »
National Museum of Ireland board

Behind the Scenes

IFTAS ‘GLITZ AND GLAM’

ÁINE MORIARTY’S annual IFTA gong show will be brought to you by Virgin Media One on July 4, and fronted by Gráinne Seoige (remember her?). Goldhawk can safely predict that... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Gordon Elliott

Sport of Kings

AND THE BANNED PLAYED ON

EARLIER THIS year the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) handed out two six-month bans to two high-profile trainers – Charles Byrnes and Gordon Elliott. While such sanctions would be expected... Read more »
Luke Comer

Sport of Kings

COMER’S RARE MARE

LUKE COMER seems as enthusiastic as ever about the racing game despite his usual lack of success on the track. The gelding, He Knows No Fear, who famously won last... Read more »
John Magnier

Sport of Kings

MAGNIER’S CONUNDRUM

AFTER NEGATIVE press coverage at Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum’s treatment of his daughter, Sheika Latifa, the headlines were rather more positive following the Irish Derby victory of his Hurricane Lane,... Read more »
Seamus Heffernan

Sport of Kings

BACK TO SCHOOL FOR SEAMUS HEFFERNAN

THIS TIME last year, the hapless Seamie Heffernan landed one of the longest whip bans received by any jockey. The French stewards banned him for 22 days over his use... Read more »

Reviews

MIND FULL - DERMOT WHELAN 

Books

MIND FULL – DERMOT WHELAN 

RADIO PRESENTER turned wellness ‘guru’ Dermot Whelan displayed his impressive marketing skills last month when advising his social media followers to “de-stress your dad!” by giving his buke as a... Read more »
AGENTS OF INFLUENCE - AARON EDWARDS

Books

AGENTS OF INFLUENCE – AARON EDWARDS

THE BOOK’S front cover singles out the infamous Freddie Scappaticci in glorious technicolour. Everyone else in black and white. He is barely mentioned in this book, though. Readers are left... Read more »

Moneybags

Sean Corkery

Moneybags

DATALEX’S SURPRISE €25M EQUITY RAISE

WHAT A surprising move Datalex made earlier this month when issuing a fundraiser, a year ahead of what observers would have predicted after a recent reorganisation of its debt situation.... Read more »
Carl McCann

Moneybags

CARL MCCANN’S REMARKABLE FRUIT SALAD

CARL MCCANN is about to create a global fruit and vegetable colossus courtesy of his merging of Total Produce and Dole Food Company (DFC) into one giant group with sales... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

Barry Napier

The Hot Water Brigade

BARRY NAPIER’S €1M JUDGMENT

SURPRISING TO see the highly respected telecoms entrepreneur Barry Napier finding himself on the end of a judgment from AIB for a cool €1m. The multitalented Napier has made quite... Read more »
Tiarnan O’Mahoney

The Hot Water Brigade

TIARNAN O’MAHONEY’S UPS AND DOWNS

A COMPANY called Rebenna Ltd has just ceased trading and the principal here is one Felicity Keane, wife of former Anglo Irish Bank senior suit and Celtic Tiger poster boy,... Read more »
hot-water-brigade def

The Hot Water Brigade

FAT CAT FAILINGS

WHILE THE name may sound impressive, Fat Cat Property Holdings Ltd (FCP) doesn’t look like it is about to join the ranks of the big boys any time soon judging... Read more »
Mairead Mulhern

The Hot Water Brigade

MAIREAD MULHERN’S ‘FANTASIC ADVENTURE’

THE LIQUIDATION of Teilifís Mhaigh Eo Teo (TME), the company that was behind the ill-fated Irish TV channel, has finally been completed. Not surprisingly, there was sod all for creditors,... Read more »
Bob Geldof

The Hot Water Brigade

GEOFF HOGAN’S HIGH COURT PETITION

FANS OF Goldhawk will not have been overly surprised by the decision of Period Door Properties Ltd (PDP) to petition the High Court this week to have an examiner appointed... Read more »