Affairs of the Nation

Paul Gallagher

Affairs of the Nation

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S DOUBLE-JOBBING AG

IT WAS good to finally hear from the taoiseach Micheál Martin on the generous leeway afforded to his attorney general Paul Gallagher in the lucrative, double-jobbing latitude allowed to him.... Read more »
Francesca McDonagh Ted Cunningham National Space Centre An Irish Goodbye Oscar Robert Quirke Ciara Kelly Executive Women Gathering Doug Taylor Florian Haufe Robbie Henshaw Bill Shipsey Breaking the Silence L’Ecrivain Ronan McNally National Lottery Michael Roche Energy Action Balls.ie Newspapers VAT Abbey Theatre Patricia Madden Irish Banking Culture Board Randox Aoife Gallagher Book Dalai Lama Trinity Trevor White RTÉ Chairperson Shane Houlihan Noel Smyth IKC Bob Geldof Landlord Ireland Neutrality Ukraine

Affairs of the Nation

BANK OF POPPIES

INTERVIEWED BY the Sindo’s Samantha McCaughren recently, Bank of Ireland CEO Francesca McDonagh emphasised her Irish background with references to her Irish antecedents. It may have been a response to... Read more »
Francesca McDonagh Ted Cunningham National Space Centre An Irish Goodbye Oscar Robert Quirke Ciara Kelly Executive Women Gathering Doug Taylor Florian Haufe Robbie Henshaw Bill Shipsey Breaking the Silence L’Ecrivain Ronan McNally National Lottery Michael Roche Energy Action Balls.ie Newspapers VAT Abbey Theatre Patricia Madden Irish Banking Culture Board Randox Aoife Gallagher Book Dalai Lama Trinity Trevor White RTÉ Chairperson Shane Houlihan Noel Smyth IKC Bob Geldof Landlord Ireland Neutrality Ukraine

Affairs of the Nation

‘IRISH TIMES’ HACKS’ COMRADELY REVIEWS

GOOD TO see the Irish Times literary corps dropping the modest posturing and indulging instead in honest-to-God literary praise of each other’s personal outpourings. Last weekend’s Irish Times magazine contained... Read more »
Caroline Costello

Affairs of the Nation

LEGAL SAGA NEAR AN END?

A 15-YEAR-OLD legal conflict between Louth couple Bernard and Viola Bingham and their former solicitor Barry Sheehan began in 2006 and recently reached the Supreme Court. Sheehan, who had previously... Read more »
Simon Coveney

Affairs of the Nation

PARTITION ROW: COVENEY GOES AWOL

THE ‘IRISH TIMES’ was chief among those who blamed both sides in the President Higgins partition row for not sorting it out long before it became such a controversial issue.... Read more »
Francesca McDonagh Ted Cunningham National Space Centre An Irish Goodbye Oscar Robert Quirke Ciara Kelly Executive Women Gathering Doug Taylor Florian Haufe Robbie Henshaw Bill Shipsey Breaking the Silence L’Ecrivain Ronan McNally National Lottery Michael Roche Energy Action Balls.ie Newspapers VAT Abbey Theatre Patricia Madden Irish Banking Culture Board Randox Aoife Gallagher Book Dalai Lama Trinity Trevor White RTÉ Chairperson Shane Houlihan Noel Smyth IKC Bob Geldof Landlord Ireland Neutrality Ukraine

Affairs of the Nation

WE’RE FRACKED

WILL THE government, despite its Green component, capitulate in face of the relentless campaign by energy companies to import fracked gas? When John Mullins, former chair of the Port of... Read more »
Charlie Flanagan

Affairs of the Nation

NO SUCH THING AS A FREE JUDGESHIP

FEARS THAT public exposure of the guest list at a Fine Gael fundraising dinner for legal eagles would undermine rather than enhance their prospects of appointment to the bench have... Read more »
Brian O'Driscoll

Affairs of the Nation

WHAT A SPORT AS BOD PLUGS IN ON CLIMATE

AS THE climate emergency starts to get real, it is inspiring to see respected public figures like rugby legend Brian O’Driscoll step up to do their bit to help make... Read more »
Simon Coveney

Affairs of the Nation

WHAT IS OUR FOREIGN POLICY?

AS ‘PHOENIX’ readers will know, Iveagh House mandarins have for years been determined to move away from the traditional Irish policy of neutrality. At first glance there does not seem... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Jim Bolger

Pillars of Society

PROFILE: JIM BOLGER

BOLSHY TRAINER Jim Bolger has had a banner year on the racetrack in 2021, courtesy of his Classic winning homebred three-year-old colts Poetic Flare... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Claire Kerrane

The Young Bloods

YOUNG BLOOD: CLAIRE KERRANE

GIVEN THE growing importance of the youth vote in Irish politics, and the opinion poll figures showing Sinn Féin solidly at the top of... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Mandy Johnston

Fit to Print?

TAKING ‘FLACKS’ IN THE MEDIA

NEWSTALK’S ANNOUNCEMENT of Anton Savage and Mandy Johnston as anchor presenters for the station’s current affairs and business programmes says much about new owner, Bauer Media Group. Both flacks have,... Read more »
Martin O'Hagan

Fit to Print?

MARTIN O’HAGAN’S KILLING

THE CANT surrounding the 2001 UVF murder of Sunday World journalist Martin O’Hagan by the then Independent News & Media heads has been superseded only by those who effectively collaborated... Read more »

Last Refuge

Charlie Flanagan

Last Refuge

FLANAGAN BIFFS COVENEY — AGAIN

FINE GAEL ministers and especially Simon ‘Covetous’ Coveney were apoplectic at former foreign minister Charlie Flanagan’s recent remarks criticising the government’s handling of the President Higgins diplomatic controversy over the... Read more »
Paul Gallagher

Last Refuge

AG GALLAGHER IN AND OUT OF COURT

THE CURRENT allegation of a conflict of interest in attorney general Paul Gallagher’s work for a private client is not the first time confusion has been created by his private... Read more »
Pauline O’Reilly

Last Refuge

CHU’S CHAIR: GREENS LOOK RIGHTWARD

THREE ISSUES highlighted in the media last week by Green party leader Eamon Ryan and Senator Pauline O’Reilly, among others in the leadership, are being used to try and push... Read more »
Ivana Bacik

Last Refuge

AK47, THE LADY IVANA AND LEFT BATTLES

IT WILL be interesting to see just how much prominence Labour leader Alan ‘AK47’ Kelly affords the party’s Dublin Bay South byelection victor Ivana Bacik at next month’s party conference.... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS

Shouting At Gardaí A Tralee man who called gardaí to an incident in Ballybunion in June 2021 and then told them to “go fuck themselves” after they arrived has been... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Brian Leddin

Fowl Emissions

O’DOWD AND LEDDIN’S DATA FREE DEBATE

WHY WASTE good money paying former politicians as lobbyists if serving politicians will make the same case for free? On RTÉ’s Drivetime last week Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd made... Read more »
Ed Brophy Richard Boyd-Barrett Kish Dale Crammond Frank Mitloehner Shell Greenwashing Meta Data Centres Ireland

Fowl Emissions

‘GOOD’ GAS CRISIS

NOT EVERYBODY is worried about energy blackouts – it’s great news for fossil fuels. Not only are Ireland’s coal and oil-burning power plants getting a life extension, new gas-burning plants are... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Keith Andrews

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

The short-term view to this crossroads where we have come to in Irish football – and it is a crossroads and has been with what’s gone on in that building... Read more »

High Society

Tracey Ryan

High Society

TRACEY RYAN’S BEAUTY TIPS

INTERESTING TO see that beauty business entrepreneur Tracey Ryan has stepped down from the board of the big US outfit Codex Beauty Europe. The sale of her organics-based skin care... Read more »
Gerard McNaughten

High Society

GERARD McNAUGHTON CASHES IN

IT LOOKS like TileStyle moneybags Gerard McNaughton and his siblings are taking a few bob out of the successful bathroom, kitchen and flooring supply business. The McNaughton family have made... Read more »
Consuelo O’Connor

High Society

MARTIN’S MODUS OPERANDI

IT WAS interesting to see how developer extraordinaire Pat Crean registered the purchase of his Shrewsbury Road pile, Lissadell, on the property price register in May this year. As the... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Désirée Fiinegan

Behind the Scenes

DESIREE FINNEGAN’S SCREEN CHALLENGE

GIVEN THE release of the widely praised Rose Plays Julie, on the weekend of September 17 (see review p20), Goldhawk took a gander at how Irish films have been doing... Read more »
Terry McMahon Media Commission Ireland Kerlin Gallery Creative Ireland Section 481 Christine O’Donovan RTÉ Storyland NMI Board Vacancies IASCA Ossie Kilkenny RTÉ Original Programmes

Behind the Scenes

’KIN’ MONEY

WHILE DISENTANGLING the finances of RTÉ‘s latest ‘home-grown’ production, Kin (see The Phoenix 24/9/21) ), a show owned by its Canadian and British co-producers, Goldhawk took a look at the... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Donnacha O’Brien

Sport of Kings

DONNACHA’S DIFFICULT SEASON

HAVING MADE an explosive start to his training career last year, the pace has slowed somewhat for Donnacha O’Brien this year. Group 1 winners in France and Ireland last year... Read more »
Eddie Scally

Sport of Kings

EDDIE SCALLY’S DRAW DEBATE

GOWRAN PARK is seen as one of the more progressive and well-run racetracks, with manager Eddie Scally highly regarded. There is, however, some sense of disgruntlement with the flat track... Read more »
Mick Bailey

Sport of Kings

MUST TRY HARDER

IT HAS long been whispered that the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board is adept at clamping down on non-trier cases involving small-scale trainers but less enthusiastic when it comes to many... Read more »
Charles Byrnes

Sport of Kings

BYRNES BACK WITH A BANG

WHAT BETTER way to celebrate a return from a six-month suspension than to land an old-fashioned gamble in a competitive handicap in the home of British flat racing? Saddling just... Read more »

Reviews

The Pages - Hugo Hamilton

Books

THE PAGES – HUGO HAMILTON

THE AUTHOR is best known for The Speckled People (2003) in which he recalled his eccentric childhood, growing up in a Dublin suburb with his German mother and Irish father.... Read more »
Rose Plays Julie poster

Movies

ROSE PLAYS JULIE

IT CAN be a thankless job reviewing Irish films, but from time to time one comes along where it is evident the director has a clear idea of exactly what... Read more »

Moneybags

Bertrand Gautier

Moneybags

TRYING TO MAKE SENSE OF GREENCOAT RENEWABLES

WHILE RENEWABLE energy is very much du jour, from a financial point of view these businesses survive courtesy of significant state subsidies, which in Ireland are currently running at €300m... Read more »
Edmond Scanlon

Moneybags

KERRY GROUP FINALLY GETS ITS STRATEGY RIGHT

AFTER MORE than a decade of Kerry Group advocating the virtues of a twin-tracked strategy – the two divisions of food ingredients and consumer foods – one that Moneybags criticised... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

Enda O’Coineen

Brief Cases

ENDA O’COINEEN’S STRATEGY

ENDA O’COINEEN has been busy splashing the cash in an effort to build the Business Post Group into a formidable media Goliath, recently spending €7m on polling company Red C.... Read more »
Tanya Airey

Brief Cases

TANYA AIREY’S TRAVEL DISRUPTION

GOLDHAWK’S EYES were watering reading the news reports of travel agent Tanya Airey’s difficult 2020, with her revenues plummeting €23m thanks to the Covid-19 shutdown of the travel industry. Having... Read more »
Michael McAteer

Brief Cases

THE FEIGHERYS FIND A PATH

CONGRATULATIONS ARE in order to the Feighery family, who have inked a deal to sell their company SIAC Bituminous Products (SIACBP) Ltd to French civil engineering giant Colas. Although the... Read more »
Stephen Garvey

Brief Cases

GARVEY’S GRUMBLES

LAST MONTH, Glenveagh Homes boss Stephen Garvey thundered to the Irish Times:  “If construction is such a profitable industry, why aren’t more people at it?” The paper must have caught... Read more »