Affairs of the Nation

Green Party CETA Patrick Costello

Affairs of the Nation

GREENS DIVIDE ON CETA

GREEN PARTY TD Patrick Costello has gone from naive radical to triumphant litigant fighting the EU-Canada trade deal, Ceta, with his successful Supreme Court victory last week. But it is... Read more »
Budget Jack Chambers Nicki Minaj B’Tselem Phil Hogan UCD IRTA DIGI Katy Brown Rory Godson Pallonji Mistry Shark Hanlon Frances Ruane Taste of Dublin Listowel Writers’ Week Paddy Curran Harvey Norman Anton Savage Paul Hourican Enda O’Coineen PfP Red C Poll IFTA Ben Gilroy Luke Comer Sue Spence Fingleton Aubrey McCarthy Matt Cooper Parker Green Danny McConnell Gayle Killilea Maura Derivan Ed Honohan INS Arts Council EDAF Emuse Rosslare Golf Club Mairead Casey Colm O’Rourke Stephen Connolly Peter Aiken John Malone Tom Barry Anthony Halpin Ian Kehoe Kevin Bakhurst Geraldine O’Leary Dennis Horgan RUSI Gareth McAllister Ryevale House Joe Macken RUC Omagh Patrick Connolly Paddy Cosgrave The Ditch Newstalk Fake Tan Fred Logue Ian Paisley Sean O’Riordan Margaret Sweeney Jay Bourke Ellie Kisyombe 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

VAT’S THE PROBLEM?

FINANCE MINISTER Paschal Donohoe’s spokesperson told Goldhawk recently that although a newspaper is a periodical it can have a zero VAT rate applied to it, while a news periodical (such... Read more »
Varadkar Sinn Féin Jordan Bardella

Affairs of the Nation

VARADKAR’S BLACK AND BLUE SHIRTS

RECENT ATTACKS by Leo Varadkar on Sinn Féin have tried to link the party to far-right movements in Europe. At the launch of the Fine Gael think-in in Kilkenny in... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

Eamon Marray

Affairs of the Nation

EAMON MARRAY’S MASK PROTEST

THERE WERE fun and games in the Dublin County Registrar’s court last week when experienced commercial law barrister Eamon Marray made it pretty damn clear that he wouldn’t be wearing... Read more »
Price of Pint Ireland Sheena Horgan

Affairs of the Nation

DRINKAWARE’S BUSY YEAR

THE PRICE of alcohol was back in the news this month as giant brewer Heineken upped the cost of a pint by around 10% in Ireland, with Budweiser and Diageo... Read more »
Micheál Martin 2024 Election

Affairs of the Nation

COP27: MARTIN ON CYNICISM

IT’S NOT unusual to hear politicians being called out by NGOs and activists for their empty words and hollow rhetoric on the climate emergency. However, you sense that something significant... Read more »
Paul Hourican Judge Michael Quinn

Affairs of the Nation

PAUL HOURICAN’S RETURN

GOLDHAWK’S favourite landlord Paul Hourican is living proof that you can’t keep a good man down. Having been burned by his adventure with Period Door Properties (PDP), the D4-based all-rounder... Read more »
Bono Book Award Gold trophy Award

Affairs of the Nation

ANNUAL 2022: GOLDHAWK’S AWARDS FOR THE PASSING PARADE

MOYA DOHERTY WITH RTÉ on the hunt for a new board chair, outgoing chairwoman Moya Doherty will prove a hard act to follow for anyone seeking to avoid making a... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Mary Lou McDonald espouses liberal values that are in tune with most SF members and with the electorate north and south.

Pillars of Society

ANNUAL 2022: PROFILE – MARY LOU McDONALD

MARY LOU McDonald perplexes the pundits. For decades they warded off support for Sinn Féin’s message down south by appealing to a liberal community... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Big Oil EU Ursula von der Leyen

Fit to Print?

WHAT A LOVELY WAR

AMID MEDIA hand-wringing about Ukraine and Nato propaganda masquerading as journalism, it takes a small NGO to reveal who has really been making decisions about the energy and inflation crisis... Read more »
Ivan Yates Nell McCafferty RTÉ Lord Laird Intro Matchmaking NewsBrands Martin McGuinness Dún Laoghaire Pat Leahy Cormac Lucey John Cooney Irish Journalism Awards Steve Aiken Anton Savage John Downing Lucinda Creighton Marina Sologub Eilis O'Hanlon Ian Kehoe Danny McConnell Sindo O'Connor Mediahuis Stephen Collins Book Justine McCarthy Rewriting the Troubles Lynn Ruane Sinn Féin

Fit to Print?

LAST ‘POST’ GOES SCANDINAVIAN

REPORTS LAST week that Swedish publishing multinational Bonnier is to take an indeterminate stake in the Business Post may begin to shed light on just who the Post’s investors are,... Read more »
Ailbhe Noonan

Fit to Print?

NO IMPEACHMENT AT TRINNERS

IT’S BEEN a rocky start for Ailbhe Noonan, newly elected editor of University Times, the Irish student publication of the year for six out of the last seven years. However,... Read more »
Irish Newspapers Ruadhan Mac Cormaic

Fit to Print?

ANNUAL 2022: PRINT – OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES

UPHEAVALS AT the top of Irish newspapers dominated the print and online market this year. The four or five leading titles all saw changes, with a new editor at the... Read more »

Last Refuge

Anne Rabbitte

Last Refuge

MISCOUNTING GENDER QUOTAS

ELEVATION TO the Fianna Fáil ard comhairle (AC) may not be everyone’s idea of political paradise but it caused a dispute between junior equality and children’s minister Anne Rabbitte and... Read more »
Fianna Fáil Cabinet Seán Haughey

Last Refuge

FF BALANCE OF FORCES

MUCH SPECULATION about minor adjustments to Cabinet members of both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in the December upheaval ignores the likelihood of greater changes at junior ministerial level, something... Read more »
Micheal Martin

Last Refuge

ANNUAL 2022: GOVERNMENT – THE REAL WAR: VLAD V MARTIN

IF 2021 was the year in which Government parties and their praetorian guard in the media were rendered aghast by the rise of Sinn Féin to 30% circa in the... Read more »
Labour Party Leadership

Last Refuge

ANNUAL 2022: OPPOSITION – ALEXANDRA GIRL RULES OK!

FOR A man who has cultivated such a pugnacious image, Alan Kelly gave up the leadership of the Labour Party with less than a whimper. His brother Declan’s firm, Teneo,... Read more »
Janice Boylan Irish Military Mali Coolock Says No IFP Hermann Kelly Timmy Dooley Aontú Mal O’Hara Fintan O’Toole Josepha Madigan Eoghan Harris Ukraine War Micheál Martin Middle East Philip Ryan Seán Clancy Simon Coveney Hugo MacNeill Mountbatten Neasa Hourigan Green Party Martin NPT Ivana Bacik Independents Limerick Hospital Overcrowding Barry Cowen

Last Refuge

ANNUAL 2022: INDEPENDENTS/TROTS – INDEPENDENTS LEFT AND RIGHT

THE INDEPENDENTS and minor parties of the left continue to cheerlead from the sidelines but they have little tangible achievement of which to boast. IN THE 2020 election, 18% of... Read more »

Northwind

DUP Protocol Jim Allister

Northwind

DUP: NO ONE LIKES US — WE DON’T CARE

IN A remarkable series of assertions last month, Taoiseach Micheál Martin told the Financial Times that the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) is “not fit for purpose”, that its voting system... Read more »

Hush Hush

Defence Department Aviva Simon Coveney

Hush Hush

UNARMED COVENEY

THE DEFENCE department released a press release last month regarding the information and networking event it had organised in the Aviva Stadium could not have been more bland, banal or... Read more »

Wigs on the Green

Irish Courts 2022

Wigs on the Green

ANNUAL 2022: WIGS ON THE GREEN – TWO JUDGES, A TOUT AND A TEACHER

MUCH COURTROOM drama took place in Irish courts in 2022, with that haven of human rights, Dubai, proving irresistible to two of Ireland’s most distinguished judges; the prospect of a... Read more »

Foreign Frolics

Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February: The idea of Ireland using our neutrality to find a way to play a mediating role in the war – and so help to bring about peace – is beyond the realms of polite discourse.

Foreign Frolics

ANNUAL 2022: FOREIGN FROLICS – BETWEEN THE US AND THE DEEP BLUE EU

OUR FOREIGN POLICY has seen Ireland continue its sterling efforts to be seen as the best boy in class, with the Government determinedly staying on message with the United States... Read more »

Clerical Errors

Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin will have a chance to shine when he lead’s an Irish delegation at a European-wide gathering in February.

Clerical Errors

ANNUAL 2022: CLERICAL ERRORS – ELUSIVE RED HAT

AN UNEXPECTED lifeline that could yet help the ambitious if indecisive Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin to obtain a coveted red hat was thrown in September by Pope Francis. Unexpectedly,... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Johnny Depp

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Now, it’s rare for a creative genius like Shane to have one avenue of output. Such an incendiary talent is likely to have a multitude of facilities whereby his talent... Read more »

High Society

High Society

Pippa O’Connor Vodka

High Society

PIPPA O’CONNOR’S POT STILL

THE RELENTLESS expansion of Pippa O’Connor Ormond’s business interests has continued in the form of a move into the vodka game. Having signed on... Read more »

High Society

Declan Ryan Michael Lynch

High Society

DECLAN RYAN’S VERANDA

PLANNING PERMISSION has just been granted to a little-known company to add a veranda to the multimillion-euro former abode of the Brazilian ambassador on... Read more »

High Society

Matt Ryan Paddy McKillen Jnr

High Society

PADDY’S CHOCOLATE ADVENTURE

HAVING SURPRISINGLY branched into the confectionery business with the purchase of Skelligs Chocolates, Paddy McKillen Jnr will be hoping to shift lots of ‘Chocolate Pyramids’ next month. Documents just filed... Read more »
Aimee Connoll

High Society

ANNUAL 2022: HIGH SOCIETY – INFLUENCERS AND LIMITLESS DRIPS IN 2022

IN A YEAR dominated by the war in Ukraine, energy fears and rampant inflation, it was refreshing to see that the other half continued to live cosseted lives and opened... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

John Brady

Behind the Scenes

JOHN BRADY’S PLOT TWIST

AS FANS of Goldhawk are aware, there has been a relentless rise in the number of film and TV studio projects at various stages of planning – all preparing to... Read more »
Tailored Films Screen Ireland Perspectives DCCI Crescine Tarka Russell Lara Hickey Reality Check Sarah McInerney Irish Movies Paul Murray Arts Council Dublin Theatre Festival TWU Macdara Kelleher Richard Boyd Barrett DADC Cillian Murphy 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

CHRISTINE O’DONOVAN’S CHAIR

BARRING A disaster from the Oireachtas committee on higher education, high-powered legal eagle Christine O’Donovan will be confirmed as the chairwoman of the National College of Art and Design (NCAD),... Read more »
Bono

Behind the Scenes

ANNUAL 2022: BEHIND THE SCENES – RED SCARE IN THE ARTS WORLD

THE ARTS delivered their usual share of spats and colourful performances but the big winner was surely the minister responsible for signing cheques and maintaining morale in the culture trenches.... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Breeders' Cup Aidan O’Brien City of Troy

Sport of Kings

MV MAGNIER’S SPENDING SPREE

AFTER SADDLING three winners at the Breeders’ Cup in Lexington Kentucky, Aidan O’Brien is within sight of becoming the most successful trainer in the history of the Breeders’ Cup. O’Brien... Read more »
Charles Byrnes Ban

Sport of Kings

PHILIP BYRNES’S SETBACK

CHARLES BYRNES has bounced back in some style this year after serving his six-month ban for negligence in 2021 over the high-profile case of the mysterious nobbling of Viking Hoard... Read more »
Palladian Jewel Thurles Bryan Cooper

Sport of Kings

GAMBLE THAT NEVER WAS

A LOT of gambles are overhyped and often even invented by bookies to get ordinary punters to jump on the bandwagon and lash out the cash. Recently at Thurles, however,... Read more »
Kevin Manning

Sport of Kings

KEVIN MANNING’S FUTURE

AFTER A successful career in the saddle spanning four decades, Kevin Manning finally hung up his boots after winning on Vocal Studies at Galway, trained by Jim Bolger, his father-in-law.... Read more »

Reviews

THE QUEEN OF DIRT ISLAND - DONAL RYAN

Books

THE QUEEN OF DIRT ISLAND – DONAL RYAN

HAVING MADE an impact with his early ‘recession-lit’ fiction, Donal Ryan continues to be associated with vividly drawn characters, wrenchingly sad lives and a compressed lyrical style. His latest novel... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Colin Hunt

Moneybags

ANNUAL 2022: MONEYBAGS – WHICH COMPANIES ARE SET TO THRIVE IN TROUBLED 2023?

AGAINST THE background of soaring interest rates, rocketing energy prices and the effect on supply lines of increasing tensions between the US and China,... Read more »

Moneybags

Karen Slatford

Moneybags

ANNUAL 2022: MONEYBAGS – WINNERS AND LOSERS IN 2022

AGAINST THE backdrop of rising inflation and interest rates, not too many companies were going to push ahead this year, other than the banks,... Read more »

Brief Cases

Benny Nilsson

Brief Cases

ROBERT DRENNAN’S SOUL SEARCHING

SO FAREWELL then to Robert Drennan’s trendy sofa retailer Soul, which has been wound up after a decade in business. Happily, design conscious south Co Dublin urbanites will still be... Read more »
ZMG Cyril Murphy Newbridge College Peter Wilson Sporting Emporium Chris Wholey O'Kane God’s Creatures Film Tax Relief Anne Rossi Desmond Live Nation ESCADIA LTD Al Porter Comeback Gordon Elliott Clayton Love Ivan Wilde hot-water-brigade Parnells GAA Lawsuit

Brief Cases

AL PORTER’S TIMELY COMEBACK

AL PORTER made his “surprise comeback” last week, the Indo blared on its website. Showbiz editor Melanie Finn told expectant readers how “the funnyman (29) performed for a few minutes... Read more »
Jennifer Rock

Brief Cases

JENNY ROCK’S ADVICE

VIRTUALLY EVERY media outlet provides some kind of ‘your money’ or ‘how to save it’ advice these days, with some mid-tier entrepreneur or business guru offering words of wisdom. In... Read more »
Irish Bankruptcies 2022 Catriona Carey

Brief Cases

ANNUAL 2022: BRIEF CASES – BUSY YEAR FOR THE GATE KEEPERS IN 2022

IT WAS a hectic year for liquidators, bankruptcy lawyers, insolvency practitioners and anyone investigating white-collar crime, as the long-stored-up problems during the Covid-19 pandemic finally came home to roost, along... Read more »