Subscribe Now
July 1 - July 14, 2022
Affairs of the Nation
MALIGN MISSION
THE IRISH Times reported last week that the government is reconsidering its military mission in Mali, due mainly to security issues; human rights violations by Malian forces; and the increasing... Read more »
MARY AIKEN’S PALS
WITHOUT DOUBT, the most interesting of the women conferred with the freedom of Dublin City last month is Mary Aiken (whose latest gig is Professor of Cyberpsychology at Capitol Technical... Read more »
NOEL SMYTH’S WUFF RIDE
THIS WEEK will see the next chapter in the ongoing saga of a potential sale by the Irish Kennel Club (IKC) of its valuable National Show Centre near Dublin Airport... Read more »
Sponsored Content
Dovida’s Live-in Care Service
A compelling alternative to nursing home care, delivered by the most experienced care provider in Ireland Michael Wright, Director of Growth, Dovida Ireland Growth in nursing... Read more »
COLIN HUNT’S PRESIDENCY
THERE WERE eyebrows raised last week when it emerged that AIB’s Colin Hunt is to receive the Ireland-US Council’s 2022 Global Business Leadership award at a black-tie bash, just days... Read more »
IN PRAISE OF GERALDINE BYRNE NASON
Quite a few diplomatic and political eyebrows were raised last week by the Business Post’s breathless account of how a civil servant, our woman at the UN, Geraldine Byrne Nason,... Read more »
WHY WAS DE RÓISTE FRAMED?
53 YEARS is a long time to wait for justice if you were forced to ‘retire’ and had your life ruined for no apparent reason. Young Defence Forces officer Dónal... Read more »
PAUL WARD’S €15M JUDGMENT
THE HIGH Court has just awarded a hefty €15m judgment against cinema magnate Paul Ward as a result of a legal action taken by his sisters over a share agreement... Read more »
Pillars of Society
PROFILE: HELEN MCENTEE
WAS THERE ever a politician that is so much a product and beneficiary of their own family as minister for justice, Helen McEntee; whose... Read more »
The Young Bloods
YOUNG BLOOD: DANNY O’REILLY
As he gears himself up for co-hosting RTÉ One’s new Friday night music show, The Main Stage, hirsute rocker Danny O’Reilly must be thanking... Read more »
ESB’s Ardnacrusha Power Station Reopens for Free Public Tours This Summer
ESB is once again running guided tours at Ardnacrusha Power Station in Co Clare this summer, offering the public a rare opportunity to explore one of Ireland’s most significant... Read more »
Fit to Print?
FIRST CASUALTY
THE CORDIAL and professional relationship enjoyed by poet Kevin Higgins and Irish Times books editor Martin Doyle is probably down to their shared, aesthetic admiration for the outsider in this... Read more »
BILLY BINGHAM’S GESTURES
RECENT OBITUARIES to Northern Ireland soccer manager and player, Billy Bingham, in the Irish Times and Sunday Independent were positive, cheery even, as befits media obits. But softening references to... Read more »
MI5’S CHINATOWN
IT HAPPENED 10 years ago but MI5, which takes an uncommonly keen interest in Irish affairs judging by the spooky stories in the Sunday Times Aawrish edition, has exposed another nefarious plot... Read more »
Last Refuge
DON’T MENTION THE WAR!
THE MYSTERY surrounding Green Party policy on defence, security and — once that most cherished Green principle of all — neutrality, had, until recently, led to an apparent vow of... Read more »
FRIENDLY, PEACEFUL NATO
MANY PEOPLE will have heard of the splendidly titled ‘Nato Partnership for Peace’, which Ireland joined more than 20 years ago amid earnest assurances that it would not undermine Irish... Read more »
DARRAGH O’BRIEN V. CLIFFORD LEE
THE FIRST signs of just how horrid supporters of current housing minister, Darragh O’Brien, were behaving towards Darragh’s ‘colleague’ and Fianna Fáil running mate, Lorraine Clifford Lee, came within months... Read more »
Northwind
DUP HOKEY COKEY
The Brexit ultras in the Conservative party’s European Research Group (ERG), about seventy strong, now hold Boris Johnson hostage. The confidence vote the party held on 6 June revealed that... Read more »
Hush Hush
SIEGE MENTALITY!
MANY IRISH politicians and commentators have been exercised by Boris Johnson’s cynical domestic ploy in transferring asylum seekers to Rwanda. Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill tweeted, “The London elite will send... Read more »
Bog Cuttings
BOG CUTTINGS
Buy & Sell Gardaí Gerard Gormley (35) of Carrowgavneen, Coolaney, Sligo appeared before Sligo District Court charged with using threatening and abusive behaviour toward gardaí. Judge Deirdre Gearty heard that,... Read more »
Fowl Emissions
POLITICS OF FOOD
Political tensions are nearing boiling point as FF and FG close ranks in supporting special pleading from the agri-industrial lobby in its demand for a free pass on climate action... Read more »
THE IRISH NATURE
A new European study on ‘nature connectedness’ found that those with high levels of affinity to nature enjoy better mental health and tend to act in more environmentally friendly ways.... Read more »
Wigs on the Green
LAW SOCIETY SPLIT
WHAT A fascinating Law Society council meeting its members can expect when it eventually meets to discuss a startling motion demanding that the 2020-21 president, James Cahill, be booted off... Read more »
MALCOLM BYRNE IN LABOUR COURT FEUD
IT LOOKS like the board of Wexford primary school, Gaelscoil Moshíológ, which got trounced at the Labour Court recently for unfairly dismissing its founder and principal – amid some damning... Read more »
The Hot Air Brigade
THE HOT AIR BRIGADE
Bono also chooses Ice Cream Sundae by Inhaler, a band fronted by his son Elijah, as one of the tracks he would take with him because it’s “a brilliant song”... Read more »
High Society
AIDEEN’S SUNNY ASPECT
LEESON PARK is one of the more exclusive roads around Dublin 6, featuring handsome and spacious three-storey Victorian piles, a couple of which are... Read more »
JOHN GIVEN’S GAFF
FORMER GOODBODY and Philip Lee heavy hitter John Given has added another string to his bow, with KPMG hiring him to head its legal... Read more »
CIAN’S FOUR STARS
Showjumping royalty Cian O’Connor has pulled out all the stops with his upgraded ‘state of the art’ equestrian centre in Co Meath. It certainly got a five-star review from Nicola... Read more »
CEA: There is No Such Thing as Director-lite
THE Corporate Enforcement Authority (CEA) enforces any breach of company law by companies or the directors of a company. Michael Dillon, CEA’s Director of Legal, explains that... Read more »
Behind the Scenes
WAITING AT IMMA
BRIAN MACCRAITH was highly critical of the delay by the minister for media etc, etc, Catherine Martin, in publishing the Future of Media Commission report. In another of her various... Read more »
BRIAN MERRIMAN’S GOOD NEWS
CONTRATULATIONS ARE in order for Brian Merriman and his crew at the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival (IDGTF), who clearly have been receiving rather better reviews in the arts and... Read more »
Sport of Kings
O’CALLAGHAN’S MIXED WEEK
CURRAGH TRAINER Michael O’Callaghan certainly endured the highs and lows of Royal Ascot week and despite the majority of his horses running below expectations, it still ended up a lucrative... Read more »
FAMILY FORTUNES
COULD THIS be the year when Aidan O’Brien loses his grip on the Irish trainers’ championship? For the past 15 years, O’Brien has monopolised the leading trainer award and on... Read more »
KAVANAGH’S CURRAGH COVER PRICE
BRIAN KAVANAGH’S decision to charge €50 for a ticket into the Curragh on Derby Day last weekend was predictably not well received in the build-up to the track’s flagship day.... Read more »
JOHN HALLEY’S DOG
COOLMORE VET John Halley’s embarrassing doping case involving the family dog – understandably raised plenty of eyebrows. While cynics may find the excuse surprising, it is also true that the... Read more »
Books
RUTH & PEN – EMILIE PINE
THIS DEBUT novel expands on many of the same well-worn themes aired in Emilie Pine’s Notes to Self (2018), a short collection of essays that read more like a frank... Read more »
Reviews
LOVE BITES – RTÉ PLAYER
A TEXTBOOK example of how RTÉ these days commissions shows, the origins of Love Bites go back to lockdown, when struggling comedian Shane Daniel Byrne began posting sketches on his Instagram... Read more »
Moneybags
STRUGGLING BALMORAL LAND DIRECTORS ARE STILL SMILING
COMPLETING THE full integration of Total Produce into Dole Fruit to form the new enlarged group, Dole plc, in July 2021 was surely the... Read more »
FRIENDLESS SMURFIT KAPPA SHARES SIGNIFICANTLY UNDERVALUED
TONY SMURFIT has failed to excite the market, despite Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) being perfectly positioned to take advantage of the boom in cardboard... Read more »
Croke Park’s Newest Hospitality Experience
THIS EXCLUSIVE section blends the hospitality experience of Croke Park with a social, shared space, giving you the best of both worlds to enhance your match-day experience. Located in... Read more »
Brief Cases
JOHN COLLISON’S OFFSHORE ENTITY
A NEW company has been established following the acquisition from David Davies of Abbeyleix House last year by Stripe billionaire John Collison. He is not a director but is rather... Read more »
AN CAILÍN BOOM
INTERESTING TO see that the development money pendulum at the state film funding agency Screen Ireland (SI) has swung in favour of female talent. Of the 13 Irish feature film... Read more »
DUBLIN AIRPORT’S MARQUEE PLAYERS
WITH CHAOS still the order of the day for air passengers passing through Dublin Airport, at least someone is making a few bob out of the turbulence. In the immediate... Read more »
SEÁN DOYLE’S ENTERTAINMENT PROBLEM
BAD NEWS for expansive Wexford businessman Seán Doyle, whose hospitality company has just been hit with a judgment from South Dublin County Council for €83,000. This is actually the third... Read more »
NICOLA MITCHELL’S BRAVERY
PESTICIDES QUEEN Nicola Mitchell, the 2020 EY entrepreneur of the year, who, apparently, is considering floating her Life Scientific company on the Dublin stock market, was considered “brave beyond belief”... Read more »
Orla Kiely: A Life in Pattern at National Design & Craft Gallery
The highly anticipated Orla Kiely: A Life in Pattern exhibition has arrived at Design & Crafts Council Ireland (DCCI) National Design and Craft Gallery in Kilkenny. Running from February... Read more »
Popular Stories
