Affairs of the Nation

Irish Government Neutrality

Affairs of the Nation

RUSH TO ARMS

THREE POLLS on Irish neutrality since the Russian invasion of Ukraine have disappointed the dogs of war in government and the Defence Forces who want to abolish Irish neutrality and... 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

HELEN MCENTEE’S CRITIC

JUSTICE MINISTER Helen McEntee came under fire this month when shutting down visa exemption rules for refugees travelling to Ireland from other European countries. When it comes to taking potshots... 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

GARRY O’SULLIVAN’S MAMMON

WHILE THE poor old print media has been under severe pressure in recent years as the digital giants like Google and Facebook hoover up the vast bulk of the online... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

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

ENDA KENNY’S ENERGY SHARES

WHILE IT may be assumed by many that Enda Kenny is taking things easy these days, apart from hosting the odd sleepy RTÉ documentary on Irish railways, he is in... Read more »
Licence Fee Abolished

Affairs of the Nation

SIMON COVENEY’S MEDIA FUND

ONE HIGHLY publicised element of the report by Brian MacCraith’s Future of Media Commission was the rejection of the recommendation that the licence fee be scrapped and replaced with direct... Read more »
Nóirín Hegarty Sunday Times Staff Cuts Jobs

Affairs of the Nation

MURDOCH’S DAYS OF CARNAGE

WHAT HACKS at Sunday Times Ireland and Times Ireland called ‘days of carnage’ came to an end last week with more than a dozen hacks either refusing to interview for... Read more »
Colm O'Gorman now

Affairs of the Nation

COLM O’GORMAN’S LEGACY

GOLDHAWK’S favourite charity executive, Colm O’Gorman, is now settling in as a senior director at the Global Refugee Sponsorship Initiative. Given that it is backed by the likes of the... Read more »
Agriculture RTÉ

Affairs of the Nation

AGRI-CATASTROPHE

Hysteria has this week been dialled up to 11 as the agri-industrial sector went into full scale panic mode in a last gasp effort to sabotage Ireland’s new sectoral carbon... Read more »
Thomas Niedermayer IRA

Affairs of the Nation

SECRET DIPLOMAT’S KIDNAP FILES

FOREIGN AND Commonwealth Office (FCO) files have just been released which shed some light on the IRA kidnapping of Germany’s Consul in Belfast, Thomas Niedermayer, in December 1973. Secretly, the... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Press Ombudsman Ireland

Pillars of Society

PROFILE: SUSAN MCKAY

NEWLY APPOINTED Press Ombudsman, Susan McKay, has had a more dramatic career than most Irish writers, even those in the sometimes dangerous frontline of... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Nina Carberry RTÉ

The Young Bloods

YOUNG BLOOD: NINA CARBERRY

Now that she has retired from her former career as a National Hunt jockey, Nina Carberry appears to be waltzing into a career as... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Penny Mordaunt Ireland

Fit to Print?

PENNY MORDAUNT’S REBEL IRISH ROOTS

WHAT FASCINATING information emerged in the media recently about the Republican activities of failed Tory leadership contender, Penny Mordaunt and her predecessors in Ireland, including involvement in the Land League,... 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?

NEWSPAPER COVER PRICE INFLATION

THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT, last Sunday week, front-paged its story of Johnny Ronan’s bid to “up price of housing” at the Irish Glass Bottle site in Dublin 4 in what is fast... Read more »
Mediahuis Editors

Fit to Print?

MEDIAHUIS RESHUFFLES EDITORS

PETER VANDERMEERSCH enjoyed the title of publisher of Mediahuis Ireland until recently but from next Monday he will glory in the title of Mediahuis chief executive officer. But having entrenched... Read more »

Last Refuge

FF New Leader

Last Refuge

ANTI-MARTIN CAMP DIVIDES

IT’S NOT exactly a split but Micheál Martin will be pleased enough to detect a disagreement about tactics among those members of his parliamentary party that want to get shot... 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

CATHAL CROWE’S PLANNING PROBLEM

FIANNA FÁIL TD, Cathal Crowe, a key member of the parliamentary party, is embroiled in a planning row over the construction of his new family home in Cratloe, Co Clare,... Read more »
Fine Gael Farmer Emissions

Last Refuge

FINE GAEL MOONLIGHTERS

LEO VARADKAR is incensed with those members of his parliamentary party that have followed the lead of TD, John Paul Phelan, in their crusade to defend farmers against the depredations... Read more »
Micheál Martin Northern Ireland

Last Refuge

MARTIN “DANCES ON LEMASS’S GRAVE”

MICHEÁL MARTIN would be foolish to dismiss the most concerted attack on any Taoiseach that has ever emanated from what is effectively the voice of nationalism in Northern Ireland. For... Read more »

Northwind

New British Prime Minister

Northwind

AFTER BORIS …

Politicians are still going on about the “opportunity” to reset British politics now that Boris Johnson has gone. Simon Coveney was at it when he visited Stormont last week. He... Read more »

Hush Hush

Neo-Nazis Ireland

Hush Hush

IRELAND CALLING!

THE US based Antelope Hill Publishing (AHP) has developed a niche market by publishing out of print works by fascist and Nazi ideologues as well as contemporary far-right extremists. It... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS

‘I’M DENIS IRWIN’ A MAN NAMED Daniel Spillane, who identified himself to gardaí as “Denis Irwin, famous soccer player,” appeared before Cork District Court charged with engaging in threatening and... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Green Party Mining

Fowl Emissions

CYANIDE WASHING?

On Richard Bruton’s watch as environment minister a brave new era of mining opportunities was launched, sparking a surge in licensing that has continued despite the succession of a Green... Read more »
Climate Disinformation Coillte Climate Action EU Livestock NDC Claude Etchelamendy Ed Brophy Richard Boyd-Barrett Kish Dale Crammond Frank Mitloehner Shell Greenwashing Meta Data Centres Ireland

Fowl Emissions

EAMON RYAN’S GOLD-MINERS

A battle royal looms in North Leitrim as the farmers and other campaigners who saw off Canadian fracking company Tamboran Resources, and precipitated the national ban on fracking in 2017... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Terry Prone

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

They were characterised by plots, betrayals and late-night phone calls. Minor-key music and the distant roll of drums. Number-crunching to record the ineluctable path of disaffection. Treachery anaesthetised by alcohol.... Read more »

High Society

High Society

Dublin International Piano Competition 2022

High Society

JOHN O’CONOR’S EXIT

IN THE year of his 75th birthday, John O’Conor has finally called it a day as a director of the Dublin International Piano Competition... Read more »

High Society

IHT CHL The Lion in Winter Racing Royalty Le Brocquy City of Troy Fitzwilliam Square AIRO Dermot Smurfit Ballinacarrig Park Club Cosgrave Fitzpatrick Keith Jameson National Gallery Collection Marissa Carter VG Tom Higgins Neil Jordan Laura Bonner Paul Ward Variety Jones Dtat Eathos Sharon Keegan Angela Scanlon Desmond Canouan Bellair Estate Bobby Flay John O’Conor Portrait of Omai Eibhlín Ní Chonghaile Wedding NGI Board Rachel Flynn JP McMahon Ash Quinn Pamela Laird Abdullah Al Naboodah Boundless Ocean

High Society

AL NABOODAH’S GOLF BUDDIES

WITH THE hoopla surrounding the pro-am golfing tournament, hosted by JP McManus at his Adare Manor having died down, it is interesting to note... Read more »

High Society

Rebecca Winckworth

High Society

THE WINCKWORTHS’ SLEEPING PARTNERS

COLOMBIA-BASED entrepreneur-cum-singer Rebecca Winckworth was presumably delighted with the recent glowing profile in the Sindo ‘Life’ magazine, headlined “Tangoing through Life”. The article waxed lyrical about the Irishwoman who moved... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

NLI Director

Behind the Scenes

OVERDUE AT THE LIBRARY

A LITTLE late in the day, the board of the National Library of Ireland (NLI), chaired by former Eoin McVey, has advertised for a new Director of the institution. The... Read more »
Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

Behind the Scenes

PAUL CHESNEY’S FILM STUDIO

YET ANOTHER proposed film studio project made it into the news this month, this one in Mullingar. How many studio schemes can the market bear? The promoters behind the latest... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Homer Scott Daniel Dunne Darragh O’Loughlin

Sport of Kings

DANIEL DUNNE’S ROUGH RIDING

DANIEL DUNNE, who was representing Katy Brown at Dundalk earlier this summer, may not be a household name when it comes to racing, but his profile has been raised by... Read more »
Montesilvano horse

Sport of Kings

O’BRIENS QUALIFY FOR PRIZE POT

READERS OF ‘Sport of Kings’ will recall questions being raised here about the use of auctions essentially to qualify horses for restricted races, with a major player being Aidan O’Brien... Read more »
Paddy Dunican Kilbeggan

Sport of Kings

DUNICAN VERSUS CALDWELL

THE HEAT wave took its toll at Kilbeggan recently, as tempers flared among stable staff with track manager Paddy Dunican and his failure to provide complimentary bottled water for stable... Read more »
Ballybrit 2022

Sport of Kings

GOING GOOD IN GALWAY

THE BUZZ will be back for the Ballybrit 2022 races as punters are allowed to attend the festival for the first time in three years. In fairness to track manager... Read more »

Reviews

Rose Dugdale Biography

Books

HEIRESS, REBEL, VIGILANTE, BOMBER – SEÁN O’DRISCOLL

THIS BIOGRAPHY of Rose Dugdale is the second in two years. Fascination on both sides of the Irish sea lies in her privileged English upper middle-class, origins, her identification with... Read more »
Battle of the Food Trucks

Reviews

BATTLE OF THE FOOD TRUCKS – RTÉ PLAYER

THE PURSUIT of culinary excellence is at the heart of RTÉ Player effort Battle Of The Food Trucks, in which contestants face off in hope of scooping the €5,000 prize money.... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Michael OLeary Successor

Moneybags

TIME FOR A CHANGE IN THE RYANAIR COCKPIT

MICK O’LEARY appears to be flying high. Amidst the chaos of other airlines cancelling flights and many airports failing to manage the inevitable traffic... Read more »

Moneybags

Irish companies in Russia

Moneybags

UKRAINE INVASION: IRISH COLLATERAL DAMAGE

THE RUSSIAN invasion of Ukraine in February has had global implications. It also has had specific implications for some relatively low profile Irish companies... Read more »

Brief Cases

Barkhill Ltd Closing

Brief Cases

BARKHILL LOSES ITS BITE

IT LOOKS like we will be waving goodbye in the next couple of months to a property company called Barkhill Ltd, which helped develop the huge Liffey Valley shopping centre... Read more »
Brookfield College Closing

Brief Cases

ELISHA DOWLING’S HOMEWORK

TWO YEARS on from the sudden closing of the long-established Brookfield College grind school in Tralee, when blindsided parents were advised that a liquidation was imminent, the owners of the... Read more »
Moodley vegan burgers

Brief Cases

THE VEGAN MOODLEYS’ MENU

ALTHOUGH VEGANISM is understood to be growing in Ireland (as elsewhere), this did not prevent the collapse of a company set up to provide the herbivores with fare designed to... Read more »
Louis Ronan

Brief Cases

LOUIS RONAN’S DEADLY COMPETITION

GOLDHAWK’S OLD pal Louis Ronan senior will be breathing a sigh of relief after a rival crematorium to his Cork-based Island Crematorium was refused planning permission for the second time.... Read more »