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Annual 2023
Affairs of the Nation
FIANNA FÁIL BACKS ISRAEL
THE HAND-WRINGING about divisions within EU states over the Israeli massacre of civilians in Gaza is one thing. But there has also been a clear division of perspective between the... Read more »
NEALE RICHMOND’S FORUM
WHILE THERE wouldn’t be oodles of interest in a worthy sounding body such as the Enterprise Digital Advisory Forum (EDAF), the imminent appointment of a new squad of techie types... Read more »
DERMOT DESMOND’S CELTIC CROSS
DERMOT DESMOND will be looking forward to the end of this year, as his control of Glasgow Celtic continues to deliver defeats both on and off the pitch. DD has... Read more »
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LUCY IN THE SKY WITH ISRAELIS
A FAVOURITE tactic of western militarist think tanks, PR firms and lobbyists is to present as centre ground moderates that oppose extremism of the left and right variety. Usually, these... Read more »
MARTIN MOVES EARLY
CONGRATULATIONS ARE in order for arts and culture minister Catherine Martin, who recently advertised for would-be board members for the National Gallery of Ireland (NGI) before the terms of the... Read more »
NAZI REGALIA
SHOCKED AND perplexed observers of National Party leader Justin Barrett turning up to an anti-immigrant protest last week dressed in an SS overcoat may be interested to learn the reasons... Read more »
THE COUNTER-RESTORATION
DESPITE THE very best efforts of the European agri-industrial lobby and its allies on the political right, the EU’s Nature Restoration Law (NRL) remains on track to come into legal... Read more »
ANNUAL 2023: GOLDHAWK’S AWARDS FOR THE PASSING PARADE 2023
DEE FORBES THERE WAS only ever one real contender for the 2023 Where’s Wally TV Drama Award. The biggest hit show this summer was without doubt Montrose, which was streamed... Read more »
Pillars of Society
ANNUAL 2023: PROFILE – MICHAEL D HIGGINS
In recent years supporters of the state of Israel in the US, UK, Germany and France have attempted to conflate criticism of its ruling... 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?
EOGHAN HARRIS’S LONG WAR
IRISH TIMES correspondent Ronan McGreevy celebrated the “bravura performance” of Eoghan Harris when the latter concluded last week’s conference on southern Protestants in Dublin’s Buswell’s Hotel. Eoghan Harris complained of... Read more »
CORMAC LUCEY’S HOT AIR
Climate denial comes in all guises but Goldhawk was surprised to see it appear on the website of the august Chartered Accountants Ireland. There, accountant, TCD lecturer and Sunday Times... Read more »
BOOKS EDITOR’S ‘CLASSIC’ BOOK
A NEW literary genius would appear to have been discovered and is working away, almost unknown and unrecognised, in the Irish media, judging by an especially favourable review in the... Read more »
ANNUAL 2023: PRINT MEDIA NOT YET ON THE ROCKS
IRELAND’S PRINT media resembles the Titanic. With print revenues falling and digital income insufficient to make up the difference, disaster seems pre-programmed. But, while the Titanic’s collision with an iceberg... Read more »
Last Refuge
FOREIGN AGENTS THREAT TO GARDAÍ
JUSTICE MINISTER Helen McEntee’s latest problem concerns that most powerful lobby, senior Garda officers worried about huge tax bills for anyone that fills the current vacancy as deputy commissioner. An... Read more »
ANNUAL 2023: GOVERNMENT – VARADKAR TO CALL EARLY ELECTION?
THE POLITICAL debate right now – public and private – is not simply who will win the next general election but when it will be called and will that make... Read more »
ANNUAL 2023: OPPOSITION – SINN FÉIN: LEFT OR RIGHT?
Can the forward march of Sinn Féin be halted? Will the party be left like Peri at the gates of paradise gazing on the promised land but unable to get... Read more »
ANNUAL 2023: INDEPENDENTS/TROTS – NON-REPUBLICAN LEFT SQUEEZED
READING HEADLINE coverage of political opinion polls, things could hardly be better for opposition parties and for the left in general. The conventional parties (Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael) are... Read more »
Northwind
PSNI: A NEW BROOM?
A new chief constable for the PSNI has been appointed in double quick time. Jon Boutcher (58), former chief constable of Bedfordshire police 2015-19, was confirmed on November 8 after... Read more »
ANNUAL 2023: NORTHERN IRELAND – NORTH’S COMA
The British government’s best effort at making political progress in the north was the Windsor Framework, which was agreed with the EU on February 27. In the words of the... Read more »
Hush Hush
FACIAL ‘APARTHEID’?
In June justice minister Helen McEntee backed off a confrontation with her Green Party colleagues in Government when she agreed to remove aspects related to facial recognition technology (FRT) from... Read more »
Academia
ANNUAL 2023: ACADEMIA – ACADEMIC ‘ARSE COVERING’
It hasn’t been a great year for the university sector. The glitz began to come off the new technological universities (TUs), while a couple of the longer-established unis ran into... Read more »
Wigs on the Green
ANNUAL 2023: WIGS ON THE GREEN
THE THEME of the legal system this year was very much a religious one so the end of year round-up fits very nicely. For example, a monk was in court... Read more »
Foreign Frolics
ANNUAL 2023: FOREIGN FROLICS – IRISH FOREIGN POLICY REVERTS
Foreign affairs have been dominated for most of the year, as they were last year, by the ongoing war in Ukraine. Now, however, the horrors of that war have been... Read more »
Clerical Errors
ANNUAL 2023: CLERICAL ERRORS – McALEESE FIGHTS ON
THE MONTH-LONG Synod on Synodality convened in Rome by Pope Francis to update world Catholicism ended in anti-climax on Sunday October 29. This means that unresolved issues – such as... Read more »
The Hot Air Brigade
THE HOT WATER BRIGADE
Maybe it’s something to do with the turn of the millennium, or the Great Crash, but at some powerful level, it is simply wrong to state that it is 50... Read more »
High Society
PIPPA O’CONNOR’S PLUG
PIPPA O’CONNOR is expanding her empire with a new range of cosmetics and she must have been delighted with the drooling profile in the... Read more »
JACQUELINE HALL’S CULTURAL CREDENTIALS
SO IT’S welcome to the Irish Georgian Society (IGS) for Jacqueline Hall, public relations hot shot and daughter of former Fine Gael matriarch Nuala... Read more »
ANNUAL 2023: HIGH SOCIETY – 2023: MONEY AND INFLUENCE
AS ALWAYS, the year features an awful lot of people spending an awful lot of money and, in many cases, a large chunk ended up in the coffers of the... 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
SISTERS CASHING IN
AS USUAL, it was rather late in the day (and following a couple of queries by Goldhawk) when Désirée Finnegan’s Screen Ireland (SI) eventually got around to publishing its funding... Read more »
REVIEWING PAUL MURRAY
ON NOVEMBER 26 assorted scribblers will find out if they have landed the literary sales steroid that is the Booker Prize. Two Irish novelists are in the mix – Paul... Read more »
ANNUAL 2023: BEHIND THE SCENES – BONO, BANSHEES AND BRENDAN BEHAN
ONCE AGAIN, Bono, Larry Mullen Jr, Adam Clayton and The Edge were the subjemuch of the entertainment media’s focus in 2023, notably thanks to their effectively hyped Las Vegas stint,... Read more »
Air Waves
ANNUAL 2023 – AIRWAVES – 2023: RTÉ’S END GAME?
AFTER YEARS of dire warnings about incompetent management, waste and dubious work practices, the scandal surrounding secret payments to Ryan Tubridy finally laid bare the whole decaying edifice and the... Read more »
Sport of Kings
EXPENSIVE TRIP FOR HARRINGTON
THERE WAS plenty of Irish interest at the Breeders’ Cup in Santa Anita, California, and while most of it centred around Aidan O’Brien and the impressive win of Auguste Rodin... Read more »
COOLMORE’S CASH MACHINE
AT THIS time of year, all the stallion farms announce their covering fees for the upcoming breeding season, which begins in February, and it is easy to see why developing... Read more »
STREWTH!
THERE WERE some long faces in the parade ring from team Mullins after Vauban trailed home in 14th place in the Melbourne Cup under Ryan Moore. Confidence was high before... Read more »
COLIN KEANE’S EDGE
THERE WEREN’T too many surprises among the names at the top of the tables in the leading flat categories as the season wound to a close in November. Colin Keane... Read more »
Moneybags
ANNUAL 2023: MONEYBAGS – WHO WILL OVERCOME THE INTEREST RATE AND GEOPOLITICAL CHALLENGES IN 2024?
AFTER A decade of unprecedented low interest rates, the market is not finding it easy to cope with the very hefty 5% increase in... Read more »
ANNUAL 2023: MONEYBAGS – WINNERS AND LOSERS IN 2023
THESE ARE pretty uncertain times courtesy of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, inflation, and interest rates. Different sectors have dealt with the challenges... 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
BRIPPA’S PROPERTY
ELSEWHERE (see p16) Goldhawk takes a look at the latest business move by Pippa O’Connor, who launched her Poco Beauty range this month. This seems to be completely separate from... Read more »
DAVID BARNIVILLE’S LIST
WITH THE deadline having now passed for applications for the €230,000-a-year job as chair of An Bord Pleanála (ABP), minister Darragh O’Brien will be anxious to get a permanent player... Read more »
BONOBO BOYS’ APPEALING BEHAVIOUR
A LARGE apartment scheme proposed for Smithfield by Durkan Residential has been shot down by An Bord Pleanála (ABP), overturning the decision of Dublin City Council (DCC). Among the appellants... Read more »
ANNUAL 2023: BRIEF CASES – 2023: A YEAR OF COURT CASES AND SOUR DISHES
IT’S BEEN a tough end to 2023 for Paddy Cosgrave, who for years has got away with spouting all sorts of nonsense online (dead nurses, anyone?) but had the dreadful... 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 »
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