Affairs of the Nation

Leo Varadkar

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 »
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

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

Affairs of the Nation

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 »
Lucinda Creighton

Affairs of the Nation

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 »
Catherine Martin

Affairs of the Nation

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 »
Justin Barrett

Affairs of the Nation

NAZI REGALIA

SHOCKED AND perplexed observers of National Party leader Justin Barrett’s appearance at an anti-immigrant protest last week dressed in an SS overcoat may be interested to learn the reasons for... Read more »
Paul O'Brien

Affairs of the Nation

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 »
Bono Book Award Gold trophy

Affairs of the Nation

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

Michael D Higgins has faced accusations of over-stepping his role following comments he has made on a range of topics during his presidency.

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 »

Fit to Print?

Eoghan Harris

Fit to Print?

EOGHAN HARRIS’S LONG WAR

IRISH TIMES correspondent Ronan McGreevy celebrated Eoghan Harris’s “bravura performance” when the latter concluded last week’s conference on southern Protestants in Dublin’s Buswell’s Hotel. Harris complained of Protestant failure to... Read more »
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?

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 »
Martin Doyle

Fit to Print?

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 »
Noirin Hegarty

Fit to Print?

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 »
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Last Refuge

Drew Harris

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 »
Leo Varadkar

Last Refuge

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 »
Mary Lou McDonald has said SF’s place is at the heart of the ‘European project’, which is in contrast to Gerry Adams’s previous opposition to the EU.

Last Refuge

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 »
Soc Dems leader Holly Cairns will be hoping her party can reap some benefit from disillusioned Labour voters.

Last Refuge

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 »

Hush Hush

Helen McEntee

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 »

Student Life

Norma Foley kept parents happy with the announcement of free school books for the first three years of secondary school but she was criticised by third-level institutions over Leaving Cert grade inflation.

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

Gerry ‘the Monk’ Hutch walked free from the Special Criminal Court after being cleared of the murder of Kinahan gang member David Byrne in the Regency Hotel in 2016.

Wigs on the Green

ANNUAL 2023: WIGS ON THE GREEN – WITH ONE BOUND, HUTCH IS FREE!

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

EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has come under intense criticism for her remarks in support of Israel, comments that followed a similar vein to those of Tánaiste Micheál Martin.

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

Mary McAleese again criticised the Church’s ‘out-dated internal structure of governance’ based on canon law’s ‘embedded inequality’.

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

Declan Lynch

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

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 Sunday Times at the weekend that... Read more »
Jacqueline Hall

High Society

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 Fennell (who was herself a significant... Read more »
Moya Doherty

High Society

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 »

Behind the Scenes

Marian Keyes

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 »
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

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 »
Taylor Swift

Behind the Scenes

ANNUAL 2023: BEHIND THE SCENES – BONO, BANSHEES AND BRENDAN BEHAN

ONCE AGAIN, Bono, Larry Mullen Jr, Adam Clayton and The Edge managed to grab much of the entertainment media’s focus in 2023, notably thanks their effectively hyped Las Vegas stint... Read more »
When Ryan Tubridy finally acknowledged his part in the payments scandal that rocked the national broadcaster it was too late – the public, his colleagues and politicians had already lost faith and his career in RTÉ was over.

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

Jessica Harrington

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 »
Wootton Bassett

Sport of Kings

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 »
Willie Mullins

Sport of Kings

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 »
Ger Lyons

Sport of Kings

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

Colin Hunt

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 ECB base rates, from a minus... Read more »
Yamin ‘Mo’ Khan

Moneybags

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 in different ways but it is... Read more »
Brendan McDonagh

Moneybags

ANNUAL 2023: MONEYBAGS – NAMA AND THE HOUSING CRISIS

AS HOUSING continues to be the domestic political issue of the day, with the Government sweating that it will be the one that effectively decides the next election, it is... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

Brian Ormond

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 »

Brief Cases

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 »
Declan Murphy

Brief Cases

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 »
Dylan McGrath

Brief Cases

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 »