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February 24 - March 9, 2023
Affairs of the Nation
DUNCAN’S DOSH
LAST WEEKEND climate activist and environmental campaigner Duncan Stewart got a run-out on Brendan O’Connor’s Radio 1 show on foot of the unpopular decision by Montrose to cease broadcasting the... Read more »
BERTIE AHERN’S REAL AGENDA
WHETHER INSPIRED by some devious and cunning politician or whether they became obsessed with Bertie Ahern’s presumed presidential ambitions, journalists en masse were diverted from the real agenda behind his... Read more »
SISTERS’ SUMMIT
IT LOOKS like Dublin’s Convention Centre will be the hot ticket in May when Executive Women Gathering (EWG), described as “Ireland’s largest female executive leadership summit”, kicks off. Promoted by... 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 »
CIARA KELLY’S MORNING MOOLAH
AS ONE of star agent Noel O’Kelly’s roster of ‘talent’, doctor-turned-broadcaster Ciara Kelly is proving quite the earner. The Newstalk presenter’s profile on NM Management’s website notes that, apart from... Read more »
FINTAN CALLS TIME ON BIDEN
FINTAN O’TOOLE is probably the most influential opinion former in Ireland and thus far he has laid most blame for the war in Ukraine on President Vladimir Putin rather than... Read more »
IRISH MEDIA AT WAR
A REHASHED article that has effectively been published already by the Irish Times, Irish Independent, RTÉ, BBC and now the Sunday Times again last weekend, lionised Paul Niland, Dublin’s answer... Read more »
IDLIB: IRELAND’S IMPACT
THE EARTHQUAKES that hit south-eastern Turkey and north-western Syria caused widespread destruction of property and tens of thousands of death. The region has been ravaged by war for over a... Read more »
MICHAEL O’LEARY ON THE BUSES
IN DECEMBER last, Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary made one of his trademark outbursts, this time with a target that, even by his standards, was unexpected; the subject of his ire was... Read more »
BAD APPLES
DAVID BURKE, the specialist author on British intelligence in Ireland, is shortly to release an old-fashioned pamphlet entitled An Orchard of Bad Apples (which will soon be available on the... Read more »
Pillars of Society
PROFILE: DOUGLAS TAYLOR
FANS OF Goldhawk will be familiar with horseracing fanatic and scourge of the bookies Douglas Taylor, whose day job is CEO of the super-profitable... Read more »
The Young Bloods
YOUNG BLOOD: ANLUAN DUNNE
CAN TRALEE’S Anluan Dunne confound the critics in Kerry and lead a Green march forward for the party in this most inhospitable of constituencies?... 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?
GLOBAL MEDIA FUNDING
THE LAST edition of The Phoenix (see issue 10/2/23) drew attention to the media group-think and bias about Nato’s proxy war against Russia via its manipulation of Ukraine followed by... Read more »
IAN KEHOE’S RTE CONCERNS
WHAT A remarkably detailed account of last September’s RTÉ board minutes was made available to the Sindo’s Mark Tighe last Sunday. And how prominent was RTÉ director Ian Kehoe in... Read more »
COLOUR-BLIND CRITICS
HUGH LINEHAN has been conspicuously silent about the race row over nominations to the Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards 2022. The IT’s arts and culture editor, who also hosts the... Read more »
Last Refuge
FINE GAEL CROSSES THE BORDER
FINE GAEL’S move to set up its own organizational structures north of the border says as much about Fianna Fáil’s wavering commitment to a united Ireland under Micheál Martin as... Read more »
BERTIE’S GOOD OL’ BOYS
DOWN IN the constituency organisation of Fianna Fáil in Dublin Central (DC), one person who will have gritted her teeth while affecting to welcome Bertie Ahern back into the bosom... Read more »
VARADKAR TAILS FAR RIGHT
THE LATEST party political poll – from the Sunday Times/Behaviour and Attitudes (B&A) – shows again the almost secret war raging between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, with the latter... Read more »
WHO WILL WIN EXTRA DUBLIN DÁIL SEATS?
WITH ANYTHING from 11 to 21 extra seats likely to emerge from the impending constituency revisions to be brought in by the Electoral Commission, it is not easy yet to... Read more »
Northwind
DUP’S DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT
IN OCTOBER 2019 Leo Varadkar went for a walk up the garden path in the grounds of Thornton Manor in the Wirral with Boris Johnson. What Varadkar might agree to... Read more »
Hush Hush
THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA
EARLIER THIS month United Nations general secretary António Guterres rang alarm bells when he told the general assembly (in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine): “I fear the world... Read more »
Bog Cuttings
BOG CUTTINGS
BUSTED DONNA CARROLL (29) of Shancastle Crescent, Clondalkin, Dublin, pleaded guilty before Cork District Court to charges of public intoxication and engaging in threatening and abusive behaviour toward gardaí. Judge... Read more »
Fowl Emissions
EYE ON THE WORLD
IRELAND’S LONGEST-running environmental TV programme, Eco Eye, bowed out this month after a 21-year run. With the climate and biodiversity crisis deepening by the month, the timing for RTÉ to... Read more »
DAVID HORGAN’S HOT AIR
They say it’s best to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak up and remove all doubt. Petrel Resources chair David Horgan recently left both NewsTalk presenter... Read more »
The Hot Air Brigade
THE HOT AIR BRIGADE
I’ve been up and down the country, particularly since 2014. I’ve been to conferences on Brexit in all the border counties, huge meetings in Cavan, Monaghan, in Donegal. Next week... Read more »
High Society
AILISH KELLY’S FINE FIGURES
IT WAS not surprising to see media-savvy Ailish Kelly of the Avoca cosmetic surgery clinic in Co Wicklow pop up in a Sunday Times... Read more »
BOBBY FLAY’S FANS
THE ARRIVAL of minted US celebrity chef Bobby Flay on the Irish horseracing scene has got tongues wagging as the high-profile TV presenter and... Read more »
THE BRABAZONS’ BONANZA
GOLDHAWK NOTES a most impressive turnaround at Killruddery demesne outside Bray in Co Wicklow, where Anthony and Fionnuala Brabazon are pulling the strings these days. In the not-too-distant past, Anthony’s... 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
DRAMA FOR THE JUDGES
SPARE A thought for the judges in the Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards 2022, who have been dragged into the latest culture war as a result of a lack of... Read more »
JAMES HICKEY’S LEVY LOBBY
GOLDHAWK’S OLD pal James Hickey was juggling his many former and current hats at last week’s sitting of the Oireachtas culture and arts committee. Fans of Goldhawk will recall that... Read more »
Sport of Kings
SUZANNE EADE’S MONEY TREE
IRISH HORSE racing bodies are quick to champion the hefty prize money on offer here, particularly when the figures are compared with those on offer in Britain, where the debate... Read more »
HOMER SCOTT’S SOFT RIDE
IRISH RACING took another battering in the Sindo earlier this month when Paul Kimmage exposed an upsetting welfare case involving former trainer Homer Scott. The case did little to boost... Read more »
OISIN MURPHY’S COMEBACK
KILLARNEY NATIVE Oisin Murphy made his comeback last week after over a year on the sidelines following a British Horseracing Authority (BHA) ban for failing two alcohol tests and breaching... Read more »
WILL COOLMORE CASH IN?
GOFFS BOSS Henry Beeby is shedding no light on the issue of whether the buyer of the sale topper from last year’s Orby Yearling Sale has paid his bill or... Read more »
Books|Reviews
56 DAYS – CATHERINE RYAN HOWARD
ALTHOUGH LONG-listed for this year’s lucrative Dublin Literary Award, 56 Days was first published in 2021. It is hard to see what has earned the book its nomination. Set against... Read more »
Moneybags
DCC SHARE PRICE DRIFT PUTS IT INTO PLAY
IT IS fair to describe DCC boss Donal Murphy as being in a tough spot as he goes through the process of rebranding the... Read more »
UNITED OIL & GAS’S SHARES STRUGGLE DESPITE $7M DEAL
WITH THE sale of its Maria discovery block in the North Sea to Quattro Energy for up to $7m (the latter is in the... 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
HUGH CAHILL’S OWN GOALS
IT HAS been an unfortunate start to the year for RTÉ sports broadcaster Hugh Cahill, whose company has just gone into liquidation. On top of this setback, the well-known media... Read more »
PETER MCDONNELL’S ‘EXCLUSION’
GOLDHAWK WAS interested to see a legal action filed in the High Court last week by Donegal accountant Peter McDonnell against the Association of Chartered Accountants (ACCA), a global representative... Read more »
NEIL FRANCIS’S WINNING PERFORMANCE
WHILE FORMER Ireland rugby international Neil Francis must still be red-faced after last month’s Sunday Times front-page apology over his ‘story’ on a former Blackrock College classmate, he has not... Read more »
EUGENE MURTAGH’S PROPERTIES
“KINGSPAN BILLIONAIRE Eugene Murtagh is deploying more of his family’s fortune in Dublin 2,” the Sunday Times reported last week. Murtagh has, of course, been retired as chair of Kingspan... Read more »
NIAMH PARKER’S TWEETS
THE STORY of Altada’s travails keeps on giving and last weekend the Business Post featured a large spread detailing multiple criticisms of founder director Allan Beechinor from the recently appointed... 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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