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April 21 - May 04, 2023
Affairs of the Nation
McREDMOND’S RTÉ CAMPAIGN BLOWS UP
DAVID McREDMOND came out with his hands up last Sunday issuing a statement saying he had “no further interest in a role at RTÉ” (actually, it was the other way... Read more »
MARGARET SWEENEY’S BATTLE
AS GOOD old corporate battles are rare enough here, there is mounting interest in the open challenge by a leading shareholder in the giant Ires Reit property rental company to... Read more »
FRANK REEVES’S BIDEN BOOST
GOLDHAWK DOFFS his cap to the PR skills of Frank Reeves, the Irish businessman behind hotel booking software operation Avvio, which he set up in Limerick 20 years ago with... Read more »
Sponsored Content
Empowering Growth: Fibre Connectivity and Cybersecurity for the Digital Era
Reliable high-speed internet is critical for SMEs to remain competitive and operationally efficient. Connectivity powers customer engagement, cloud-based services, remote work capabilities, and digital transformation initiatives. As businesses grow,... Read more »
SEAN O’RIORDAN’S RATIONALE
SOME SORT of award should be organised to encourage Irish journalists competing with each other to be the most enthusiastic champions of Nato and/or an EU army with Ireland to... Read more »
DAME TO SAVE IRISH NEUTRALITY
ONE TRUSTS that Tánaiste Micheál Martin’s recent failure to give Louise Richardson her full, proper title of Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (DBE) was... Read more »
LAW SOCIETY COCK-UP
THERE WILL have been some red faces in Blackhall Place this month when the solicitors’ body had to apologise for a warning notice it had posted on its own website,... Read more »
COLIN MARRY’S SAUSAGES
GOLDHAWK WAS surprised to see that a company touted as being behind the farming of “pigs that could change the world” has just collapsed into liquidation. It appears that Louth... Read more »
SCAPPATICCI TALES
In the early 1970s, the IRA adopted a cellular structure. The overlap between cells was kept to a bare minimum, thereby limiting the damage a British agent could inflict if... Read more »
IAN PAISLEY’S REAL RECORD
The BBC’s House of Paisley marathon trilogy ignored vital chunks of Ian Paisley’s stormy career, despite the fact it had exposed many of them in the past. In 2019, former... Read more »
Pillars of Society
PROFILE: NEASA HOURIGAN
THERE WAS a time when Green Party members would have been calling for smelling salts to revive themselves if its TDs and other personalities... Read more »
The Young Bloods
YOUNG BLOOD: KEILIDH CASHELL
MONAGHAN MAKE-UP artist Keilidh Cashell (27) has parlayed a talent for creating dramatic looks into a very profitable business, thanks to a little help... Read more »
Mater Private Network Announces €4.5m Investment in Cancer Services in Mid-West Region for 2025
A €4.5m investment in cancer services was outlined at an event celebrating an important treatment milestone of the Halcyon Linac radiotherapy treatment system at Mid-West Radiation Oncology Centre (MWROC)... Read more »
Fit to Print?
OFFICER CLASS MEDIA FIGHT BACK
THE DAMNING report of the Independent Review Group (IRG) into sexual assault and other abuses in the Defence Forces was given a supportive response by PDForra – representing enlisted members... Read more »
‘IT’ DENOUNCES SECTARIANISM
JUSTINE McCARTHY recently thundered against the “sectarian criteria” of the planned scoping inquiry into the abuse of children in “schools run by religious orders”, an inquiry stimulated by reports of... Read more »
Last Refuge
BERTIE’S OBSTACLE TO THE ÁRAS
ANYBODY WHO presumed that Bertie Ahern would shy away from a bid to run for the presidency in 2025 because of the adverse comments made about him in the Mahon... Read more »
HOUSING FOR ALL… ELSEWHERE
FIANNA FÁIL insiders raised an eyebrow last week at an Irish Independent report that housing minister Darragh O’Brien continues to send constituents with housing queries to an Independent councillor rather... Read more »
IS SHANNON NEUTRAL GROUND?
In two recent Morning Ireland interviews, Áine Lawlor has interrogated the details of Sinn Féin’s commitment to neutrality, a sensitive issue given the upcoming National Consultative Forum on Ireland’s International... Read more »
NO COUNCIL HOUSES – NO COUNCIL DEBATE
DAYS BEFORE Sinn Féin’s Dáil motion on ending the eviction ban and a fortnight before the ban was due to expire, Tánaiste Micheál Martin rounded on local councils and accused... Read more »
Hush Hush
MOBILE MEDIA ETHICS
A common trope in the Irish media is the accusation of censorship by the Chinese Communist Party and the Russian government. According to Irish and most western media, since the... Read more »
Bog Cuttings
BOG CUTTINGS
‘KING OF BALLINCOLLIG’ A 28-year-old who jumped on the bonnet of a patrol car during an altercation with gardaí was described by Judge Olann Kelleher at Cork District Court as... Read more »
Fowl Emissions
IRELAND DUMPS ON AFRICA
In his recent address to the Oireachtas, US President Joe Biden said that “Ireland remembers the painful hollows of the Great Hunger”. He praised the fact that the Irish aid... Read more »
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Given the constant chorus from the livestock sector claiming it is being unfairly demonised on emissions while fossil fuel companies are not subject to the same scrutiny, a new international... Read more »
The Hot Air Brigade
THE HOT AIR BRIGADE
I told him that I’ve brought the famous light in the [Áras] window down to Ballina, so it will now be housed in the Mary Robinson Centre opposite where he... Read more »
High Society
JP McMAHON’S NEW DINERS
WITH FINE dining under pressure as the rising cost of living kicks in and tourism numbers come under pressure due to a lack of... Read more »
ANGELA SCANLON’S MOOLAH
IT HAS been hard to avoid the hype around Angela Scanlon’s return to the screen with her Ask Me Anything talkshow on RTÉ. The... Read more »
SILVANA’S LUXURY HANDBAGS
WHILE MOST of the big bucks invested in this country is focused on the likes of tech, pharma and property, there has been a fair few bob sloshing around in... Read more »
Local Business Raising Awareness About the Dangers of Skin Cancer
SUNiRE is the brainchild of Linda Chanders – a wife, mother, and entrepreneur, who faced the life-changing diagnosis of malignant melanoma in 2021. She discovered a small black spot... Read more »
Behind the Scenes
STANLEY’S STRATEGY
THE QUEEN of the Body & Soul festival in Ballinlough Castle, Avril Stanley, announced recently that she has cut the shindig’s capacity by almost 70% to 5,000 “to come back... Read more »
CILLIAN MURPHY’S FOREIGN AFFAIR
IT IS not well understood by the public that most of the taxpayers’ moolah that subsidises film production in Ireland is soaked up by (mainly) US producers, although assorted reports... Read more »
Sport of Kings
MAGNIER’S COSTLY FILLY
THE OLD adage of breeding the best to the best and hoping for the best is as good a guide as any to navigating the tricky waters of breeding racehorses... Read more »
NOEL MEADE’S PARTNER
THE PAST 10 years have seen a number of predominantly Wexford-based point-to-point trainers revolutionise the point-to-point game from what was an amateur discipline – often seen as a bit of... Read more »
ELLIOTT’S ID FARCE
GORDON ELLIOTT was summoned before an Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) referrals committee recently to explain how a significant mix-up in his yard led to two of the wrong horses... Read more »
DEVELOPERS’ WINNING WAYS
PROPERTY DEVELOPERS Sean Deane and Ger O’Brien have experienced highs and low in their business careers but have rarely enjoyed anything but good times when it comes to their horses.... Read more »
Books|Reviews
THE DEVIL’S OWN – MARIA McDONALD
THIS MUCH-HYPED historical suspense novel, The Devil’s Own, centres on three mysterious diaries dating back to the late 1800s but only discovered in 2020. After a lifetime in the Irish... Read more »
Moneybags
VODAFONE SHARES WORTH DOUBLE CURRENT PRICE
VODAFONE HAS seen some significant changes at the top recently – and not just in Ireland, where CEO Anne O’Leary switched provider for Meta/Facebook... Read more »
P&O STORM DELIVERS SMOOTH SAILING FOR ICG
THE LATEST figures from Irish Ferries’ owner Irish Continental Group (ICG) are pretty impressive and reflect the wise move to expand on the busy... Read more »
Navigating the Trump Era: Gold as a Harbour in Uncertain Times
This week, Donald Trump’s inauguration marks a significant shift in the global landscape. It also brings some economic uncertainty to Ireland. Numerous institutions and commentators have highlighted the risks... Read more »
Briefcases
CLADDAGH’S BIDEN BOOST
THE SINDO was rapturous in its reporting that Sleepy Joe Biden was gifted a vinyl copy of Almost Everything – a spoken-word album of the poetry of Patrick Kavanagh –... Read more »
MICHELLE HETHERINGTON’S CURATED COLLAPSE
A COMPANY called Curated Ltd has just collapsed into liquidation. This entity turns out to be linked to high-profile design company David James Interiors Ltd (DJI). The latter operates as... Read more »
FILM PRODUCERS’ PROFITABLE PLOT
THE LOBBY organisation for film and television producers, Screen Producers Ireland (SPI), has just delivered a nice plot in its latest accounts, covering the year to December 2021. Presumably, most... Read more »
AVVIO’S AI BONUS
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) is generating quite the buzz at the moment but an Irish hotel booking software company, Avvio, that has been working away with this technology for a number... Read more »
A Family Run Hotel – 100 Years of History
Nestled in the heart of Killarney, The Lake Hotel offers a perfect blend of traditional elegance and modern luxury. With its stunning lakeside location, this four-star hotel boasts breathtaking... Read more »
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VIRGIN MEDIA’S ‘VIDEO NASTY’
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DUNDON’S QUICK STEP
HAVING LASTED longer than most predicted, clunky Kevin Dundon’s participation in RTÉ’s ...
HUSBANDS’ CUSTOMERS
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GATHERING FEEDBACK
LAST MONTH Jessica Drum’s Screen Guilds of Ireland (SGI) – an association ...
HAYES BACK ON TRACK
FOLLOWING HIS 15-month suspension for failing to take proper care of a ...