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July 14 - July 27, 2023
Affairs of the Nation
TRIPLE-LOCK MYTHS
THE BIG argument behind the frustration of Leo Varadkar and Micheál Martin, who feel blocked from getting young Irish people to tool up and go to war with the big... Read more »
SHANE ROSS’S CURRENCY EXCHANGE
LAST WEEKEND, Shane Ross fixed his sights on Montrose, which comes as no surprise given that the former politician is penning a book on the Tubridy debacle. One of those... Read more »
JUDGE HALPIN V RTÉ
THE LESS than media shy judge Anthony Halpin garnered himself a fair few headlines last week when he gave RTÉ execs and ‘talent’ both barrels while overseeing the prosecution of... Read more »
Sponsored Content
The Evolution of Company Secretaries: Navigating Governance in a Dynamic Landscape
Nadine Conlon, President, The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland In the past decade, the role of the company secretary has undergone a remarkable transformation, evolving from a technical... Read more »
RTÉ BOSSES’ TORMENT
DAVID NALLY, RTÉ editorial adviser, RTÉ content (salary €150,000), was obviously aggrieved at being ‘dragged’ into the Montrose maelstrom last week by Irish Times columnist Justine McCarthy. But given his... Read more »
NOEL KELLY’S PORSCHE
NOEL KELLY’S arrival at Leinster House on Tuesday came as a great disappointment to Goldhawk given the blaze of advance publicity about the Mr Big of super agents for the... Read more »
HOLLY AND THE ‘SINDO’
THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT appears to be still infatuated with Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns and has gone to extraordinary lengths to promote her in the perhaps over-optimistic belief of its... Read more »
NIAMH BRENNAN’S TRANSPARENCY
AS THOSE RTÉ committee hearings concluded this week, the focus moved to the clean up at Montrose, which is being spearheaded by Niamh Brennan (aka Mrs Michael McDowell). The question... Read more »
BAKHURST’S BLITZKRIEG
WHILE RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst has attracted plaudits for “hitting the ground running”, maybe he is moving too fast. Certainly, Kev wasted no time before announcing the standing down... Read more »
NIALL FORTUNE’S MISFORTUNE
GOLDHAWK is surprised to spot that a couple of ventures owned by burger king Niall Fortune of Eddie Rocket’s fame are going into liquidation this week, both having availed of... Read more »
UP IN SMOKE IN CHILE
INVESTORS IN the Sandyford-based Mainstream Renewable Power (MRP) must be aghast at losses continuing to accumulate – €630m in 2022, following on from a loss of €87m in 2021. Founded... Read more »
DIRECT MESSAGES DIRECT TO GCHQ
IRISH MINISTERS, senior civil servants and others in authority are going to have to take care while using Twitter to transmit ‘direct messages’, known by users as DMs. They are... Read more »
Pillars of Society
PROFILE: PEADAR TÓIBÍN
ONE OF the most prolific TDs with an impressive array of interventions on everything from health to homelessness, immigration and, of course, abortion is... Read more »
The Young Bloods
YOUNG BLOOD: DAITHÍ DE RÓISTE
DUBLIN HAS been infertile territory for Fianna Fáil for some time but the party hopes that the newly elected lord mayor of the city,... Read more »
Coillte : Positioning Wood as the Sustainable Building Material of the Future
Coillte‘s forestry strategic vision aims to balance and deliver the multiple benefits of its forests for climate, nature, wood, and people. This is a long-term vision that will see... Read more »
Fit to Print?
DON’T HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
SOMETIMES IT’S not what you print but what you don’t print that tells a tale and, among those journalists who are somewhat conflicted by the RTÉ/Ryan Tubridy affair, Brendan O’Connor... Read more »
ANTON SAVAGE’S CLIENTS
LISTENING TO The Communications Clinic (CC) public relations manipulator, Anton Savage, interviewing film producer and media guru David Puttnam about public service broadcasting and the RTÉ crisis on Newstalk last... Read more »
WHAT’S THE STORY, RORY?
RETIRED DIRECTOR of strategy Rory Coveney said two things about his and RTÉ’s disastrous project, Toy Show The Musical, last week. The first was that he had received a lot... Read more »
Last Refuge
HELEN’S LEADERSHIP CAMPAIGN REVIVAL
WHAT A remarkable exclusive the Irish Times delivered to its readers last Saturday week, with a large colour photo of justice minister Helen McEntee dominating the front page. The accompanying... Read more »
MICHEÁL MARTIN’S STRATEGY
If Micheál Martin is indeed eyeing up a top EU job, it might explain his discretion on the issue of the US supplying cluster bombs to Ukraine, spurning yet another... Read more »
MILITARY COUP INSIDE GREENS
REACTION INSIDE the Green Party to its barely reported debate about abandoning the triple-lock mechanism – which requires Dáil, government and UN Security Council approval to send Irish troops abroad... Read more »
THE TRAVELLER’S RETURN
ANTI-TRAVELLER and anti-social welfare recipient, presidential campaigner Peter Casey has been negotiating a pact with TD Mattie McGrath’s Rural Independent Group (RIG) to form a new, rural-based party. But the... Read more »
Hush Hush
FAR RIGHT ALLY WITH PRO-LIFE
NUMBERS AT the annual Rally for Life, organised by the Life Institute, have continued to fall. Only a few thousand showed up this year, despite organisers supplying posters and banners... Read more »
Bog Cuttings
BOG CUTTINGS
TOPLESS CHAOS A MAN who was so intoxicated that he started taking off his clothes in an apartment above a Tullamore pub, believing it was his own home, was fined... Read more »
Fowl Emissions
BANKS’ GLOBAL CLIMATE ARSON
Citibank’s European HQ in Dublin’s docklands was bedecked with rainbow flags for last month’s Pride festival. Nothing unusual there – Pride has become swamped by corporate branding in recent years.... Read more »
LANSDOWNE OIL’S SUNSET
It finally looks like it’s curtains for the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), which allows corporations to sue governments if policy decisions – including climate action – affect their anticipated profits.... Read more »
The Hot Air Brigade
THE HOT AIR BRIGADE
Ryan Tubridy has a lovely home. It is a mirror of its owner – congenial with no excess bulk. Justine McCarthy, Irish Times Her My Fair Lady-inspired hat of swirling... Read more »
High Society
OONAGH’S INCOME SUPPLEMENT
GOLDHAWK SPOTTED his favourite ‘celebrity pharmacist’, Oonagh O’Hagan, giving very informed tips in the Indo to hapless readers for the best way to deal with irritable bowel syndrome. Two of... Read more »
PAUL WARD’S MOVIE PLOT
THERE HAS been plenty of activity on Irish Multiplex Cinemas Ltd (IMC) since that legal spat between Paul Ward and his equally minted siblings was settled last month. The wealthy... Read more »
MORE COLLISON MILLIONS IN ABBEYLEIX
IT WON’T come as too much of a surprise to hear that the 2021 acquisition of Abbeyleix House by John Collison has seen the Stripe founder chuck millions of euros... Read more »
Transform Your Outdoor Space with A Room Outside…
Established in 2009 by Liam and Caroline Whelan, A Room Outside has gone from strength to strength to be the leading suppliers of hot tubs, swim spas, outdoor kitchens,... Read more »
Behind the Scenes
RICHARD FORD’S FESTIVITIES
MAUREEN KENNELLY’S support of the new regime at Listowel Writers’ Week looks likely to land the Kerry gig a rather high-profile new president – Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Ford. A... Read more »
WHAT RICHARD SAID
IN THE midst of sell-out hearings into the RTÉ debacle, there was a near-empty Dáil for the sitting to adopt the report of the Budgetary Oversight Committee on the costly... Read more »
Sport of Kings
BARONESS BAMFORD’S BLUES
THE GROUP 1 Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh is a race that is becoming known for the wrong reasons. Last year, there was the debacle of the Paddy Twomey-trained... Read more »
THE LYONS’ DEN
THE CURRAGH hosted British racing broadcaster Nick Luck’s usually entertaining Luck On Sunday show live from the track on Irish Derby morning and it was well worth a watch. There... Read more »
Moneybags
DALATA SHARES NOW LOOK UNDERVALUED
A RECENT trading update from Dalata Hotels Group suggests that some serious profits are set to be generated this year, leaving the shares looking undervalued. Investors, however, will need to... Read more »
CLONTARF ENERGY’S BOLIVIAN LONG SHOT
IT IS no easy task for David Horgan to fill the boots of John Teeling, even having worked alongside him for over 20 years. The challenge at Clontarf Energy is... Read more »
How To Protect Yourself From the Next Banking Crisis
Dave Russell, CEO, GoldCore Ltd This year 88.5% of respondents to Goldcore‘s annual survey told us that they ‘view owning gold as a way to protect against bank failure.’... Read more »
The Hot Water Brigade
DOIREANN GARRIHY’S SPLASH
AS REPORTS emerged of the various money-making wheezes of RTÉ broadcaster Doireann Garrihy, Montrose claimed it was an “editorial” decision to host a number of 2FM parties on boats owned... Read more »
YVONNE BRADY’S SHORTS
A FAIR few of the companies that featured on the Irish version of Dragons’ Den have come a cropper over the years and the latest one to bite the dust... Read more »
MOVIE PRODUCERS’ BIG BUDGETS
AT AN Oireachtas committee hearing on the Section 481 tax credit earlier this month (see p17), Susan Kirby’s film and television lobby group, Screen Producers Ireland (SPI), found itself in... Read more »
CROWLEY’S EXPENSIVE ROOMS
ELSEWHERE IN this issue (see p23) the finances of the listed Dalata Hotels Group are analysed. One “case study” included relates to the opening of a new Maldron hotel last... Read more »
‘Layers of Dublin Port’ Mapped for First Time in New Conservation Strategy
On April 30, Dublin Port Company (DPC) unveiled its inaugural Conservation Strategy, meticulously documenting the layered tapestry of natural, industrial, and cultural heritage within Dublin Port, spanning over three... Read more »
AINTREE ANTICS
WHILE ZILLIONAIRE Geneva tax resident JP McManus won his third Aintree Grand ...
SUSAN O’REILLY’S ‘APPARITION’
A “STUNNING beachfront house hovering over the water in Howth” has attracted ...
MARK GALLAGHER’S €10M MANSION
THE ADVERTISING by Sherry FitzGerald of a redbrick pile on leafy Ailesbury ...
JOHN MAGNIER’S SILAGE
JOHN MAGNIER, obviously not thwarted by the previous rejection of his acts ...
LYRA V BEYONCÉ
IT HAS been hard to avoid Irish singer Laura McNamara (aka Lyra) ...
CATHERINE MARTIN’S LATEST VACANCY
THE RETICENCE of arts and culture minister Catherine Martin when it comes ...
LARA HICKEY’S CLOSE-UP
THE FILM and TV business has long been one where ‘who you ...
TONY’S FAILED APPEAL
THE RECENT overturning by the IHRB appeals panel of the referral committee’s ...
O’BRIEN’S OBSTACLES
While trainer Aidan O’Brien supplied three of the five runners in Leopardstown’s ...
DES McGAHAN’S BOLTHOLE BLUES
GOLDHAWK SPIED yet another glowing report in the Business Post on the ...