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October 20 - November 2, 2023
Affairs of the Nation
IRELAND AND PALESTINE NOW
EXACTLY ONE year ago, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said: “Russia’s attacks against [Ukrainian] civilian infrastructure, especially electricity, are war crimes. Cutting off men, women, children of water,... Read more »
ABBEY THEATRE REVIEWS
WHILE ARTS and media minister Catherine Martin has come in for criticism over her hands-off style when it comes to the unfolding debacle at RTÉ, this strategy is straight out... Read more »
ALAN SHATTER’S ROMP
CONGRATULATIONS TO loudmouth former politician Alan Shatter, whose saucy novel has been attracting rather a lot of media attention here. Given that it is a Benny Hill-style legal tale featuring... 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 »
McENTEES: MEATH PATRIOTS
THE McENTEE family has done the county proud in recent years and efforts by two or more of the boys to promote the county football team have been matched by... Read more »
BUDGET BLUES
FROM UNDER- to over-reaction, the gardaí lockdown around the Dáil and Government Buildings on budget day, to ward off protests, reminded Goldhawk of British royal visits during and after the... Read more »
RACHEL KENNY’S WRITS
A COUPLE of libel writs have just landed relating to recent coverage of events in An Bord Pleanála (ABP). It looks like the controversial planning appeals body will continue to... Read more »
DRINKAWARE’S HANGOVER
GOLDHAWK ALWAYS enjoys reading the annual report of the alcohol-industry-funded charity Drinkaware, and the one just published is as entertaining as always. It emerges in a year that has seen... Read more »
RIC PARTY POOPERS
CHARLIE FLANAGAN is hanging up his blue shirt at the next election with the great disappointment that his “postponed” Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) celebration may never happen. Back in the... Read more »
‘WARRIOR CLASS OF OUR RACE’
MARK TWAIN’S assertion that “history never repeats itself but it does often rhyme” definitely holds water when you consider the composition of the various far-right movements to emerge in the... Read more »
Pillars of Society
PROFILE: MICHAEL MCGRATH
TO SUCCEED in political life, observed journalist and political commentator Malcolm Muggeridge, “it is necessary to conform either to the popular image of a... Read more »
The Young Bloods
YOUNG BLOOD: ELLA MAC LENNAN
TRINITY’S BRANCH of the radical, left-wing, student activist group Students4Change (S4C) has chosen its new leader. Ella Mac Lennan was recently unanimously elected as... 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?
OFFALY ‘MURDER’ AND JUDGE’S ORDERS
DISTRICT COURT judge Andrew Cody clearly possesses a sophisticated and flexible legal brain and he has not moved to haul the Sunday Times into court over what some have described... Read more »
‘ISRAEL’S BLOODY SUNDAY’
THE ISRAEL Defense Forces (IDF) may be good at carpet bombing Palestinians in civilian areas of Gaza but its public relations expertise leaves a lot to be desired and its... Read more »
JOHN COONEY’S DEBATE
VETERAN AUTHOR and journalist John Cooney led the successful opposition to a students’ motion “regretting the fall of religion” at Trinity College Dublin Philosophical Society last week. But the most... Read more »
Last Refuge
LABOUR’S RUFFLED FEATHERS
FEATHERS THEN LABOUR TD Colm Keaveney received a white feather in his internal Leinster House mailbox in 2012 with a message that said: “This traditional White Feather is presented to... Read more »
FF FEAR VLAD AMBUSH
ONE OF the few real advantages Leo Varadkar has over Micheál Martin is that he is currently the rotating Taoiseach in situ and, therefore, can decide on the date of... Read more »
HOW ‘AL-QUDS FLOOD’ ALTERED THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PALESTINE AND ISRAEL FOREVER
THE MASSACRE by Hamas of over 1,000 Israeli civilians a fortnight ago has been the justification for the current slaughter by Israel of at least 3,000 Palestinian civilians in Gaza... Read more »
Hush Hush
ARMS AND THE CORKMAN
LATE last month Tánaiste and defence minister Micheál Martin rolled out the red carpet for a visit from the European Defence Agency (EDA), the heroes that orchestrate the manufacture of... Read more »
Bog Cuttings
BOG CUTTINGS
‘LOWLIFE SCUMBAGS’ Frank Brassil (41) of Main Street, Collon, appearing before Drogheda District Court, pleaded guilty to engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour relating to an incident on April... Read more »
Fowl Emissions
DAIRY STORIES
Of late, undisputed climate expert Prof Myles Allen of Oxford University has filled the gap left by departed ‘experts’ in greenhouse gas emissions. The Farming Independent last year quoted Allen,... Read more »
JOHN FAGAN’S FARM
Congratulations to Westmeath County Council for its recent courageous decision to reject planning permission to local farmer John Fagan. In 2019, Fagan applied for permission to build a massive 450-unit... Read more »
The Hot Air Brigade
THE HOT AIR BRIGADE
Au revoir too to the incredible magic the Irish fans brought here to France, to Zombie-singing, metro-hopping, Paris-crossing, missed meals, melted heads, hoarse throats, getting bitten by mosquitoes, avoiding the... Read more »
High Society
ALAN CLANCY’S GLASS HOUSE
IT HAS been an eventful 12 months for nightclub and bar owner Alan Clancy, who started off the year by marrying Jacqueline Given, the sister of former Republic of Ireland... Read more »
SIMON KILROY’S EXOTIC FISH
ONE OF the most expensive properties to come on the market in recent times is Rarc-an-Ilan, sitting on 0.6 acres of prime Dalkey land on leafy Coliemore Road, overlooking the... 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
McGRATH’S MOVIE PLOT
THE NEWS that the first budget script of finance minister Michael McGrath contained extra moolah for the country’s movie moguls was greeted with the usual chorus of appreciation. The leading... Read more »
NEW CAST FOR THEATRE FESTIVAL
WITH THE Dublin Theatre Festival (DTF) having wound down this week, there will be a couple of new faces added to the cast, although the process has proved less than... Read more »
Sport of Kings
ALAN AHERN’S TEST
A RECENT referrals case at the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB), involving a point-to-point winner that failed a post-race dope test, looks set to have significant ramifications for the sport.... Read more »
KARLOSS’S WIN
A HORSE previously trained by Charles Byrnes popped up in England under the care of low-key trainer Samuel Drinkwater and managed to land a significant gamble, winning at Sedgefield last... Read more »
Moneybags
UNIPHAR’S SHARE SLIDE DEMANDS NEW PRESCRIPTION
FOUR YEARS after floating in Dublin, Uniphar has grown significantly but suffered a significant setback when its attempted takeover of Navicorp was shot down at the end of 2022. Although... Read more »
IMC EXPLORATION’S GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY
IMC EXPLORATION is a tiny little Irish company that, although quoted on the London AIM stock exchange, remains very much under the radar in Ireland. This is despite the fact... 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
BRENDAN MULLIN’S TACKLE TECHNIQUE
WHILE ALL eyes have been on Paris for the rugger buggers, former Irish and Lions outside centre Brendan Mullin has been making his own tackles. It is unclear at this... Read more »
NICHOLAS WICKHAM’S GOLDEN SHOT
THE ANTICS of Nicholas Wickham, founder of Irish Gold & Silver Bullion Ltd (IGSB), have been well aired in the High Court, although the process of getting a few bob... Read more »
MICEÁL SAMMON’S SCARP SETBACK
THE LATEST company that has failed to emerge successfully from the erratic Scarp protection process is BTP Construction Ltd, which turns out to feature a couple of high-profile building names... Read more »
ANOTHER FRACK UP IN KERRY
LAST MONTH was a bad one for US giants New Fortress Energy (NFE), with An Bord Pleanála putting the kibosh on its Irish subsidiary’s plan to construct a €650m liquified... 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) ...
LARA HICKEY’S CLOSE-UP
THE FILM and TV business has long been one where ‘who you ...
CATHERINE MARTIN’S LATEST VACANCY
THE RETICENCE of arts and culture minister Catherine Martin when it comes ...
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 ...