Affairs of the Nation

Ken McCallum

Affairs of the Nation

THE ‘REAL’ SPIES IN IRELAND

IT’S WHAT is behind that recent story in the Irish edition of the Sunday Times alleging that a current Oireachtas member is a Russian agent – a man they labelled... Read more »
Budget Jack Chambers Nicki Minaj B’Tselem Phil Hogan UCD IRTA DIGI Katy Brown Rory Godson Pallonji Mistry Shark Hanlon Frances Ruane Taste of Dublin Listowel Writers’ Week Paddy Curran Harvey Norman Anton Savage Paul Hourican Enda O’Coineen PfP Red C Poll IFTA Ben Gilroy Luke Comer Sue Spence Fingleton Aubrey McCarthy Matt Cooper Parker Green Danny McConnell Gayle Killilea Maura Derivan Ed Honohan INS Arts Council EDAF 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

NICK CAVE(MAN) PLAYS ISRAEL

IT WAS interesting but not surprising to hear adverts for Nick Cave’s concerts at Dublin’s 3Arena still being broadcast right up to the day before his two concerts on Tuesday... Read more »
Denis Desmond

Affairs of the Nation

DENIS DESMOND’S GUITAR BREAK

GOLDHAWK was struck by the outpouring of gratitude for Denis Desmond and his Live Nation business partners for the proposed “donation” of Rory Gallagher’s 1963 Fender Stratocaster guitar to the... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

James Brown

Affairs of the Nation

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

FIANNA FÁIL junior minister James Brown finally guided the Gambling Regulation Bill 2024 around the track to the finishing line, despite intense opposition by assorted groups ranging from commercial giants... Read more »
Dualta Roughneen

Affairs of the Nation

CANCELLED CATHOLIC

APPOINTED CEO of Christian Blind Mission (CBM) Ireland – a disability rights organisation working predominantly in Africa and Asia – Dualta Roughneen claimed that, outside of work, he had limited... Read more »
Michael D Higgins

Affairs of the Nation

SILENCE IN THE RANKS

US Vice president-elect JD Vance has argued that America could drop support for Nato if Europe tries to regulate Elon Musk’s platforms. Social media, and in particular X, are increasingly... Read more »
Bono Book Award Gold trophy Award

Affairs of the Nation

ANNUAL 2024: GOLDHAWK’S AWARDS FOR THE PASSING PARADE 2024

CLARE DALY THE AWARD for Persecuted Dissident of the Year (in the minority, non-Russian category) goes to former MEP Clare Daly, who lost her Dublin seat in the European Parliament... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Simon Harris

Pillars of Society

ANNUAL 2024 – PROFILE: SIMON HARRIS

Heather Humphreys’ betrayal of Simon Harris on the cusp of his first electoral challenge as Taoiseach must have felt more like abandonment to the... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Deirdre Veldon

Fit to Print?

CORK WAGE SLAVES REBEL

LAST CHRISTMAS the south Dublin proletariat at the Irish Times made angry noises about the austerity imposed on them due to losses at The Irish Times DAC. These bolshie attitudes... Read more »
Michael Twomey

Fit to Print?

‘VEXATIOUS’ LITIGANTS

FOLLOWING THE Irish Times front-page story headlined “Vexatious claimants ‘making a mockery’ of courts”, the newspaper declined to give Cormac Butler, a consultant on banking regulation, a short rejoinder “to... Read more »
Peter Vandermeersch

Fit to Print?

ANNUAL 2024: PRINT LEGACY HAUNTS IRISH PUBLISHERS

ESTABLISHED BEFORE the internet age, the lofty Irish Times Trust has long declaimed the newspaper as some sort of trailblazer for taking a baby step into online publishing in 1994.... Read more »

Last Refuge

Gerry Hutch

Last Refuge

HUTCH: ‘PUT HIM IN TO GET HIM OUT’

SOMEONE IN Hutch’s retinue appears to be aware of the famous 1917 by-election slogan in South Longford, when Sinn Féin candidate Joseph McGuinness achieved victory under the slogan, “Put him... Read more »
Janice Boylan Irish Military Mali Coolock Says No IFP Hermann Kelly Timmy Dooley Aontú Mal O’Hara Fintan O’Toole Josepha Madigan Eoghan Harris Ukraine War Micheál Martin Middle East Philip Ryan Seán Clancy Simon Coveney Hugo MacNeill Mountbatten Neasa Hourigan Green Party Martin NPT Ivana Bacik Independents Limerick Hospital Overcrowding Barry Cowen

Last Refuge

SLOWLY DOES IT

IN THE last edition of The Phoenix it was noted that Sinn Féin has for some years been guided by a comprehensive, 40-page child protection document with protocols and links... Read more »
Michelle O'Neill

Last Refuge

LEST WE FORGET…

HAS SIMON HARRIS dropped his first clanger in Anglo-Irish matters with a deliberate failure to attend the annual Remembrance Sunday Commemoration in Enniskillen – a failure made infinitely worse given... Read more »
Micheál Martin was most active in 2024 on Ireland’s need to involve itself more in militarisation of the EU.

Last Refuge

ANNUAL 2024: GOVERNMENT – SAME OLD GOVERNMENT AGAIN?

LAST YEAR ended and this year began with a chorus line that said then taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar would be going for a snap general election. Goldhawk... Read more »
Mary Lou McDonald

Last Refuge

ANNUAL 2024: OPPOSITION – CAN SINN FÉIN RECOVER?

HOW THE mighty have fallen! A year ago, Sinn Féin was riding high in the opinion polls at 35% and confidently expected to be in with a real chance of... Read more »
Michael Collins’s Independent Ireland could sideline the Green Party in a coalition government after the next election.

Last Refuge

ANNUAL 2024: INDEPENDENTS/TROTS – DIVIDED LEFT TO STAY IN OPPOSITION

DESPITE THE decline in Sinn Féin’s vote, the minor left parties have failed to capitalise on SF’s drop in support and joining in the media frenzy against SF – as... Read more »

Hush Hush

Hush Hush

TAOISEACH HARRIS IS A TROTSKYIST

WHEN GLEN Moore of the Irish Freedom Party (IFP) won a seat on the 15th and last count in Palmerstown-Fonthill in the June local elections, he became the first member... Read more »

Wigs on the Green

Simeon Burke BL, brother of one Enoch Burke, picketed the Law Library of Ireland because no one would allow him to be their pupil, or ‘devil’ as they are affectionately known.

Wigs on the Green

ANNUAL 2024: PEACE BREAKS OUT IN FOUR COURTS

As the world around us descends not-so-slowly into a veritable state of chassis, it must have been a source of great comfort to the lords and ladies of the legal... Read more »

Foreign Frolics

Tánaiste Micheál Martin’s subversion of neutrality continues after the humiliating flop that was his Consultative Forum on International Security Policy. His attempt to undermine the ‘triple lock’ will proceed for as long as he leads Fianna Fáil.

Foreign Frolics

ANNUAL 2024: MICHEÁL MARTIN’S UNIVERSE

“What planet are you living on?” is Tánaiste Micheál Martin’s response to questions on the state facilitating US arms deliveries through Shannon Airport in Nato’s proxy war against Russia in... Read more »

Clerical Errors

During the recent synod, Pope Francis announced the new cardinals to be elevated in December. But once again this list did not include any Irish archbishops.

Clerical Errors

ANNUAL 2024: PAPAL RULE OK!

THE MARATHON Synod on Synodality convened in Rome recently by Pope Francis to update world Catholicism ended in the anticipated anti-climax. In his closing homily on Sunday October 27, the... Read more »

High Society

High Society

Tony Smurfit and UCD president Orla Feely

High Society

TONY SMURFIT’S FORM

ELSEWHERE IN this issue (see p124) Goldhawk profiles Tony Smurfit, the chief executive of Smurfit Kappa Group, who has just pulled off an audacious... Read more »

High Society

IHT CHL The Lion in Winter Racing Royalty Le Brocquy City of Troy Fitzwilliam Square AIRO Dermot Smurfit Ballinacarrig Park Club Cosgrave Fitzpatrick Keith Jameson National Gallery Collection Marissa Carter VG Tom Higgins Neil Jordan Laura Bonner Paul Ward Variety Jones Dtat Eathos Sharon Keegan Angela Scanlon Desmond Canouan Bellair Estate Bobby Flay John O’Conor Portrait of Omai Eibhlín Ní Chonghaile Wedding NGI Board Rachel Flynn JP McMahon Ash Quinn Pamela Laird Abdullah Al Naboodah Boundless Ocean

High Society

HEALTH CHECK

DOCUMENTS FILED in the Companies Office reveal that the grandly titled Institute of Health Sciences (IHS), which closed its doors last year, owed unsecured... Read more »

High Society

Sarah Newman

High Society

SARAH NEWMAN’S BARON

GOLDHAWK IS delighted to report that businesswoman-turned-celebrity-turned-bankrupt Sarah Newman has had a fairytale ending to 2024, marrying her titled beau, Lord Henry Digby, aka the Baron of Offaly. Having experienced... Read more »
Pippa O’Connor put her fashion brand “on hold” to focus on cosmetics brand Poco Beauty, while fake tan queen Suzanne Jackson (below) returned from sunny Portugal and took full control of her business.

High Society

ANNUAL 2024: 2024 GETS BOOMIER … FOR SOME

WHILE AROUND the world there were warning signs of the brakes being applied to the economy and a slowdown in spending at the luxury end of the market was becoming... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Rosaleen McDonagh

Behind the Scenes

ARTS COUNCIL ARRIVALS

ON OCTOBER 29, arts minister Catherine Martin announced the appointment of two new members to the board of the Arts Council (AC), although one has yet to appear. Last December,... Read more »
Bambie Thug opted not to boycott the Eurovision contest, which also featured Israel, while Taylor Swift (below) brought her much-hyped Eras tour to Dublin to the delight of fans and hacks.

Behind the Scenes

ANNUAL 2024: GENOCIDE, ROBOTS AND TAYLOR SWIFT

THIS YEAR the cultural arena was dominated by two rather different personalities – Taylor Swift and Benjamin Netanyahu – both of whom managed to cause mayhem, albeit for very different... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Sport of Kings

PETER KELLY V SIOBHAN KEEGAN

ON THE same day that the Mazars report into governance at the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) was released (see below), the Bowler Hats also announced the result of Luke... Read more »

Sport of Kings

TONY MARTIN’S FORM

A TRAINER who is rather familiar with the workings of the IHRB’s disciplinary procedures is Tony Martin. He witnessed a little more controversy last month but, this time, he was... Read more »

Sport of Kings

STEWARDS INQUIRY FOR IHRB

THE OVERDUE Mazars Report into those “matters of grave financial concern” first raised by Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) boss Darragh O’Loughlin finally landed, 17 months after the scandal surfaced.... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Colin Hunt

Moneybags

ANNUAL 2024: MONEYBAGS – SHARES SET TO THRIVE IN UNCERTAIN 2025

FOLLOWING ON from a decade of low interest rates running at nil or even negative percentages – the predictable fallout from the 2008 global... Read more »

Moneybags

Tony Smurfit

Moneybags

ANNUAL 2024 – MONEYBAGS: TONY SMURFIT

NOW 60, it is gobsmacking that Tony Smurfit finds himself as the boss of the largest packaging company in the world, Smurfit Westrock, after... Read more »

Brief Cases

Brief Cases

FUNDING ‘THE APPRENTICE’

DONALD TRUMP’S long-time courtship of the movie business is well known (his cameo appearances include a walk-on in Home Alone 2). The incoming US president is not, however, best pleased... Read more »

Brief Cases

DECLAN GANLEY’S TRUMP TWEETS

ONE PERSON who was delighted with Donald Trump’s re-election as US president was Goldhawk’s old pal, Declan Ganley, the founder of Rivada Networks, who duly fired off a fusillade of... Read more »
John Magnier

Brief Cases

ANNUAL 2024: FROM LOADED ADVERSARIES TO FLEEING RUGBY STARS

IN 2024 there was no shortage of excitement in the business world, with company collapses and expensive court outings aplenty. While some of the usual suspects popped up in a... Read more »