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January 26 - February 8, 2024
Affairs of the Nation
SAM BUNGEY ON IAN BAILEY AND THE MEDIA
Sam Bungey (along with Jennifer Forde) created the 2018 13-episode 'West Cork' podcast on the Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder, which is Audible's most listened to podcast ever. The saga... Read more »
PURSUED BEYOND THE GRAVE
IN ONE respect it is salutary to behold the gardaí and their media Greek chorus join forces to posthumously convict Ian Bailey of Sophie Toscan du Plantier’s murder, something they... Read more »
OLIVER CALLAN’S POOR MOUTH
TO HARDLY anyone’s surprise, the safe pair of hands that is Oliver Callan landed the gig as Ryan Tubridy’s successor on RTÉ Radio 1. Maybe he will stop banging on... 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 »
EDDIE AND BRENDAN
THE PUBLIC veneration of the late Eddie O’Connor – with tributes to his visionary, wealth-creating genius and so on – included an unwitting reference to a particular aspect of this... Read more »
REVISING NÍ GHRÁLAIGH’S IDEAS
THE IRISH TIMES’s authority on modern Irish history, Ronan McGreevy, seems confused about the political inspiration behind barrister Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh. The Irish lawyer has been lauded by many for... Read more »
MAURA DERIVAN’S BIG YEAR
EARLIER THIS month, Carrick-on-Suir accountant Bobby Fitzgerald’s 14-year-long defamation case against solicitor Maura Derivan, who until last November was president of the Law Society, came to a conclusion. Separately, it... Read more »
DANNY MCCONNELL’S RIGHT MOVE
BUSINESS POST editor Danny McConnell gave Palestinian supporters in the Dáil a good telling off last week for supporting the South African charge of genocide against Israel, describing it as... Read more »
KEVIN RAFTER’S DISAPPEARING ACT
THE DEADLINE has now passed for applicants looking to replace DCU’s Kevin Rafter as chair of the Arts Council following his premature exit from Merrion Square. Having been appointed at... Read more »
KITSON’S DIRTY WAR
THE RECENT demise of General Sir Frank Kitson (see The Phoenix 12/1/24) was a blessing in disguise for the darker elements of the British establishment: Kitson cannot now let slip... Read more »
DISSIDENTS SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE
WHILE SINN Féin’s project has brought the republican movement close to state power north and south, the factions that split away from SF retreated into political ghettoes and fruitless attempts... Read more »
Pillars of Society
PROFILE: AODHAIN ORIORDAIN
WHY DOES Labour Party TD and former junior minister Aodhán Ó Ríordáin want to run in the EU elections in Dublin? Does he believe... Read more »
The Young Bloods
YOUNG BLOOD: CONOR REDDY
AS PRESIDENT of the Postgraduate Workers’ Organisation of Ireland (PWO), Conor Reddy is no stranger to politics, both on campus and further afield. Although... 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?
RTÉ ACCUSED OF GAZA BIAS
HAS THE predicted subservience of a demoralised and virtually bankrupt RTÉ come to pass already, with the station fearful of upsetting the Government in its coverage of the biggest global... Read more »
DANA’S COMPLAINT
ONE OF the last defamation battles that singer, ex-MEP and former presidential candidate Dana has to sort out is, ironically, one that resulted from a libel case against her, instead... Read more »
‘CURRENCY’ EXCHANGE?
AS GOLDHAWK reported last year, the lofty “overarching philosophy” of The Currency is the creation of “journalism that is fearless, focused and always interesting” and free from “any corporate, sectoral... Read more »
Last Refuge
FINE GAEL’S WILD GEESE
IT’S NOT yet known where the soon-to-be-departed TDs and senators of Fine Gael will next surface, like some buccaneering wild geese marauding through board rooms and the professions or even... Read more »
FINIAN McGRATH RIDES AGAIN
THE RETIREMENT of Fine Gael former minister and failed leadership candidate Richard Bruton from the electoral fray has alerted the minds of those surrounding former minister Finian McGrath in Dublin... Read more »
SF ‘HARD AND FAST ON MEDIA’
THE GOVERNMENT parties, especially Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, will be pleased that the decade-long delay in doing anything in the face of media pleading for reform of the defamation... Read more »
FINE GAEL’S LEAN, MEAN MACHINE
READING A list of the generals that Leo Varadkar has appointed to his GHQ staff for the upcoming local, European and general elections as recently published in the Business Post,... Read more »
Hush Hush
IRELAND AT NATO MEETINGS
Last June, when President Michael D Higgins commented on the Government’s Forum on International Security, he talked of a dangerous “drift” away from Ireland’s long-standing policy of neutrality. Tánaiste and... Read more »
Bog Cuttings
BOG CUTTINGS
‘CORK PRICKS’ A man who had travelled to Cork to socialise became intoxicated to such an extent that he threatened to fight gardaí after being arrested for his own safety,... Read more »
Fowl Emissions
‘NEW’ CLIMATE DENIAL
Climate denial was once a straightforward affair. All you had to do was to grasp what a poor understanding the public and most of the media have of even the... Read more »
RAY BATES’S CAMPAIGN
Climate denial has lost its most persistent Irish advocate with the recent death of Prof Ray Bates, formerly of Met Éireann and UCD. Since retiring over 20 years ago, Bates... Read more »
The Hot Air Brigade
THE HOT AIR BRIGADE
It involves making intentional decisions about what to keep, donate, or discard. In doing so, we create space for new possibilities and a sense of calmness in our lives. Darren... Read more »
High Society
NIGEL ROGERS PULLS THE TRIGGER
THERE WAS endless oohing and aahing when a huge 8,600 sq ft mansion in Shankill, Co Dublin, featured on RTÉ’s Selling Ireland’s Dream Homes earlier this month. Maybe that will... Read more »
COSGRAVE FAMILY FEUDING
AS FAMILY spats go, the one involving members of the fabulously wealthy Cosgrave building family is set to be one of the biggest. In the week before Christmas, three new... Read more »
PAUL FITZPATRICK’S MIS-STEP
GOLDHAWK SPIES a creditors’ meeting called for one of the companies linked to the Fitzpatrick shoe retailing dynasty. Meanwhile, it turns out that the prime property on Grafton Street, previously... 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
AUDREY WHITTY’S GOOD NEWS
HAVING JUST handed over €60,000 to the Crawford Art Gallery towards the acquisition at auction of Harry Clarke’s The Colloquy of Monos and Una, there was further evidence of the... Read more »
REALITY CHECK
THE LONG campaign to drag the Irish taxpayer into subsidising “unscripted” productions (ie reality TV shows) through the Section 481 tax break looks set to deliver. Then finance minister Pascal... Read more »
Sport of Kings
PATRICK MULLINS’S INSTRUCTIONS
THE SIGHT of Patrick Mullins wagging his finger at cousin Danny Mullins at the end of the Faugheen Novice Chase at Limerick last month was a reminder of the pecking... Read more »
FINAL FENCE FOR HBL
THREE MONTHS after the passing of high-profile Kilkenny bookmaker Triona Harrington, her company, Harrington Bookmakers Ltd (HBL), is being removed from the companies register. The good news is that business... Read more »
Moneybags
ACTION REQUIRED AT MOLTEN VENTURES
IT CONTINUES to be very difficult to make sense of what is going on inside Molten Ventures plc. There have been some startling contrasts between the company’s own value of... Read more »
TIME FOR KEATING TO DELIVER AT FD TECHNOLOGIES
OVER FOUR years on from the death of FD Technologies founder Brian Conlon, the company continues to struggle to convince the market that all is well. In the recent half-year... 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
KNEECAP’S CAPITAL
CONTROVERSIAL HIP-HOP act Kneecap have attracted plenty of media coverage as a result of the antics of its three members, which have included some pretty provocative murals – the sort... Read more »
DENIS DESMOND’S RESTRUCTURING
THERE WAS plenty of coverage of the latest results from the MCD-Live Nation concert promotion behemoth last week as the LN-Gaiety Holdings joint venture published its 2022 accounts. Although the... Read more »
LEO MOHAN’S MISHAPS
Goldhawk has followed the exploits of Leo Mohan for many years since the Monaghan entrepreneur was involved in a substantial Christmas tree business that came a cropper in the 1990s,... Read more »
KIERON MCQUAID’S ROUGH RIDE
IT WAS reported in the Irish Examiner last week that, in the lead-up to last October’s budget, finance minister Michael McGrath had sought to have the VAT rate for both... 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 ...