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February 23 - March 7, 2024
Affairs of the Nation
GOVERNMENT’S GAZA VERBIAGE
As the Israeli slaughter in Gaza reaches genocidal proportions, the disconnect between the Irish Government’s rhetoric and the reality of its commercial actions in recent years could hardly be starker.... Read more »
JOHN MCGUIRK’S STRATEGY
WHILE right-wing commentator and Gript editor John McGuirk has now been named as the defendant in the libel action filed by the man claiming he was wrongly identified as the... Read more »
TAX-FREE ‘TOY SHOW’ TREATS
WHILE MOST of the fall-out from last week’s media committee hearings into the antics at RTÉ concerned golden handshakes for former executives, one aspect of payouts slipped under the radar.... 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 »
RICHARDSON: DAME OR IRISH COMMONER?
TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar and Tánaiste Micheál Martin would have been reassured to learn that the person chairing the neutrality session at the Munich conference last week was Dame Louise Richardson,... Read more »
IAN KEHOE’S NO-SHOW
IT IS worth quoting The Currency website’s “over-arching philosophy”, which founders Ian Kehoe and Tom Lyons proclaim as “journalism that is fearless, focused and always interesting” and is also free... Read more »
CONCERNS OVER GLENCREE CENTRE
THERE IS not much sign of reconciliation between the worthies at the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation in Co Wicklow and their paymasters in Micheál Martin’s Department of Foreign... Read more »
JUDGING JOHN OF GOD
DISABILITIES MINISTER Anne Rabbitte expressed her “incredible disappointment” at the stand-off between Saint John of God (SJOG) and the HSE, which was caused by last week’s announcement of the former’s... Read more »
BRITISH ‘DIPLOMACY’ AT WORK
BARRIE GANE CMG OBE, of MI6, born on September 19, 1935, died of a stroke on December 10 last. His official resumé alleges that he was a “diplomat”, a description... Read more »
MI6 HONEY TRAPS
In 2016, an anonymous MI6 officer swore under oath to Judge Anthony Hart that MI6 had never engaged in sexual blackmail. This delicate piece of perjury was uttered during Hart’s... Read more »
Pillars of Society
PROFILE: MARY LOU MCDONALD
DESPITE THE recent triumph in the north for Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O’Neill, it’s been a bad 12 months or so for party president... Read more »
The Young Bloods
YOUNG BLOOD: DOIREANN O’LEARY
THE MEDIA-FRIENDLY Cork-based GP, Doireann O’Leary, has positioned herself as quite the expert on health matters and is a regular on RTÉ’s Today show, The Last Word on... 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?
RELIGIOUS CENSORS AT ‘IRISH TIMES’
THE CENSORSHIP continues of letters and submissions to the Irish Times that challenge the newspaper’s view of unique Catholic repression and abuse in Irish society. The new year has seen... Read more »
GUINNESS GUFF
THE SPECIAL pleading from Diageo against the imminent banning of its five-axle lorries from the city centre has the finger prints of a particularly experienced PR handler all over the... Read more »
MIRIAM AND BRENDA SOCK IT TO THOMAS
IRISH TIMES columnist Miriam Lord gave Fianna Fáil minister Thomas Byrne, the party’s leader on the referendums, a good talking to recently and applauded Sunday Times columnist Brenda Power for... Read more »
Last Refuge
MICHEÁL MARTIN’S CUNNING PLAN
THE GROWING pressure on the reluctant Social Democrats to unite with Labour does not primarily come from the latter party but from the Fourth Estate, although inspired by ‘bourgeois’ parties... Read more »
WILL HOLLY CAIRNS RETAIN HER SEAT?
THE MEDIA darling that is Holly Cairns is regarded by the same media as the best thing going for the Soc Dems as they face up to local, European and... Read more »
JETTISONING JOSEPHA
THE FINE GAEL establishment and supporters of junior minister Josepha Madigan received a shock following senator Regina Doherty’s victory at the convention for the party’s Dublin EU candidate last Sunday.... Read more »
BEWARE MINISTERS BEARING GIFTS
FURTHER EVIDENCE of the growing rift on Gaza between Leo Varadkar and Micheál Martin emerged last week when the Taoiseach joined with Spain to urge recognition of Palestinian statehood while... Read more »
Hush Hush
BRITISH AND IRISH RIGHT WING
When the notorious British far-right activist Stephen Yaxley Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson) arrived in Ireland in February last year, he caused a significant amount of rancour and tension among Ireland’s... Read more »
Bog Cuttings
BOG CUTTINGS
‘FATHER TED & DOUGAL’ Clonakilty District Court heard the case of Gavin Sexton (47) of Carhue Timoleague, who was charged with engaging in threatening and abusive behaviour towards gardaí who... Read more »
Fowl Emissions
MEDIA CLIMATE CALL
In recent years, the Business Post had developed a reputation as a broadly progressive publication on many hot-button issues, including climate and environment. Notwithstanding the regular presence of hard-right commentator... Read more »
MATT O’KEEFFE’S CLIMATE CALL
Irish Times readers were recently treated to a glossy 32-page magazine insert, titled The Climate Call. According to the cover, it was about a “sustainable future” and “green efforts”. Published... Read more »
The Hot Air Brigade
THE HOT AIR BRIGADE
I worked with Paul Mescal, and he’s a really good friend of mine. I saw him speaking Irish and that blew my mind. Dakota Johnson, Irish Independent With Sara Greavu... Read more »
High Society
‘DONATING’ MARIAN KEYES
HUGELY SUCCESSFUL scribbler Marian Keyes was “bowled over” following the commissioning by the National Gallery of Ireland (NGI) of her portrait, which was unveiled earlier this month. Presumably, she is... Read more »
CATCHING UP IN BRITTAS
INTERESTING TO see a truckload of documents filed in the Companies Registration Office (CRO) in recent months relating to Ballinacarrig Park Club (BPC), a name that will ring bells with... Read more »
JACK CANTILLON’S ‘RE-IMAGINING’
“THIS ISN’T the same old boring news of a stallion retiring, this is a re-imagining of what a stallion deal should look like for the benefit of breeders” was 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
HOLY MOLI!
PERHAPS PREDICTABLY, a fledgling Irish cultural entity finds itself in a financial mess. This time it is the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI), which has struggled to carve out an... Read more »
Sport of Kings
DONOHOE’S MITIGATION
THE REFERRALS committee of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB), chaired by legal eagle Robert Dore, recently convened to consider matters arising from a stable visit to the premises of... Read more »
MOLONEY’S ADVENTURES
AN INCIDENT at Cork racecourse between well-known trainer and breeze-up consignor Thomand O’Mara and IHRB clerk of the course Paul Moloney recently went before the board’s referrals committee. Moloney alleged... Read more »
Moneybags
FLUTTER SHARES COULD HIT £300 IN NEXT TWO YEARS
IT IS quite jaw dropping to delve into the remarkable figures being delivered by gambling behemoth Flutter Entertainment. The company’s market capitalisation is almost £30bn and the transfer to the... Read more »
TAPPING INTO NORWEGIAN ENERGY
IT IS hard to overestimate the impact Eddie O’Connor has had on the renewable energy sector, which is attracting increasing interest from shareholders as climate change continues to dominate the... 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
COLM WU’S TAXING TIMES
THINGS ARE clearly not getting much better for Goldhawk’s favourite hotelier Colm ‘Bo Vision’ Wu (aka Guoqing Wu), with the dreaded Revenue moving to wind up one of his many... Read more »
GRANT ASHTON’S ADVENTURES
A RATHER interesting business that had been involved in cutting-edge integrated circuit technology architecture – and featuring a rather exotic shareholder base – was quietly wound up last month. The... Read more »
BERNARD CALDWELL’S MEMBERS
THERE WAS some off-track activity in the horseracing world this month, with Bernard Caldwell’s Irish Stable Staff Association (ISSA) holding its AGM last week in the Trim Castle Hotel. Interestingly,... Read more »
CLOCK TICKING FOR FLEXTIME
THERE WAS a suitably glowing write-up in the Indo’s property pages last week featuring a house called Ard Aoibhinn in Dundrum, south Co Dublin, which has gone on the market... 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 ...