Affairs of the Nation

Jim Allister Unionism

Affairs of the Nation

NORTH HARMONY THREATENED

THE LOVE-IN between Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill and Jeffrey Donaldson’s puppet deputy first minister, Emma Little-Pengelly, should not fool people into believing that lasting harmony has overtaken the northern assembly... Read more »
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

SUE SPENCE’S SHORTS

THERE WAS no celebrating at Cheltenham for the well-connected businesswoman Sue Spence, whose Tranquil Sea did not make it on to the turf for the Boodles Juvenile Hurdle despite having... Read more »
Trina Vargo

Affairs of the Nation

TRINA VARGO’S FAILING FUND

US-IRELAND Alliance (USIA) president Trina Vargo’s statement last week on the “pausing” of the George J Mitchell Scholarship programme didn’t quite get across the abject failure of her entity to... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

Joe Biden

Affairs of the Nation

RECOGNISING PALESTINE — AGAIN

WORDS MATTER. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s statements criticising Israel’s war on Gaza have helped to muster world opinion against Israeli genocide there. But words should not be a substitute for real... Read more »
Brigadier Pat Leahy Louise Richardson

Affairs of the Nation

TRIPLE LOCK TO GO?

IT OCCURRED to Goldhawk on recently reading the Irish Times’s political editor, Pat ‘The Brigadier’ Leahy, that he had contracted gout on some mission abroad, such was the testy, belligerent... Read more »
Gaza Micheál Martin

Affairs of the Nation

DON’T MENTION THE WAR

LAST WEEKEND’S article in the Irish Times by novelist Sally Rooney represented one of the relatively few public criticisms of the US’s policy on Israel by a high-profile Irish writer.... Read more »
Element Pictures Andrew Lowe and Ed Guiney

Affairs of the Nation

IN THEIR ELEMENT

“WE NEED to actually invest in developing our own stories,” declared movie producer Ed Guiney, pointing out that there “just isn’t enough investment in television drama in Ireland” in a... Read more »
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

CORRECTION

In The Phoenix 8/3/24, it was reported that GC Aesthetics was being wound up. We have been informed that the operating company, GC Aesthetics, is unaffected and is “trading well…... Read more »
Colin Wallace Henry Barron

Affairs of the Nation

DENTON NO-SHOW TO FOLLOW KENOVA?

OPERATION KENOVA investigated a string of murders perpetrated by Freddie Scappaticci and his associates. It did not result in a single criminal prosecution. Scappaticci, a member of the IRA, worked... Read more »
National Party James Reynolds

Affairs of the Nation

NATIONAL PARTY ‘MODERATES’

DIVISIONS IN the far-right National Party (NP) emerged publicly last July due to a dispute over the ownership of more than €400,000 worth of gold bars, with two factions claiming... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Michael McDowell

Pillars of Society

PROFILE: MICHAEL MCDOWELL

MICHAEL McDOWELL was the stand-out personality in the referendums campaign and his elation at the count was visible as ‘no’ activists gathered eagerly around... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Rob Kenny

The Young Bloods

THE YOUNG BLOODS: ROB KENNY

HAVING GAINED an early profile through the social media site Snapchat, the canny Rob Kenny combines running a PR agency with being a social... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Patrick O'Brien Bill Kenneally

Fit to Print?

ANOTHER KENNEALLY SCANDAL

CHILD ABUSER Bill Kenneally, a member of the well-known Fianna Fáil family, is in jail for multiple child sex offences committed between 1979 and 1990. He is currently the subject... Read more »
Diageo Dana An Garda Síochána IT Trust No Stone Unturned Irish Times Black Friday Vicky Conway

Fit to Print?

BAD ADVICE

ROLL OF honour or street of shame? A hefty, three-page catalogue of the Government’s 68 advisors, national handlers and media manipulators drawn up by seven of the Irish Times’s finest... Read more »
Nigel Farage Aidan Regan

Fit to Print?

ARAGE IMAGERY SLAMMED

THE BUSINESS POST provoked a storm on X recently with a studious and well-meaning article, by Aidan Regan, on immigration and how to blunt efforts by the far right to... Read more »

Last Refuge

Lisa Chambers

Last Refuge

LISA: ‘NON, JE NE REGRETTE RIEN’

WAS THERE ever a more controversial ‘no’ vote by one individual in a referendum? The last-minute decision of Fianna Fáil Seanad leader Lisa Chambers to vote ‘no’ in the recent... Read more »
Emmet Stagg

Last Refuge

COMRADES STAGG AND PRESIDENT HIGGINS

THE WHIFF of authentic sincerity marked the tributes of President Michael D Higgins to the recently departed ex-Labour minister Emmet Stagg and the two were definitely close comrades in the... Read more »
Simon Harris Tent City

Last Refuge

LEADERSHIP PARANOIA IN GOVERNMENT

THE WELTER of criticism levelled at integration minister Roderic O’Gorman about the near Gaza-like conditions of Tent City in Dublin’s Mount Street was led not by the opposition but by... Read more »

Hush Hush

Saoradh John Caldwell

Hush Hush

DISSIDENT DRUMS

THE MOOD at dissident republican Easter commemorations this year is likely to be subdued with no sustained armed campaign under way, while the electoral rise of Sinn Féin seems irresistible.... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS

FISTICUFFED Sligo District Court heard the case of a 25-year-old man who pleaded guilty to engaging in abusive or threatening behaviour towards gardaí following an incident on Shore Road, Sligo.... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Ursula von der Leyen

Fowl Emissions

CRUELLA VON DER LEYEN BACKS BIG AG

Fresh from giving Israel carte blanche to commit murder and mayhem in Gaza with the EU’s unconditional backing, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen did her own Cruella de... Read more »
Climate Disinformation Coillte Climate Action EU Livestock NDC Claude Etchelamendy Ed Brophy Richard Boyd-Barrett Kish Dale Crammond Frank Mitloehner Shell Greenwashing Meta Data Centres Ireland

Fowl Emissions

TIMBER!

Joy was unconfined in environmental circles with the revelation earlier this week that Coillte, the state-owned forestry agency, was to turn over a new leaf and switch its focus towards... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Pat Spillane

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

The whole programme is a bit like a Japanese bullet train whizzing from Osaka to Tokyo. Pat Spillane on the All-Ireland football season, Irish Independent It is fitting that he... Read more »

High Society

Chapter One Ross Lewis

High Society

ROSS LEWIS’S RICH DISH

AS USUAL, there was plenty of speculation last month ahead of the Michelin restaurant awards that Dublin’s swanky Chapter One might land a third star. That didn’t end up on... Read more »
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

JOHN MOREHART’S WILDFOWL

JOHN MOREHART, squire of the splendid Bellamont House and its 1,000 acres outside Cootehill, Co Cavan, has been getting busy again. It will be recalled (see The Phoenix 8/3/24) that... Read more »
Kilquade Hill House

High Society

PEDRO DE AZAMBUJA’S DOUBLE FAULTS

WITH AN asking price of no less than €5.5m, the Georgian Kilquade Hill House outside Greystones in Co Wicklow is one of the pricier piles to come on the market... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Cillian Murphy Equity Union

Behind the Scenes

IRISH OSCAR PLOT SPOILERS

Despite all the hoopla around the successful Oscar run by Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer and Element Pictures’ Poor Things, the delirious hacks have managed to remain undistracted by inconvenient plot... Read more »
DCCI Crescine Tarka Russell Lara Hickey Reality Check Sarah McInerney Irish Movies Paul Murray Arts Council Dublin Theatre Festival TWU Macdara Kelleher Richard Boyd Barrett DADC Cillian Murphy Terry McMahon Media Commission Ireland Kerlin Gallery Creative Ireland Section 481 Christine O’Donovan RTÉ Storyland NMI Board Vacancies IASCA Ossie Kilkenny RTÉ Original Programmes

Behind the Scenes

VICKI NOTARO’S FANS

NO SURPRISE to see well-connected former VIP Publishing boss Vicki Notaro attracting some high-level plugs for her upcoming debut novel, Reality Check. These include the likes of fellow Penguin imprint... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Barry Connell William Munny

Sport of Kings

WRECKING BALLS-UP

BARRY CONNELL’S short-priced ante-post favourite for Cheltenham’s Arkle Chase, Marine Nationale, was ruled out of Cheltenham following his flop at the Dublin Racing Festival last month. Of course, he also... Read more »
Ed Dunlop David Dunsdon Sarah Lynam Rebecca May Wayne Hassett Eoin O'Brien Michael Burke Aine O’Connor Ashroe Diamond Thomand O’Mara Peter Keatley Timmy Hyde Coolmore All About Sunday Colin Keane Ronan Whelan JP McManus Jessica Harrington Dundalk Racecourse Paul Hensey Irish National Hunt Horse-racing Doping Paddy Walsh Tom Kelly Suspension

Sport of Kings

ANTI-DOPING INITIATIVE

THE IRISH Horseracing Regulatory Board and the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) recently joined forces in an anti-doping initiative. Citing “out-of-competition testing” as a critical component of any strategy, tests will... Read more »
Ed Dunlop David Dunsdon Sarah Lynam Rebecca May Wayne Hassett Eoin O'Brien Michael Burke Aine O’Connor Ashroe Diamond Thomand O’Mara Peter Keatley Timmy Hyde Coolmore All About Sunday Colin Keane Ronan Whelan JP McManus Jessica Harrington Dundalk Racecourse Paul Hensey Irish National Hunt Horse-racing Doping Paddy Walsh Tom Kelly Suspension

Sport of Kings

MULLINS’S ROUGH DIAMOND

While Patrick Mullins’s victory aboard Jasmine De Vaux provided his father, Willie, with his 100th Cheltenham success, his faith in Ashroe Diamond in the Mares Hurdle proved to be misplaced.... Read more »

Moneybags

Gene Murtagh

Moneybags

GENE MURTAGH’S STRANGE STRATEGY AT KINGSPAN

SHORTLY BEFORE the company’s latest PR debacle at the hands of the EU, Kingspan CEO Gene Murtagh announced a strategy involving the commitment of €750m to enter the American roofing... Read more »
Michael Stanley

Moneybags

RISING CAIRN HOMES SHARES STILL UNDERVALUED

THE HOUSING crisis continues to dominate politics but, were it not for the raising of almost €1bn in equity between Cairn Homes and Glenveagh, the current state of affairs would... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

John Paul Keane

The Hot Water Brigade

JOHN PAUL KEANE’S CONNECTIONS

THE LUXEMBOURG-based Irish financier John Paul Keane has been attracting a fair degree of media attention as a result of teaming up with one Conor McGregor. He has also had... Read more »
Electric Nightclub

The Hot Water Brigade

MAURICE GILLEN’S BUM NOTE

A NUMBER of companies that were controlled by the king of Galway’s nightclub scene during the boom, Maurice Gillen, are to be wound up next week, long after the wheels... Read more »
Colm O'Cuilleanain

The Hot Water Brigade

COLM O’CUILLEANAIN’S VISIBLE THREAD

A FIVE-bed pile in Rathmichael D18 has come on the market with a price tag of €2.8m – steep for sure but not quite Hamptons level. The owner here turns... Read more »
Yuzhu Kang Rose McHugh

The Hot Water Brigade

ROUND TWO AT FOTA ISLAND RESORT

JUST ONE month after a settlement was reached in the high-stakes legal poker game between China-based businessman Yuzhu Kang and his former associate, Fota Island-based Xiu Xianj Kelly, over ownership... Read more »