Affairs of the Nation

Eoin Drea

Affairs of the Nation

TWO FINGERS TO PRESIDENT CONNOLLY

THE STAND-OUT political stance of president-elect Catherine Connolly during the election campaign was neutrality and peaceful opposition to the militarisation of Europe. Conversely, the implicit position of Irish war mongers... Read more »
Anton Savage

Affairs of the Nation

ANTON SAVAGE ON IVAN YATES

YOU HAVE to hand it to PR consultant and Newstalk broadcaster Anton Savage, who maintained a poker player’s even tone while presenting his Newstalk show last Sunday week, opening with... Read more »
Jim Gorman

Affairs of the Nation

JIM GORMAN V LUKE COMER

NEEDLESS TO say there is a huge degree of interest in horseracing circles regarding the legal proceedings issued by trainer Jim Gorman against Monaco-based billionaire property developer and racehorse trainer... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

Jim O'Callaghan

Affairs of the Nation

O’CALLAGHAN PASSES THE BUCK

FAR FROM being tightly controlled and operating secretively, as reported, the right-wing scene in Ireland is growing but is probably most dangerous because of how chaotic it is. There is... Read more »
Deirdre Duffy

Affairs of the Nation

DUFFY’S NEW GIG

Paschal Donohoe’s 2020 Dublin Central Fine Gael running mate, Deirdre Duffy, has been appointed director of Friends of the Earth (FoE), following former director Oisín Coughlan’s move to national charity... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

RTÉ’S EMPTY SEATS

THERE IS an awful lot going on at RTÉ these days, from the high-profile radio schedule shake-up to dumping the documentary department and communications minister Patrick O’Donovan has made it... Read more »
Bono Book Award Gold trophy Award

Affairs of the Nation

ANNUAL 2025: GOLDHAWK’S AWARDS FOR THE PASSING PARADE – 2025

CONOR MCGREGOR Under Tánaiste and foreign minister Simon Harris, the Government recently opened five new overseas missions through the Global Ireland programme as part of its strengthening of Ireland’s global... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Following the Jim Gavin fiasco, Micheál Martin's party colleagues have their knives out.

Pillars of Society

ANNUAL 2025: PROFILE – MICHEÁL MARTIN

Micheál Martin began 2025 with a bang, elected Taoiseach in January, albeit a day late. He returned from the November 2024 general election with... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Rupert Murdoch

Fit to Print?

ENNISKILLEN REVISITED

Strange and unusual things are happening at the Times and Sunday Times, normally a news outlet whose coverage of military and spooky matters – and certainly those that pertain to... Read more »
Diageo Dana An Garda Síochána IT Trust No Stone Unturned Irish Times Black Friday Vicky Conway

Fit to Print?

BILL EMMOTT’S CV

OF THE LATEST two recruits to the Irish Times board, Adele Cooper has a stellar business cv – Pinterest, Google and Premier Lotteries – while Bill Emmott is more a... Read more »
Deirdre Veldon

Fit to Print?

IRISH TIMES ‘REALLY GOOD’ RIP.IE DEAL

Michael ‘Mikie’ Sheehan, the chief money man at the Irish Times Group, last month told his paper that the controversial May 2024 acquisition of death notices website RIP.ie was proving... Read more »
Peter Vandermeersch

Fit to Print?

ANNUAL 2025: FIT TO PRINT? – ROCKY ROAD FOR DUBLIN’S BIG TWO

The departures of rival business bosses Deirdre Veldon from the Irish Times and Peter Vandermeersch from Indo-owner Mediahuis Ireland were major events in their own right. But weighed alongside the... Read more »

Last Refuge

Holly Cairns

Last Refuge

HOLLY CAIRNS GETS NERVOUS

HOLLY CAIRNS was given much media coverage for her remarks distancing herself from Sinn Féin, with criticisms that its policies were not left-wing enough for her and the Social Democrats.... Read more »
Terry Prone

Last Refuge

TERRY PRONE V PJ MARA

WHAT INTRIGUING insights into the behaviour of spin doctors and politicians are included, some inadvertently, in Terry Prone’s latest book – I’m Glad You Asked Me That – about her... Read more »
The most appropriate epithet of the year may well be Micheál Martin’s new nickname – Louis XIV.

Last Refuge

ANNUAL 2025: GOVERNMENT – HUBRIS OVERWHELMS GOVERNMENT

AS 2024 culminated with a general election, the abiding impression exuded by party leaders Micheál Martin and Simon Harris was one of entitlement and presumption, with a dash of contempt... Read more »
Following the Sinn Féin-backed presidential campaign, Mary Lou McDonald’s party has a more realistic chance of getting into government.

Last Refuge

ANNUAL 2025: OPPOSITION – SINN FÉIN’S NEW ROUTE TO POWER

Sinn Féin is looking forward to 2026 in a far more optimistic mood than was the case last year. Then the party had looked on in bewildered horror as its... Read more »
Sinn Féin first minister Michelle O’Neill attended the cenotaph in Belfast at the annual Somme commemoration, insisting that she has to show respect for unionist traditions if she is to live up to her slogan as ‘first minister for all’.

Last Refuge

ANNUAL 2025: POLITICS – PARALYSIS SEIZES NORTH

At least one item was missing in the north in 2025. There was no election. People might have expected that, in the absence of the usual annual rancourous campaigns, there... Read more »

Northwind

Paul Givan

Northwind

UNIONIST RANCOUR

The campaign for the early 2027 assembly election in the north is well and truly under way already. The main contest, however, is within unionism – although it’s played out... Read more »

Northwind

FF CATCH 22

AS WE go to print, the noose around Micheál Martin’s leadership is tightening and, as Goldhawk predicted (see edition 31/10/25), it is the process of the post mortem committee itself,... Read more »

Hush Hush

Sarah Ryan

Hush Hush

THE ‘RIGHT’ WAY FORWARD

Appearances SINCE the presidential election by supports of the Spoil the Vote campaign on long-winded and often rambling online broadcasts have highlighted how this loose coalition has radically different visions... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Martin Heydon

Fowl Emissions

METHANE, WHAT METHANE?

Ireland is among the EU’s very worst carbon polluters per capita due almost exclusively to our oversized and hugely polluting livestock herd, which produces the great bulk of agriculture emissions.... 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

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S BOX TICKING

Ever wonder what makes a Taoiseach tick? Back in 2014, Enda Kenny told a UN summit in New York that the “clock is ticking” on climate and we have no... Read more »

Wigs on the Green

Gerry Adams successfully took a libel case against the BBC and, after being awarded €100,000 in compensation, he donated it all to charity.

Wigs on the Green

ANNUAL 2025: WIGS ON THE GREEN – JUSTICE: IN EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

THROUGHOUT THE winter season generally, and Yuletide in particular, there is much in the way of mulling going around. The best kind, of course, is the wine but there are... Read more »

Foreign Frolics

Donald Trump’s ‘liberation day’ set off a panicked scramble as those on the receiving end of his swingeing tariffs attempted to negotiate lower percentages.

Foreign Frolics

ANNUAL 2025: FOREIGN FROLICS – BOWING TO THE DON

Throughout 2025 Irish foreign affairs policy negotiated shark-infested waters. Large foreign predators continually threatened peace on Earth. World leaders displayed nervous smiles, apart from Benjamin Netanyahu who, with Donald Trump’s... Read more »

Clerical Errors

Pope Leo XIV: Mary McAleese has criticised the new pontiff as ‘cautious, conservative and anything but forward thinking’.

Clerical Errors

ANNUAL 2025: CLERICAL ERRORS – MAKE PAPACY GREAT AGAIN

The most important ecclesiastical event of 2025 was the death on April 18 of Pope Francis, the most consequential pontiff since Pope John Paul II (but inspired by Pope John... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Ivan Yates

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Ivan Yates has said client confidentiality was the reason he did not disclose the fact that he gave media training to Fianna Fáil presidential candidate Jim Gavin. “I’ve done nothing... Read more »

High Society

High Society

Sue Magnier

High Society

CASHEL PALACE CASHES IN

THE LATEST Association of Irish Racehorse Owners (AIRO) awards bash was held last month – once again – in John Magnier’s fabulously expensive Cashel... 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

ALL CLEAR FOR OLD BELVO

NO DOUBT, Dermot Desmond is chuffed that the official green light has now been given for a development on the grounds of Old Belvedere... Read more »

High Society

Lisa McGowan

High Society

LISA McGOWAN’S GAL PALS

IT WAS reported earlier in the year that 50-something fashion blogger and influencer Lisa McGowan had paid herself an eyebrow-raising €3m in 2024 via her Lisa’s Lust List company, with... Read more »
Rosie Connolly says her fashion business is set to top last year’s stylish €4m profit, while John Magnier (left) saw his credibility take a bashing when he unwisely decided to head to the Four Goldmines.

High Society

ANNUAL 2025: HIGH SOCIETY – HIGH TIMES FOR HIGH-NET-WORTH INDIVIDUALS

THIS YEAR it turned out that there was more moolah than ever sloshing about the country, with the number of millionaires on the rise and the cost of high living... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Patrick O'Donovan

Behind the Scenes

CHESTER BEATTY BACKLOG

THE WHEELS are moving slowly in the culture department these days and there is still no sign of minister Patrick O’Donovan getting around to filling the vacancies at the Chester... Read more »
Tailored Films Screen Ireland Perspectives 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

CONCERT HALL’S NEW TUNE

PRESUMABLY, THERE will be a greater sense of urgency when it comes to filling the various vacancies in the National Concert Hall (NCH), where Maura McGrath has finally stepped down... Read more »
While attempts to cancel author John Boyne failed, the Polari Prize was cancelled and so was Boyne’s award from the L&H Society in UCD. Maureen Kennelly (below) didn’t survive long as Arts Council boss after new culture minister Patrick O’Donovan took charge.

Behind the Scenes

ANNUAL 2025: BEHIND THE SCENES – COCK-UPS, CANCELLATIONS AND KNEECAP

ANOTHER YEAR of flops and farce in the arts and entertainment world hurtles to a close with the a huge question mark over the State’s main funding body, the €140m... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Kia Joorabchian

Sport of Kings

KIA KEEPS SPENDING

KIA JOORABCHIAN’S Amo Racing failed to hit the headlines with its runners at the various big end-of-season meetings this year but it has continued to make its presence felt in... 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

BYRNES FRIGHT

Limerick trainer Charles Byrnes and his son, Philip, are to face an Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) referrals committee hearing next month over a controversial incident at Wexford in July.... Read more »
Margaret Heffernan

Sport of Kings

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’

THE IRISH headline maker at the recent Breeders’ Cup Meeting was the Willie Mullins-trained Ethical Diamond at 28/1, which marked another red-letter day for Dunnes Stores matriarch Margaret Heffernan’s family... Read more »
Maureen Haggas

Sport of Kings

‘LIKE A BIG SISSY’

NEWLY CROWNED UK champion jockey Oisin Murphy recently found himself on the receiving end of criticism from Newmarket trainer Willie Haggas, who acknowledged the Irish rider was “the best around”... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Colin Hunt

Moneybags

ANNUAL 2025: MONEYBAGS – IRISH SHARES THAT WILL MAKE THEIR MOVE IN 2026

WITH INCREASING numbers of major Irish-quoted companies migrating their quotation away from the home market in the last couple of years – in particular... Read more »

Moneybags

Eamonn Crowley

Moneybags

ANNUAL 2025: MONEYBAGS – WINNERS AND LOSERS IN 2025

It is quite the surprise to find that this year’s top-performing stock is Eamonn Crowley’s PTSB, which Moneybags had written off but where the... Read more »

Brief Cases

Roger Courtney

Brief Cases

ROGER COURTNEY’S FAMILY TIES

The increasingly hyperactive Business Post group ran one of its many, many awards ceremonies last week, The Leadership Awards, which honour “visionary executives, rising leaders, and changemakers who exemplify innovation,... Read more »
George Reynolds

Brief Cases

FRANK DINEEN’S TAX BILL

THE DREADED taxman has come calling, yet again, at a small defunct entity called Reliant Resources, which appears to have been set up as some form of consultancy outfit. The... Read more »
Philip Marley

Brief Cases

ANNUAL 2025: BRIEF CASES – FOOD (AND DRINK) FOR THOUGHT IN 2025

DJ CAREY may have grabbed all the headlines for his conviction and jailing but at just as fascinating was the sentencing of Celtic Tiger poster boy Philip ‘Philo’ Marley over... Read more »