Affairs of the Nation

Micheál Martin

Affairs of the Nation

TOO MANY TDs FOR MARTIN’S LIKING

THERE IS a particular irony in the resentment felt by many Fianna Fáil backbench TDs at the new Dáil speaking-time arithmetic, which has resulted in Michael Lowry’s backbenchers getting a... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

TOM LYONS’S SUBPOENA

WITH THE Web Summit run in the Four Goldmines coming to an early end, there was no need for Tom Lyons, chief executive of The Currency business media website to... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

PÁLÁS PLOT TWIST

WHILE IT appeared that a final ‘cut’ had been called on Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe’s bijou Pálás cinema in Galway, the desire for a surprise ending remains, even if... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

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Affairs of the Nation

MICRO-MANAGING JAMES BROWNE

HOUSING MINISTER James Browne provided Sinn Féin’s housing know-all, Eoin Ó Broin, with enough ammo to shoot him down no less than five times in the last week of March.... Read more »
Caitriona Heinl

Affairs of the Nation

AZURE’S AMAZONIAN BOSS

A RECENT Irish Times lecture about the shamefully inadequate state of Ireland’s security strategy referred to the “independent security think tank”, the Azure Forum. Independent of whom? A list of... Read more »
Ado McGuinness

Affairs of the Nation

JOHN MAGNIER’S NEXT RACE?

STRANGE BEHAVIOUR at last week’s annual general meeting of the beleaguered Irish Racehorse Trainers Association (IRTA), where there were more questions than answers. The shadow of John Magnier also loomed... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

TACKLING NEIL FRANCIS

A RECEIVER has just been installed by one of the creditors of a company called KC Property Developments Ltd (KCP), where a 50% shareholder turns out to be rugby-player-turned-journalist-turned-businessman Neil... Read more »
Brian O'Driscoll

Affairs of the Nation

BOD’S BASELAYERS

THERE WERE plenty of column inches devoted to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CPPC) pinging Irish international rugby legend Brian O’Driscoll last month for straying offside with his online... Read more »
David Holden

Affairs of the Nation

MURDERED HACK WAS DOUBLE AGENT

GOLDHAWK HAS for long been aware that the Sunday Times has excellent sources within British intelligence but never suspected that MI6’s top asset at the paper in the 1970s was... Read more »
Simon Harris

Affairs of the Nation

BANG FOR OUR BUCKS

Tánaiste Simon Harris recently speculated that Ireland’s military spending needed to expand rapidly and could soon reach €3bn annually. So it is worth looking at how much bang the Department... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Conor McGregor

Pillars of Society

PROFILE: CONOR MCGREGOR

THE GENERAL, European and local elections in 2024 show that the audience for McGregor’s brand of right-wing populism is limited. And even within this... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Jack Keating

The Young Bloods

YOUNG BLOOD: JACK KEATING

NEOPHYTE RADIO presenter and social media influencer Jack Keating wanted to do a communications course after leaving school but sadly didn’t get the points.... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Micheál Martin

Fit to Print?

ISRAELI SOLDIERS – THE REAL VICTIMS

THE WAVE of antisemitic terror sweeping across Ireland, which the Irish Times and other media have been courageously exposing, has reached appalling levels in Dublin City University. There, a recently... Read more »
David Quinn

Fit to Print?

EU WARRIORS ON THE RETREAT?

HAVE DIVISIONS among the European shock troops limbering up to confront Putin’s Russia caused some to have second thoughts? This disappointing retreat from where Hitler, Napoleon and others had to... Read more »
Diageo Dana An Garda Síochána IT Trust No Stone Unturned Irish Times Black Friday Vicky Conway

Fit to Print?

VICTIMISING MUSK

Sir, I was disappointed to read your article in the Phoenix [March 21, 2025] titled “X marks the drop in standards” because I did not expect your magazine to take... Read more »

Last Refuge

Frances Black

Last Refuge

LEFT UNITY ÁRAS CANDIDATE

THE BIG question for Mary Lou McDonald and the Sinn Féin leadership in their tight, internal debate about who to run in the presidential election in November is just what... Read more »
Patrick O'Donovan

Last Refuge

TWO FINGERS AGAIN FROM GOVERNMENT

SINN FÉIN’S Gaeltacht and arts spokesperson, Aengus Ó Snodaigh, has discovered that the Government’s innovative approach to political democracy has spread beyond the Pale to the Gaeltacht. The Government and... Read more »
Michael Lowry

Last Refuge

OPPOSITION SPLIT ON SPEAKING RIGHTS

UNITY IN the opposition ranks may still be intact on the issue of speaking rights for the schizophrenic group of TDs led by Michael ‘Fingers’ Lowry – modern Parnellites of... 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

SECOND-GUESSING IRELAND FIRST

WITH FURIOUS ‘debate’ recently about voting rights and the like, the Electoral Commission will have been fazed to receive a complaint from Dr Caoimhín Ó Maolchalann, a fretful observer of... Read more »

Northwind

Liz Kimmins

Northwind

NÍ GHÉILLFEAR!

NEW GRAND CENTRAL station in Belfast, which opened last year, is the biggest transport hub on the island and cost a staggering £340m. To the great annoyance of Irish-language activists,... Read more »

Hush Hush

Isaac Herzog

Hush Hush

JERUSALEM FAR-RIGHT FURORE

ISRAELI PRESIDENT Isaac Herzog often refers to his Irish connections but, since the start of the war on Gaza, he has been quite vocal in criticising Irish policies and attitudes... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS

RINGING BELLS Claire Gallagher appeared before Drogheda District Court after an incident last month in the town. Sergeant John O’Hehir told the court that gardaí responded to reports of an... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Billy Kelleher

Fowl Emissions

‘LIVING IN THE REAL WORLD’

“A victory for common sense over ideological dogma,” was Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher’s response to An Bord Pleanála’s recent decision to grant permission to Shannon LNG to build a... 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

NATURE RESERVED

Coillte, the state forestry agency, has long been under fire for its dire environmental record and its focus on industrial conifer plantations that are biodiversity deserts. However, one part of... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Leo Varadkar

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Penta Group is at the forefront of using research and analytics to make a real impact, and I look forward to contributing to its innovative approach in helping global organisations... Read more »

High Society

High Society

Mary Cannon

High Society

MARY CANNON’S JOINT

AN IMPRESSIVE looking timber-clad pile on the salubrious Claremont Road in Howth has just gone on the market with a chunky €3m price tag.... 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

KIERAN WALSH’S STYLE

LOADED COSMETICS entrepreneur Kieran Walsh was, er, made up recently when he landed a gong at the Cork Chamber of Commerce annual dinner, posting... Read more »

High Society

Silvana Landa

High Society

SILVANA’S ‘HANDBAG INVESTMENTS’

CONGRATULATIONS TO Argentinian-Italian handbag queen Silvana Landa, who landed yet another big plug in the Business Post last month, just one year after she got to tell the same story... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Niall Doyle

Behind the Scenes

NIALL DOYLE’S NEXT GIG?

AS GOLDHAWK revealed (see The Phoenix 7/3/25), Niall Doyle, the long-time head of music and opera at the Arts Council, is one of those who has decided to exit Merrion... Read more »
Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

Behind the Scenes

MORE ARTS COUNCIL CONSULTANTS

AS THE Arts Council prepares for an eventual outing before the Public Accounts Committee, it is business as usual on Merrion Square. A revamped website has been unveiled, which feels... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Sean Davis

Sport of Kings

SEAN DAVIS’S DOUBLE

PART-TIME jockey and now trainer Sean Davis had waited more than two years to train his first winner but he landed a double last month with the well-punted pair, Venetian... Read more »
Patrick Mullins

Sport of Kings

POOR PATRICK MULLINS

AMATEUR RIDER Patrick Mullins has had a few recent setbacks in his quest to ride a winner at every UK National Hunt course. The jockey looked set for certain victory... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Paul Coulson

Moneybags

PAUL COULSON ROLLS THE DICE AT ARDAGH

LAST MONTH Paul Coulson was facing the possible collapse of the whole Ardagh Group glass and metal packaging outfit and he sought to put... Read more »

Moneybags

Dermot Crowley

Moneybags

DALATA’S OVERSEAS SHAREHOLDERS KEEN TO CHECK OUT

IT IS hard to understand what Dalata Hotel Group CEO Dermot Crowley is hoping to achieve by calling in Rothchild & Co for a... Read more »

Brief Cases

Caroline O’Mahony

Brief Cases

CAROLINE O’MAHONY’S MOOLAH

ALTHOUGH FAB fitness influencer Caroline O’Mahony was no doubt unhappy at being outed by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) for failing to clearly identify which of her videos... Read more »
Annemarie O'Brien

Brief Cases

ANNE-MARIE O’BRIEN’S FORM

ELSEWHERE IN this issue (see p5) Goldhawk examines the runners and riders in the recent annual general meeting of the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association. While not a lot ended up... Read more »
WAVF Castleknock Hospitality BAL Susan Bergin Tixserve EOG Fergal Naughton hot-water-brigade def

Brief Cases

AMBASSADOR ROBBIE HENSHAW

RUGBY INTERNATIONAL Robbie Henshaw, who had a relatively underwhelming outing during the Six Nations, was in top form last month when it came to promoting the Uniphar-owned Aya wellness and... Read more »
WAVF Castleknock Hospitality BAL Susan Bergin Tixserve EOG Fergal Naughton hot-water-brigade def

Brief Cases

CIAN DE BUITLÉAR’S HAPPY ENDING

THE FILM company that previously owned movie and TV lighting equipment business Teach Solais Lighthouse is being wound up by its principal – cinematographer Cian de Buitléar – and the... Read more »
Ian Hyland

Brief Cases

IAN HYLAND’S NEW PRODUCTION

THE NEW owner of James Morris’s Windmill Lane Pictures (WLP) is Business and Finance Group boss Ian Hyland and Goldhawk hopes to see more activity than has been the case... Read more »