Affairs of the Nation

Lord Mountbatten

Affairs of the Nation

NO BAFTA FOR KINCORA FILM

The BBC has just secured a prestigious Bafta (British Academy Film and Television Arts) award for Clive Myrie’s Caribbean Adventure made by Alleycats of Derry and directed by Des Henderson. The... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

RTÉ’S LATEST HOT SEAT

WITH THE Oireachtas committees finally in place, certain state board vacancies can now be filled. One place they could start is RTÉ, which is facing its latest scandal with an... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

DUBLIN PRIDE’S PREDICAMENT

SINN FÉIN has been carrying out a damage limitation exercise after comments by health spokesman David Cullinane saw Trans and Intersex Pride Dublin ban the party from its annual march... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

Brendan Comiskey

Affairs of the Nation

AFTER COMISKEY

SENIOR CLERICS such as Bishop Brendan Comiskey could hardly complain about being targeted for covering up child abuse by priests in their diocese but the platitudes of politicians and others... Read more »
Matt Dempsey

Affairs of the Nation

DEMPSEY’S ACADEMIC DISCOURSE

Back in June 2010, UCD conferred one of its highest accolades, an honorary Doctor of Science, on Irish Farmers Journal (IFJ) editor Matt Dempsey. Thanks to his leadership, the journal... Read more »
Lyra

Affairs of the Nation

LYRA’S COMFORT ZONE

CAROLINE DOWNEY must be delighted with the latest outing for the singer-songwriter she manages, Lyra, who continues to benefit from a remarkably high profile despite her relative lack of music... Read more »
Donald Trump

Affairs of the Nation

TRUMP’S PLOT(S) SPOILER

WITH ARTS minister Patrick O’Donovan having just reappointed four directors of Screen Ireland (SI), including chairman Ray Harman, at least the state film funding agency has a full complement at... Read more »
Simon Mann

Affairs of the Nation

THE MANN WHO KEPT HIS BALLS INTACT

Notorious ex-SAS officer and soldier of fortune Simon Mann has died. In 2004 he led a failed plot to topple President Teodoro Obiang of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. Baroness Thatcher and... Read more »
Matt Carthy

Affairs of the Nation

LEFT V RIGHT MARCHES

In the weeks that followed the recent large anti-immigration protest in Dublin, right-wing activists have tried to tap into that energy by calling a series of local demonstrations. This has... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Ruadhán Mac Cormaic

Pillars of Society

PROFILE: RUADHÁN MAC CORMAIC

THE PRESS COUNCIL’S recent confirmation of a Press Ombudsman’s decision underlines the Irish Times’s one-sided coverage of clerical child abuse. An IT article last... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Eoghan Kenny

The Young Bloods

YOUNG BLOOD: EOGHAN KENNY

WHILE THE Labour Party nearly doubled its Dáil representation in 2024 with only a marginal increase in the percentage of votes it received in... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Ronan O'Domhnaill

Fit to Print?

LOW-COST MEDIA FREEDOM

UNSURPRISINGLY, THERE has been little or no media coverage of the pay-outs to media organisations recently from the Government or, rather, the taxpayers’ largely unknowing munificence so generously enabled by... Read more »
Ivan Yates Nell McCafferty RTÉ Lord Laird Intro Matchmaking NewsBrands Martin McGuinness Dún Laoghaire Pat Leahy Cormac Lucey John Cooney Irish Journalism Awards Steve Aiken Anton Savage John Downing Lucinda Creighton Marina Sologub Eilis O'Hanlon Ian Kehoe Danny McConnell Sindo O'Connor Mediahuis Stephen Collins Book Justine McCarthy Rewriting the Troubles Lynn Ruane Sinn Féin

Fit to Print?

CLARE DALY V ‘SUNDAY TIMES’

GOLDHAWK PREDICTED as far back as 2022 that then MEP Clare Daly would come for those sections of the media that had, as she saw it, set out to politically... Read more »
Andrew Neil

Fit to Print?

FUNDING GREAT BRITISH NEWS

IRISH TAXPAYERS will be equally happy – in the spirit of our shared island and its history – to learn that the Government’s media largesse has spread to the north.... Read more »

Last Refuge

Duncan Smith

Last Refuge

‘INSECURE’ OIREACHTAS COMMITTEE

THERE WAS consternation among certain members of the Dáil reform committee when it met to ratify the draft Orders of Reference and Establishment of Committees Report. A one-line footnote in the... Read more »
Ivana Bacik

Last Refuge

HAS BACIK BACKED OFF LEFT UNITY?

THE GROWING movement pushing for broad left unity among the opposition received two signals last week at a large rally to retain the triple lock that involved most, but not... Read more »
Bertie Ahern

Last Refuge

BERTIE BANGS ON ÁRAS DOOR

MUCH MEDIA attention was given – as intended – to a rather self-serving organisation, which is entitled the InterAction Council. It is composed of former world leaders and has been... Read more »

Hush Hush

Justin Barrett

Hush Hush

FAR-RIGHT COUPS

THAT LARGE anti-immigrant march in Dublin recently masked upheavals and faction fighting among new-right corporals jostling for ascendancy. Two casualties appear to be Justin Barrett – still claiming to be... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS

THIRSTY WORK The actions of a Roscommon man charged with theft and leaving a restaurant without paying were described as “the lowest of the low” when the case came before... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

John O'Dowd

Fowl Emissions

GOLD MINE PROJECT FOYLED AGAIN

In a saga of government department hypocrisy that Strabane man Brian O’Nolan (aka Myles na gCopaleen) may have considered perfect fodder for his Cruiskeen Lawn column, the Sinn Féin-led Northern... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Sharon Osbourne

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

They should follow the masters, who are U2. Bono goes on, he talks about Palestine. He does it in peace. He’s pro-Palestine, that’s his opinion, Bono, God bless him, but... Read more »

High Society

High Society

Brendan McDowell

High Society

McDOWELL’S TIKTOK TRIUMPH

BELFAST-BASED cosmetics czar Brendan McDowell (who landed the Entrepreneur of the Year award at Ali Ryan’s Gossies bash in the RDS last year) continues... 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

TOM KENNEDY’S YOGA STUDIO

AN IMPRESSIVE six-bedroom pile in D14 that has gone on the market with a chunky €4m price tag turns out to be owned by... Read more »

High Society

Laura Magee

High Society

LAURA MAGEE’S ‘THOROUGHBRED EXPERIENCES’

WHILE MINISTERS Peter Burke (enterprise and trade) and Martin Heydon (agriculture and food) were no doubt entertained on Punchestown’s Gold Cup day, they also took the time to officially launch... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Sylvester Stallone

Behind the Scenes

PATRICK O’DONOVAN’S HEADACHE

ANYONE SURPRISED at Donald Trump’s threat of a 100% tariff on films produced in “foreign lands” must not have been paying attention. But there are some players who have more... 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

PIANO BLUES

THE 13TH Dublin International Piano Competition (DIPC) takes place this week in the Royal Irish Academy of Music, with the final showdown at the National Concert Hall on Friday May... Read more »

Sport of Kings

John Magnier

Sport of Kings

MAGNIER ON THE ROPES

IF LEINSTER’S European semi-final exit to Northampton was a bona fide sporting shock, the drubbing handed out to John Magnier and the gang at Coolmore was also a bruising affair.... Read more »
Jody McGarvey

Sport of Kings

McGARVEY’S MOVE

JODY McGARVEY signed off on his riding career with a third place aboard the well-supported Willie Mullins-trained beaten favourite Mirazur West in Punchestown’s Frontline Security Handicap Chase. Predictably, his final... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Hugh McGuire

Moneybags

WHY IT’S TIME TO CHOP UP GLANBIA

ACTIVIST INVESTOR Clearway Capital is correct in its view that Glanbia should be broken up into its three component parts. Tirlán Co-Op, which is... Read more »

Moneybags

Brendan McDonagh

Moneybags

WINDING DOWN LAND-HOARDER NAMA

AFTER THE furore surrounding the mooted appointment of Nama CEO Brendan McDonagh as the head of the Government’s new housing activation office, the focus... Read more »

Brief Cases

Kevin Arundel

Brief Cases

CHOPHOUSE CHOPPED

EIGHT MONTHS after Kevin and Jillian Arundel (née Mulcahy) pulled down the shutters on their high-profile gastropub in Ballsbridge, The Chophouse, they have wound up the company behind their second... Read more »
Eoin Massey

Brief Cases

BRIAN MOONEY’S GOLF SWING

THIS MONTH is the deadline for creditors to submit any claims concerning an interesting company called Golphysics Ltd, which was set up by engineering whizz Brian Mooney to exploit some... Read more »
Bronagh Conlon

Brief Cases

BRONAGH CONLON’S HANGOVER

THE DREADED taxman has registered a judgment in the High Court for €124,000 against Bronagh Conlon’s Listoke Distillery operation in Co Louth, which had been operating until recently as both... Read more »
Bernard McNamara

Brief Cases

BERNIE’S BAD NEWS

SINCE GOLDHAWK revealed (see The Phoenix 9/1/25) that a number of companies established by boom-time builder Bernard McNamara were to be wound up, things have continued to go downhill fast... Read more »