Affairs of the Nation

Mary Lou McDonald

Affairs of the Nation

MEDIA BUY FF BY-ELECTION SPIN

THE GREATLY underestimated spin machine of Government, particularly the Fianna Fáil wing, has impressed upon a dependable media that the by-elections in Dublin Central and Galway West pose no threat... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

EXTRA TIME AT ‘HER SPORT’

CONGRATULATIONS TO Niamh Tallon, the founder of Her Sport Media Ltd (HSM), which recently landed another grant from Coimisiún na Meán (CnaM) to help with the hosting of the rather... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

O’DONOVAN’S BIG GOB

MOTOR MOUTH culture and communications minister Patrick O’Donovan was predictably quick out of the traps to put the boot into RTÉ after details emerged about Derek Mooney’s sudden appearance on... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

Ruadhán Mac Cormaic

Affairs of the Nation

US FUNDS ‘IRISH TIMES’ ‘SCOOPS’

IN RECENT months the Irish Times has presented a series of stories on Aughinish Alumina metals company – owned by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska – supplying alumina to Russia, where... Read more »
accounting fiasco

Affairs of the Nation

JARLATH BURNS’S HEADACHE

THE GAA and its surprisingly antagonistic president, Jarlath Burns, will be anxious to dampen down expectations around yet another motion demanding the end of its relationship with sponsors Allianz. The... Read more »
Douglas Taylor

Affairs of the Nation

DOUG TAYLOR’S LATEST PAYDAY

AS PART of Jim O’Callaghan’s revamp of the asylum system, the number of centres to be used for International Protection Accommodation Services (Ipas) is being scaled back. Given that the... Read more »
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Affairs of the Nation

JOHN MCGUIRK’S COURT DATE

THIS WEEK, the intriguing legal face-off between suspended Gript editor John McGuirk and loudmouth Web Summit boss Paddy Cosgrave returns to the High Court for mention. And the hapless McGuirk... Read more »
Dana

Affairs of the Nation

REID’S ROUGH RIDE

BUSY LEGAL eagle and former Iona Institute member John Reid seems to have taken his eye off the ball and ended up on the end of a rather hefty Revenue... Read more »
Sean O'Callaghan

Affairs of the Nation

MI5’S ROLE IN CORCORAN KILLING

A SEQUENCE of events involving the IRA and two Garda informants unfolded in 1985, when one, John Corcoran, was shot dead by the other, Sean O’Callaghan. At best, it was... Read more »
Tommy Robinson

Affairs of the Nation

McDONNELL AND THE ENGLISH HARD RIGHT

LAST SATURDAY Kildare county councillor Tom McDonnell took to the stage, while waving a tricolour, in London’s Parliament Square at Tommy Robinson’s (pseudonym of Stephen Yaxley Lennon) Unite the Kingdom... Read more »

Pillars of Society

Michael Collins

Pillars of Society

PROFILE: MICHAEL COLLINS

FOLLOWING A decade in which Sinn Féin assumed leadership of the opposition to the government, is there a right-wing alternative now in gestation in... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Grace Mongey

The Young Bloods

YOUNG BLOOD: GRACE MONGEY

TALLAGHT GAL Grace Mongey, aka Faces by Grace, has built a large social media presence by sharing makeup tutorials, family life, mental health struggles... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Karol Balfe

Fit to Print?

‘INDO’ SHAMES ‘IRISH TIMES’

THE DIFFERENT line taken by the Irish Times and Irish Independent on RTÉ’s boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest because of the Gaza genocide is a reversal of long-standing positions... Read more »
Diageo Dana An Garda Síochána IT Trust No Stone Unturned Irish Times Black Friday Vicky Conway

Fit to Print?

TAXPAYER BACKING NEWS MEDIA

One interesting bit of news in the Irish Times’s recent coverage of the ethics involved in state funding of media is that, while the IT group itself has been offered... Read more »
Dan O'Brien

Fit to Print?

DAN O’BRIEN’S REAL OPINION

ONE OF Israel’s chief supporters in Ireland is journalist Dan O’Brien, the chief economist at the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) and a columnist at the Currency. In... Read more »

Last Refuge

Jim O'Callaghan

Last Refuge

TAOISEACH’S LOYAL CABINET COURTIERS

GIVEN THAT Micheál Martin has determined to go nowhere this side of a general election and is already basking in the limelight of a European Council presidency that does not... Read more »
Michael O’Riordan

Last Refuge

CPI STILL ‘RIDDLED WITH MISOGYNY’

THE James Connolly Festival 2026 organised by the Communist Party of Ireland (CPI) is the source of a most fractious debate among comrades about Connolly; the primacy of the working... Read more »
Michael Martin

Last Refuge

MARTIN’S POLITICAL RESURRECTION

AS THE vultures circle over Micheál Martin’s Fianna Fáil leadership, a certain revisionism has taken hold in the Irish Times, traditionally the party’s most implacable enemy but which has become... Read more »

Northwind

Jon Burrows

Northwind

UUP’S BEATTIE MOVE HARD TO FATHOM

The once all-powerful Ulster Unionist Party that ran the north from 1922 to 1972 has been thrashing around in recent years to find a coherent electoral position. The party has... Read more »

Hush Hush

Malachy Steenson

Hush Hush

STEENSON CAMPAIGN PLAYING IT SAFE

The contrasting performances of the two candidates from Ireland’s new right-wing networks in the Galway West and Dublin Central by-election races is quite stark. Both AJ Cahill of Irish People... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

Bog Cuttings

BOG CUTTINGS

NO RECOLLECTION A 27-year-old woman appeared before Derry Magistrate’s Court charged with disorderly behaviour on September 13, 2025. Police were alerted to a woman causing a disturbance on Strand Road... Read more »

Fowl Emissions

Alex White

Fowl Emissions

DATA CENTRE CANNIBALS

“Cannibalising” is a word not commonly seen in government-level reports but that’s how the Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC) has described the impact of data centre growth on Ireland’s renewable... 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

ENGINEERS’ HOT AIR

The latest science-defying report from the Irish Academy of Engineering (IAE) calls for Moneypoint power station to revert to burning coal and Ireland’s ban on offshore fossil fuel exploration to... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Shane Ross

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Their refusal to give it oxygen is clear evidence that group-think is far from a distant memory at the national broadcaster. Shane Ross is “gobsmacked” by the lack of publicity... Read more »

High Society

High Society

Francesca Versace

High Society

FRANCESCA VERSACE’S PUBLIC PRESSURE

A CREDITORS’ meeting has been called from a trendy sounding outfit called Public Pressure Ltd (PPL), which was cofounded by one Francesca Versace, niece... 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 QUIET AT NATIONAL GALLERY

OVER A year after a bizarre story of “covert surveillance” at the National Gallery of Ireland (NGI) emerged, there is no sign of the... Read more »

High Society

Geraldine Connolly

High Society

SELLING HEATHER COTTAGE

WITH A chunky €5m price tag, Heather Cottage in Howth is strictly aimed at the well-heeled. Locals may be hoping there will be a little less contentious planning activity by... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

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

KATIE HOLLY’S ‘YANK’

RTÉ has announced that filming has begun in Galway on a big-budget thriller called The Yank, which is scripted by Eithne Verling, formerly director of Galway Museum. The big bucks... Read more »
Christine O'Donovan

Behind the Scenes

CRAWFORD’S GALLERY SPACE

WITH A whopping €94m redevelopment project on the go at the Crawford Art Gallery (CAG) in Cork, it is not surprising that culture minister Patrick O’Donovan is urgently looking to... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Richard Hennessy

Sport of Kings

DAIRY QUEEN FAIRY TALE

THERE WAS no little reaction this month when Local News struck at 100-1 for local trainer Richard Hennessy at Cork. The debutante nag provided Hennessy with a first winner since... 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

IVAN YATES’S HEAVY GOING

There was a stewards’ enquiry called at Leopardstown on Derby Trial Stakes day earlier this month but it did not involve an incident on the track but rather a matter... Read more »

Moneybags

Moneybags

Jim Mintern

Moneybags

CRH STILL PUSHING UP PRICES, NOT SALES

IT IS surely bizarre that, for each of the last four years, CRH’s volume sales have actually fallen and it is only through pushing... Read more »

Moneybags

Gary Morrison

Moneybags

HOSTELWORLD SHARES PRIMED TO BOUNCE BACK

HAVING SURVIVED the pandemic intact, accommodation booking engine Hostelworld looked set to rapidly push ahead after the world re-opened. CEO Gary Morrison certainly appeared... Read more »

Brief Cases

James Palmer and-David McCann-Jr

Brief Cases

DAVID MCCANN’S DOUBLE FAULT

PADEL IS the name of the game these days and among the latest players to have joined the likes of committed fan Dermot Desmond is young David McCann Jr (scion... Read more »
Mark Murphy

Brief Cases

MARK MURPHY’S POOR CHOICE

LIQUIDATOR TOM Murray of Friel Stafford has been installed at a company called Choice Entertainment Ltd, which was behind the highly regarded Choice Cuts dance promotion outfit fronted by Mark... Read more »
Rosedale House

Brief Cases

GOFF LALOR’S ADVENTURES

GOLDHAWK WAS intrigued to see his old pal, Godfrey ‘Goff’ Lalor, popping up last weekend in connection with a report on a legal spat between his son, Daniel Lalor, and... Read more »
WAVF Castleknock Hospitality BAL Susan Bergin Tixserve EOG Fergal Naughton hot-water-brigade def

Brief Cases

BOOKIES’ BLUES

THE DEATH of high-profile Kilkenny bookie Triona Harrington in 2023 led to the end of Harrington Bookmakers Ltd (HBL) but the good news was that business continued under the Harrington... Read more »
WAVF Castleknock Hospitality BAL Susan Bergin Tixserve EOG Fergal Naughton hot-water-brigade def

Brief Cases

INVESTIGATING PALLONJI’S COLLAPSE

LAST YEAR a company previously controlled by the richest man in Ireland, Pallonji Mistry, was surprisingly wound up by the High Court and it turned out that creditors were owed... Read more »
Michael Hackman

Brief Cases

MICHAEL HACKMAN’S HEADACHES

SINN FÉIN’S John Brady, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, has been waiting a long time to get his hands on execs from the Irish Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), in... Read more »