Article Category: Affairs of the Nation

WATERING DOWN THE DRINKS BILL

November 3, 2016

THE lobbying blitz by the massively resourced alcohol and retail industry was conducted by some interesting, if predictable, players and many Oireachtas members... Read more »

RED INK AT THE ‘IT’

November 3, 2016

THE FINANCES of The Irish Times have come under a lot of scrutiny over the last week or so courtesy of the Sindo... Read more »

BRIAN McDONAGH VS APPLE INC

November 3, 2016

WICKLOW LANDOWNER Brian McDonagh has put the kibosh – at least temporarily – on Apple’s giant U850m proposed data centre in Athenry. Having... Read more »

FLOOD TRIBUNAL COSTS SET TO SOAR AGAIN

November 3, 2016

THE DUMPING of virtually all findings of the Flood / Mahon Tribunal against previously named parties (see The Phoenix, 25/3/16) does not mean... Read more »

TAKING ON SOLICITOR EAMES

November 3, 2016

SURELY ONE of the busiest legal eagles in town is Aidan Eames, the former Fianna Fáil-appointed senator and ex-member of FF’s national executive,... Read more »

‘IT’ TURNS BLIND EYE TO CHILD ABUSE SCANDAL

November 3, 2016

MOST media covered the recent catalogue of child sex abuse offences by religious lay worker Patrick O’Brien who pleaded guilty to 51 sample... Read more »

DISSIDENTS SET TO DUMP ARMS?

November 3, 2016

THE LAUNCH of a new dissident Republican party, Saoradh, recently would indicate more militarism, not less, given the bellicose political statements emanating from... Read more »

ANOTHER PLOT TWIST FOR LELIA DOOLAN

November 3, 2016

TWO REVEALING documents have been released to Goldhawk under the Freedom of Information Act concerning the increasingly expensive (€9.3m and counting) Solas ‘Picture... Read more »

THE REAL COST OF ROBBO’S SHRINE

October 20, 2016

A VERY, very expensive precedent has been set by the government in accepting Mary Robinson’s presidential archive to qualify as acceptable under Section... Read more »

LIZ GARRAHY’S PEACE PROCESS

October 20, 2016

COULD PEACE be about to break out between the Arts For Peace Foundation (AFP) and the OPW? Relations between the two bodies hit... Read more »

INM’S O’BRIEN NERVY ABOUT TAKEOVER BID

October 20, 2016

SIGNS are that Denis O’Brien is nervous about securing approval from the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and communications minister Denis Naughten for... Read more »

GARDAÍ VISIT LAW SOCIETY

October 20, 2016

THE long-running battle between Kenmare solicitor Colm Murphy and the Law Society took a dramatic turn last week when detectives from the Garda... Read more »

NO ROOM AT THE INN

October 20, 2016

PEACE CAMPAIGNERS being blacked in the media as well as barred from hiring premises presumably because of their dangerous and subversive message of... Read more »

Denis O’Brien’s safe haven

October 20, 2016

LISTENERS to Denis O’Brien’s Newstalk were brought up to date on developments in Haiti last week during the breakfast news show fronted by... Read more »

SHANE ROSS’S ABORTION DEAL

October 20, 2016

A STRANGE and little noticed U-turn by Taoiseach Enda Kenny a fortnight ago saw him tell the Dáil he was appointing – immediately... Read more »

JOHN DELANEY’S OLYMPIC DENIAL

October 5, 2016

IT WAS surprising to see FAI boss John Delaney saying that he never heard of the controversial Olympic ticketing company, Pro10 Sports Management... Read more »

MARTIN’S WATERY STRATEGY

October 5, 2016

FIANNA FAIL’S gyrations on Irish Water may not make any sense in terms of the actual issue, but its latest, hard line position... Read more »

SPOTLIGHT’S GERRY ADAMS ‘SCOOP’

October 5, 2016

THE BBC Spotlight programme’s ‘scoop’ on Gerry Adams’ alleged order to kill MI5 informer, Denis Donaldson, marks a watershed of sorts for the... Read more »

MORE WOE FOR SINEAD O’CONNOR

October 5, 2016

TROUBLED singer Sinead O’Connor made the headlines last week after being named on the Revenue’s latest list of tax defaulters. The outspoken superstar... Read more »

DIAGEO’S WINNING CAMPAIGN

October 5, 2016

A DEVASTATING critique of the Diageo funded campaign, Stop-Out-Of-Control-Drinking (SOOCD), chaired by long time spin doctor, Fergus Finlay, has just been published. Written... Read more »

REVIEWING ROBBO’S FOUNDATION

October 5, 2016

WHILE MARY Robinson attracted plenty of media attention for her recent comments on eating (or rather not eating) meat, there was rather less... Read more »

GALWAY’S PICTURE PALACE BLACK HOLE

October 5, 2016

UNTIL LAST month, barely a peep was raised by the national media (except Goldhawk) about the financial black hole created over a decade... Read more »

ISRAELI FIGHTBACK AGAINST BDS

October 5, 2016

THE DECISION by Bank of Ireland (BoI) to close the three bank accounts of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) raises some serious... Read more »

SWAN LAKE CARTHY

October 5, 2016

RUSSIAN ballet fans may not recognise Tchaikovsky’s original story line or dance form in a re-working of his Swan Lake in the Dublin... Read more »

KEVIN McGARRY’S VERY PRIVATE SECURITY

September 21, 2016

INTERESTING to see an apology in The Irish Times earlier this month to company KTech Security and its owner Kevin McGarry, who turns... Read more »

O’LEARY’S TURBULENCE IN D4

September 21, 2016

WHILE RYANAIR boss Mick O’Leary is clearly annoyed at objections to the planned new Dublin Airport runway, he is also facing an objection... Read more »

GERRY CALLANAN’S HORSE TRADING

September 21, 2016

WITH AN appeal lodged by Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) against a recent Small Claims Court ruling, it appears the innocuous looking challenge by... Read more »

PICKARD’S CRIME BACKGROUND

September 21, 2016

THE mystery of just who murdered Charles Brooke Pickard – whose remains the gardaí hope to find in Kerry’s Ballaghisheen mountain pass –... Read more »

JOHN BURNS’S COMRADES

September 21, 2016

WHAT a cheeky chappie Sunday Times associate editor John Burns is. He penned a wry sarcastic article last weekend about junior minister and... Read more »

TIME WARP IN THE HIGH COURT

September 21, 2016

GOLDHAWK recently spotted a very odd High Court judgment in a case initiated in 1996 but, bizarrely, only heard in court this year.... Read more »

KENNEDY: A BRIDGE TOO FAR?

September 21, 2016

HAS Ireland, and even Wexford, finally been overcome by ennui with the cult of the dead Kennedys? A row has broken out in... Read more »

BLUESHIRT TICKET TROUBLE

September 21, 2016

FINE GAEL ladettes Senators Michelle Mulherin and Catherine Noone walked into an accidental ambush in O’Brien’s, the sporty Dublin 2 pub, on the... Read more »