Article Category: Affairs of the Nation

AFTER McGONAGLE AT NCAD

January 14, 2016

IT PROBABLY did not come as too much of a surprise to observers of the goings on in Dublin 8 that the National... Read more »

Saudi Allies?

January 14, 2016

THE RETICENCE of Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan to issue a statement condemning the execution of 47 people by the King Salman... Read more »

PETER MALBASHA’S ‘MISLEADING’ EVIDENCE

January 14, 2016

THERE WAS at least one red face in Nama last month following the outcome of a High Court case concerning the developer, Garrett... Read more »

JUDGE MALONE’S LIBEL WIN

January 14, 2016

ATTORNEY GENERAL Máire Whelan made the interesting suggestion recently that the defamation laws should be reformed to allow more latitude to court reporters.... Read more »

BERGERAC LIVES

January 14, 2016

HOW can an ex-garda get himself involved in legal proceedings against a newspaper in Sark, a small island in the Channel Islands (population... Read more »

MARTIN’S LEFT TURN

January 14, 2016

THIS weekend’s Fianna Fáil ard fheis will resonate to thunderous attacks on the ‘right wing, uncaring, Thatcherite’ etc Fine Gael, as Micheál Martin... Read more »

COALITION SECRETS AND LIES

December 17, 2015

THE four main political parties are lying through their teeth about their coalition options or non-options and the post-election scramble for power will... Read more »

JUDGE CORMAC DUNNE’S COSTS

December 17, 2015

JUDGE CORMAC Dunne has had his fair share of scrapes, but the good news is that at least he doesn’t have to pay... Read more »

MICK O’LEARY’S OIL BILL

December 17, 2015

HOW IRONIC it was to see Mick O’Leary popping up at the annual Dublin Chamber of Commerce Christmas lunch last week claiming that... Read more »

RUNNING RINGS AROUND DRINK BILL

December 17, 2015

ARE Fine Gael and sport minister Paschal Donohoe having a laugh with the minister’s recent statement that he was handing over responsibility for... Read more »

ANN REIHILL’S REDUCED IMAGE

December 17, 2015

ALMOST FORTY years after the magazine first appeared, these are interesting times at Image Publications. There has been a complex restructuring of the... Read more »

ALAN KELLY’S PARIS EMISSIONS

December 17, 2015

“CRAZY” and “frankly not sane” were among the words used by Alan Kelly in Paris last week in relation to Ireland’s beef sector... Read more »

‘MING’ FLANAGAN’S FACEBOOK POST

December 17, 2015

COMBATIVE MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan is no slouch when it comes to a legal row and lodged High Court proceedings against The Irish... Read more »

MARY ROBINSON’S EXPENSIVE ARCHIVE

December 4, 2015

THE NEWS from the west of Ireland last week was that the Mary Robinson Centre (MRC) in Ballina is set to open in... Read more »

FIONA’S FOOT IN THE DOOR

December 4, 2015

ONE Dáil candidate who cannot be described as a token female selected to fulfill the gender quota is Fine Gael’s Fiona McLoughlin Healy... Read more »

Henderson’s Ham-Fisted HR Hiccup

December 4, 2015

EVEN though the Irish Daily Mail’s flamboyant MD Paul Henderson hasn’t previously been shy about putting journalists’ noses out of joint, it appears... Read more »

BANG BOYS GO BUST

December 4, 2015

A LITTLE late in the day, the Taxman has registered a judgment of €236,000 against ‘delinquent director’ Simon Stokes, whose restaurateur family previously... Read more »

VARADKAR’S ABORTIVE MOVES

December 4, 2015

WHAT an unusually moderate and discreet stance Leo Varadkar took during Fine Gael’s abortion row last week. That row was triggered by James... Read more »

DERMOT DESMOND’S BAD BET

December 4, 2015

DERMOT DESMOND is digging in his heels in an attempt to stymie the proposed merger of betting giants Ladbrokes and GalaCoral. Behind his... Read more »

DAVID AGAR’S SEMI-D

December 4, 2015

  THINGS are looking bleak for poor David Agar, the auctioneer and property developer who hit the headlines following a prescient interview in... Read more »

FIANNA FÁIL’S ‘NO’ TO GOVERNMENT

December 4, 2015

THAT disavowal of coalition government by Fianna Fáil’s Billy Kelleher is as devious as it is amusing. FF talking about rebuilding the party... Read more »

Exotic Alliance adds another specimen

December 4, 2015

LORD Ross’s Independent Alliance becomes more exotic and eclectic by the hour and the latest target for his parliamentary grouping is Sinn Féin... Read more »

JUDICIOUS BUSINESS INTERESTS

November 20, 2015

ONE of the things that the eagerly awaited Judicial Council – which has been long-fingered by successive governments – may wish to consider... Read more »

MAHON TRIBUNAL’S TANGLED WEB

November 20, 2015

GOOD to see the media catching up with developments in the Mahon Tribunal (see The Phoenix 23/10/15 and passim), but it’s high time... Read more »

DAVID DAVIES’ GEORGIAN CREDENTIALS

November 20, 2015

GOLDHAWK understands that the next president of the Irish Georgian Society (IGS) is set to be the super wealthy David Davies, a Welsh... Read more »

BRENDA POWER FOR DPP AGAIN?

November 20, 2015

SUNDAY TIMES columnist Brenda Power distinguished herself last month with a searching analysis of Travellers in the aftermath of the Carrickmines fire tragedy... Read more »

HUGH LEWIS’S ALLEGATIONS

November 20, 2015

THERE WERE frantic scenes at Dún Laoghaire Rathdown (DLR) Council last month, when a heated debate on alterations to the Draft Development Plan... Read more »

COVENEY’S MILITARY SPENDING PLANS

November 20, 2015

DEFENCE minister Simon Coveney gave little away in answer to a parliament question about the protection of Irish sovereign airspace from foreign aircraft... Read more »

Madigan’s Steamy Briefs

November 12, 2015

FINE GAEL councillor and general election candidate Josepha Madigan has a knack of generating publicity, good and bad. The recent halting site tragedy... Read more »

REBALANCING MICHAEL DWYER

November 6, 2015

ALTHOUGH the story has not been receiving much media attention of late, RTÉ opted to broadcast a new documentary on the subject of... Read more »

DERMOT BANNON’S COURT DATE

November 6, 2015

DUBLIN architect Dermot Bannon has made a name for himself through the RTÉ programme, Room to Improve, in which the affable architect helps... Read more »

BAILING OUT LELIA DOOLAN

November 6, 2015

FOLLOWING a meeting of Galway City Council earlier this month, the expensive end credits are now rolling for Lelia Doolan’s ‘Rocky Horror Picture... Read more »

SF AND FF IN GOVERNMENT?

November 6, 2015

THE notion that Sinn Féin would form a coalition government with Fianna Fail was raised this week in the book, Power Play: The... Read more »

DERMOT DESMOND’S DATA DISCRETION

November 5, 2015

IS there no limit to the financial and legal resources that billionaires like Denis O’Brien and Dermot Desmond will expend to battle those... Read more »

ISRAELI ARMY START-UPS

November 5, 2015

THE new Dublin Startup Commissioner is get-up-and-go-girl, Niamh Bushnell, who has been getting a lot of airtime recently on RTÉ, Newstalk and so... Read more »