Article Category: Affairs of the Nation

HALAWA: CAIRO TWO FINGERS TO FLANAGAN

April 21, 2016

HAS the penny not yet dropped with foreign minister Charlie Flanagan that the Egyptian government has contempt for the Irish government’s cap-in-hand approach... Read more »

“ZAPPER” ZAPPONE FOR NEXT CABINET?

April 21, 2016

KATHERINE ZAPPONE TD, liberal media darling, former beneficiary of Labour Party patronage and probably the most politically correct person in the western world,... Read more »

LAWYERS FOR BIG TOBACCO

April 21, 2016

A LITTLE noticed part of Fine Gael’s health programme for government as pitched to Independent TDs recently was to reduce the number of... Read more »

PANAMA PAYDAY FOR JOE LEWIS

April 21, 2016

WHILE A couple of high profile Irish names have been appearing in the ‘Panama Papers’ revelations of offshore company activity, including the likes... Read more »

Kelly’s Heroes

April 7, 2016

THE seriously diminished Parliamentary Labour Party might want to reconsider their ferocious onslaught against Alan Kelly given the sort of firepower the minister’s... Read more »

TV3 and RTE’s DG

April 7, 2016

DISAPPOINTED luvvies at RTÉ, whose new director general, Dee Forbes, is neither a programmer nor even a production techie, may be even more... Read more »

MICHAEL NUGENT’S MANY COLOURS

April 7, 2016

ATHEIST IRELAND (AI) founder and chairman, Michael Nugent, struck a blow for the Enlightenment by refusing an official invite to the state ceremony... Read more »

DENIS O’BRIEN’S TOPAZ LOSS

April 7, 2016

GOLDHAWK was always suspicious of the reports that Denis O’Brien had sold his Topaz petrol retailer to the Canadian giants Couche-Tard for E450m.... Read more »

BRENDAN HOWLIN’S DIVINE RIGHT

April 7, 2016

IF Alan Kelly is addicted to power, then Brendan Howlin is a megalomaniac who believes he can assume leadership of the Labour Party... Read more »

IVAN YATES TO LEAVE NEWSTALK

April 7, 2016

IVAN Yates has decided to leave Newstalk and this time he means it. The broadcaster is now in negotiation with station bosses about... Read more »

MICHAEL TWEE’S SHARPER TONE

April 7, 2016

NO wonder the director of the Iona Institute, David Quinn, denounced President Michael D Higgins’ 1916 commemorative speeches in the Irish Independent last... Read more »

REFERENDUM ON EU-US TRADE DEAL?

March 24, 2016

THE Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP), the trade and investment-protection deal between the EU and the US, threatens to undermine national sovereignties,... Read more »

KIERAN ROSE’S CAMPAIGN

March 24, 2016

CONGRATULATIONS to wily NUI Seanad candidate and impressive self-promoter Kieran Rose. The Dublin City Council senior planner has managed to attract oodles of... Read more »

LABOUR’S SENATE GENDER DEFICIT

March 24, 2016

LABOUR’S horrendous general election, coupled with its equally abysmal local election results, mean that its Seanad voting franchise – councillors and newly elected... Read more »

MARY ROBINSON’S NEW DIRECTORS

March 24, 2016

AS PLANS proceed for Mary Robinson’s multi-million euro shrine in Ballina, she had beefed up the board of her new foundation with some... Read more »

DENIS O’BRIEN IN THE GOLDMINES

March 24, 2016

WHAT now for the media mogul Denis O’Brien and Red Flag, the PR firm that Denis has chased through the courts for alleged... Read more »

FLOOD/MAHON TRIBUNAL WIPE-OUT

March 24, 2016

THE fiasco that is the Mahon Tribunal has now climaxed with virtually all findings of culpability against previously named parties being dumped. Estimates... Read more »

“CURIOUS AND UNSETTLING” IN CORK

March 24, 2016

A RETIRED chartered engineer, William Bailey, has just won an important and interesting legal battle in the Court of Appeal concerning an unauthorised... Read more »

FICKLE FG SENATORS

March 9, 2016

POLITICAL reform is a moveable feast and the decision of several Fine Gael TDs who lost their seats at the election to now... Read more »

Tim Caffrey’s Departure

March 9, 2016

FAREWELL then to former Longford County Council (LCC) boss, Tim Caffrey, who retired earlier this month. Last October, Caffrey was found by ethics... Read more »

TONY GREGORY’S LEGACY

March 9, 2016

WAS it for this that Tony Gregory created a movement of the wretched of the inner city? So that Maureen O’Sullivan could become... Read more »

PR OWN GOALS IN SOUTH DUBLIN

March 9, 2016

FOR A school to be involved in one public controversy is unfortunate, two starts to look like carelessness. The Harold School in Glasthule,... Read more »

HALAWA INTERNED IN CAIRO

March 9, 2016

IT is now clear that the Egyptian government has effectively interned Ibrahim Halawa, with the latest adjournment of his trial and nearly 500... Read more »

WHAT PRICE THE IRISH TIMES?

March 9, 2016

“DELIGHT” was expressed by The Irish Times’ editor and managing director, Kevin O’Sullivan and Liam Kavanagh respectively, in a recent message to staff... Read more »

NORA KHALDI’S BACKERS

March 9, 2016

HOT SHOT entrepreneur Nora Khaldi has been generating plenty of headlines recently, as a result of securing one of the ten places available... Read more »

JOHN GRAYKEN: THE IRISH VULTURE

March 9, 2016

THE LATEST Forbes list of billionaires included assorted ‘Irish’ moneybags who obtained citizenship here under the now defunct passport-for-sale scheme in the late... Read more »

MARKUS JOOSTE’S TAXING MATTERS

February 25, 2016

THE announcement that John Magnier’s Coolmore Stud has agreed a partnership with South African tycoon Markus Jooste is good news for the Coolmore... Read more »

THE McEVADDYS’ TOUGH MEDICINE

February 25, 2016

NO SIGN of the McEvaddy brothers, Ulick and Des, in last weekend’s Sindo Rich List. This may not come as a big surprise,... Read more »

GANG FEUD: THE POLISH CONNECTION

February 25, 2016

EASTERN Europe has more to do with the feuding gangs’ military fire power and proficiency than West Belfast, despite what certain media and... Read more »

€2M JUDGMENT AGAINST FF SENATOR

February 25, 2016

A JUDGMENT for almost E2m has just been registered against Fianna Fáil senator Diarmuid Wilson, courtesy of AIB. The judgment was in connection... Read more »

STEPHEN RAE FOR RTÉ DG

February 25, 2016

WHAT a perspicacious article appeared in the Sunday Independent recently informing readers that in the race for the RTÉ director general’s job, Rory... Read more »

ENDA KENNY AND THE WHINGERS

February 25, 2016

ENDA KENNY’S gaffe, in which he described people in Castlebar as “All Ireland champion” whingers, has proved a significant setback for Fine Gael.... Read more »

MAURICE BUCKLEY’S RETURN

February 25, 2016

INTERESTING to see Maurice ‘TMG’ Buckley pop up as a director and shareholder in a Kildare-registered company called Hytech Energy Europe Ltd that... Read more »

MICHAEL NOONAN BLOWS IT

February 25, 2016

ENDA KENNY’S special talent for scapegoating officials and handlers will have to be refined after the worst Fine Gael election campaign since the... Read more »

LABOUR’S LOSING LEADERS

February 11, 2016

LABOUR’S election strategy committee in 2015 was initially dominated by its four senior ministers, Joan Burton, Alan Kelly, Brendan Howlin and Alex White.... Read more »