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Ronan Galwey

GREAT GAS

Date: May 29, 2025 - Fowl Emissions

It must be a head-spinning time to work for Gas Networks Ireland (GNI), the semi-state company responsible for operating Ireland’s fossil gas grid. On the one hand, the Government announced in March that GNI would own a controversial new liquid natural gas (LNG) terminal in Kerry – an abrupt about-face on previous government policy that… Read more »

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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

WATERED DOWN

Date: May 29, 2025 - Fowl Emissions

Today 33 Irish rivers are classified as “heavily modified water bodies” (HMWBs), meaning they are of minimal ecological value and so don’t need to be counted against our EU targets on improving the ecological quality of our waterways. New Government plans will see an almost 15-fold increase, to 466, in the number of declared HMWBs…. Read more »

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John Finucane

NORTH HOUSING CRISIS: DÉJÀ VU

Date: May 29, 2025 - Northwind

There are about 13,000 people on the waiting list for social housing in Belfast. Those on the list are overwhelmingly concentrated in north and west Belfast and they are overwhelmingly nationalist. There are obvious reasons for this. North and west Belfast have more concentrations of poverty and deprivation than elsewhere, with people unable to buy… Read more »

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Mary Hanafin

STAR-STUDDED ÁRAS HOPEFULS

Date: May 29, 2025 - Last Refuge

THE LATEST Fianna Fáil no-hoper for the FF presidential nomination whose name is being floated (this time by the aspirant herself, not party handlers) is former minister Mary Hanafin. On paper Mary’s political career was stellar, including as it did her appointment by Micheál Martin as party deputy leader for a few weeks in 2011… Read more »

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Gillian Toole

TOOLE’S TRACK RECORD

Date: May 29, 2025 - Last Refuge

THE LONE TD that remained sitting next to Michael Lowry, ‘chairman’ of the Regional Independent Group (RIG) – after Barry Heneghan had abandoned him – was Gillian Toole, Independent TD in Meath East, according to a recent report. This may be because Gillian is made of sterner stuff than Barry. Like Lowry, Toole was a… Read more »

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Duncan Smith

INSECURE SECURITY COMMITTEE (CH. II)

Date: May 29, 2025 - Last Refuge

READERS WILL remember that there was consternation at the Dáil reform committee meeting to organise draft orders of reference for Oireachtas committees when Government members realised that the newly expanded defence committee now bore the more hazardous title of “defence and national security” (see The Phoenix 16/5/25). This, along with the appointment of Sinn Féin’s… Read more »

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Kevin Bakhurst

RTÉ BLANKS GAZA PROTESTS

Date: May 29, 2025 - Fit to Print?

THE ANGUISH of RTÉ luvvies over a private firm being hired to produce an advert for RTÉ News in a simulated newsroom – ‘fake news,’ they cried – is nothing compared to how most viewers would feel if they knew how RTÉ News really works. A good example is RTÉ’s refusal to broadcast the recent… Read more »

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Alison O'Connor

GAZA REVISITED

Date: May 29, 2025 - Fit to Print?

IT’S HARD to single out the most brazen U-turn on Gaza by those who might now be anxious about having endorsed – by word or even silence – the Government’s failure to translate words into action in the face of Israeli carnage. But Sunday Times columnist Alison O’Connor’s belated lament last weekend – headlined: “World… Read more »

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Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

BOG CUTTINGS

Date: May 29, 2025 - Bog Cuttings

THREAT, NOT PROMISE Sligo District Court heard the case of a man accused of verbally abusing gardaí on two occasions. On January 17 officers received reports of an intoxicated and argumentative individual at the Clayton Hotel in Sligo. They arrived to find Declan Cunnane (48) being asked by staff to leave the hotel. Cunnane, of… Read more »

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Maura McGrath

THE BIG GIG

Date: May 29, 2025 - Behind the Scenes

AN ADVERT for one of the more prestigious jobs in the arts sector has just been posted by the National Concert Hall (NCH) on its website. It turns out that the well-regarded institution is seeking applications for the role of chief executive, the position held since 2021 by Robert Read. Given the massive redevelopment project… Read more »

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Tony Mullins

TONY MULLINS’S MEMORIES

Date: May 29, 2025 - Sport of Kings

EARLIER THIS month, Tony Mullins – brother of Willie – failed to overturn a Workplace Relations Commission award of a chunky €86,000 made to Yasir Ali, a former stable hand at the trainer’s Watree Stud in Co Kilkenny. Probably the most eyebrow-raising evidence from Mullins was that he did not recall if he had attended… Read more »

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Ted Walsh

TED WALSH’S WOES

Date: May 29, 2025 - Sport of Kings

Ted Walsh – the trainer, pundit and patriarch of the Walsh family of racing TV presenters – was back in hot water with the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) stewards earlier this month. Following the running of the TC Cullen Memorial Novice Steeplechase at Wexford, the race-day stewards enquired into the running and riding of… Read more »

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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

IMAGE’S TAX DEAL

Date: May 29, 2025 - High Society

THE MCDONNELL sisters, Jane and Sarah, had an outing in The Currency last week, where they got to plug their latest venture, Design Week Dublin. Not surprisingly, there were also mentions of times gone by, including a lengthy stint at Image magazine. The latter business has just filed its figures for 2024, which reveal a… Read more »

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Tom Higgins

TOM HIGGINS’S FLIGHT PLAN

Date: May 29, 2025 - High Society

IN THE wake of the high-profile ‘gals in space’ media stunt by Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, it is interesting to note that the market has recently taken a shine to Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic (VG) space flight operation, where Goldhawk’s old pal, Tom ‘Psychics Live’ Higgins stumped up €¼m almost 20 years to book a… Read more »

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Paul O'Donnell

UNDERPOWERED GREENCOAT RENEWABLES RIPE FOR PICKING

Date: May 29, 2025 - Moneybags

IT IS difficult to know what Paul O’Donnell and Bertrand Gautier – the so-called investment managers in Schroders Greencoat Capital who run Greencoat Renewables for a juicy fee – are up to. They are earning a very handsome fee not linked to performance, while the company’s share price has been plummeting. For investors, matters are… Read more »

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Dermot Crowley

JUST WHY IS THE BOARD TRYING TO SELL DALATA?

Date: May 29, 2025 - Moneybags

IT REMAINS difficult to know who is pushing to have Dalata Hotels Group bought out. AS CEO, Dermot Crowley is clearly front and centre but, given his stated strategy, a sell-off would be hard for him to stomach. Also, it is very hard to justify the excuse being put forward by the company for the… Read more »

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Dermot Smurfit

DEREK MADDEN’S PRIME PROBLEM

Date: May 29, 2025 - Brief Cases

FANS OF Goldhawk with long memories will recall an interesting little bioenergy company called Prime Energy Power Ltd (PEP), where Nicholas O’Dwyer of Grant Thornton was installed as liquidator after it ran out of moolah (see The Phoenix 20/4/2018). The principal player here, Derek Madden, has now been restricted for five years under Section 150… Read more »

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Matt Gleeson

BIG NOISE MATT GLEESON

Date: May 29, 2025 - Brief Cases

A COMPANY called Blackberry Hearing Ltd has just had a charge registered against it by non-bank lender InvoiceFair Ltd, which now trades as FinanceFair. This follows on foot of a most upbeat outing in the Sunday Times by Blackberry boss and pal of Denis O’Brien, Matt Gleeson. The ST article made it clear that Blackberry… Read more »

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Clodagh Edwards

‘IMAGE’ MAKEOVER

Date: May 29, 2025 - Brief Cases

ELSEWHERE IN this issue, Goldhawk notes the agreement between Image Publications Ltd (IPL) and the Revenue in relation to repayment of warehoused pandemic-period taxes (see p18). It is also worth noting that the publisher has been steadily reducing its significant accumulated deficit. These days IPL is owned by a holding company called Zernicke Ltd, which… Read more »

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Lord Mountbatten

NO BAFTA FOR KINCORA FILM

Date: May 15, 2025 - Affairs of the Nation

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 series dwells on the culture of the Caribbean and also its history of slave sugar production…. Read more »

Ruadhán Mac Cormaic

PROFILE: RUADHÁN MAC CORMAIC

Date: May 15, 2025 - Pillars of Society

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 September inaccurately reported that the 2009 Ryan Report on residential child abuse was exclusively “about” Catholic institutions. This bias has resulted in a virtual IT blackout of reportage on the abuse… Read more »

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Eoghan Kenny

YOUNG BLOOD: EOGHAN KENNY

Date: May 15, 2025 - The Young Bloods

WHILE THE Labour Party nearly doubled its Dáil representation in 2024 with only a marginal increase in the percentage of votes it received in the 2020 general election, the big question is whether its new TDs, such as Cork North Central’s Eoghan Kenny, can hold on and repeat the trick next time out. Kenny was… Read more »

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Brendan McDonagh

WINDING DOWN LAND-HOARDER NAMA

Date: May 15, 2025 - Moneybags

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 can now turn to his performance as head of the agency. Nama is currently in wind-down mode and, despite many claims made by it and on its behalf, the truth is… Read more »

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Colum Eastwood

EASTWOOD ROUNDS ON TAOISEACH

Date: May 15, 2025 - Northwind

At the end of April Colum Eastwood, MP for Foyle and former leader of the SDLP, had an article published in the Irish Times that is a scathing criticism of what he called “southern establishment views”. He said those views on “partition, the nature of reconciliation and the need to finally wage war on want,… Read more »

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Lyra

LYRA’S COMFORT ZONE

Date: May 15, 2025 - Affairs of the Nation

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 success. Of course, being represented by the co-owner (with Denis Desmond) of music venue and promotion behemoths MCD presumably does help when it comes to… Read more »

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Bertie Ahern

BERTIE BANGS ON ÁRAS DOOR

Date: May 15, 2025 - Last Refuge

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 co-chaired since 2016 by none other than one of our own, ex-taoiseach and former leader of Fianna Fáil Bertie Ahern. The council was founded in… Read more »

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Donald Trump

TRUMP’S PLOT(S) SPOILER

Date: May 15, 2025 - Affairs of the Nation

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 a time when the sector is faced with Donald Trump’s 100% tariffs on non-American movie and TV productions. Of most immediate concern to the SI… Read more »

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DUBLIN PRIDE’S PREDICAMENT

Date: May 15, 2025 - Affairs of the Nation

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 in July. The good news is that there is no such move by the larger Dublin LGBTQ+ Pride march next month, although the organisers must… Read more »

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John Magnier

MAGNIER ON THE ROPES

Date: May 15, 2025 - Sport of Kings

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. There will surely be an inquest. In the opening classic of the season, the Betfred 2,000 Guineas, Sheikh Mohammad al Maktoum’s Godolphin fielded Ruling Court,… Read more »

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VOL 43 NO 10

Date: May 15, 2025 -

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RTÉ’S LATEST HOT SEAT

Date: May 15, 2025 - Affairs of the Nation

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 underpowered board in place. Kevin Bakhurst et al have confirmed that RTÉ wrote off €3.6m on its partly failed IT system. This is the kind… Read more »

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Brendan Comiskey

AFTER COMISKEY

Date: May 15, 2025 - Affairs of the Nation

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 in authority in this field are hard to endure. Before Comiskey resigned in 2002, senior government politicians had resisted the efforts of victims’ parents and… Read more »

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Matt Dempsey

DEMPSEY’S ACADEMIC DISCOURSE

Date: May 15, 2025 - Affairs of the Nation

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 “has a unique strength in that it makes available to farmers and other readers the most up-to-date interpretation of scientific research”, the UCD citation read…. Read more »

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Simon Mann

THE MANN WHO KEPT HIS BALLS INTACT

Date: May 15, 2025 - Affairs of the Nation

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 her son, Sir Mark, invested $300,000 in the doomed venture. Born in 1952, Mann went to Eton from where he progressed to Sandhurst and joined… Read more »

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Matt Carthy

LEFT V RIGHT MARCHES

Date: May 15, 2025 - Affairs of the Nation

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 created a dilemma for Sinn Féin and other groups in how to appropriately respond. In Dublin TDs Paul Donnelly and Louise O’Reilly as well as… Read more »

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Justin Barrett

FAR-RIGHT COUPS

Date: May 15, 2025 - Hush Hush

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 leader of the National Party (NP) and also head of Clann Éireann – and Hermann Kelly, president of the Irish Freedom Party (IFP) until its… Read more »

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