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Diarmuid O'Cadhla

REBEL CORK POPULISM

Date: March 11, 2021 - Last Refuge

LEADER OF the Cork People’s Convention (CPC) Diarmaid Ó Cadhla made an effort to break out of the marginal political ghetto he has been in for the last decade with his organisation of the not-so-monstrous meeting against Covid lockdowns last weekend. Standing under various banners – housing, water charges, democracy, the banks etc – Ó… Read more »

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Brid Smith

SWP TOP OF THE TROTS

Date: March 11, 2021 - Last Refuge

THAT MERGER of TD Paul Murphy’s Rise movement – he had previously been part of Solidarity – with TD Richard Boyd Barrett’s People Before Profit (PBP) needs to be decoded to make sense to voters. PBP is really the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in disguise while Solidarity is a front for the Socialist Party (SP)…. Read more »

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Judge Smithwick

SMITHWICK TRIBUNAL REVISITED

Date: March 11, 2021 - Fit to Print?

WHAT AN intriguing notice the Sunday Times published last weekend – buried underneath a panoply of outraged letters about perfidious journalist Roy Greenslade – under the heading “CORRECTION”. It read: “In an article last month, ‘Sinn Féin needs to apologise for IRA, warns Taoiseach’, it was incorrectly stated the Smithwick tribunal found that a garda… Read more »

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Diageo Dana An Garda Síochána IT Trust No Stone Unturned Irish Times Black Friday Vicky Conway

PAUL CLARKSON’S RECORD

Date: March 11, 2021 - Fit to Print?

SO ANXIOUS was Micheál Martin to acquire the services of former Irish Sun editor Paul Clarkson that he had to rearrange staff at both the government press apparatus and that of Fianna Fáil. Now, after Clarkson organised a country-wide media blitz by Martin the judgment from Martin’s supporters is that at least the country now… Read more »

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Denis O'Brien

DENIS O’BRIEN’S SUBTLETY

Date: March 11, 2021 - Fit to Print?

“O’BRIEN’S PERSONAL editorial influence within the media organisations in which he invested was hard to quantify – including at Independent Newspapers … influence is often exerted subtly rather than by a crude diktat or phone call from the top”. Thus did the esteemed professor emeritus of DCU and former board member of the Broadcasting Authority… Read more »

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Michael Creed

AGRI-ANGER

Date: March 11, 2021 - Fowl Emissions

HELL HATH no fury like an agri-committee scorned. The recent decision by the Environmental Pillar (EP), representing 26 eNGOs, to withdraw from the industry-dominated Agri-Food 2030 strategy group has triggered pantomime-grade outbursts of hysterical over-reaction. Former agriculture minister Michael Creed TD lyrically decried how what he called: “the echo of their parting shot is tirelessly… 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

LIFESTYLE CHOICES

Date: March 11, 2021 - Fowl Emissions

A NEW round of state grants has been announced totalling almost €500,000 for research titled, “a healthy diet for a healthy lifestyle”. What’s unusual is that the funding agency is the Department of Agriculture, which is not exactly a noted repository of health expertise. In the small print, it states that in order to be… Read more »

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Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

BOG CUTTINGS

Date: March 11, 2021 - Bog Cuttings

‘Fucking Wanker’ Thomas Coffey (42) of 9 Cahereens West, Castleisland, failed to appear before Killarney District Court, sitting in Tralee, as he was “wandering around and drinking” according to his solicitor. Coffey had been charged with engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour during an incident outside Killarney bus station in December. Sergeant O’Connell told… Read more »

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Consuelo O’Connor

BILL SHIPSEY’S ART WORK

Date: March 11, 2021 - High Society

CAMPAIGNING BARRISTER Bill Shipsey, long associated with the Irish section of Amnesty International (which he chaired at one stage,) got a few things off his chest last week in an article he penned for the Irish Times. It followed a kicking Amnesty International had received for dishing out its respected ‘prisoner of conscience’ tag to… Read more »

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Paul Ward

WARRING WARD FAMILY’S PLOT TWIST

Date: March 11, 2021 - High Society

THE WEALTHY Ward family, which owns Dublin’s Savoy cinema among many others, is engaged in another legal wrangle that sees the principals named as defendants in an action lodged by their own company. The main player in Irish Multiplex Cinemas (IMC) is Blackrock-based moneybags Paul Ward, who owns by far the largest chunk of the… Read more »

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Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

MORE MOVIE MOOLAH

Date: March 11, 2021 - Behind the Scenes

WITH THE running time for the Screen Ireland (SI) board appointments process approaching epic length, the film and TV biz’s favourite cash dispenser has at least got around to divulging the names of the lucky ‘loan’ recipients in the final quarter of 2020. A TV drama development loan of €25,000 went to SI board member… Read more »

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James Nesbitt

BLOODLANDS – BBC ONE

Date: March 11, 2021 - ReviewsTV

SET IN contemporary Northern Ireland, the four-part thriller stars James Nesbitt as PSNI detective Tom Brannick. Produced by Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio, this stylish crime series follows familiar plotlines and well-worn character tropes – ageing traumatised cop, endangered daughter, the dodgy chief inspector who seems to be hiding dark secrets. It also delivers… Read more »

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Charlie McConalogue

KAVANAGH’S COUNTDOWN

Date: March 11, 2021 - Sport of Kings

FIVE YEARS ago, when Brian Kavanagh entered into his controversial third term as chief executive of Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), he insisted this five-year stint would be his last. Now, 20 years on from his original appointment to the role in 2001, Kavanagh refused to confirm his exit strategy this year when grilled recently before… Read more »

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Brendan Duke Adrian Murray Mick Bailey

CHELTENHAM CAST

Date: March 11, 2021 - Sport of Kings

CHELTENHAM WILL be a different beast this year. Apart from no spectators, no atmosphere, no socialising and no Guinness Village, the name GE Elliott, the festival’s leading trainer two years in a row, will not feature on any race card, despite a number of star horses formerly associated with him taking part, including the brilliant… Read more »

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Gordon Elliott

BRITS POUT

Date: March 11, 2021 - Sport of Kings

The furore surrounding the Gordon Elliott controversy shone a light on the lack of faith the British Horse Racing Authority (BHA) has in Denis Egan’s Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) to manage its own affairs. To describe Elliott as a high-profile player in national hunt racing would be a gross understatement. Certainly, it would be… Read more »

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Edmond Scanlon

KERRY GROUP NEEDS SIGNIFICANT GROWTH TO JUSTIFY RATING

Date: March 11, 2021 - Moneybags

THE DECISION by Ed Scanlon to offload the Kerry Group’s stagnant consumer foods division (including the creamery and cooked meats operations) was long overdue. Moneybags has been pointing out the need for this for years, but perhaps the fact that this division was the base from which Denis Brosnan started to evolve the group into… Read more »

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Tony Smurfit

SMURFIT KAPPA CONTINUES TO GO BACKWARDS

Date: March 11, 2021 - Moneybags

SMURFIT KAPPA has been on the receiving end of plenty of glowing press coverage in recent times, sometimes driven by the focus on attaining green goals for the company’s sustainability. Behind the public relations, however, the company has been in reverse, with a Monaco-based CEO overseeing a significant drop in turnover and profits despite the… Read more »

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JP Hartigan

TACKLING JP HARTIGAN

Date: March 11, 2021 - Brief Cases

A COMPANY called Shadowman Sports Ltd has collapsed into liquidation, which may come as a surprise to fans of the sporting innovations of JP Hartigan, the listed controlling shareholder. It looks like the Covid-19 related collapse of the US football market has prevented any chance of a touchdown for the company. Hartigan made quite an… Read more »

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WAVF Castleknock Hospitality BAL Susan Bergin Tixserve EOG Fergal Naughton hot-water-brigade def

PRIDE PROFITS

Date: March 11, 2021 - Brief Cases

WITH THE pandemic likely to scupper yet another Dublin Pride jamboree next summer (following last year’s virtual hooley), Jed Dowling’s Dublin LGBTQ Pride Company might be getting concerned. In recent years, the board worked hard to put the organisation on a solid financial footing after the hugely expensive 2015 Pride parade pushed the operation deep… Read more »

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Áine Moriarty

ÁINE MORIARTY’S FIGURES

Date: March 11, 2021 - Brief Cases

OVERDUE FIGURES (covering an 18-month period to the end of 2019) have been filed by Áine Moriarty’s Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTA) and Irish Film and Television Network (IFTN) operations. The good news is that while the annual red carpet awards shindig may be a non-runner again this year (at least in the ‘live’… Read more »

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Ian Lumley

JOHN MCQUAID’S SETBACK

Date: March 11, 2021 - Brief Cases

THERE HAS been a setback for Goldhawk’s old friend John McQuaid whose quarry in Clontibret, Co Monaghan, was the subject of a recent ruling by the Supreme Court no less. Led by the Chief Justice, Frank Clarke, five members of the Supreme Court issued a ruling, quashing An Bord Pleanála’s (ABP) 2014 grant of planning… Read more »

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John Corrigan

JOHN CORRIGAN’S ‘PRIVATE MATTER’

Date: March 11, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

WHILE HEADS have rolled at Davy this week, chairman John Corrigan remains in place, which suggests he is doing a hell of a job given the questions raised about the firm’s response to the €4.1m fine by the Central Bank (CB). Corrigan landed on Dawson Street six years ago, direct from the top of the… Read more »

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Simon Coveney

COVENEY SILENT ON KHASHOGGI MURDER

Date: March 11, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

WITH US President Joe Biden under pressure for not sanctioning Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for his role in the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi – Biden sanctioned only the Saudi foot soldiers acting on Bin Salman’s orders – there is a big question mark over Ireland’s behaviour in this entire, sordid… Read more »

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Simon Harris

PROFILE: SIMON HARRIS

Date: March 11, 2021 - Pillars of Society

ANY DISCONTENT inside Fine Gael in the year since the general election has been obscured by Micheál Martin’s problems with his increasingly cantankerous parliamentary party. But are Fine Gael TDs and senators also beginning to think about a changing of the guard that will see not just a change of personalities as leader but the… Read more »

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Stephen and David Flynn

YOUNG BLOODS: STEPHEN & DAVID FLYNN

Date: March 11, 2021 - The Young Bloods

There are those who worship at the altar of the sunrise-swimming Happy Pear twins, and others who are allergic to the sight and sound of the hand-standing duo. Either way, Stephen and David Flynn have capitalised on the growing trend for ‘wellness’ to build an empire from veganism, plant-based foods and self-improvement. And if promoting it means… Read more »

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James Hamilton

IRISH DPP SCOTS KINGMAKER

Date: March 11, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

THE BYZANTINE feud between former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond and his successor Nicola Sturgeon involves complex legal and parliamentary detail, which is the subject of a Scottish parliamentary inquiry. But a second inquiry, which basically involves what Sturgeon knew of complaints against Salmond, when she knew and whether she misled parliament, could be fatal… Read more »

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Tracy Piggott

TRACY PIGGOTT’S OUTRAGE

Date: March 11, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

THE RACING community is still drawing breath after circulation of that photograph of Gordon Elliott sitting on a dead horse, with the trainer given a 12-month suspension last week. Elliott himself came in for a huge amount of personal flak, notably online and on the radio and one of those that had him in the… Read more »

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Brian Hayes

BRIAN HAYES’S CAMPAIGN

Date: March 11, 2021 - Brief Cases

NATWEST GROUP would have known that its decision to wind down Ulster Bank operations in the south was going to require a big PR push to soften the blow. Happily for the UK bank group and its shareholders, that’s why it pays the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland (BPFI). Days before Irish Times journalist… Read more »

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Emma Dabiri

HUGH LANE’S NEW FACE

Date: March 11, 2021 - Behind the Scenes

AT LONG last change is in the air at the Dublin City Council controlled Hugh Lane Gallery. While the board is getting some new blood, however, the long overdue appointment of a new chair remains outstanding. New board member Emma Dabiri looks a radical addition to the board. The Dublin-born, London-based writer and historian made… Read more »

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Paddy McKillen

PADDY MCKILLEN’S GALLERIES

Date: March 11, 2021 - High Society

ART LOVING moneybags Paddy McKillen was splashing the cash recently, when adding a super expensive art gallery to his 540-acre Chateau La Coste cultural/tourist project in France. According to the Sunday Times, the new gallery’s first exhibition could be by McKillen’s mother. McKillen has plenty of other art interests, including the Kerlin Gallery closer to… Read more »

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Charles Byrnes

CHARLES BYRNES’S NEIGHBOUR

Date: March 11, 2021 - Sport of Kings

RECENTLY BANNED trainer Charles Byrnes has teamed up with a neighbour of his to enable him to run some horses. Byrnes signed off for the next six months as a licensed trainer in fine fashion by saddling a winner at Naas a few days before his suspension kicked in. Subsequently, entries were made for two… Read more »

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Jim O'Callaghan

FIANNA FÁIL PLOTTERS DIVIDED

Date: March 11, 2021 - Last Refuge

A FASCINATING zoom meeting last week of the Cosmhuintir Fianna Fáil faction within the party heard TDs Seán Haughey and Jim O’Callaghan, as well as former minister Conor Lenihan, discuss the merits of two books published last year. These were Michael Heney’s The Arms Crisis of 1970 and barrister David Burke’s Deception & Lies, the… Read more »

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Yvonne Bauer

YVONNE BAUER’S RADIO WAVES

Date: March 11, 2021 - Brief Cases

WHAT NEXT for Newstalk radio? A look at the apparent valuation placed on the Communicorp group by Yvonne Bauer’s radio group (see p3), which has been reported to be about €100m, suggests that the station may not be part of the Germans’ long-term plans. Using the normal valuation method for a company of about 10… Read more »

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Vol. 39 No. 04

Date: February 25, 2021 -

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Mary Lou McDonald

SINN FÉIN’S ELECTORAL GROUND WAR

Date: February 25, 2021 - Last Refuge

SINN FÉIN’S spectre is stalking the land again as its extraordinary election result last February was diminished only by its failure to run enough candidates, a mistake that will be rectified next time out. Add to that the steady and persistent increase of several percentage points in 24 media commissioned polls since it took 24.5%… Read more »

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Mary Robinson

MARY ROBINSON’S PR DISASTER

Date: February 25, 2021 - Affairs of the Nation

MARY ROBINSON has faced a barrage of criticism since the BBC’s report on the plight of Sheikha Latifa, the hapless daughter of United Arab Emirates prime minister Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum. This is the latest chapter of the PR disaster that has dogged Robbo as a result of her December 2018 trip to Dubai to… Read more »

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