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Sinead O'Connor

‘SINDO’ SENSITIVITY

Date: June 18, 2020 - Fit to Print?

WEDNESDAY’S Irish Times opinion and analysis page has recently resembled an old Sunday Independent edition, with former Sindo personalities Anne Harris and Michael McDowell dominating the section. McDowell has had a slot for some time, but Harris was filling in for resident columnist Kathy Sheridan, who returned this week after she broke her arm in… Read more »

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Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

RHA GALLERY’S ROADMAP

Date: June 18, 2020 - Behind the Scenes

THE GOOD news is that the RHA Gallery re-opens in late July, although a max of 40 visitors an hour will be permitted, with online booking required. And October 13 is the new opening date for the annual exhibition. A record-breaking 4,200 works were submitted (digitally) for this year’s 190th annual exhibition, with 700-plus chosen… Read more »

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JP McMahon

JP’S MISSING YANKS

Date: June 18, 2020 - High Society

WITH RESTAURANTS preparing to reopen at the end of the month, the owner of one Michelin-starred establishment sees little point unless the two-metre guideline is taken off the menu. JP McMahon of Aniar in Galway has long depended on American tourists to keep his acclaimed restaurant afloat but, with no chance of them returning any… Read more »

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Noelle O'Connor

NOELLE O’CONNOR’S HIGH BAR

Date: June 18, 2020 - High Society

LAST WEEK, Noelle O’Connor told the Business Post, “When Covid-19 hit last March, it felt so familiar to me. Setting up TanOrganic 10 years ago had been about reinventing myself and starting again.” Noelle rarely passes up an opportunity to remind people that her previous (spa therapy) business venture was banjaxed by the recession and… Read more »

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Kevin Lagan

BREEDON GROUP FIGURES REVEAL MASSIVE IRISH CEMENT MARGINS

Date: June 18, 2020 - Moneybags

ONE OF the bigger deals struck in this country is Kevin Lagan’s €500m cash sale of his Lagan cement, concrete and aggregates business in May 2018. The purchaser of the Lagan Group was the UK-quoted Breedon Group, a not dissimilar but larger British operation, making the enlarged group one of the biggest independent players in… Read more »

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

GOFF LALOR’S DISTRIBUTION

Date: June 18, 2020 - Brief Cases

THE OFFICIAL assignee Chris Lehane has published a list of bankrupts whose estates will be distributed on July 20. One of the more interesting accounts will surely be that of Godfrey ‘Goff’ Lalor, who attracted some extra attention from Lehane recently in relation to an extension of the bankruptcy period because of questions over a… Read more »

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John Gilmartin

JOHN GILMARTIN’S CHALLENGING TIMES

Date: June 18, 2020 - Brief Cases

A FINANCIAL consultant who set up a number of companies to provide business advice has seen one of them come a cropper. The good news is that, according to documents just filed in the Companies Office, it looks like he and his fellow director will not be landed with any restriction. The unsecured creditors won’t… Read more »

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Jonathan Cosgrave

JONATHAN COSGRAVE’S PROPERTY PUNT

Date: June 18, 2020 - Brief Cases

A LITTLE-known company called AHC Ltd has just been the subject of a notice from its auditors about the keeping of accounting records. No doubt, high-flying fund exec Jonathan Cosgrave of Melior Private Equity is keeping an eye on developments here. AHC was incorporated back in 1996 and the latest directors are Peter and Michelle… Read more »

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Paul Blanchfield

PAUL BLANCHFIELD’S CREDITORS’ MEETING

Date: June 18, 2020 - Brief Cases

A CREDITORS’ meeting has been called for a company called Frontier Entertainment Ltd, which was behind the failed theatre tourism project in the Liberties, The Vaults Live. Plenty of people were burned, including Kevin Lagan and his family, and the poor old taxpayer. It was announced at the start of this year that the ‘walk-through’… Read more »

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DERMO TO THE RESCUE?

Date: June 17, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

WITH THE hunt on for a new chief executive of the FAI, the first team players are coming in for some rough treatment from “ordinary football people”. Fans of Goldhawk will recall (see The Phoenix 13/3/20) that the recent appointment of Goodbody Stockbrokers boss Roy Barrett as chair of the FAI was part of a… Read more »

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Micheál Martin

FIANNA FÁIL FAILING

Date: June 4, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

WHY IS the media closing its eyes and ears to the ongoing implosion of Fianna Fáil as its poll figures decline in inverse ratio to Fine Gael’s ascent and while the latter continues to play with, bully even, Micheál Martin’s team in government talks? Is it because most ‘opinion formers’ are so anxious to see… Read more »

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Barry English

BARRY ENGLISH VS ‘IRISH TIMES’

Date: June 4, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

HIGH COURT defamation proceedings have been initiated by Barry English (one of Bertie Ahern’s ‘dig-out’ buddies) against the Irish Times. Curiously, the case involves a story that was not covered. Moneybags English has had a few adventures in the Four Goldmines down the years and, in 2016, was on the end of a damning ruling… Read more »

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Michael McNamara

PROFILE: MICHAEL MCNAMARA

Date: June 4, 2020 - Pillars of Society

AN IMPRESSIVE political resurrection has been effected by the newly elected Independent TD for Clare, Michael McNamara. The former Labour TD has also landed the first high-profile position of this so-far-paralysed 33rd Dáil, becoming chair of the Oireachtas special committee on Covid-19 response. Is this the limit of his ambition or is he manoeuvring for… Read more »

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Christopher O'Sullivan

YOUNG BLOOD: CHRISTOPHER O’SULLIVAN

Date: June 4, 2020 - The Young Bloods

ONCE ONE of the most consistent constituencies in the country, with a solid Fine Gael majority for most of the last 40 years, Cork South West saw new Fianna Fáil TD Christopher O’Sullivan take the sole FF seat. But the real shock was that FG dropped from an almost constant two seats out of three… Read more »

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Regina Doherty

BLUESHIRT BOSSY BOOTS

Date: June 4, 2020 - Last Refuge

A QUEUE has formed to replace long-serving Fine Gael general secretary Tom Curran, who is expected to bow out at the end of August, and political dominatrix Regina Doherty is one of the first in line. Curran, who was 65 last September, stayed on at Leo Varadkar’s behest to oversee a general election that was… Read more »

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Aoibhín Garrihy

AOIBHÍN GARRIHY’S POETRY

Date: June 4, 2020 - High Society

THE GARRIHY girls attract their fair share of media attention, with presenter and mimic Doireann promoted by RTÉ, while former “PR guru” and Instagram fan Ailbhe landed the coveted title of 2018’s VIP Style Awards Most Stylish newcomer. (She now fronts the family ferry business.) The most high profile of the sisters is, however, former… Read more »

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Mel Gibson

MEL GIBSON’S MOVIE BLUES

Date: June 4, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

IT IS nearly a year since the Mel Gibson film The Professor and the Madman got a (very) limited release in the US following a sealed settlement in April 2019 of the several legal disputes between Gibson and director Farhad Safinia on the one hand and the film’s co-producer and financier, Voltage Pictures, on the… Read more »

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Michael Smurfit

MICK SMURFIT’S DISPOSALS

Date: June 4, 2020 - High Society

LAST WEEK, Monaco-based moneybags Michael Smurfit chose to bestow some words of wisdom on the Irish Times. According to clever-clogs Mick, he had seen the downturn coming, which was one of the reasons for offloading the K Club for around €65m. He also has nowhere for his hundreds of paintings. The Kildare estate was offered… Read more »

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Rick Delaney

RICK DELANEY’S ROUGH RIDE

Date: June 4, 2020 - Brief Cases

THIS WEEK sees a creditors’ meeting for a company called Aqua Blue Sport Ltd, which turns out to be the professional cycling team established by Cork millionaire Rick Delaney (now based in sunny Monaco) with the aim of eventually competing in the Tour de France. The wheels, however, came off pretty quickly. Aqua Blue hit… Read more »

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3811 FP

Vol. 38 No. 11

Date: June 4, 2020 -

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SIMON COVENEY’S SILENCE

Date: June 4, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

LAST MONTH, Nicolás Maduro’s security forces rounded up around 50 of those suspected of having participated in a botched attempt to capture the controversial Venezuelan president. Included in the group of around 60 suspected mercenaries behind the May 2 raid was US citizen Airan Berry, who subsequently claimed the group had been tasked with raiding… Read more »

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TRANSGENDER BODY’S MISSING AUDIT

Date: June 4, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

WITH THE government preparing to simplify the process for 16 and 17 year olds to change gender, there is nothing simple about funding at the lobby organisation, Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI). The group has made quite an impact in recent years, with directors have played high-profile roles in media spats featuring the likes of… Read more »

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Geraldine Bryne Nason

COVENEY’S SLEVEEN DIPLOMACY

Date: June 4, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

ONE OF the most disingenuous speeches in the annals of diplomacy was delivered by our ambassador to the United Nations, Geraldine Byrne Nason, last week in which she said, “We have put the Palestinian question at the heart of foreign policy.” She also referenced our status as an “independent and neutrality country” in a pitch… Read more »

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Ali Hewson

OLD ‘FRIENDS’ ARE BEST

Date: June 4, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

FIFTY-ONE YEARS is a long time to wait for possible reversal of a miscarriage of justice. But whether or not 75-year-old Lt Donal de Róiste – summarily ‘retired’ from the Defence Forces by President Éamon de Valera in 1969 and denied the chance to defend himself then or since – is exonerated this summer, there… Read more »

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Daisy Edgar-Jones - Normal People

MILEY’S €500 MILLION

Date: June 4, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

JIM MILEY’S four-year stint as the Blueshirts’ general secretary (prior to outgoing gen sec Tom Curran) appears to count for little with the current interim government, which has told him to take a hike after his call for a €500m handout for the main universities. Miley has been lobbying hard for the cash-pressed third-level colleges,… Read more »

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PASCHAL DONOHOE’S VACANCY

Date: June 4, 2020 - Affairs of the Nation

WHILE THERE has been an agreed truce regarding the filling of seats on assorted state-linked boards while the ‘caretaker’ government remains in situ, some boards have had to be dealt with to enable them to function. One such entity is the Investor Compensation Company Ltd (ICCL), an independent body that operates under the remit of… Read more »

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Dominic Cummings

COVERT COVID FORCES

Date: June 4, 2020 - Hush Hush

The deployment of a British army internet warfare unit – 77th Brigade – in Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings’s response to alleged Covid-19 “disinformation” shows that, when it comes to black propaganda, the Russians are amateurs compared to British intelligence. Tellingly, 77th Brigade, whose campaign motto is “influence and outreach”, says it will not only… Read more »

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HushHush-def

MIAMI BREACH

Date: June 4, 2020 - Hush Hush

GOLDHAWK SPOTTED a post on the Facebook page of a Waterford tanning business from The Sunbed Association, highlighting the opening of tanning salons from Monday June 8 “with all required controls and protocols in place”. Previous posts on a page in the name of Miami Tanning Waterford were less informative. In March, gardaí closed down… Read more »

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Michael Smurfit

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Date: June 4, 2020 - The Hot Air Brigade

You need a big house to have a collection of a few hundred paintings, which is what I had. Michael Smurfit on the necessity of his K Club manor, Irish Times This week try ‘walking meditation’. Notice your feet as they touch the ground, immerse yourself fully in the walking experience. Be fully present. Alison… Read more »

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Robin Swann

PARTITIONING COVID-19

Date: June 4, 2020 - Northwind

It’s obvious from the nastiness of some of Varadkar’s attacks on Mary Lou McDonald in the Dáil how wounded he remains from the thrashing Sinn Féin dealt him in February. However, he carries his vendetta against SF into other more questionable areas, such as how to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic on the island. At… Read more »

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Mandy Johnston

‘INAPPROPRIATE’ PR

Date: June 4, 2020 - Fowl Emissions

The old saying about never wasting a good crisis rings true when considering the all-out PR and political assault being waged on behalf of the offshore gas and oil drilling industry. Rattled by moves to outlaw all offshore exploration, its lobby group, the Irish Offshore Operators’ Association (IOOA), has been hyperactive in recent weeks, fronted… 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

MEASURING THE GAS-GUZZLERS

Date: June 4, 2020 - Fowl Emissions

Prior to 2008, big cars came with even bigger annual road tax bills. Then, thanks to an ill-conceived change in the rules in which CO2 emissions were ostensibly taken into account, both vehicle registration tax (VRT) and road tax plummeted for many cars, especially the new generation of ‘clean diesels’, including prestige marques such as… Read more »

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Helen McEntee

HELEN OF NAVAN

Date: June 4, 2020 - Last Refuge

LEO VARADKAR has a serious gender issue on his hands when it comes to selecting ministers for any new cabinet in the near future. His references to gender and geography in the selection of his ministerial team – during that recent call he made to councillors – was not some PC digression and there are… Read more »

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Marian Harkin

MARIAN HARKIN VS MICHAEL LOWRY

Date: June 4, 2020 - Last Refuge

FORMER MEP Marian Harkin strolled back into the Dáil in February – after an absence of 15 years spent in Euroland – but found that her powers of networking, negotiating and fixing had waned in the intervening decade and a half. In the months leading up to the general election, the Independent candidate spent much… Read more »

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Bog-Cuttings-Defaul

BOG CUTTINGS

Date: June 4, 2020 - Bog Cuttings

FlowerS For His Bud Egiidijus Vasiliauskas, of 1 Drummin Court, Nenagh, appeared before Nenagh District Court in relation to a charge dating from October 14, 2019. Mr Vasiliauskas was arrested by gardaí on the date in question following the theft of two bouquets of flowers, worth €30, from an Applegreen Service Station in Birdhill –… Read more »

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Pat Leahy

‘IRISH TIMES’ PATRIOTIC DUTY

Date: June 4, 2020 - Fit to Print?

IF A programme for government is agreed shortly, then the Irish Times will deserve plaudits (especially political editor Pat Leahy) from the three parties involved (especially Fianna Fáil) for its responsible and, em, constructive reportage. As the Greens edged toward negotiations at the end of April, Leahy wrote that a government deal would likely be… Read more »

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