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Mary Lou McDonald

SF Absententionism

Date: February 22, 2018 - Affairs of the Nation

DÁIL members are tensed for the first policy change of Sinn Féin under Mary Lou McDonald with the really big question being whether she will abolish abstentionism – in the Visitors’ Bar. Brexit spokesman Dave Cullinane was for some time the only party TD spotted in the bar – consuming non-alcoholic refreshments – and Fianna… Read more »

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Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

Date: February 22, 2018 - Bog Cuttings

‘Be careful what you grow in the garden’ A CLOUGHLEIGH man has told Ennis District Court that it was “pot luck” that a cannabis plant happened to be growing at his home. His solicitor John Casey said his client, Matthew Reddan (27) of Shallee Drive, had a cannabis seed and decided to plant it in… Read more »

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Alan Kelly

AK47 Ultimatum

Date: February 22, 2018 - Last Refuge

IT IS just under five months since Deputy Alan Kelly gave Labour leader Brendan Howlin “less than” six months to either shape up or ship out. That deadline means Howlin has a week or so to save his leadership before AK47 tries to take him out. Last weekend’s two polls showing Labour at an abysmal… Read more »

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Eoghan Harris

Leo’s Loyal Fan

Date: February 22, 2018 - Fit to Print?

“DURING the Fine Gael leadership campaign I supported Leo Varadkar and strongly opposed Simon Coveney.” So claimed Eoghan Harris recently in his Sindo column in a revisionist exercise that would make Roy Foster blush. What Harris actually did was to “strongly” support Coveney in 2015 and 2016, writing for example, that Coveney “was the only… Read more »

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Amanda Brunker

TICKLED PINK IN AVOCA

Date: February 22, 2018 - High Society

ACCORDING TO a puff piece by Sean Gallagher in the Sindo last weekend, social media and selfies have led to a boom for cosmetic surgery procedures as “the pressure on women to look their best has never been greater”. Apparently, this has led to a big boost for Ailish Kelly and Niamh Murdock’s Avoca Clinic… Read more »

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Serious Profits

Date: February 22, 2018 - High Society

WITH THE death of Alan Potts last year and Rich Ricci becoming more cautious with his spending, there was a worry that the boutique sales for Irish horseflesh would suffer a bit at the top end without the help of the big wallets and egos. There was no cause for concern, however, at Tattersalls Ireland’s… Read more »

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Cathy Belton

THE APPROACH – PROJECT ARTS CENTRE

Date: February 22, 2018 - ReviewsTheatre

AT THE turn of the millennium, Mark O’Rowe’s ultra-violent plays exploded like a fat line of speed up the nostrils of the Irish theatre establishment. The likes of Howie the Rookie and Crestfall shocked and thrilled punters, with Tarantino-esque levels of gore and compelling anti-heroes from the ’hood. How times have changed. The amphetamine days… Read more »

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Chris Walley and Alex Murphy

THE YOUNG OFFENDERS – RTE 2

Date: February 22, 2018 - ReviewsTV

BASED ON writer-director Peter Foott’s underwhelming but uber-popular 2016 movie of the same name, The Young Offenders is a co-production between RTÉ and the Beeb’s online yoof channel, BBC Three. A sitcom on two teen tearaways in Cork might seem an unusual project for the latter to take on, though it’s worth bearing in mind… Read more »

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In White Ink

IN WHITE INK – ELSKE RAHILL (APOLLO LILLIPUT)

Date: February 22, 2018 - BooksReviews

THIS COLLECTION of 11 short stories follows Elske Rahill’s 2013 debut novel Between Dog and Wold. The French-based Irish writer specialises in exploring many of those disquieting moments that people prefer to keep private. Rahill’s central characters are mostly women who find themselves in uncomfortable situations. The opening story, Toby, reflects the emptiness in a… Read more »

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Anne Clarke

LITTLE DRAMA AT THEATRE AWARDS

Date: February 22, 2018 - Behind the Scenes

THIS WEEKEND in the National Concert Hall, the theatre industry’s glitterati will dutifully assemble for the Irish Times Theatre Awards. The 20-year-old ritual gives the luvvies an excuse to glam up, and gives the newspaper’s marketing department some tickets and sponsorships to sell. The judges on the small panel are typically pulled from academia, theatre… Read more »

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US Arts Dosh

Date: February 22, 2018 - Behind the Scenes

WITH THE long delayed $62m Irish Arts Centre project in New York again under the spotlight, it was interesting to see the response from Culture Minister Josepha Madigan to SF’s Peadar Tóibín’s question earlier this month on further state support. The question from the chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht… Read more »

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Gabriel Byrne

GABRIEL BYRNE’S PLOT TWIST

Date: February 22, 2018 - Behind the Scenes

ACTOR AND all-round busybody Gabriel Byrne will have upset the luvvies with his pronouncement last week that there is not “an industry” when talking about the so-called Irish film industry. He told TheJournal.ie: “When people say, ‘Oh, yes, it’s really flourishing’ sometimes what they mean is that people come in and make films in Ireland,… Read more »

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Gary O'Brien

AFTER AT THE RACES

Date: February 22, 2018 - Sport of Kings

THE FALLOUT following the recent shock news that At The Races will cease to broadcast Irish racing on its channel is continuing to have an impact and there are set to be multiple casualties. For starters it is a serious blow for the current team of At The Races pundits and presenters who were blindsided… Read more »

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Bryan Cooper

BRYAN COOPER’S RARE RIDES

Date: February 22, 2018 - Sport of Kings

BRYAN COOPER’S latest retainer looks to have come to an end after a very brief association. In November last year, Cooper got drafted in to ride all the UK-trained horses owned by Allan Potts. Most of these were handled by Colin Tizzard and despite the trainer admitting Cooper wouldn’t have been his first choice, the… Read more »

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Min at Dublin Racing Festival

DENIS EGAN’S LATE LATE SHOW

Date: February 22, 2018 - Sport of Kings

THE ACTING stewards at the Dublin Racing Festival came in for quite a bit of flak over their failure to investigate the poor performance of some high profile Willie Mullins horses that had drifted alarmingly on the exchanges shortly before the off of their respective races. Yorkhill began the day as the odds-on favourite for… Read more »

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Tony Smurfit

Shareholders boxed in at Smurfit Kappa

Date: February 22, 2018 - Moneybags

SMURFIT KAPPA is the biggest cardboard box company outside of North America – and the biggest in Europe and South America. It is obvious that the group needs to make a major acquisition across the Atlantic. Unfortunately, chief executive Tony Smurfit has instead continued to plod along and seems more than happy just to manage… Read more »

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Pearse Phelan

Dr Pearse Phelan’s Midas touch

Date: February 22, 2018 - Brief Cases

A COMPANY called Midas Health and Sports Ltd has just called in the liquidator after the operation went downhill. The principal here is colourful entrepreneur Dr Pearse Phelan but creditors will be hoping for better outcomes than at the last Phelan-linked company to collapse into liquidation, Fitzwilliam Private Clinic Ltd. Fans of Goldhawk will recall… Read more »

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Chris Shiel

Chris Shiel’s Star Wars gig

Date: February 22, 2018 - Brief Cases

CONGRATULATIONS to Galway high-flier Chris Shiel whose aviation company, 21st Century Aviation Ltd, had a bumper 2017. Shiel is best known for an ill-fated 2015 tender for a state contract to operate the Aran Islands air service but luckily customers from a galaxy far, far away have been boosting his profits in recent times. Shiel’s… Read more »

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Greg Kavanagh

Greg Kavanagh’s Ballycrag bother

Date: February 22, 2018 - Brief Cases

INTERESTING to see the taxman getting tough with Arklow developer Greg Kavanagh’s property empire. In a second Kavanagh-related scrap in as many months, the taxman has moved to wind up two property companies linked to the former New Generation Homes impresario – Ballycrag Developments Ltd and Branwen Developments Ltd. Kavanagh is listed as a director… Read more »

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The holiday home in Kiltoom

Cormac Lohan’s holiday home

Date: February 22, 2018 - Brief Cases

ROSCOMMON solicitor Cormac Lohan had a tax judgment for over €124,000 registered against him at the end of January. Lohan, who practises as Lohan & Co Solicitors in Athlone, Co Westmeath, has had run-ins with the Revenue before and last August, the taxman hit him for over €200,000. Lohan has had a tough time of… Read more »

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Nick Munier and Alanna Feeney

Nick Munier’s taxing year

Date: February 22, 2018 - Brief Cases

FORMER celebrity restaurant impresario Nick Munier had a judgment for close to €80,000 registered against him at the beginning of February. It’s been a tough start to the year for former MasterChef maître d’ Munier who, fans of Goldhawk will recall, had to suddenly close his chic Temple Bar restaurant Avenue by Nick Munier last… Read more »

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Drinks on House

Date: February 22, 2018 - Brief Cases

A COMPANY called Sykes Hotel Group (SHG) Ltd has just been hit with a judgment for €30,000 over unpaid rates – a familiar story for the outfit. SHG – owned by brothers Trevor and David Sykes – is the company behind the Courtown Hotel in Gorey, Co Wexford, which is currently being wound up the… Read more »

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Peter Reaney’s ‘religious beliefs’

Date: February 22, 2018 - Brief Cases

ANOTHER setback for colourful Mayo businessman and blogger Peter Reaney. Originally a plasterer by trade, Reaney dipped into property development in 2006 when he purchased a site in Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon. He received planning permission to build three blocks of two- and three-bedroom houses but ran into difficulty during the project and ended up borrowing… Read more »

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Simon Coveney

SIMON COVENEY’S FAMILY VALUES

Date: February 8, 2018 - Affairs of the Nation

EVEN Simon Coveney’s angry critics in Fine Gael – and they are very angry – accept that his very public opposition to the proposed legislation for 12 weeks’ unrestricted access to abortion comes from a man that has always been sincerely conservative on abortion. But Simon’s conservatism coincides conveniently with a faultline inside FG that… Read more »

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Michael McGrath

Profile: Michael McGrath FF

Date: February 8, 2018 - Pillars of Society

UNEASY LIES the head that wears the crown and, as opinion polls continue to show Fianna Fáil lagging behind Fine Gael in the great election race, an increasingly concerned party leader, Micheál Martin, is looking over his shoulder at potential rivals. Most prominent of these is his constituency running mate and party finance spokesperson, Michael… Read more »

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Paul Stenson

Young Blood: Paul Stenson

Date: February 8, 2018 - The Young Bloods

IS Paul Stenson (37) for real or does he just play the villain on the internet? His critics would accept the former designation but the proprietor of the Charleville Lodge Hotel and adjoining White Moose Café on Dublin’s North Circular Road has plenty of fans and followers who back the social media marketer par excellence… Read more »

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Joanne Hayes

KERRY BABIES ‘APOLOGIES’

Date: February 8, 2018 - Affairs of the Nation

THE garda apology to Joanne Hayes as well as that of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar deserves more quizzical scrutiny than it has received. Apart from the murder charge against Joanne, the garda laid charges of dumping the body of the Cahersiveen baby in the sea against four other members of the Hayes family – Joanne’s siblings,… Read more »

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Nigel Farage

Nigel Farage’s Trinity pals

Date: February 8, 2018 - Affairs of the NationStudent Life

IT WAS interesting to see Declan Ganley praising Trinity College on Twitter last week for letting fellow anti-EU agitator Nigel Farage speak at an event. As Deco well knows, the event had little to do with the college itself and everything to do with those most estimable chaps at the College Historical Society (The Hist)… Read more »

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David McWilliams

David McWilliams’s advice

Date: February 8, 2018 - Affairs of the Nation

CLEVER CLOGS David McWilliams might be feeling a little bewildered given the pounding taken by one of his heroes, fund manager Neil Woodford. Although he has been quiet on the subject this week, McWilliams has regularly used his extensive social media presence to plug Woodford’s views on all matters financial: “Excellent piece here from Neil… Read more »

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Gretchen Mol

MacDara Kelleher’s €850,000

Date: February 8, 2018 - Affairs of the Nation

CONGRATULATIONS to Goldhawk’s favourite film producer, MacDara Kelleher. He has just been greenlighted for a whopping U850,000 in funding from the Irish Film Board (IFB) for Nightflyers – the big budget American sci-fi TV series starring Gretchen Mol that he is fronting here for Syfy Channel and Netflix. The IFB ‘loan’ is clearly linked to… Read more »

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Joseph O'Brien

JOSEPH O’BRIEN’S MOOLAH

Date: February 8, 2018 - Sport of Kings

SPARE A thought for the hard-up Joseph O’Brien who got fined “half a week’s wages” for speeding offences recently. The Melbourne Cup winning trainer was pulled in doing 161km an hour on the M9 in Kilkenny. O’Brien claimed his post is still being delivered to Ballydoyle where daddy Aidan continues to call the shots while… Read more »

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Claire Byrne

RTÉ’S RADIO DIVAS

Date: February 8, 2018 - Fit to Print?

RTÉ proclaimed “Fresh Moves at RTÉ Radio 1” with a photo montage of six presenters – five of them women – in a press statement announcing this week’s new line-up. But this obligatory genuflection towards gender balance, whatever about equal pay, as illustrated by the photo presentation is a little misleading. Some of Claire Byrne’s… Read more »

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Vol. 36 No. 03

Vol. 36 No. 03

Date: February 8, 2018 -

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Simon Zebo

INJURY TIME FOR THE IRFU

Date: February 8, 2018 - Affairs of the NationFowl Play

EUPHORIA after Stade de France but the storm clouds are gathering for Irish rugby as its ability to hold onto the best players is now under real threat. Leinster’s upcoming European Champions Cup quarter final opponents Saracens have filed their accounts and there is a stark warning for the IRFU. For Ireland, the loss of… Read more »

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Losing out at Lisselan

Date: February 8, 2018 - Affairs of the Nation

THE WOMAN behind Clonakilty Black Pudding, Colette Twomey, looks to have got herself a bargain with the “close to €3m” she has paid for the splendid Lisselan House and estate outside Clonakilty, Co Cork. It is not the kind of figure that will make much… Read more »

Brian McDonagh

BRIAN McDONAGH’S DATA PROBLEM

Date: February 8, 2018 - Affairs of the Nation

SURPRISING to see a company called Granja Ltd listed for striking off by the Companies Office after failing to file its accounts. The firm is currently involved in a high stakes legal action over a large Co Wicklow site that featured prominently in that row over Apple’s huge Athenry project. Although having no interest in… Read more »

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