Affairs, 8 September 2021

WHERE THE glitterati will go to become, er, less hirsute is the big question now that Waxperts has closed its salon in Dun Laoghaire. Social media stars and Z-listers will have to go elsewhere for their Brazilians now that the 13-year-old salon has shut up shop. Waxperts opened in 2008 and is owned by Ellen… Read more »

Affairs, 3 September 2021

THE GOVERNMENT’S ability to create chaos for itself remains resilient after the summer break with Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney subject to several lines of inquiry. How poetic that an affair triggered by a leak from the confidential cabinet table now brings focus on transparency and the Freedom of Information Act. The ever increasing fallout… Read more »

Affairs, 2 September 2021

CATHERINE MARTIN’S Return to Live Entertainment Working Group was announced to much fanfare in March of this year, so it will have surprised many to arrive at a point almost six months on with the latest “roadmap” so light on detail. The Culture Minister was in need of a win after last month, having been… Read more »

Affairs, 2 September 2021

THE OUTRAGE industry takes no rest for the silly season, and so even the leprechauns are summoned to the front line of the culture war. RTÉ brings, from the world of American college football, the startling news that the “fighting Irish” mascot of Notre Dame University has been judged as the “fourth most offensive” of… Read more »

Affairs, 2 September 2021

IT WAS a nice angle while it lasted, but the simplistic tale of the GAA behemoth having it all their own way while a plucky live events industry is left adrift had come undone by the week’s end on Friday. Performers of all stripes were less than impressed by the scenes at the All Ireland… Read more »

Affairs, 25 August 2021

THE OVAL Office will have felt a distinct chill on Sunday having received a strong rebuke from Lucinda Creighton. Avid Business Post readers among the West Wing’s foreign policy elite will have been disappointed to find Joe Biden and his administration branded as no less than “the face of the chaos and terror that reigns… Read more »

Affairs, 25 August 2021

WITH SUCH energy, dynamism and intellectual heft in the Fine Gael ranks it is surprising to see the party turn to the public for direction. The latest wheeze has the Blueshirts asking the plain people of Ireland to “submit their ideas for how we can help make Ireland better for all.” The party must indeed… Read more »

Affairs, 25 August 2021

PLEASED TO see Joe Duffy catch up with The Phoenix. This magazine had warned in April that the apocalyptic premonitions of Christina Gallagher may influence some attitudes in the fight against Covid; however, not even Goldhawk could have foreseen an instalment of Liveline in which it was debated whether or not Jesus would have taken… Read more »

Affairs, 25 August 2021

HOLLYWOOD STARS and landed gentry whose posh piles are in need of repair could do worse than live in Ireland. Offaly County Council allocated €50,000 in April 2021 to film star Patrick Bergin under the Historic Structures Fund, which provides financial assistance to assist with the conservation and restoration of heritage properties. The Sleeping with… Read more »

Affairs, 23 August 2021

SO LONG to The Victims Alliance which will not be seen at the centre of another social media storm. The advocacy organisation burned very bright for some months before a spectacular end in March this year. The Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) now records that the alliance has officially and “permanently ceased lobbying”. Organisation… Read more »

Affairs, 19 August 2021

FINDING THE Irish angle on events in Afghanistan can be difficult and might be even more so if not taking the lead from the jingoist press in Britain and the United States. RTÉ News on Monday asked, as it was put on the broadcaster’s website, if “the West’s 20-year mission and the sacrifices incurred were… Read more »

Affairs, 19 August 2021

WHAT WAS it that prompted Ryan Tubridy to open up about his personal life on the day before the launch of a new season on RTÉ? The country’s highest paid broadcaster took a moment during his Radio One show on Tuesday to tell listeners of an occurrence on the mean streets of Dún Laoghaire. Tubridy… Read more »

Affairs, 19 August 2021

SOME OIREACHTAS members have reacted with bemusement to a letter from Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl this week which warns of the rules regarding video footage from Leinster House debate. The appropriateness of these restrictions deserves some scrutiny. Time was when news of parliamentary activity was filtered almost exclusively through the press gallery for the… Read more »

Affairs, 18 August 2021

TRINITY COLLEGE students delivered a most interesting letter to provost Dr Linda Doyle this month, shining a light on the university’s involvement in the arms trade. Records obtained by campaign group, Students4Peace, show that TCD has at least €2.6 million euro invested in companies like Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. The Trinity College Endowment… Read more »

Affairs, 18 August 2021

CAN YOU hug a robotic tree? The eco-warriors on Cork City Council (CCC) seem to think so, but reaction to the appearance of five four-metre-high contraptions on the main streets has been less than enthusiastic. Regular readers will recall that thousands of perfectly healthy trees have been destroyed across the country in recent years thanks… Read more »

Affairs, 18 August 2021

TD MATT SHANAHAN deleted his controversial tweet in relation to a woman harassed in a public park, and in doing so, deprived followers of a source of Internet merriment that he, perhaps unwittingly, created. The independent TD’s reference to his “15 stone ripped nephew” spawned a slew of witty memes, parody twitter accounts and gags… Read more »

Affairs, 13 August 2021

EDITOR Paul O’Neill and his team of hacks at the Irish Times may have been expecting blowback at some stage over coverage in the paper of the bubbling transgender debate – in particular the publication in its letters page of some strongly expressed opinions from gender critical feminists and also an opinion piece on a… Read more »

Affairs, 13 August 2021

SPARE A thought for Fergus Finlay, another victim of the fallout from Zapperfest. The former Labour Party spin doctor had treated Ivana Bacik’s election as a return of the Messiah, so it will have been a bitter blow to see the new TD among those mingling at the Merrion Hotel. The veneration began two days… Read more »

Affairs, 11 August 2021

SIX YEARS ago, Enda Kenny arrived on day one of the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) and promptly set about dismissing the targets that would ultimately be enshrined in the Paris Agreement. Delivering a formal address before some 146 heads of state and global media, the former Taoiseach put any tree-hugger to shame. “Let’s… Read more »

Affairs, 11 August 2021

FLEXING ONE’S eco credentials is set to become the dominant theme in advertising. Already the media is festooned with mawkish monologues and soaring music that seek to reassure customers about the efforts of business to “play its part”. State Street, the global investment managers, scored plenty of publicity in 2017 after it commissioned the “Fearless… Read more »

Affairs, 5 August 2021

AN TAOISEACH’S hailing of an “Olympian” national effort on vaccination quickly went to the heads of his coalition partners, who promptly engaged in a bit of cheap posturing. Social media users were miffed at the weekend as Fine Gael trumpeted that “Ireland has OVERTAKEN the UK in fully vaccinating our adult population”. The green jersey… Read more »

Affairs, 5 August 2021

Katherine Zappone was in combative form as the day began on Wednesday, but not for long. News that the former minister organised a bash at the five star Merrion Hotel was enough to see her finally break her silence, but only just. A short statement to Morning Ireland, essentially directing critics to take it up… Read more »

Affairs, 5 August 2021

MANY COLUMN inches and headlines were garnered when Sopranos’ actor Joseph R. Gannascoli sent Dundalk FC a good luck message prior to its match against Shamrock Rovers recently. Had the hacks behind the puff pieces describing “Vito Spatafore” as a fan of the club looked closer, they might have noticed that a Dundalk marketing and… Read more »

Affairs, 4 August 2021

INTERESTING TO see young Frank McNamara follow the family footsteps into the world of entertainment. The Belvedere College boy behind popular Instagram page, Meditations for the Anxious Mind, is beginning to see a return on his play for viral success. Promising an insight into the “deranged mind of a self-obsessed spirit guide as he walks… Read more »