Affairs, 18 March 2021

THE LABOUR Party continues to keep its promises. Despite initially assuring us that his Irish Stand PR wheeze would be wound down upon Donald Trump’s departure from office, it seems now that Aodhán Ó Ríordáin is still searching for gold at the end of this particular rainbow. The Dublin TD scored a win of sorts… Read more »

Affairs, 18 March 2021

THE IRISH Times tip-toed back into the fractious transgender debate last week with a column from author and academic, Emer O’Toole. The Montréal based Galway native warns of what she says are attempts by some British activists to recruit Irish based feminists in their efforts to undermine the Irish Gender Recognition Act, a trend flagged… Read more »

Affairs, 18 March 2021

WITH HIS solo music career on hold since 2014, it’s been quite a while since Niall “Bressie” Breslin’s name was up in lights at the Olympia Theatre. This is about to change as he has announced a set of live podcast tour dates across Ireland and the UK in October 2021. Given that the country… Read more »

Affairs, 16 March 2021

SINN FÉIN marched straight into a communications failure on Monday and could be some time repairing the damage. Legislation tabled in Stormont this week seeks to limit access to abortion services in the North, where the issue remains high on the agenda. Despite Westminster eventually coming around to decriminalising terminations in the North in 2019… Read more »

Affairs, 16 March 2021

THOSE SPOILSPORTS at RTÉ cast a shadow over the fun ahead of preparations for this year’s Cheltenham Festival. In a segment on Claire Byrne Live with former All Ireland winner and recovering gambling addict Oisín McConville on Monday night, it was the found that viewers were exposed to 219 betting promotions over the course of… Read more »

Affairs, 16 March 2021

THE TRIUMPH of influencer Michelle Ragazolli Stone at this year’s Gossies was surely welcome news for the Stone family, which has hit the limelight lately for less positive reasons. “Mrs Makeup” won the awards for “Best Celebrity Makeup Artist “ and “Girl Boss of the Year” at the awards – run by Ali Ryan’s Goss.ie… Read more »

Affairs, 15 March 2021

TWELVE MONTHS on from the closure of pubs nationwide, the industry is aiming to step up pressure on the Government. In a sign of the times, this usually conservative lobby has latched onto remarks made by Rory O’Neill, aka Panti Blisss, during an interview with the Six O’Clock Show on Virgin Media last month. While… Read more »

Affairs, 15 March 2021

HAZEL CHU’S Oireachtas ambitions have been firmly put on hold once again as Queensbury rules neatly line up with the interests of party leader Éamon Ryan. The Green Party chair made an impressive breakthrough in the 2019 local elections when she topped the poll in the Pembroke electoral area, scoring a massive 33% of the… Read more »

Affairs, 12 March 2021

IN THE aftermath of Piers Morgan’s characteristically low-key exit from ITV’s Good Morning Britain, there has been considerable speculation linking the egotistical pundit with Andrew Neil’s GB News, the soon-to-be launched conservative TV channel positioning itself as a Brit answer to Fox News. One of the titans of the Irish media market is a player here. It… Read more »

Affairs, 11 March 2021

WOUNDED DAVY executives could do worse than look to the Good Governance Awards as the disgraced stock brokerage battles to salvage its reputation. The charity world has taken a similar beating with headline grabbing controversies threatening the goodwill on which many services rely for donations and volunteer effort. Recognising that “public trust in the sector… Read more »

Affairs, 10 March 2021

LEO VARADKAR’S eagerness to shoehorn criticism of Sinn Fein into every opportunity backfired following an RTE interview on Wednesday. During an appearance on the News At One, the Tánaiste claimed that SF are “sectarian, very anti-British” and that the main opposition party has “no Protestant TDs, MLAs or Senators.” This insinuation was met with a… Read more »

Affairs, 10 March 2021

AMIDST MUCH high-minded posturing over the CETA vote, it looks like it’s the turn of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to feel the heat. Both parties have chastised those wishy-washy Greens for their reluctance to line up behind the EU-Canada trade agreement, but may have less to say with the Mercosur deal hovering back into… Read more »

Affairs, 5 March 2021

GOLDHAWK was pleased to see his old friend Conor McGinn take umbrage with Pontin’s blacklisting of Irish tourists. The Labour Party MP for St Helen’s was surprised to see his own surname on a secret list kept by the British holiday chain, which was intent on excluding bookings by the Travelling Community. “Irony: Pontin’s recently… Read more »

Affairs, 5 March 2021

THE ABSENCE of even the usual Z-list award ceremonies in recent time has seemingly not led to much enthusiasm for what remains on offer. Louise McSharry was less than impressed to find herself in line for a most protogeneous accolade this week. On Twitter, the 2FM radio DJ explained that she “just got an e-mail… Read more »

Affairs, 5 March 2021

THE RESTLESS Eoghan Murphy has resumed his campaign against COVID-19 as his impatience has the Dublin TD looking East. In the Dáil on Thursday, the former housing minister noted that Slovakia has taken delivery of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V, with the Czech Republic and Austria soon to follow. Murphy is calling on the government… Read more »

Affairs, 4 March 2021

CULTURE WAR at the Irish Times has taken an interesting turn in recent weeks, even if the underlying agenda remains unchanged. The paper has tried to position itself as a pole of reason and moderation against what it believes are the potential excesses latent in the so-called decade of centenaries. The Irish Times especially acts… Read more »

Affairs, 4 March 2021

TÁNAISTE Leo Varadkar’s vigilance against the threat of class politics has reached amusing levels. Fine Gael’s ‘posh boy’ image remained a stubborn liability last year and the party suffered a second general election drubbing, largely due to perceptions that Leo’s team are out of touch. Ahead of last February’s vote, Micheál Martin joined the action,… Read more »

Affairs, 4 March 2021

AT THE best of times, Virgin has the feel of a channel curated by Alan Partridge, and its trashy aesthetic is once again front and centre courtesy of the hyped Eating With The Enemy. Only marginally more sophisticated than a Jerry Springer episode, the concept sees a variety of ‘odd couples’ argue about their sociopolitical differences… Read more »

Affairs, 3 March 2021

IT ISN’T just Andrea Roche’s stable of influencers that are flat out flogging their own product lines, as the former Miss Ireland also has her own brand of cosmetics called Aliso Organic Beauty. Happily for Roche, her products have been heavily promoted on the social media feeds of various people she represents, with several knocking… Read more »

Affairs, 3 March 2021

GOLDHAWK is relieved to see the Irish Independent condemn the blight of disinformation this week. The editorial on Monday took a hard line with the “deluded thugs” at Saturday’s demonstration who it says have “rightly been utterly condemned by all mainstream political groups”. The paper also takes aim at tech giants, writing that “again, we… Read more »

Affairs, 3 March 2021

THE GARDA COMMISSIONER’S blunder in claiming that there was a left wing element to violent scenes on Dublin has caused all sorts of trouble. Drew Harris later retracted his comments, clarifying that “despite initial indications, following further investigation, there is no corroborated evidence of extreme left factions being involved.” Harris drew criticism, first as the… Read more »

Affairs, 2 March 2021

WITH CETA likely to be approved with or without the support of sceptical Greens, opponents of the EU-Canada trade deal might feel as if they are being goaded at this point. The Irish Times yesterday published a column by former Irish and EU bureaucrat, David O’Sullivan, who warns that failure to ratify the deal would… Read more »

Affairs, 2 March 2021

The news that popular blogger, Grace Mongey, has signed up with a newly-launched UK talent agency is likely to send shivers up the spine of Irish agencies. Mongey, who operates under the moniker, Faces by Grace, has signed to the Matchstick Group, which launched this week with 26 clients and is founded by entrepreneur, Max… Read more »

Affairs, 1 March 2021

PRIVACY SEEMS to be a buzzword at the moment, even when it comes to people who have high-profiles, with appeals for confidentiality attached to three recent cases before the courts. Attorneys for JP McManus’s son John are currently fighting to keep his late wife Emma’s toxicology and autopsy reports kept private, resulting in a coroner’s… Read more »