Affairs, 15 September 2022

IT WAS only hours into the first day of a new political term before Leo Varadkar lost the run of himself. With difficult decisions to be made in the coming weeks, the government had already dusted off tactics last seen during the austerity era. During the post-2008 recession it was customary to see many deeply… Read more »

Affairs, 13 September 2022

WHEN IT comes to budgets, no culture minister has had at their disposal the sort of money Catherine Martin has doled out since taking office in 2020. Emergency payments in the order of millions during the pandemic, such as the Music Industry Stimulus Package, still generated plenty of consternation, with grumbles from those who missed… Read more »

Affairs, 13 September 2022

THE STRUGGLING fossil fuels industry is not short of advocates and it is difficult to locate anyone in the media who does not back the importation of fracked gas. Michael McDowell last week published his third Irish Times column on the subject since May. Conor Skehan has clocked up the same number in the Sunday… Read more »

Affairs, 7 September 2022

LEO VARADKAR prides himself as a politician on top of the detail but there are more indications that the Tánaiste fails to comprehend the housing problem he has presided over now for over a decade. Were an Irish government minister onboard the Titanic, the iceberg would have been offered a tax break. Such are the… Read more »

Affairs, 7 September 2022

JOE BIDEN’S move to write off student debts in America has been watched with some apprehension here in Ireland. Neither the Government, third level executives or Department of Higher Education would wish to dwell too long on the politics at play, given the desire to see fees here rise far above where they currently stand…. Read more »

Affairs, 31 August 2022

AMID MANY troubling headlines, the most chilling that Goldhawk encountered recently was news that the national broadcaster intends to “restore Irish comedy to RTÉ2”, and, more alarmingly, is apparently “in the process of developing a new television vehicle for Claire Byrne.” It was not clear if perhaps both these ambitions pertained to the same programme…. Read more »

Affairs, 31 August 2022

THE IMMEDIATE future looks secure for the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) with some very influential backers coming on board. Goldhawk notes that Google Inc, Kingspan and Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta have been added to the list of donors as no less than “Whitaker Patrons”, with each contributing €20,000 to the institute’s work this year…. Read more »

Affairs, 30 August 2022

PATRICIA CALLAN’S climb to the top of the public affairs mountain has put the pugnacious lobbyist on a collision course with the businesses that she used to represent. For over a decade, Callan acted as director of the Small Firms Association (SFA), Ibec’s in-house clone of rival lobby group ISME, the Irish Small and Medium… Read more »

Affairs, 24 August 2022

THE GOVERNMENT struggles to get its own house in order, or rather, eleven houses in the case of hapless junior minister, Robert Troy. Before the current recess, Fianna Fáil was striving toward transparency, with Darragh O’Brien promising no less than the “most significant development for our electoral system in decades.” The Electoral Amendment Bill was… Read more »

Affairs, 23 August 2022

IT WAS a busy week for witchfinder extraordinaire, David Collier, as he tried to sustain his propaganda in the face of mounting evidence. As Israel once again unleashed its military might on the Palestinians, the activist had a frenzy of his own on social media, clocking up 25 tweets in the wake of three days… Read more »

Affairs, 19 August 2022

A CENTRAL issue raised in correspondence between Frank Clarke and Séamus Woulfe in 2020 was that the unique place of the judiciary comes with certain responsibilities. In the fallout from Clifden, the former Chief Justice was keen to stress that it was not just his opinion, but “the unanimous view of all of the members… Read more »

Affairs, 19 August 2022

AS SHE hands the editorship of Woman’s Way over to her sister Carissa Casey, Norah Casey is once again keeping it in the family. The media personality has announced her intention to step back after a year and a half at the helm of the fortnightly women’s magazine. When the magazine’s previous editor departed in… Read more »

Affairs, 17 August 2022

GOLDHAWK IS encouraged to see some unlikely figures finally come onboard. Readers will know that The Phoenix has stood alone, most recently last month, in questioning the outsized place quarterly reports from Daft.ie have commanded in the headlines. The figures released by one privately owned property marketing company have been guaranteed top billing in broadcast… Read more »

Affairs, 16 August 2022

GOLDHAWK STRUGGLES to keep track of the obscurity a figure must sink to before they are deemed to be “forgotten.” History is never too far from intruding on contemporary Irish politics and the public are often shown to be better versed in the past than their intellectual leaders anticipate. Nonetheless, at the tail end of… Read more »

Affairs, 16 August 2022

SALMAN RUSHDIE is fortunate to have an ally like the Irish Times, a paper never afraid to confront the awkward truths. From his hospital bed in New York, the author will no doubt be comforted to read the editorial in Tuesday’s newspaper which condemns Friday’s stabbing and concludes defiantly that the “fight for free expression… Read more »

Affairs, 11 August 2022

RETICENCE at the Department of Agriculture has landed the mandarins in hot water with the Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information (OCEI). Eco-conscious members of the public who are not satisfied in dealing with the state’s traditional attitude to transparency may escalate an appeal to this body, which is currently headed by former Financial… Read more »

Affairs, 10 August 2022

A WEEK is a long time in politics, even for Benjamin Netanyahu, with polls suggesting now that a long-projected majority could be slipping away following Israel’s latest assault on Gaza. Bombing the Palestinians has traditionally marked the opening of Knesset electioneering, only for now the former prime minister finds himself in opposition watching his rivals… Read more »

Affairs, 9 August 2022

HER MILITANT critics can take comfort that only the threat of even further war knocked Sabina Higgins off the main headlines. Before all this, it was Seán Ó Fearghaíl, another whose office is supposed to be above the political fray, that surprised many in Leinster House with a controversial letter of his own. Back in… Read more »

Affairs, 9 August 2022

GOLDHAWK WAS cheered to see former Taoiseach Brian Cowen back in the papers as he was honoured by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (CCE) at the Fleadh Cheoil in Mullingar. Despite appearing in the all the press photographs during an awards presentation, it was surprising that former Fianna Fáil senator, Labhrás Ó Murchú, was not named in… Read more »

Affairs, 7 August 2022

ONE NEED not have studied Generals Sun Tzu or Custer to wonder if America’s provocation and China’s reaction are both in themselves signs of insecurity. With Democrats heading into difficult midterm elections, it was hardly surprising to see the congresswoman with America’s oldest and largest Chinese immigrant constituency touching down in Taipei last week. Washington… Read more »

Affairs, 7 August 2022

SOME GOOD news at last for Ireland’s anti-abortion activists with confirmation that chaplaincy services are set to continue as normal in the state’s health service. A graphic circulating online as well as remarks in the media from Danny Healy Rae TD this week left the impression that Health Minister Stephen Donnelly was in the process… Read more »

Affairs, 28 July 2022

GOLDHAWK was relieved to find David Quinn’s weekly column has so far escaped judgment day at the Sunday Times. With over half of Nóirín Hegarty’s full time staff heading for the exit, there remained some continuity in the opinion pages at the weekend, with the Iona Institute director calling for tighter limits on immigration. On… Read more »

Affairs, 28 July 2022

MARTIN AND Varadkar cannot have been too fearful during what has been painted as gladiatorial negotiations on agricultural pollution. Initial reports now are that cabinet are expected to sign off a 25% emissions cut, with additional mitigation tacked on for added fudge. This is some ways short of the required action, but the old parties… Read more »

Affairs, 28 July 2022

WHEN CHARLIE McConalogue was unexpectedly elevated to cabinet at the expense of Dara Calleary, few predicted the emergence of that rare creature in Irish politics: a nationally minded government minister. While the bike-riding media above in Dublin sneer at rural parochialism, cometh McConalogue, a TD from the most historically deprived of all Irish counties who… Read more »