Affairs, 18 October 2019

GOLDHAWK READS with intense excitement Conor Pope’s potted history of the Irish Times website in today’s paper. A “pioneering” tale of many “firsts” and no less than an unexpected “big role in the history of world media”. The humble story begins 25 years ago, with Pope casting the fledgeling operation in the mould of a… Read more »

Affairs, 18 October 2019

EAMON RYAN may yet turn into a full blown liability for the Green Party but Fine Gael should be cautious in joining the chorus of ridicule that followed recent pronouncements on car sharing. Junior Minister, Andrew Doyle, has recently been making hay in the local press, expounding on the Green’s “anti-rural agenda”. The Wicklow TD… Read more »

Affairs, 18 October 2019

Television viewing took a decidedly 1980s hue this week with threats of paramilitary violence all over the media. It began in the Sunday Times with various loyalist figures promising riots in Belfast and bombs in Limerick. This was followed by RTÉ when Barry Lenihan interviewed James Bryson, for Drivetime on Monday. Bryson, “who has deep… Read more »

Affairs, 18 October 2019

With the obvious exception of Garda Commissioner Drew Harris OBE (€200,000+ pa), a policeman’s lot is not a happy one. But being a copper is a feather bed containing 77 virgins when compared with the lot of a DUP leader. Ask Arlene Foster. Some years ago, there were Republican mutterings about a border poll, which… Read more »

Affairs, 16 October 2019

GUFFAWS SURELY ECHOED down Kildare Street yesterday when Joan Burton criticised government treatment of lone parents as “disgraceful”. The Labour Party finance spokesperson has seized on an ESRI report which branded the budget as “regressive”, issuing a press release on Friday before taking her righteous outrage to the Dáil this week during questions with Leo… Read more »

Affairs, 16 October 2019

Arlene Foster’s sudden suggestion that “it’s time to get Northern Ireland moving again” has been dismissed as a “pointless political stunt” by Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill and “completely disingenuous” by Naomi Long of the Alliance Party. The DUP leader is backing Nuala O’Loan who has written to Britain’s Northern Secretary, Julian Smith, seeking an “urgent”… Read more »

Affairs, 15 October 2019

DEALING WITH the Chinese on the development of the Barryroe oilfield was never going to be easy, but it did hold out the brief prospect of significant reward for Providence Resources’s long-suffering shareholders. It is now clear that the farm-out agreement Tony O’Reilly Jnr signed up to with the Chinese company, APEC Energy Enterprise, resulted… Read more »

Affairs, 15 October 2019

CONGRATULATIONS are in order for Josepha Madigan, who is celebrating three years since Enda Kenny cut the ribbon at her office in Churchtown. How time flies! Not only is this, in itself, a significant personal and political milestone but the culture minister also pointed out on Twitter that this vital hub of local democracy is… Read more »

Affairs, 11 October 2019

THIS WEEK’S BUDGET provided the most important opportunity for Fine Gael to claw back a modicum of economic credibility. The party’s reputation has been greatly eroded by overspending scandals, precarious reliance on corporate tax receipts and criticisms from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC). Fine Gael must forgo their own scared cows in a bid… Read more »

Affairs, 11 October 2019

IT WAS HARD CHEESE for younger voters who were all but absent from Fine Gael’s budget on Tuesday. With no increase in the minimum wage, limp climate action, little in the way of mental health services and nothing to address the spiralling costs of rent, are under forties to be content with derisory increases in… Read more »

Affairs, 11 October 2019

It was a day of only mild catharsis for political hacks who have spent weeks agonising about the lack of “budget excitement” Recent weeks have seen the build up variously described as “boring” – Irish Times, “bland” – Sunday Business Post, “safe” – Irish Examiner. On Saturday,  Marian Finucane croaked that the fun was gone… Read more »

Affairs, 9 October 2019

Government may be sluggish if not hostile in their attitude to climate action but Leo Varadkar will be damned if any easy publicity goes unclaimed. While addressing fellow “excellencies” in York last Monday, Vlad was happy to announce that “on foot of a request from me”, the Climate Advisory Council has recommended that exploration for… Read more »

Affairs, 9 October 2019

It was a day of only mild catharsis for political hacks who have spent weeks agonising about the lack of “budget excitement” Recent weeks have seen the build up variously described as “boring” – Irish Times, “bland” – Sunday Business Post, “safe” – Irish Examiner. On Saturday,  Marian Finucane croaked that the fun was gone… Read more »

Affairs, 9 October 2019

THIS WEEK’S BUDGET provided the most important opportunity for Fine Gael to claw back a modicum of economic credibility. The party’s reputation has been greatly eroded by overspending scandals, precarious reliance on corporate tax receipts and criticisms from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC). Fine Gael must forgo their own scared cows in a bid… Read more »

Affairs, 9 October 2019

IT WAS HARD CHEESE for younger voters who were all but absent from Fine Gael’s budget on Tuesday. With no increase in the minimum wage, limp climate action, little in the way of mental health services and nothing to address the spiralling costs of rent, are under forties to be content with derisory increases in… Read more »

Affairs, 4 October 2019

Leo Varadkar’s announcement on Monday that government plan to ‘phase out’ oil exploration saw the fossil fuel industry receive generous space on RTÉ. The morning began with the rte.ie newspaper round up republishing an Irish Examiner report in which Petrel Resources director, David Horgan, branded the proposed ban as “illogical”. Later in the afternoon, CEO… Read more »

Affairs, 4 October 2019

Eamon Ryan’s suggestion that wolves be reintroduced to Ireland brought mixed blessings this week. The proposals met with considerable derision and a rebuke from government, while nonetheless generating the kind of high profile policy debate rivals in the Labour Party or Social Democrats have struggled to find. The increasingly trendy concept of ‘rewilding’ has been… Read more »

Affairs, 3 October 2019

CONGRATS TO Mark Kennelly, former chief of staff to Enda Kenny during his reign as taoiseach, who has landed the plum post of Golf Ireland CEO in a hotly contested, “extensive” competition, which saw Mark drive down the fairway and come in well under par. But it is Kennelly’s assumed skills on the 19th hole… Read more »

Affairs, 3 October 2019

VIEWERS OF RTÉ’s coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest final in May will have heard presenter Marty Whelan speak of a “visit to Jerusalem earlier in the week”, noting “it was quite spectacular to be at the Wall” and “get a sense” of the city. The Western Wall is in Jerusalem’s Old City in Israeli-occupied,… Read more »

Affairs, 20 September 2019

Informed debate about serious matters facing humanity continued this week on RTÉ with the first caller on Liveline immediately linking climate protests to “economic terrorism”. Friday’s march by school children provided an opportunity for Joe Duffy to read from an Extinction Rebellion press release promising “non-violent, disruptive, civil disobedience” in Dublin next month. As the… Read more »

Affairs, 20 September 2019

Tánaiste, Simon Coveney, maintains that ministers are “at one” on public services cards and reiterates his faith in “rock solid” advice from the Attorney General. His comments in the Dáil on Thursday were, however, somewhat telling. Despite all the barefaced posture, Coveney dithered, going only so far as to insist that he is confident government’s… Read more »

Affairs, 20 September 2019

Green Party legislation setting out a framework for ‘just transition’ moved closer toward committee stage yesterday despite a rather tepid reception on government benches. Eamon Ryan is not the type to submit ‘unworkable solutions’, hungry, as he is to work along side the larger parties. Environment Minister, Richard Bruton, is also inclined to seek consensus… Read more »

Affairs, 19 September 2019

BELGIAN PUBLISHERS Mediahuis may find that bending the querulous natives to their will at Independent News & Media (INM) is a little more difficult than suppression of dissent in the Belgian Congo a century ago. Perhaps this is why Mediahuis has begun by beheading big kahuna, INM editor-in-chief Fionnan Sheahan. Sheahan had shown disturbing signs… Read more »

Affairs, 19 September 2019

A WEEK of social media breast-beating about the decline of Dublin’s nightlife has obscured the reasons for the impending closure of the Bernard Shaw on South Richmond Street. Precise explanations for leaseholder Trevor O’Shea’s decision to shut up shop are in short supply and matters haven’t been helped by an oblique statement posted on the… Read more »

Affairs, 19 September 2019

AGRICULTURE MINISTER Michael Creed has suddenly been thrust into the front line as the latest crisis in rural Ireland confronts the government – led by traditional farming champions, Fine Gael. The militant beef protest campaign is politically toxic for Leo Varadkar and his party, as hostility in their heartland of Munster farming spells electoral disaster… Read more »

Affairs, 19 September 2019

THE Union of Students in Ireland (USI) president, Lorna Fitzpatrick, has taken charge of the national union at a trying time for the student movement as a whole. USI radicals have accused the union of taking its foot off the pedal on the thorny issue of higher-education funding, which is slowly returning to the foreground… Read more »

Affairs, 19 September 2019

IT LOOKS like controversial TD Maria Bailey is not going to go quietly, despite the leadership stratagem of leaving it to Blueshirts in her Dún Laoghaire constituency to do their dirty work for them. Readers will recall that Leo Varadkar and Fine Gael’s director of organisation and the general election, Paschal Donohoe, had determined that… Read more »

Affairs, 18 September 2019

The RTÉ Autumn season kicked off in “gala fashion” on The Late Late Show last week with fire brigade, lifeboat, ambulance and other first responders parading around Montrose studios. It was a neat trick to place the national broadcaster firmly within the ranks of vital services but Director General, Dee Forbes, is still struggling to… Read more »