Category: Affairs

SOC DEM ASYLUM

Affairs, 23 May 2019

SOCIAL DEMOCRAT candidates have been campaigning energetically in the elections but, behind the scenes, the row over local election candidate Ellie Kisyombe still festers. Read more about it in the latest issue. The spat between the leadership and Kisyombe’s supporters is part of a larger struggle between Róisín Shortall and Dublin MEP candidate Gary Gannon.... Read more »

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HOWLIN FOR HANNIGAN

Affairs, 22 May 2019

BRENDAN HOWLIN was eager to talk up the business credentials of his euro election candidate this week. The labour leader styled Dominic Hannigan as a champion of “real entrepreneurship’” who “employs people in the Gaeltacht”. Hannigan is a director at Drioglann Loch Measc, a Mayo based distillery which opened its doors last year and became... Read more »

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SHORTALL SAYS NO

Affairs, 22 May 2019

SEAN SHERLOCK is musing aloud this week, wondering about a marriage between Labour, the Green’s and Social Democrats. One often thinks that @labour @greenparty_ie and @SocDems should be uniting (merging?), leaving personal egos to one side, to create a radical future based on climate action and speaking to the future of work? — Seán Sherlock... Read more »

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EOGHAN MURPHY’S ‘EXCITING’ SHOE BOXES

Affairs, 22 May 2019

MINISTER Eoghan Murphy is causing more headaches for government colleagues following a speech at a housing conference on Monday. Murphy responded in a tweet yesterday afternoon, which only increased the backlash. CoLiving is one option as part of bringing greater choice into the housing market. Works in other cities across world. We wouldn’t judge concept... Read more »

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ALLIANCE LONG SHOT

Affairs, 22 May 2019

After the local government elections in the north on 2 May, the media north and south for once agreed in their analysis. This was ‘new territory’. The ‘middle ground’ had emerged between the twin orange and green swamps. This was a ‘new beginning’. ‘New politics’ seemed likely to develop. Why? At last, after 50 years,... Read more »

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CLIMATE DENIERS RETREAT

Affairs, 21 May 2019

Ireland this month became only the second country in the world to declare a climate emergency. In fact, we went even further than the UK in including biodiversity. The move by the Dáil was unexpected and caught almost everyone off-guard, as it came in the form of an amendment proposed by Fianna Fáil that was... Read more »

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IRA ‘VETS’ WARNING SHOTS

Affairs, 21 May 2019

FOOTAGE last month of Saoradh dissident republicans jostling a BBC reporter outside Derry’s courthouse received widespread coverage. But more serious stuff involving IRA members past and present has been going on in northern republican areas recently. Eleven leading members of Saoradh – the political wing of the New IRA, responsible for killing journalist Lyra McKee... Read more »

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THE COURT OF KING DONALD

Affairs, 20 May 2019

CLARE DALY TD once described the government as having “pimped out” the country like prostitutes for President Obama and family. Daly may not want to provoke the country’s biggest selling newspaper, the Irish Independent, as her European election campaign is in the balance right now, but somebody ought to call out the Indo for committing... Read more »

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FEUDS IN SICILY AND DROGHEDA

Affairs, 20 May 2019

THE Drogheda Leader freesheet splashed a sensational scoop across its front page recently, telling the population, already terrified by a local gang feud, that Drogheda is the “second most dangerous place to live in Europe”. Read more in the latest issue out now.

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SEX’N’DRUGS’N’ROCK’N’ROLL

Affairs, 17 May 2019

ONE FEELS sure that Chris Goodey will be able to sort out that contretemps with the National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP) – of which he is chief executive – given that he usually manages to deal with financial travails and other misunderstandings. Goodey’s career as a publisher and business consultant has been rich and... Read more »

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FG’S TEENAGE PROHIBITION

Affairs, 17 May 2019

FINE GAEL senator Catherine Noone had to back-pedal rapidly last week following her demand that the legal age limit for alcohol be raised from 18 to 20 years as in Iceland. Her press statement said that the Icelanders had implemented two effective measures, namely raising the drinking age to 20 and banning alcohol and tobacco... Read more »

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JONATHAN GRAHAM’S BOXING BOUTS

Affairs, 17 May 2019

WHILE HE has been busy on the campaign trail in the Palmerstown-Fonthill ward in South County Dublin, Fianna Fáil councillor Jonathan Graham may have been distracted by a recent knockout in a Circuit Court defamation case. This was not the first controversial bout featuring the former Sinn Féin councillor. Read more about Graham in the... Read more »

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TARGETING JOHN ARKINS

Affairs, 17 May 2019

IT IS more than a year since Screen Ireland chief executive James Hickey told a Joint Oireachtas Committee that a forum on industrial relations issues in the film and TV business would be organised. The issues were brought to the fore at the committee by John Arkins of the Irish Film Workers Association (IFWA) and... Read more »

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ROSS’S OLYMPIC BILLS

Affairs, 16 May 2019

The inquiry into ticketing at the Olympic Games in Brazil has cost the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport a hefty €312,765. Legal Fees alone were €249,719, forensic accountancy clocked in at €40,744 with Stenography at €12,455 and other incidental expenses Following the dramatic events at the Rio games, Judge Carroll Moran was tasked with... Read more »

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BEN GILROY’S ELECTION STUNT

Affairs, 15 May 2019

SPARE A THOUGHT for Goldhawk’s old pal, the ever colourful Ben Gilroy. The Direct Democracy founder has just had his challenge to being excluded from an RTÉ debate thrown out by the High Court. In his ruling, Judge Senan Allen said that Gilroy’s action had “no legal basis” and agreed with RTÉ’s counsel that the... Read more »

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ALAN CANTWELL’S CAMPAIGNING

Affairs, 15 May 2019

ERSTWHILE broadcaster Alan Cantwell is back lending his services to Fine Gael. This time on the doorsteps of Rathgar with local election hopeful, Patrick Kinsella. The pair have some history going back to Cantwell’s days at TV3, where Kinsella was a television producer and currently heads up the advertising-funded programming department. Kinsella is battling it... Read more »

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NON-REVOLVING DOORS

Affairs, 15 May 2019

THE MINISTER for Finance Paschal Donohoe is flouting guidelines set down by his own department. Rules on state appointments published by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in 2014 state that “consistent with best corporate governance practice it is advisable that no member of a State Board should serve more than two full terms”.... Read more »

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HSE PAUL REID’S RADICAL PAST

Affairs, 15 May 2019

IN HIS first full day on the job, new HSE boss Paul Reid warned that the health service that breaching budgets can “no longer be considered an option.” According to the Irish Times, Reid sent a strongly worded memo to senior HSE management seeking an immediate review of “actions and timelines to bring about a... Read more »

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OLD BOY’S CLUBS

Affairs, 14 May 2019

GOVERNMENT’S DECISION to hold off imposing gender quotas at local level has avoided the theatrics and rebellion when they were first introduced ahead of the last general election in 2016. While some parties on the left have reached a majority of women on the ballot paper, Fine Gael are still keen to point out that... Read more »

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SHANE ROSS’S MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE

Affairs, 14 May 2019

A STEAMING row has broken out between the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) and Minister for Transport, Shane Ross. Commuters in the capital were greeted this morning by the news that their friendly neighbourhood bus driver has been forced to “resort to emergency measures” because they have “no adequate wash and sanitary facilities” and... Read more »

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MORE DARKNESS THAN LIGHT FOR FINE GAEL

Affairs, 14 May 2019

POLITICIANS OF all stripes were eager to bask in the glow of last weekend’s Darkness into Light walk, with even Commissioner Phil Hogan recording his good wishes from Japan. In Galway, Fine Gael’s Maria Walsh was forced to respond to criticism on social media, dismissing the suggestion that there was anything cynical about parking her... Read more »

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CHARLIE FLANAGAN’S STRAW MAN

Affairs, 13 May 2019

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan was curiously flustered on Sunday following comments from Sheila Nunan on RTÉ’s The Week in Politics. Labour’s Euro election hopeful reaffirmed her party’s “commitment to Irish neutrality” along with “concern” about the ALDE and EPP position. Flanagan dismissed the topic as “strawman” and a “scare tactic” but was disingenuous in claiming... Read more »

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CRAUGHWELL’S YOUTUBE U-TURN

Affairs, 13 May 2019

IRELAND’S latest YouTube sensation has arrived. This time it is not some preening influencer or avocado munching millennial, however. Senator Gerard Craughwell has set up a channel to lambast wasteful public spending. For over three minutes he runs though the list of electronic voting machines, water meters, PPARS, Eircode, motorways, the Luas and present scandals... Read more »

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SEE NO ARMY, SPEAK NO ARMY

Affairs, 13 May 2019

Goldhawk has been busying himself flicking through Fine Gael’s European Election Manifesto 2019. In the ‘SECURITY AND DEFENCE POLICY’ section, the blueshirts claim to be “opposed to the creation of an EU army.” However, their recent actions would suggest otherwise as this article from April shows.

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IAN BAILEY: TRIAL BY ERROR

Affairs, 13 May 2019

Ian Bailey has said that he will be “sacrificed” by Ireland to placate French authorities over the unsolved murder of Sophie Toscan-du-Plantier in west Cork almost 23 years ago. According to the Indo, Bailey made the comments after French prosecutors said they will act “immediately” to demand Ireland complies with European extradition and judicial agreements... Read more »

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SAORADH CHIEF’S DÁIL AMBITIONS

Affairs, 13 May 2019

BRIAN KENNA, chairman of Saoradh, which reflects the New IRA’s political outlook, was once a model of the Sinn Féin parliamentary road and had aspirations to be a TD. Read more about Kenna in the latest issue.

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VARADKAR’S DUTCH COURAGE

Affairs, 10 May 2019

ONLOOKERS IN Dublin will have been pleased with remarks from the Dutch Prime Minister this week as he welcomed Leo Varadkar to bilateral talks in the Hague. “The Netherlands and Ireland are, as internationally-oriented countries with open economies, often on the same page” tweeted Mark Rutte, along with a photo of both politicians on the... Read more »

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BY-ELECTION BLITZ

Affairs, 10 May 2019

IT NOW looks as though there could be four and possibly five Dáil by-elections within six months of the EU elections. TDs Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal), Billy Kelleher (Cork North-Central), Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan) and Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid-West) are all expected to win EU Parliament seats, with the possibility of Mick Wallace (Wexford) also taking... Read more »

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VARADKAR’S LEGAL PRECEDENT

Affairs, 10 May 2019

WHAT AN interesting sequence of events has taken place since the New Year surrounding Shane Ross’s judicial appointments bill. Fine Gael and, in particular, Leo Varadkar appear to realise the down side if it fails to get the legislation passed before a general election. Read more in the latest edition out now.

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BRENDAN HOWLIN’S ATTACK

Affairs, 10 May 2019

DOES Labour leader Brendan Howlin believe he is still minister in charge of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER)? Howlin’s attack on the government for its green light to the €3bn broadband project heard him accuse Fine Gael of “abandoning spending controls” and threatening the “long-term financial stability of our country”. And he... Read more »

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MACDARA KELLEHER’S STRONG FOUNDATION

Affairs, 10 May 2019

THE GIANT Apple TV streaming service launching later this year has commissioned the first 10-episode adaptation of sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov’s ‘Foundation’ series of books, which is to be filmed at Troy Studios in Limerick. Once again, it turns out that the filmmaker MacDara Kelleher is a winner here in what is actually something of... Read more »

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STEPHEN COLLINS’ EURO WOES

Affairs, 9 May 2019

EURO WOES for Stephen Collins at the Irish Times where he continues to plead with irresponsible voters to see some sense. Today’s column is the second time he has thundered against the United Left/Nordic Green Left grouping, which counts Luke Ming Flanagan and the Sinn Féin MEPs among their numbers. Back in January, Collins identified... Read more »

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SENATE DRAMA RELIVED

Affairs, 9 May 2019

AS PRESSURE over rural broadband and the National Children’s Hospital continues to mount, Fine Gael spending dramas are becoming reminiscent of a minor scandal in 2014, when party activist John McNulty, who is now contesting local elections for the party in Donegal, found himself on the board of IMMA ahead of a Seanad by-election. After... Read more »

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BRITISH SOLDIERS TAKE THE FLAK

Affairs, 9 May 2019

REPORTS OF the formal interview by police of top Force Research Unit (FRU) spook Brigadier Gordon Kerr got British media headlines last week. The FRU was a British army agent handling unit, which ran both loyalist and republican agents, including the likes of Fred Scappaticci, supposedly the notorious ‘Stakeknife’ in the IRA. Read more in... Read more »

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UNDER THE INFLUENCE

Affairs, 9 May 2019

THE INCLUSION of proposals for Ireland’s night time economy in Fine Gael’s manifesto can be seen as continued effort by the young leadership to cultivate the image of a modern, urban administration. The party says that it wants to see “the establishment of local committees and night mayors”, which have been adopted in many trendy... Read more »

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LABOUR’S RENT CONTROL JOURNEY

Affairs, 9 May 2019

LABOUR HAVE made housing a central plank of their election launch this week and are keen to emphasise the party’s commitment stretching all the way back to the 1940s. The manifesto, while light on detail, emphatically claims that ‘Labour believes in rent control. Stronger rent control legislation is needed’. Recent history, however, tells a different... Read more »

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