Affairs, 15 October 2021

HOW CURIOUS to see the Sunday Times get so worked up about Sally Rooney’s support for the BDS Movement. Just weeks after panning the Irish author’s latest novel as “mechanical” and too similar to its predecessors, the ST has now condemned her decision to shun what the paper says is an opportunity to “move the… Read more »

Affairs, 15 October 2021

AS A publican with a newspaper column, Billy Keane has had a national platform to put forward his industry’s case all through the pandemic. Whether his beleaguered colleagues in the hospitality industry agree with him that “the pubs are winners” of Budget 2022 remains to be seen, particularly as they have spent much of the… Read more »

Affairs, 14 October 2021

A SPECTRE is haunting Michael McDowell and the paranoia is palpable with the senator twice now using his Irish Times column to outline suspicions of a public service plot. In August and again this week, the former minister has suggested that there is an unspoken strategy through which State and semi-State advertising revenue is deliberately… Read more »

Affairs, 13 October 2021

THE EMBATTLED Airbnb continues its march on the road to redemption after its business model skirted on the brink of collapse in 2020. The controversial Dublin based tech giant managed to win back the confidence of investors in a successful flotation late last year, but the battle to repair its public image remains ongoing. The… Read more »

Affairs, 13 October 2021

IF EVER an unstoppable force met an immovable object, the relentless speculation and debate around Sally Rooney finally collided with the Israeli occupation. News emerged on Monday that the author has ended a business relationship with Modan House, the company which had published Hebrew editions of the first two of her three novels. Even by… Read more »

Affairs, 8 October 2021

THE APPEARANCE of Paul Reid and Robert Watt at the Oireachtas proved to be a predictably unsatisfactory encounter, with attention now turning to later in the month, when those who resigned from the now shuttered Sláintecare Implementation Advisory Council (SIAC) are expected to appear before TDs and Senators. One who will certainly be relieved with… Read more »

Affairs, 6 October 2021

THE RELATIONSHIP between spin doctors and the press is a delicate tension, often adversarial or sometimes perceived as a tad too collaborative. Rarely are the so-called handlers deeply scrutinised in print, and, increasingly, journalists are departing the trade for the greener pastures of “comms”. In what is also becoming a frequent example of movement in… Read more »

Affairs, 6 October 2021

THE SPECTRE of “competitiveness” has once again entered the headlines with fears about rising costs, wages and inflation. The timing could hardly be more inconvenient for Ciara Murphy, Chief Executive at the Bar Council of Ireland, who has been heavily lobbying the Government in a bid to turn back the clock. The legal profession put… Read more »

Affairs, 24 September 2021

“IN IRELAND, Google supports news publishers in a number of ways”, at least according to several similar articles on Friday. The Irish Times, Clare Echo, Connaught Telegraph, Donegal Daily and others, including a blog on the tech giant’s own website, each inform readers that this support comes in the shape of “innovation funding and training,… Read more »

Affairs, 23 September 2021

THE GOD Squad were no doubt thrilled with the blessing received by the President during his recent visit to the Vatican. Michael D Higgins has long been something of an anti-Christ for Irish moral guardians, who took credit for the loss of the liberal’s Dáil seat in 1982 and still find great exception each December… Read more »

Affairs, 21 September 2021

THE REVENUE’S recently-published list of tax defaulters indicated that a penalty of over €1/4m was imposed by the courts on Wicklow man, Sean Tinkler, in relation to a non-declaration of income tax and VAT. It is not the first time Tinkler has found himelf in a spot of bother, as in April 2013, he was… Read more »

Affairs, 17 September 2021

SOCIAL DEMOCRAT TD Jennifer Whitmore has established herself as a committed voice on environmental issues in a campaign that now extends to recycling Green Party legislation. The Wicklow TD this week tabled a Just Transition Bill based heavily on one first championed by Éamon Ryan while in opposition. In short, the idea goes that workers… Read more »

Affairs, 17 September 2021

DAILY MAIL columnist Niamh Walsh has been condemned by right thinking society for her remarks about the fashion choices of a number of Fianna Fáil politicians. The polite consensus is that such criticism will deter good people, and women in particular, from entering politics, but there has been no room in the hubbub for comment… Read more »

Affairs, 16 September 2021

FRESH FROM what must have been a productive party think-in, it is most interesting to see where Micheál Martin points the finger for Fianna Fáil’s problems. An Taoiseach launched an extraordinary attack on the Dublin media from the floor of Dáil Éireann on Wednesday evening, singling out broadcasters in particular for “partitionist” tendencies. Arguing that… Read more »

Affairs, 16 September 2021

UNCERTAIN TIMES for superstar developer Reza Merchant with the New York property media reporting this week that his start up, The Collective, is on the edge of bankruptcy. As one of the evangelists for so-called co-living, Merchant’s attention has extended beyond New York and London, and naturally on to Dublin, where The Collective plans to… Read more »

Affairs, 16 September 2021

LEAKS CONTINUE to haunt the Government as its handling of the Mother and Baby Homes debacle comes back under the spotlight. The first day of a new Dáil term saw an unlikely alliance of Mary Lou McDonald and her erstwhile colleague, Peadar Tóibín, who questioned An Taoiseach about the progress of an internal investigation launched… Read more »

Affairs, 15 September 2021

WITH RTÉ and the Rotunda hospital under fire over the filming of the documentary series, The Rotunda, the production company behind the series wasn’t rushing to respond to media queries. Scratch Films barely got a mention as the broadcaster and the maternity hospital wrangled criticism from the public, media and politicians, induced by film crews… Read more »

Affairs, 10 September 2021

HAS REFORMER Drew Harris been consumed by the very culture he was hired to transform? The Garda Commissioner has expressed forceful opposition to a long fought for organisational shake up as the Government’s Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill undergoes pre-legislative scrutiny. The Irish Times reports that Harris takes issue with several proposals in the… Read more »

Affairs, 9 September 2021

LEINSTER RUGBY star James Lowe ended last season on a pretty poor run of form, but if the Irish Times’s ‘Me & My Money’ column is anything to go by, he’s found his touch again. For proof, look at his skillful use of an otherwise harmless Q&A about his spending habits, to give his team-mate… Read more »

Affairs, 8 September 2021

INTERESTING TO see board member Sean Lucey depart Actavo just as business might begin to improve. Filings in the Companies Office reveal that Lucey resigned from parent Actavo and several of its holdings, including events, construction and engineering divisions, at the end of August. Lucey joined Actavo as Chief Financial Officer in October 2018 back… Read more »

Affairs, 8 September 2021

WITH SLIM pickings on the RTÉ Player, viewers must sustain themselves on unmissable vehicles like Donal and Nico’s Cheesy Road Trip sandwiched between Winning Streak, Home & Away and Fair City. An online “original” sees the ubiquitous chef Skehan joined by “rising food star”, Nico Reynolds, as they travel West Cork “in search of the… Read more »