Affairs of the Nation

Mary Robinson

Affairs of the Nation

MARY ROBINSON’S SACRED COWS

FORMER IRISH president Mary Robinson made headlines around the world for her emotionally charged interview at the Cop26 conference in Glasgow in which, her voice quivering, she slammed world leaders... Read more »
Fingleton Aubrey McCarthy Matt Cooper Parker Green Danny McConnell Gayle Killilea Maura Derivan Ed Honohan INS Arts Council EDAF Emuse Rosslare Golf Club Mairead Casey Colm O’Rourke Stephen Connolly Peter Aiken John Malone Tom Barry Anthony Halpin Ian Kehoe Kevin Bakhurst Geraldine O’Leary Dennis Horgan RUSI Gareth McAllister Ryevale House Joe Macken RUC Omagh Patrick Connolly Paddy Cosgrave The Ditch Newstalk Fake Tan Fred Logue Ian Paisley Sean O’Riordan Margaret Sweeney Jay Bourke Ellie Kisyombe Francesca McDonagh Ted Cunningham National Space Centre An Irish Goodbye Oscar Robert Quirke Ciara Kelly Executive Women Gathering Doug Taylor Florian Haufe Robbie Henshaw Bill Shipsey Breaking the Silence L’Ecrivain Ronan McNally National Lottery Michael Roche Energy Action Balls.ie Newspapers VAT Abbey Theatre Patricia Madden Irish Banking Culture Board Randox Aoife Gallagher Book Dalai Lama Trinity Trevor White RTÉ Chairperson Shane Houlihan Noel Smyth IKC Bob Geldof Landlord Ireland Neutrality Ukraine

Affairs of the Nation

JOE MCHUGH’S STRATEGY

JOE MCHUGH’S threat to resign from Fine Gael – which party made him a minister twice – if the mica protesters don’t get what they want is not idle; nor... Read more »
Shane Ross

Affairs of the Nation

SHANE ROSS’S BANKING ACCOUNT

LAST WEEKEND, Shane Ross took a pop at those he claimed had escaped the sort of abuse poor old Sean Fitzpatrick got as a result of the banking crash. The... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

Sheena Horgan

Affairs of the Nation

DRINKAWARE’S BAR BILL

AFTER NUMEROUS and lengthy delays, the latest phase of the Public Health (Alcohol) Amendment Bill came into effect last week, notably introducing significant restrictions on advertising in and around sporting... Read more »
Kevin Higgins

Affairs of the Nation

UK LABOUR HUNTS DOWN POET HIGGINS

THE BRITISH Labour party, post Jeremy Corbyn, has been in the process of purging left-wing elements from its ranks and even though he is based in Galway, poet and lecturer... Read more »
Bertie Ahern

Affairs of the Nation

BERTIE AND THE ‘REAL’ PEACEMAKERS

WHAT A waspish speech Bertie Ahern made when launching former junior foreign minister Conor Lenihan’s biography, Albert Reynolds, Risk Taker for Peace, last week. Apparently seething with indignation, according to... Read more »
Lord Mountbatten

Affairs of the Nation

BATTLE ROYAL: LORD LOUIS’S DIARIES

THE BRITISH government is engaged in a battle royal to conceal the historical papers of the queen’s uncle and former navy admiral, Lord Louis Mountbatten. Having granted £4m to Southampton... Read more »
Bono Book Award Gold trophy Award

Affairs of the Nation

ANNUAL 2021: GOLDHAWK’S AWARDS FOR THE PASSING PARADE 2021

Declan Kelly THE 2021 Crisis Management Award of the Year goes to Dancing Declan Kelly – the former head honcho of Teneo – for his smooth handling of the controversy... Read more »
Punchestown 2

Pillars of Society

Leo Varadkar, interviewed under caution by gardaí, hasn’t done Fine Gael – the so-called party of probity – any favours.

Pillars of Society

ANNUAL 2021: PROFILE – IS VARADKAR HEADING FOR BRUSSELS?

This Christmas, Matt Barrett might consider giving his partner a special advent calendar so that, every morning when Leo Varadkar awakes, he can tear... Read more »

Fit to Print?

Joe Brolly

Fit to Print?

THE ‘SINDO’ AND ITS NORTHERN EDITION

SUNDAY TIMES scribe John Burns emphasised the dilemma of a southern newspaper – the Sunday Independent’s newly launched northern edition — trying to appeal to both sides of the divide... Read more »
Dún Laoghaire Pat Leahy Cormac Lucey John Cooney Irish Journalism Awards Steve Aiken Anton Savage John Downing Lucinda Creighton Marina Sologub Eilis O'Hanlon Ian Kehoe Danny McConnell Sindo O'Connor Mediahuis Stephen Collins Book Justine McCarthy Rewriting the Troubles Lynn Ruane Sinn Féin

Fit to Print?

GERRY ADAMS’S ACTIONS

CONFUSION SURROUNDS the settlement between Gerry Adams and the Sunday World following the tabloid’s apology for claiming in 2015 that the then Sinn Féin president met former IRA man Kevin... Read more »
Sinead McSweeney

Fit to Print?

TWEETS ACROSS THE BORDER 

IT’S COMFORTING to learn that the Queen’s Writ has found a means to reach across the border to the republic via Twitter. The courts in Northern Ireland have issued a ban preventing... Read more »
Eoghan Harris’s demise as Sindo columnist was linked more with the national question than the posting of any alleged bullying, sexist or misogynistic tweets.

Fit to Print?

ANNUAL 2021: PRINT – MEDIA SANS HARRIS AND O’BRIEN

SUNDAY INDEPENDENT trumpet, Eoghan Harris’s public shaming and downfall, together with an improved financial performance at some of Ireland’s leading media businesses, dominated the past year. Meanwhile, billionaire Denis O’Brien... Read more »
Punchestown 2

Last Refuge

Michael Collins

Last Refuge

MOVING STATUES AND THE BIG FELLA

AN TAOISEACH Micheál Martin’s enthusiasm for the memory of Michael Collins, in particular his support for the erection of a statue commemorating the centenary of his death next year, is... Read more »
Micheál Martin

Last Refuge

ANNUAL 2021: GOVERNMENT – WHO BELIEVES THE POLLS?

2021 should have been the year that the somewhat artificial coalition – cobbled together to prevent rather than create a change of government – bedded itself in after nearly a... Read more »
Mary Lou McDonald won’t repeat the ‘too few candidates’ error of the last election, but the issue of potential coalition partners is a tricky one.

Last Refuge

ANNUAL 2021: OPPOSITION – MARY LOU FOR TAOISEACH?

If 2020 was the year of the historic breakthrough for Sinn Féin, when it surpassed all other parties in terms of first preference votes, 2021 saw the party solidify its... Read more »
Catherine Murphy

Last Refuge

ANNUAL 2021: LABOUR/INDEPENDENTS/TROTS – BOUTIQUE LEFT IS UNDER THREAT

As they strive for re-election, Ireland’s smaller parties and Independents face broadly two sorts of general election: there is the sleepy type of election after which nobody expects much to... Read more »

Last Refuge

FLANAGAN FEUDS WITH COVENEY

IT’S GETTING hard to track the number of criticisms that former foreign minister Charlie Flanagan has levelled at his successor Simon Coveney in the past six months or so. Charlie... Read more »

Hush Hush

George Nkencho

Hush Hush

GEORGE NKENCHO: GSOC’S HIGH STAKES

THERE IS a lot riding on the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission’s (Gsoc) investigation into the killing of George Nkencho by a garda officer as his family have questioned not only... Read more »

Wigs on the Green

James Geoghegan

Wigs on the Green

ANNUAL 2021: WIGS ON THE GREEN – SUPREME JOUST FOR TOP JOB

This year, it seems that we will have to put up with a post-Christmas surge and the more traditional pre-festivities rush of that seemingly never-ending plague. We are, of course,... Read more »

Foreign Frolics

Joe Biden

Foreign Frolics

ANNUAL 2021: FOREIGN FROLICS – IRELAND: BEST BOY IN THE CLASS – AGAIN

MUCH THE same unresolved issues dominated this year as last with Covid, Brexit, Trump and his successor, the rise of EU militarism and increasing tensions between the west and China.... Read more »

Clerical Errors

Archbishop Eamon Martin

Clerical Errors

ANNUAL 2021: CLERICAL ERRORS – PRIMATE VS PRESIDENT

Eamon Martin, Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, was doing well in 2021 until he fumbled the ball by consenting to an ecumenical service in Armagh’s Protestant... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Miriam O'Callaghan

The Hot Air Brigade

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Before this week, I hadn’t travelled by ferry for years. But the entire future of our planet is at stake – and we are all being told, constantly, that we... Read more »

High Society

Vogue Williams

High Society

VOGUE’S IRISH MILLIONAIRE PARTNER

VOGUE WILLIAMS is ending the year on a high, announcing that a third baby is on the way for the influencer-broadcaster-entrepreneur-socialite and her loaded hubby, Matthew Spencer. Having been caught... Read more »
Consuelo O’Connor

High Society

MAKTOUM FOUNDATION FINANCES

WITH EX-PREZ Mary Robinson in the spotlight following her COP 26 criticisms, it is interesting to note that the accounts have just been filed for the Al Maktoum Foundation, which... Read more »
Tom Cooney

High Society

GEORGIAN SOCIETY’S PANDEMIC PERFORMANCE

PLANS ARE being made for the annual Christmas party of the Irish Georgian Society (IGS) in its City Assembly House headquarters on South William Street, D2, on December 4. No... Read more »
Maura Higgins

High Society

ANNUAL 2021: HIGH SOCIETY – FROM INFLUENCERS TO LUXURY LOOS

SOME THINGS don’t change and this year the rich got richer and there was a notable upsurge in spending on luxury items in Ireland, as all those Covid-19 savings were... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

Sinéad Moriarty

Behind the Scenes

FILLING THE ARTS COUNCIL

WITH THE terms about to expire for half a dozen members of the Arts Council, minister Catherine Martin will be preparing to unveil the new faces next month and, in... Read more »
Susan Bergin Marlowe Mullingar Film Studio RTÉ Self-Employment

Behind the Scenes

CECELIA’S COMPANIES

SUPER SCRIBBLER Cecelia Ahern is set to make yet more dosh, with Nicole Kidman having signed up to produce a TV series based on the novelist’s 2018 anthology, Roar. In... Read more »
Catherine Martin

Behind the Scenes

ANNUAL 2021: BEHIND THE SCENES – 2021: MONEY, MONEY, MONEY

THE SECOND year of the pandemic brought its own problems to the arts and culture sectors but money was not one of them. Truckloads of dosh were delivered to the... Read more »

Sport of Kings

Mikey Sheehy

Sport of Kings

SANGRIA AT DUNDALK

THERE WAS confusion at Dundalk recently after jockey Mikey Sheehy steered home the Joseph O’Brien-trained Sangria to victory. Sheehy, one of the leading apprentice jockeys in the country, had ridden... Read more »
Luke Comer

Sport of Kings

COMER’S BLOODLINES

LUKE COMER’S ambitious breeding and training endeavours have finally borne some low-hanging fruit after his homebred four-year-old colt, Bradesco, won at Dundalk last week.  The victory was significant for Comer... Read more »
Thomand O’Mara Peter Keatley Timmy Hyde Coolmore All About Sunday Colin Keane Ronan Whelan JP McManus Jessica Harrington Dundalk Racecourse Paul Hensey Irish National Hunt Horse-racing Doping Paddy Walsh Tom Kelly Suspension

Sport of Kings

FITZGERALD’S BAD WEEK

AINTREE GRAND National sponsor, diagnostics company Randox, has been in the news for the wrong reasons as a result of landing lucrative Covid testing contracts in the UK and its... Read more »
David Hyland

Sport of Kings

HYLAND HOPS INTO SADDLE

THE ASSOCIATION of Irish Racehorse Owners (AIRO) held its annual flat awards on the final day of the season at Naas recently, but the event was most notable for the... Read more »

Reviews

Hold my drink

Podcasts

HOLD MY DRINK

SITTING AS it does among the more serious and polished podcasts of Bauer Media Audio’s radio shows (Newstalk, Today FM, 98FM, etc), Hold My Drink qualifies as a particularly curious... Read more »

Moneybags

Colin Hunt

Moneybags

ANNUAL 2021: MONEYBAGS – WHICH SHARES ARE PRIMED FOR POST-PANDEMIC BOOST?

A S THE panic associated with the global pandemic begins to ease off, investors are hoping that the world will be able to function more or less normally, with relatively... Read more »
Ger Rabbette deserves the lion’s share of the credit for Uniphar almost doubling its share price in consecutive years, resulting in a valuation of €1.27bn.

Moneybags

ANNUAL 2021: MONEYBAGS – WINNERS AND LOSERS IN 2021

THE STOCK market and share prices over the past two years have been totally dominated by the pandemic and, not surprisingly, some of the best and worst performers appear in... Read more »
Albert Manifold’s decision to lead CRH’s retreat from emerging markets has raised eyebrows – as has his hefty pay package.

Moneybags

ANNUAL 2021: MONEYBAGS – ALBERT MANIFOLD’S U-TURN AT CRH

ALBERT MANIFOLD has been in charge (officially) at CRH since 2014 and has been remarkably well paid during that time. Some investors say he has earned the big bucks but,... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

Niall Fortune

The Hot Water Brigade

NIALL FORTUNE’S ‘DEMISE’

NIALL FORTUNE channelled his inner Mark Twain last week, chortling that “reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated”. He was referring to a welter of news reports about the... Read more »
La Cave

The Hot Water Brigade

LA CAVE’S ‘GNAW MARKS’

THE LONG-established French bistro style restaurant La Cave, off Dublin’s Grafton Street, has a loyal troop of followers and has become something of an institution down the years, thanks to... Read more »
Adam Mooney

The Hot Water Brigade

ADAM MOONEY’S FADING TAN

AS PEOPLE are familiar with by now, pandemics don’t treat everyone equally and some business sectors have felt more pain than others. It will not come as too much of... Read more »
Declan Kelly

Brief Cases

ANNUAL 2021: BRIEF CASES – HIGHS AND LOWS IN 2021

MORE THAN a year and a half of Covid-19 restrictions haven’t triggered the forecast tsunami of commercial collapses and liquidations, but that doesn’t mean it’s been all plain sailing for... Read more »