Affairs of the Nation

Liam Kavanagh

Affairs of the Nation

WHAT PRICE THE IRISH TIMES?

“DELIGHT” was expressed by The Irish Times’ editor and managing director, Kevin O’Sullivan and Liam Kavanagh respectively, in a recent message to staff announcing that the newspaper had secured “substantial... Read more »
ibrahim-halawa

Affairs of the Nation

HALAWA INTERNED IN CAIRO

IT is now clear that the Egyptian government has effectively interned Ibrahim Halawa, with the latest adjournment of his trial and nearly 500 others being the 13th postponement since his... Read more »
Derek Sherwin

Affairs of the Nation

PR OWN GOALS IN SOUTH DUBLIN

FOR A school to be involved in one public controversy is unfortunate, two starts to look like carelessness. The Harold School in Glasthule, south County Dublin, has been hit by... Read more »

Affairs of the Nation

Maureen O’Sullivan

Affairs of the Nation

TONY GREGORY’S LEGACY

WAS it for this that Tony Gregory created a movement of the wretched of the inner city? So that Maureen O’Sullivan could become Ceann Comhairle with a guaranteed double term... Read more »
Nora Khaldi

Affairs of the Nation

NORA KHALDI’S BACKERS

HOT SHOT entrepreneur Nora Khaldi has been generating plenty of headlines recently, as a result of securing one of the ten places available at the ‘TEDx Talks’ final to be... Read more »
tim-caffrey

Affairs of the Nation

Tim Caffrey’s Departure

FAREWELL then to former Longford County Council (LCC) boss, Tim Caffrey, who retired earlier this month. Last October, Caffrey was found by ethics watchdog SIPO to have acted negligently “to... Read more »
John Grayken

Affairs of the Nation

JOHN GRAYKEN: THE IRISH VULTURE

THE LATEST Forbes list of billionaires included assorted ‘Irish’ moneybags who obtained citizenship here under the now defunct passport-for-sale scheme in the late 1990s, the most interesting of whom is... Read more »
Jerry Buttimer

Affairs of the Nation

FICKLE FG SENATORS

POLITICAL reform is a moveable feast and the decision of several Fine Gael TDs who lost their seats at the election to now go for the Seanad reflects the deep... Read more »
Punchestown 2

Pillars of Society

Mary Lou McDonald

Pillars of Society

Mary Lou McDonald

HAS Sinn Féin vice-president Mary Lou McDonald’s time arrived at last, or is she destined to be forever the bridesmaid? Gerry Adams’ public broadcasting... Read more »

The Young Bloods

Lorraine Higgins

The Young Bloods

Lorraine Higgins

THE dismal electoral record of Senator Lorraine Higgins continued at last month’s general election, after she failed to win a seat for Labour in... Read more »

Fit to Print?

fionnan-sheehan

Fit to Print?

(S)INDO ELECTION TARGETS

THE Sunday and Irish Independent had a bad election in so far as their ‘side’ lost, but they derived some compensation hits against selected targets at a lower level. The... Read more »
George Hook

Fit to Print?

HOOK CRASH TACKLES SEXTON

DON’T mess with George Hook if you want a quiet life seems to be the message from someone who can certainly dish it out himself, but who also has a... Read more »
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Fit to Print?

UL Ponders Libel Action

UNIVERSITY of Limerick president and vice-president, Don Barry and Paul McCutcheon respectively, are weighing up the unpalatable prospect of backing down from the Limerick Leader, against whom the college had... Read more »
Punchestown 2

Last Refuge

enda-kenny01

Last Refuge

KENNY TO FORCE FF COALITION

ENDA KENNY is determined to drag Fianna Fáil into coalition government – by any other name – and will threaten a general election if Micheál Martin continues to refuse. This... Read more »
simon-coveney

Last Refuge

Kenny to Survive?

IS Enda Kenny really a dead duck? Enda may not be Francois Mitterrand or Winston Churchill but he is one of the canniest political operators in the business and the... Read more »

Last Refuge

PARTIES’ (MIS)FORTUNES

THE new Dáil arithmetic occupied the minds of various parties’ leaders and handlers post-election, but attention quickly turned to the knock-on effects on party finances. Fianna Fáil is in line... Read more »
joan-burton

Last Refuge

LABOUR MINISTERS SURVIVE BLOODBATH

THE most fascinating statistic in the entrails of Labour’s general election massacre is that out of the seven surviving TDs, no less than four are ministers (out of a total... Read more »

Bog Cuttings

bog cuttings

Bog Cuttings

Bog Cuttings

CLIMBED CITY CENTRE CHRISTMAS TREE A 22-YEAR-old man climbed the Christmas tree in Derry city centre while ‘baring his rear’ to passers by. Phillip O’Donnell, of Baldrick Crescent, pleaded guilty... Read more »

Bird's Eye View

michelle-gildernew

Bird's Eye View

ABORTION UNITES TAIGUES AND DUP

ENDA Kenny told the Irish Examiner in January that if Fine Gael were returned to power a referendum on the Eighth Amendment would take place ‘over the next couple of... Read more »

Beyond the Pale

tom-coughlan

Beyond the Pale

THE RETURN OF TOM COUGHLAN

LITTLE has been heard in recent years from the colourful former owner of Cork City Football Club and former Progressive Democrat candidate, Tom Coughlan, who also built up substantial property... Read more »

The Hot Air Brigade

Pippa O’Connor-Ormond

The Hot Air Brigade

The Hot Air Brigade

She is beautiful, but not intimidating. She is impeccably groomed but wears mostly high street. She’s someone that women think they can almost emulate. Sarah Caden on Pippa O’Connor-Ormond, Sunday... Read more »

High Society

fiona-naughton

High Society

MARTIN NAUGHTON’S FOUNDATION

THE LATEST Forbes list of billionaires estimates Martin ‘Glen Dimplex’ Naughton’s wealth at $1.6bn – the only Irish-based moneybags on the list, with the likes of Denis O’Brien and Dermot... Read more »
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High Society

Noel O’Callaghan’s Expansion

WEALTHY property developer-turned-hotelier, Noel O’Callaghan, generated plenty of headlines during his time as a director of both Bord Fáilte and CIE in the 1990s, thanks to assorted controversies. He is... Read more »
johnnie-cooke

High Society

JOHNNIE COOKE’S NEW RECIPE

THE NEW restaurant at Brown Thomas has been officially launched and the man brought in to spice things up is Goldhawk’s old pal, Johnnie Cooke. For a handy €50 a... Read more »

Behind the Scenes

thomas-lynch

Behind the Scenes

OPERA IRELAND’S FINAL SHOW

STRANGE GOINGS-ON at the defunct Opera Ireland, where a skip-load of documents have just been filed in the Companies Registration Office in order to have the entity restored to the... Read more »
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Behind the Scenes

COUNCIL’S “CONCERN”

WHILE THE backlash against the Abbey Theatre’s testosterone-fuelled 1916 centenary programme – ‘Waking The Nation’ – was well-ventilated, it turns out that the members of the Arts Council had their... Read more »
siun-ni-raghallaigh

Behind the Scenes

LIGHTS, CAMERA, BUBBLE

TO ALL appearances, it’s full steam ahead for John Kelleher, Siún ní Raghallaigh and Ossie Kilkenny’s Troy Studios play at the former Dell plant in Limerick, whether or not Michael... Read more »

Sport of Kings

john-moloney

Sport of Kings

MEDIA RIGHT AND WRONGS

THE HOT TOPIC of media rights within Irish racing is set to continue as a divisive factor within John Moloney’s Association of Irish Racecourses (AIR). The retired Galway racecourse manager... Read more »

Sport of Kings

CHELTENHAM CHOICES

WITH THE annual Irish pilgrimage to the Mecca of national hunt racing that is Cheltenham set to begin next week, Goldhawk has the onerous task of marking the festival card... Read more »
bernard-caldwell

Sport of Kings

NEW TRACK FOR 2016 AWARDS

AFTER CRITICISM regarding the lack of balance on the judging panel handing out the cash prizes and gongs at the Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum-sponsored Godolphin Stable Staff Awards last year... Read more »
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Sport of Kings

Secret Gallops

SECRECY continues to surround the traditional after racing gallops held last week at the state-owned Leopardstown racecourse for horses engaged to run at Cheltenham. While racetracks in England are more... Read more »

Reviews

Reviews

JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK

GATE THEATRE WHEN IT comes to tenement life in 1920s Dublin, Thomas Hobbes nailed it: poor, nasty, brutish and short. That’s the dominant aesthetic in the Gate Theatre’s grim production,... Read more »

Books

THIS LIVING AND IMMORTAL THING

AUSTIN DUFFY (GRANTA) THE TITLE of this debut novel refers to the remarkable effort cancer cells give to growing and multiplying. Duffy’s story opens with the narrator’s compassionate account of... Read more »
kevin-cardiff

Books

RECAP: Inside Ireland’s Financial Crisis

Kevin Cardiff  (The Liffey Press) KEVIN CARDIFF was a senior mandarin at the Department of Finance from 2006 to 2010 and secretary general from 2010 to February 2012 – a... Read more »

Moneybags

ivan-menezes

Moneybags

Only takeover talk justifies Diageo’s rating

SINCE Ivan Menezes got the top job at Diageo in July 2013, taking over the reins from the hugely successful Paul Walsh, the chief executive has failed to impress. Rather... Read more »
aidan-heavey

Moneybags

What went wrong at Tullow Oil?

OVER the past 20 years, Aidan Heavey has adopted a deliberate strategy of exposing Tullow Oil to the high risk end of the oil and gas industry, with a huge... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

joe-revington

The Hot Water Brigade

Tax Judgment For Labour Lawyer

SPARE A THOUGHT for Joe Revington, a senior counsel and a former advisor to Dick Spring, who has recently fallen foul of the Taxman. The Revenue has just landed the... Read more »
karl-mulvee

The Hot Water Brigade

Karl Mulvee Gets Squeezed

DUBLIN businessman Karl Mulvee has been adept at generating positive press for his juicing business, Pure Green, although this wasn’t enough to make the business a success and the company... Read more »
stephen-cheung

The Hot Water Brigade

Stephen Cheung’s Conviction

LOOKS like the game is up for former liquidator Stephen Cheung, who was accused of stealing around €450,000 from various companies he was the liquidator of over a period from... Read more »
oisin-hanrahan

The Hot Water Brigade

Oisin Hanrahan’s Settlement

HIGHFLYING US-based businessman Oisin Hanrahan has one less legal squabble to worry about now that a pesky court case taken against him and the company he founded, Handy, has been... Read more »

The Hot Water Brigade

Eversheds Ponders Libel Action

EVERSHEDS, the Dublin-based law firm, is the latest to join the lengthy list of entities that have recently lodged legal proceedings against supermarket giant, Dunnes Stores, over alleged bad debts.... Read more »
david-coleman

The Hot Water Brigade

David Coleman’s Appeal

SOME bad news for solicitor and property developer David Coleman, a founding partner in the well-known law firm, Lavelle Coleman, which was split up in 2014. Coleman, who is now... Read more »
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The Hot Water Brigade

Giraffe’s Neck in the Sand

GIRAFFE Childcare – the company behind crèche chain, Giraffe, which featured in the RTE exposé on crèches in 2013 – has taken its eye off the ball, as the company... Read more »
brian-walsh

The Hot Water Brigade

Brian Walsh’s Next Move

FORMER Fine Gael TD Brian Walsh resigned his seat for Galway West in January on the grounds of ill-health and is presumably taking things at a slower pace these days.... Read more »