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SUE GRAY STILL TO RUN UK?

Date: March 8, 2023 -

THE MOST powerful woman in Britain – according to various British sources – is Sue Gray and she has now emerged as British Labour Party leader Keir Starmer’s chief of staff. This, some say, is a sure sign that the permanent UK government and its intelligence eyes are convinced Labour will be in power before… Read more »

PROFILE: EDWARD HORGAN

Date: March 8, 2023 -

RECENTLY ACQUITTED of criminal damage to a US navy warplane in Shannon Airport six years ago, the 77-year-old ex-military officer, commandant Edward Horgan, must be one of the most resilient (and formidable) anti-establishment campaigners Ireland has seen for many years. He has been in and out of Irish courts and Garda holding cells down the… Read more »

YOUNG BLOODS: NAOMI O’LEARY

Date: March 8, 2023 -

THERE’S A new breed of journalist stalking the land – confident, ambitious and committed, with their eyes set firmly on the future. Naomi O’Leary, Europe correspondent of the Irish Times, shines out as one of the brightest stars. As O’Leary clearly knows, modern journalism is as much concerned with shaping opinion as with the mere… Read more »

LITTLE MUSEUM, BIG BRANDS

Date: March 8, 2023 -

CLEVER TREVOR WHITE, director of the Little Museum of Dublin, exudes ethical concern for children, climate and other issues as manifest in various ways. Last September White commissioned Irish women’s history academic, Dr Mary McAuliffe, to deliver lectures at the museum on people such as trade union activist Margaret Skinnider and Ladies Land League founder… Read more »

MODEST ANNE HARRIS

Date: March 8, 2023 -

THE HEROISM attributed to TD Catherine Murphy by Anne Harris in the Irish Times this week was a study in selfless endeavour untainted by any egotism or self-interest by the writer. So eager was Harris to bathe Murphy in adulation for her critique of Denis O’Brien that – in reference to the allegations made about… Read more »

BRENDAN MULLIN SCORES

Date: March 8, 2023 -

INTERESTING TO see a judgment for the sum of €163,000 being registered against a property development company by one Brendan Mullin – former Ireland and Lions star outside centre. The last year has been a tricky one for Mullin, who was capped 55 times for his country before moving into the financial services sector, as… Read more »

SOC DEMS LEADER TO LOSE SEAT?

Date: March 8, 2023 -

THE BIG bounce that new Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns gave the party – up five points to 9% – says something about the way in which the two mesdames of Irish politics, Róisín Shortall and Catherine Murphy, may have been holding back the party. In fact, back in 2020 the two women had promised… Read more »

ARTS COUNCIL EXIT

Date: March 8, 2023 -

THERE WERE some significant developments in the Arts Council last month, including the sudden exit of council officer Rachel West, probably best known for her stint as head of theatre on 70 Merrion Square. While her departure is not linked to any wider staff problems in the council, it comes at a time when the… Read more »

PRINCE KHALED’S IRISH JET

Date: March 8, 2023 -

GOLDHAWK WAS interested to see that a colourful Saudi prince, Khaled, who owns the most expensive house in the UK, is currently embroiled in litigation with a company registered in Dublin. Prince Khaled bin Sultan al-Saud is a beneficial owner of a mansion on four acres of Regent’s Park called The Holme, which he picked… Read more »

LAUREN WHELAN’S MANAGERS

Date: March 8, 2023 -

RTÉ WAS undoubtedly hoping to attract some of TikTok star Lauren Whelan’s 1.6 million followers when it posted her off to Donegal to acquire the cúpla focal with Amanda Brunker, Des Cahill, Fred Cooke and Oisín Mullin. This was good news for the influencer’s management team, Sarah Kiernan and Conor Cochrane. The eclectic quintet are… Read more »

TRICOLOURS AND THE FAR RIGHT

Date: March 8, 2023 -

SOME OF the boneheads running the Irish far-right scene have stumbled on the contradictions of cosying up to right-wing extremists and criminals from Blighty such as Tommy Robinson – real name, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. The self-professed loyalist has supported British paratroopers involved in Bloody Sunday and has served prison sentences for various offences including stalking, fraud… Read more »

VOL. 41 NO. 05

Date: March 8, 2023 -

CONSULATE’S OSCAR PERFORMANCE

Date: March 8, 2023 -

THERE IS one possible result at Sunday’s Oscars that may not be top of the wish list for film funding agency Screen Ireland. While the media coverage has focused on The Banshees of Inisherin and An Cailín Ciúin, there has been relatively scant regard afforded to the production nominated in the Oscar’s best short film… Read more »

ROBERT QUIRKE’S MALTESE MOOLAH

Date: March 8, 2023 -

THE Comptroller and Auditor General’s scathing report into the farce surrounding HSE spending on ventilators in the early days of the Covid pandemic reminded Goldhawk of his old pal, Robert Quirke, who is currently happily ensconced in Malta. The Westmeath native owns a number of firms but surely the most interesting is Roqu Media International… Read more »

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Date: March 8, 2023 -

WAR IN UKRAINE Dear Editor, I want to say that the article you did on the war in Ukraine was excellent. There are no media outlets saying it as it is. This ban on talking about the war in any other terms than the current narrative is bordering on fascism. Dare I say the word…. Read more »

BURNING ISSUE

Date: March 8, 2023 -

If an outsider were to land in rural Ireland for the first time in recent weeks, what would be their enduring impression of the ‘emerald isle’? Most likely, they would conclude that many Irish people hate nature and are actively trying to wipe out what little remains of our indigenous flora and fauna. From late… Read more »

SWIFT JUSTICE?

Date: March 8, 2023 -

FOLLOWING THE shooting of detective chief inspector John Caldwell at Omagh last month, PSNI chief constable Simon Byrne was quite bullish in his claims of how the PSNI would bring the killers to “swift justice”. For some years now the mantra in media, north and south, is that dissident IRA groups have been thoroughly infiltrated… Read more »

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Date: March 8, 2023 -

When Cairns’ name is mentioned, the first things I always hear – from people of all political affiliations – are almost effusively positive sentiments; “I love her!”, “she’s so great!”, “what a boss!”. These feelings she evokes are significant. Una Mullally on Holly Cairns, Irish Times Holly for Taoiseach. It’s not as crazy as you… Read more »

BIG FLY IN THE WINDSOR SOUP

Date: March 8, 2023 -

AS FAR as the British are concerned, it’s a done deal. The choreography worked perfectly. EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen came to Windsor rather than prime minister Rishi Sunak having to go to Brussels. One wag said if they’d called the Northern Ireland Protocol the ‘Winston Churchill Protocol’ in 2020 there’d never have… Read more »

GREEN PARTY DROPS TRIPLE LOCK

Date: March 8, 2023 -

THE FIANNA FÁIL leader and Tánaiste, Micheál Martin, will be pleased with Cabinet colleague Eamon Ryan, who recently persuaded his now-domesticated Green Party members to adapt to modern realities – ie the need to clear the decks for future wars with anti-western forces that threaten EU interests in particular parts of the globe. In turn,… Read more »

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S NUCLEAR RECORD

Date: March 8, 2023 -

THE 2023 Conference on Disarmament in Geneva last month heard Tánaiste and foreign affairs minister Micheál Martin denounce Russia for its recent pronouncements on nuclear weapons. Days earlier Martin boasted: “Our efforts to secure international peace at both the official and political levels were recognised when Ireland, as the long-standing champion of nuclear non-proliferation, was… Read more »

SINN FÉIN FLEES TO CENTRE

Date: March 8, 2023 -

A RECENT statement by left-wing TDs and senators, excluding Sinn Féin, in the Irish Times made the ever so provocative suggestion that Ireland should use its neutral status to call for a ceasefire and peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. The reaction from those who, in the first place, do not accept that Ireland’s neutrality… Read more »

‘IRISH TIMES’ CENSORSHIP

Date: March 8, 2023 -

THE RECENT statement to the Irish Times from various TDs and senators proposing a peace dialogue in Ukraine was responded to by a sack full of letters, which were overwhelmingly hostile. The paper of reference made sure to clear the decks for this most important polemic and published reams of war-like correspondence demanding there be… Read more »

EILIS O’HANLON’S ‘INTERNALISED LOATHING’

Date: March 8, 2023 -

THE JOINT committee on children, equality, disability, integration and youth held a discussion on “integration and refugee issues” in the Dáil last month, which attracted the malign attention of some right-wing social media warriors, as well as Eilis O’Hanlon. The seven TDs and five senators in attendance were joined by representatives from Le Chéile; Kurshiv… Read more »

DANA V VIRGIN MEDIA

Date: March 8, 2023 -

ONE OF the last defamation actions in the raft of such cases undertaken by Dana following the acquittal on all charges of child abuse against her brother, John Brown, in 2014 is now being sorted in front of a High Court judge. When reference was made to the charges against Brown in a TV3 programme… Read more »

‘GOUGING’ THE EARTH

Date: March 8, 2023 -

‘Writing the Earth’ is the catchy title of a programme starting this week at the Irish Writers’ Centre in Dublin, which brings writers and scientists together to explore climate and geoscience. ‘Gouging the Earth’ might have been a more apt title in light of the sponsor and collaborator for this event. The Irish Centre for… Read more »

BERNARD LOONEY’S CLIMATE FIGHT

Date: March 8, 2023 -

The Healy-Raes aren’t the only famous Kerry men with a knack for spouting nonsense on climate. The head of oil giant BP, Bernard Looney, who is originally from Kenmare, warned last week that failing to invest enough in fossil fuels could undermine the shift to green energy. That’s right. As a Bloomberg headline put it:… Read more »

JEANNE BAARS’ BELLAIR SALE

Date: March 8, 2023 -

GOLDHAWK NOTES that the sprawling Bellair Estate outside Ballycumber village in Co Offaly has been sold, a year after coming on the market with a juicy €5m price tag. Bellair was acquired many moons ago by Cecil Baars, who died in 2005 having established a substantial dairy farm operation and cheese-making plant on the lands,… Read more »

DOMINI KEMP’S NEW RECIPE

Date: March 8, 2023 -

THE OPENING of a new Rathmines restaurant called Lottie’s on the site of Fiona McHugh’s shuttered Lenehans eatery is the second venture for Domini Kemp’s Valence Hospitality group, where she has been joined by a partner with deep pockets, Brian Montague (see The Phoenix 14/1/22). Not that Domini hasn’t a few bob herself, judging by… Read more »

THE MORANS CROSS THEIR FINGERS

Date: March 8, 2023 -

WITH CHELTENHAM kicking off next week, all those big-spending owners will again battle it out to bag even the one winner that might justify the eye-watering sums being spent on jumps horses these days. Some have more on the line than others. Punters are accustomed to seeing the likes of Rich Ricci, JP McManus, Michael… Read more »

DENIS HOGAN’S GAMBLE

Date: March 8, 2023 -

IT IS three years since that controversial race in Dundalk in 2020 when the Denis Hogan-trained stable mates Tony the Gent and Yuften finished first and second in a claiming race. The unusual betting trends associated with that race and the contrasting rides given to each horse sparked an investigation by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory… Read more »

REUBEN BROTHERS CLOSING IN

Date: March 8, 2023 -

THE NEWS that UK outfit Arena Racing Company (ARC) is in advanced negotiations to buy Dundalk racecourse could have interesting implications for the landscape of Irish racecourses if the deal goes through. Owned by billionaire brothers Simon and David Reuben, ARC operates 16 turf and all-weather racecourses in the UK including Doncaster, the home of… Read more »

O’BRIEN’S AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURE

Date: March 8, 2023 -

HAVING PLUNDERED two of Australia’s most iconic races – the Melbourne Cup and the Cox Plate – in recent years, Joseph O’Brien has shipped a strong team down under for the potentially lucrative Autumn Racing Carnival in Sydney. O’Brien’s previous exploits in Australia have proved most rewarding (far more so than his illustrious father, Aidan… Read more »

THE DRY – RTÉ ONE

Date: March 8, 2023 -

AS THE nepo-baby debate continues online, it’s ironic that RTÉ’s latest comedy-drama, The Dry, arrives courtesy of writer Nancy Harris, scion of one-time Sindo royalty Anne and Eoghan Harris. While a satirical farce about Eoghan’s Twitter antics could potentially be box office, RTÉ viewers have had to settle for The Dry, a middling comedy-drama about… Read more »

TERRY MCMAHON’S BROADSIDE

Date: March 8, 2023 -

IN THE glut of recent Oscars-inspired media coverage of Irish cinema, fans of Goldhawk will be familiar with the absence of references to Irish performers’ battle to get the same standard of contracts as non-Irish actors in productions here (see The Phoenix 10/2/23). Striding into the fray last week, however, came Terry McMahon. The writer… Read more »

MALIN CORP’S SHARES CONTINUE TO BE UNDERRATED BY MARKET

Date: March 8, 2023 -

DARRAGH LYONS has the valuable quality, as far as Malin Corp shareholders are concerned, of being boring. After the rollercoaster ride during Kelly Martin’s reign, which ended six years ago, a safe pair of hands is just what the doctor ordered. Moreover, Lyons has nursed Malin’s portfolio with no little skill and intelligence – something… Read more »