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ANOTHER SCRAP AT THE GPO

Date: July 10, 2025 -

HAS MICHEÁL MARTIN jumped the mauser, so to speak, with his statement in advance of the Government’s proposals, and also Sinn Féin’s, on the redevelopment of the historic GPO? Martin had no need to spell out the private enterprise element of the Government’s intentions here but he insisted on stating that the transformed GPO would… Read more »

MI6 BOSS’S NAZI GRANDAD

Date: July 10, 2025 -

Britain’s overseas intelligence service, MI6, has announced the appointment of its new chief, Blaise Metreweli. Aged 47, she is the first woman to lead the organisation in its 116-year history. Ms M has an intriguing family background, as had her predecessor, Richard Moore. In Moore’s case, his grandfather, Jack Buckley, was an IRA veteran of… Read more »

IRISH RIGHT’S FOREIGN FRIENDS

Date: July 10, 2025 -

THE DEBATE about whether the Alternative for Germany (AfD) should be banned has intensified. A visit by prominent National Party (NP) member Keith Woods (the pseudonym of Keith O’Brien from Roscommon) to Potsdam to meet with AfD representatives saw him blunder into this controversy. In Germany’s general election in February the AfD garnered 20.8% of… Read more »

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Date: July 10, 2025 -

I said, Geldof, this is gonna hurt but it’ll help, and scratched his back like a maniac. It gave him a sexual identity with the girls. BP Fallon, who else? Irish Independent Obviously, I couldn’t go on that protest, but I painted every single placard that was used in that protest that day. Joe Duffy… Read more »

ALAN CLANCY’S HOSPITALITY HEADACHES

Date: July 10, 2025 -

WHAT ON Earth is going on with Alan ‘House’ Clancy’s sprawling bar and club empire? Having attracted the attention of the dreaded taxman (see The Phoenix 13/6/25), which petitioned the High Court to wind up one of his loss-making vehicles – Honsun Ltd – more Clancy operations have now fallen foul of the Revenue Commissioners…. Read more »

ÁRAS CANDIDATES CLIMATE CHECK

Date: July 10, 2025 -

Environmentalists may have breathed a small sigh of relief at Joe Duffy’s announcement last weekend that he would not be running for the presidency. Only a small sigh, mind you, as the crowded field of prospective candidates is still riddled with climate sceptics and mockers of environmentalism. Duffy repeatedly used his influential Liveline platform to… Read more »

SEAN SWEENEY’S MOTOR

Date: July 10, 2025 -

Goldhawk was bemused to read that Sean Sweeney, the new head of Dublin’s long-awaited MetroLink, makes the two-minute journey from his home to his office by car. The New Zealander dislikes Dublin’s public transport, describing the Luas as “a great place to catch a cold”. Hopefully, before the opening of the MetroLink draws near, Sweeney… Read more »

ONE COMMUNITY, ONE VOICE

Date: July 10, 2025 -

OF DUP ministers in the Stormont executive, current education minister Paul Givan used to be northern nationalists’ bête noir. Many would say his abrupt Christmas cancellation of a Líofa grant for children to spend time in the Donegal Gaeltacht was the final straw that collapsed the executive in 2016. With the return of Stormont in… Read more »

HIROSHIMA, NAGASAKI, IRISH ROULETTE

Date: July 10, 2025 -

PERHAPS THE most unctuous words that Taoiseach Micheál Martin has ever uttered were delivered during his visit to Hiroshima last week, where he said: “I am going there in all solemnity to reflect our commitment to nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation.” He also said Ireland would continue to promote nuclear non-proliferation at the United Nations…. Read more »

UNAPPROVED BORDER ROAD

Date: July 10, 2025 -

SINN FÉIN TDs in Donegal, Pearse Doherty and Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, issued a mournful statement following last month’s High Court ruling in Belfast that quashed the Stormont executive’s long-awaited cross-border A5 upgrade. They described it as a “devastating blow for the communities we represent” and listed the reasons for the upgrade – “it will save… Read more »

PUSHING MICHEÁL MARTIN

Date: July 10, 2025 -

WHICH MISCHIEVOUS Fianna Fáil minister, TD or spin doctor dreamed up the story about Micheál Martin being pressured to go for the presidency and then pitched it to the Irish Mail on Sunday last weekend? Martin has made it clear, in word and deed, that he intends to become taoiseach for the third time –… Read more »

BACIK RETREATS FROM LEFT UNITY

Date: July 10, 2025 -

THE LABOUR PARTY appears to have backed off its initial proposal for left unity, touted originally in the form of a united left presidential candidate following the failure to create an alternative government after the general election. This was given extra impetus with the three-card trick dealt by card-sharp Michael Lowry, with his Government/opposition stunt,… Read more »

BBC AND KINCORA

Date: July 10, 2025 -

FOLLOWING THE Gerry Adams disaster, another distinction earned by the BBC in its coverage of the Troubles came with last month’s settlement of the case taken against the UK state by a resident of the notorious Kincora Boys Home in Belfast for an estimated six-figure sum plus legal costs. Former resident Gary Hoy sued the… Read more »

LEO’S LINE

Date: July 10, 2025 -

THE AAWRISH edition of the Sunday Times is usually kept on a tight editorial leash by the chaps (and gals) in London at London Bridge Street and Whitehall. So how come one of the new guest columnists in Dublin has been peddling a line that is definitely out of synch with HMG’s foreign policy at… Read more »

O’DONOVAN’S ‘ACTING DIRECTOR’

Date: July 10, 2025 -

THE LATEST Oireachtas outing featuring the antics at the Arts Council took place before Alan Kelly’s art and media committee earlier this month and proved suitably entertaining. Of most interest to Goldhawk was the mention of an “interim director” at 70 Merrion Square. The Arts Council and its woes were highlighted in two consecutive committee… Read more »

KAVANAGH’S POOL GAME

Date: July 10, 2025 -

CURRAGH BOSS Brian Kavanagh was one of the few “delighted with the number of runners” in the recent Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby – “the largest number there has been in recent years”. A field of 10 runners, with no less than six of them supplied by John Magnier and his Coolmore crew, ensured there… Read more »

WHIP (NOT) SMART

Date: July 10, 2025 -

GROUP ONE winning jockey Gary Carroll was left in the doldrums after his Royal Ascot victory aboard the Joe Murphy-trained Cercene in the Coronation Stakes. The whip review committee found Carroll guilty of hitting of his filly eight times inside the final furlong and imposed a £5,800 fine and 14-day suspension. Unsurprisingly, the hapless Carroll… Read more »

FAST CARS AND HORSES

Date: July 10, 2025 -

SOME HEAVY going on the tarmac for a couple of Irish jockeys recently. Four-time UK champion jockey Oisín Murphy was fined £70,000 and disqualified from driving for 20 months after the Kerryman pleaded guilty to driving his A Class Merc into a tree while over the prescribed alcohol limit. On the same day, Northern Irish… Read more »

WEXFORD’S NEW STAR

Date: July 10, 2025 -

THERE WILL be a new face at Wexford Festival Opera (WFO) next year following the appointment of Yank Suzanne Nance as the new executive director to replace Randall Shannon, who exited stage left in February this year after his initial contract ended. Nance’s arrival will mean that Ireland will have a bona fide musical power… Read more »

FLUTTER’S BETS OUTSIDE AMERICA LOOK LIKE LONG-SHOTS

Date: July 10, 2025 -

FLUTTER ENTERTAINMENT boss Peter Jackson continues to splash out around the globe rather than focus on the rapidly evolving US market, a strategy that ignores the logic that America is the market that offers by far the greatest potential to boost the bottom line in the short term. Nevertheless, Moneybags’s prediction almost 18 months ago… Read more »

C&C MOVING FROM FLAT TO FIZZY

Date: July 10, 2025 -

IN THE last five years the erratic C&C drinks business has boasted more CEOs than most companies experience in decades. The man in the hot seat now is Roger White and he has just published his first annual report, albeit covering 12 months where he had little impact whatsoever. The good news for White is… Read more »

BEER FACTORY FLOORED

Date: July 10, 2025 -

THE MOVE by the Revenue Commissioners to wind up Dublin Beer Factory Holdings Ltd (DBF) represents another setback for the backers here, including innovative Aussie bar owner and investor Geoff Waddell, founder of the Woolshed bar on Dublin’s Parnell Street. Waddell is one of the listed backers of DBF and was also company secretary here… Read more »

GEZIM IDRIZI’S FOOD FIGHT

Date: July 10, 2025 -

THE REVENUE Commissioners are heading to the High Court later this month to wind up two food companies that turn out to be owned by a familiar name – at least one familiar to Conor McGregor. Both Hoxha Foods Ltd and Gashi Foods Ltd are the subject of petitions from the taxman that are due… Read more »

JOHNNY LEVINS’S FORM

Date: July 10, 2025 -

RACEHORSE TRAINER Johnny Levins has called it a day here and is heading across the Irish Sea. His going away party may have been spoiled somewhat by the registering of a tiny judgment against Levins’s company by those spoilsports in the Revenue Commissioners. Johnny is a well-known figure in Irish racing and has trained over… Read more »

SENATORS POISED TO TAKE TEHRAN

Date: June 26, 2025 -

THE IRANIANS will be relieved that field marshal Gerard Craughwell will not now be implementing his threat to inflict immediate and terrible rhetoric on the mullahs, a threat the senator delivered in the latest of several bellicose speeches in recent months. However, tentative truce moves by Donald Trump may have saved the Tehran clerics from… Read more »

PROFILE: PAUL MURPHY

Date: June 26, 2025 -

PAUL MURPHY recently returned from his attempted relief mission to Gaza, prompting a boorish comment from former foreign minister Charlie Flanagan, who said the TD needed history and geography lessons. Recently elected as chair of the Irish Red Cross, Flanagan quickly apologised for describing Murphy’s journey as a circus but the latter would have relished… Read more »

YOUNG BLOOD: CARL MULLAN

Date: June 26, 2025 -

Carl Mullan knew exactly what he was doing when he shared a clip of himself sitting in Joe Duffy’s usual seat in the RTÉ Radio 1 studio recently. Online “churnalists” rushed to crank out articles speculating that the 2FM presenter was in the running to take over Duffy’s Liveline show, particularly as Mullan also posted… Read more »

TACKLING PADRAIC O’KANE

Date: June 26, 2025 -

As the hype machine kicks in for the first ever ‘adult’ NFL game in Ireland – Minnesota Vikings v Pittsburgh Steelers at Croke Park in September – another American footie contest is a little closer in the diary. The brains behind the Aer Lingus College Football Classic is restaurateur Padraic O’Kane, who has been doing… Read more »

GRABBING GRAHAM DWYER

Date: June 26, 2025 -

GOLDHAWK WAS surprised to see that the headline-grabbing new documentary on the Graham Dwyer murder of Elaine O’Hara was produced not by an Irish company but by London-headquartered Wag Entertainment Ltd (WEL). There is, however, an Irish link of note. A guaranteed ratings blockbuster – given the BDSM elements, master and slave phones, happily married… Read more »

WILLIE MULLINS’ NOBLE AMBITIONS

Date: June 26, 2025 -

PERHAPS THE most eyebrow-raising outcome at Royal Ascot last week was the failure of big-spending Kia Joorabchian’s Amo Racing to have a single success during the meeting, despite the moneybags having lashed out tens of millions on bluebloods in recent seasons. Less surprising was the very high profile attained by trainer extraordinaire Willie Mullins, who… Read more »

JANE MAHONY’S BOMBARDMENT

Date: June 26, 2025 -

A LETTER published in the Irish Times last week attacked Trinity College in a no-holds barred manner over its decision to sever ties with Israeli academic institutions. The writer turns out to be Dr Jane Mahony, herself a visiting research fellow at the university and one half of a D6 power couple along with her… Read more »

DARRAGH O’BRIEN’S DOPPELGÄNGER

Date: June 26, 2025 -

These are trying times for climate minister Darragh O’Brien, as his doppelgänger, transport minister Darragh O’Brien, continually tries to undermine his every effort at emissions reductions. Earlier this week, the Government published the findings of its latest Climate Conversations public consultation. It made for grim reading, with the majority of respondents expressing their sense of… Read more »

GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE

Date: June 26, 2025 -

DALKEY BOOK FESTIVAL, the ego-child of David McWilliams, came around this month with little danger of anyone in the literary and media establishment having a pop at the author’s limited self-esteem and his understated predictions. But Village Magazine proprietor and editor Michael Smith took off his kid gloves and slapped them across McWilliams’s face with… Read more »

VOL 43 NO 13

Date: June 26, 2025 -

WUFF JUSTICE

Date: June 26, 2025 -

LAST MONTH Working Animals Guardians (WAG) secured an invitation to Leinster House to brief TDs and senators about the amendments required for Heather Humphreys’ XL bully breed ban. Among those facilitating the session were senators Chris Andrews (Sinn Féin) and Patricia Stephenson (Social Democrats). WAG, it will be recalled, is one of six dog rescue… Read more »

COUGHLAN’S CAUTION

Date: June 26, 2025 -

That indefatigable political warrior, academic Anthony Coughlan, recently came up with what appears to be a strong argument against the abolition of the triple lock that has not yet entered the debate. He points out that Ireland made a solemn national declaration in 2002 to retain the triple lock in order to allay fears that… Read more »