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MAKING LAOIS GREAT AGAIN

Date: August 21, 2025 -

ENORMOUS HYPE surrounded the recent Make Europe Great Again (Mega) conference in Warsaw. It was claimed that attendees came from over 40 countries and three continents, while reports in conservative media asserted that the Mega gathering demonstrated the strength and cohesion of populist right-wing politics in central and eastern Europe. The fact that Irishwoman Elaine… Read more »

MI5’S STELLA RIMINGTON

Date: August 21, 2025 -

MI5 director-general (1992-96) Dame Stella Rimington, who passed away this month, worked in all three branches of MI5 – counter-espionage, counter-subversion and counter-terrorism – and possessed an intimate knowledge of its most ghastly secrets. As an intelligence collator in 1969, she was one of the first within MI5 to address the turmoil in the north…. Read more »

GENERAL CLANCY’S NEAR ABROAD

Date: August 21, 2025 -

WHILE Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin sat down in Alaska and during subsequent meetings and calls with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European and Nato leaders, the war ground on in Ukraine. There was to be no ceasefire. In the weeks prior to the peace negotiations, EU Military Committee (EUMC) chair (and former Irish Defence Forces chief… Read more »

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Date: August 21, 2025 -

Imagine that. 6% of all our electricity from the sun! And we are only at the beginning of this solar revolution. It is mind-blowing really, if we are honest. RTÉ’s environment correspondent George Lee has his mind blown, rte.ie And I pray for the day when I can bring my wife back into our home;… Read more »

GAS AND MIRRORS

Date: August 21, 2025 -

A whopping 40% of global warming to date is due to methane emissions. This gas is extremely potent, with a warming impact per molecule 84 times greater than carbon dioxide One of the largest sources of methane is ruminants such as cattle and sheep and Ireland’s hugely oversized livestock herd is a major source of… Read more »

MANDY JOHNSTON’S JIBES

Date: August 21, 2025 -

The Business Post had a front-page hatchet job by former government press secretary and oil exploration industry lobbyist Mandy Johnston on the ‘sandal-clad’ Greens. Hardly a cliché gets left behind, from the “Land Rover-driving green vote” to green bins and snails. Johnston omitted to mention her own angle as an industry lobbyist, in a piece… Read more »

MINORITY RULES OK!

Date: August 21, 2025 -

Like many aspects of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA), policing hasn’t worked out as intended. Admittedly, policing wasn’t part of the GFA text because it would have been a deal breaker so it was left to a Policing Commission chaired by former Conservative politician Chris Patten. Unionists owned the RUC. It was their police force… Read more »

FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD ITEM 

Date: August 21, 2025 -

THE GRAND old gentleman of the Irish left, the Communist Party of Ireland (CPI), has undergone much in its 100-plus years of existence, with attacks from within and without, and in recent years it has been eclipsed by republicans and Trotskyist groups. Recently, internal wranglings have involved splits over the national question and ultra-leftist revisions… Read more »

OFF THE BUSES

Date: August 21, 2025 -

UNIONS SIPTU and the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) have for several years now exhorted successive transport ministers to create a dedicated transport police to halt the rising tide of assaults on their members. NBRU assistant general secretary Tom O’Connor stated recently that no less than five ministers – Leo Varadkar, Paschal Donohoe, Shane… Read more »

IS FF LEADERSHIP BACKING JACK CHAMBERS?

Date: August 21, 2025 -

IS MICHEÁL MARTIN really intent on retiring as Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader in September and then going for the presidency? That’s the forecast of Irish Mail on Sunday political editor John Lee, whose paper seems to have also decided who is going to replace him as leader of the country and the party. And… Read more »

IRISH MEDIA AND GAZA

Date: August 21, 2025 -

A MOST civilised discourse may have been anticipated by Sindo readers recently who looked at the headline “Letter from Jerusalem” over an article written by Tsela Rubel, described by the newspaper as “a historian”. An Israeli liberal, Rubel explained that “Israeli reaction to the international response ranges from frustration to anger and bafflement” and concluded… Read more »

DAN COLLEY’S GRANT

Date: August 21, 2025 -

THE EDINBURGH Fringe is over for this year and a notable result was Dan Colley’s Lost Lear picking up one of the Scotsman Fringe First awards. The show (a “remix” of Shakespeare’s play) debuted in Ireland in 2022 when it was produced by the Riverbank Arts Centre and the Mermaid Arts Centre, before popping up… Read more »

TALLY HO TO YORK

Date: August 21, 2025 -

THE OWNERS of Lady Iman – the Tally Ho branch of the O’Callaghan family – have overruled trainer Ger Lyons by supplementing their speedy filly for York’s Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes on Friday. Roger O’Callaghan – who part-owns the home-bred filly with his mother Anne, father Tony and brother Henry – clearly has huge… Read more »

LADY KAI’S COLLAPSE

Date: August 21, 2025 -

THE IRISH leg of the Fegentri World Championship for amateur riders was run at Leopardstown earlier this month but the race lost much of its appeal for punters when the Ross O’Sullivan-trained favourite, Lady Kai, genuflected leaving the stalls and unseated rider Josh Williamson. Lady Kai, a Sea The Stars filly, is owned by Catherine… Read more »

DAWN RUN RETURN

Date: August 21, 2025 -

THE FAMOUS red and black silks of Dawn Run returned to the winners’ enclosure on August 6 when they were donned by Gabriella Hill aboard the Henry de Bromhead-trained Trubshaw, who made all the running to land Sligo’s Guinness Handicap. Trubshaw is part-owned by the father of the winning rider – Benjamin Hill, son of… Read more »

SHEIKH FAHAD’S FINANCES

Date: August 21, 2025 -

THE SPORT of kings is a rich man’s game, where even the high-profile runners and riders need to dig deep to keep the show on the road. One name familiar to Irish punters and trainers who has found how heavy the going can get is Qatar’s Sheik Fahad bin Abdulla Al Thani, whose Newmarket-based Qatar… Read more »

CIARA DONLON’S THIRD TIME LUCKY?

Date: August 21, 2025 -

HAVING HAD a couple of pops at establishing an environmentally friendly underwear business called Theya, Dalkey-based Ciara Donlon is now entering the nappy market and will be hoping there is rather less brown stuff hitting the fan this time around. Theya Lingerie Ltd (TLL), which produced post-surgery underwear from bamboo no less, was forced into… Read more »

GOOD RIDDANCE TO RITA-ROSE GAGNÉ

Date: August 21, 2025 -

IT WAS only 10 weeks ago that Rita-Rose Gagné, CEO of giant retail property play Hammerson (owner of Dundrum Town Centre), announced her intention to stand down by next summer in order to give Bob Noel’s board time to find a replacement. The timing looks odd as, within two months of the announcement, Hammerson pulled… Read more »

PTSB SHARES FLYING DANGEROUSLY HIGH

Date: August 21, 2025 -

ALTHOUGH FORMER CEO Jeremy Masding spent a decade trying to turn PTSB into a viable bank, it was still in a dreadful state when he handed the keys to his deputy, Eamonn Crowley, in June 2020. The latter caught an early break courtesy of NatWest but failed to maximise the potential advantages on offer to… Read more »

JACK CANTILLON’S HEAVY GOING

Date: August 21, 2025 -

LAWYER-TURNED-bloodstock entrepreneur Jack Cantillon of Syndicates.Racing has had an eventful few weeks, with bad news for both the syndicate business – courtesy of the dreaded taxman – and his London-headquartered sports prediction app, which has just heard the full-time whistle. Syndicates Racing Ltd (SRL), based at the Smurfit family’s Forenaghts Stud in Kildare, is 100%-owned… Read more »

PAUL DOOLEY’S CLOSING TIME

Date: August 21, 2025 -

IT’S A case of last orders at the Urban 8 restaurant/bar in Kilmainham, D8, operated by well-known hospitality entrepreneur Paul Dooley, who had originally helped to found the business back in 2015, along with backing from well-known pub investors Frank Byrne and James and Edward Dunne of the Brú Hospitality group. This month too, some… Read more »

AL THANI’S THOROUGHBREDS

Date: August 21, 2025 -

ELSEWHERE IN this issue (see p18) Goldhawk reports on the hefty losses incurred by the Al Thani family’s Qatar Racing Ltd (QRL) business headquartered in the UK. As noted, there was a major drop in bloodstock sales last year but another factor is a punt in the US. The face of QRL is Sheikh Fahad… Read more »

CLASSIC HITS’ HEADACHE

Date: August 21, 2025 -

THE COURTROOM spat between the big German radio outfit, Bauer Media Audio Ireland, and Kevin Branigan’s Classic Hits station is set to cost someone a fair few bob in legal costs. It is unlikely that Branigan was overly happy with Judge Brian Cregan’s decision to highlight an aspect of the radio group’s balance sheet. In… Read more »

GLANBIA’S HEALTHY SHARE PRICE

Date: August 21, 2025 -

FANS OF Moneybags got a quick reward this month following recent analysis of dairy and nutritionals outfit Glanbia’s struggling shares. In the article (see The Phoenix 16/5/25), it was noted: “At €11.85, Glanbia’s share price looks ridiculous. Even at the lower end of [Hugh] McGuire’s… Read more »

RUSSIAN ‘CAPTURE’ STORY – PHOENIX STATEMENT

Date: August 7, 2025 -

THE CURRENT edition of The Phoenix carries a story alleging that Russian soldiers captured two British Army officers and an intelligence operative in Ukraine recently. It has since emerged that this story is a fabrication. We apologise to our readers for failing to recognise that this story cannot be stood up. It was partly based… Read more »

PROFILE: LEO VARADKAR

Date: August 7, 2025 -

FORMER TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar’s metamorphosis from Tory boy to wet centrist, from Blueshirt to Irish republican, and from anti-abortionist to virtually a woman’s right to choose position, along with many other U-turns, is quite the political journey. The most significant part of this is his line on the national question, specifically his advocacy for a… Read more »

YOUNG BLOOD: NICK DELEHANTY

Date: August 7, 2025 -

RIGHT-WING activist and small businessman Nick Delehanty is running for president, declaring in a statement to right-wing news website Gript that “we have major problems around housing, public expenditure, accountability and of course our immigration system”. The 35-year-old has never won an election, has little political experience to speak of and has next to no… Read more »

DENIS O’BRIEN’S RADIO INTERFERENCE

Date: August 7, 2025 -

IN RECENT weeks billionaire Denis O’Brien has been shouting his mouth off about the likes of Ian Drennan (boss of the Corporate Enforcement Agency), whose position “should be called into question”, and also people who fancy working from home – “a total nonsense”. It turns out that the Malta-based tax resident has also been losing… Read more »

KITTY HOLLAND V JOHN WATERS

Date: August 7, 2025 -

THE END game in the seven-year defamation action by Irish Times journalist Kitty Holland against ex-IT journalist and anti-abortion activist John Waters is closer, if not completely finalised. Last month Holland secured a judgment against Waters for a sum of €35,000 – the amount awarded to her in the Circuit Court last year following a… Read more »

DERMOT DESMOND’S BUMPY RIDE

Date: August 7, 2025 -

DERMOT DESMOND was shooting his mustachioed mouth off this week on the subject of the MetroLink and why it will be a total waste of money and “out of date in 10 or 15 years time”. This is because by then Dublin will, apparently, be full of autonomously driven vehicles. Dermo clearly has quite the… Read more »

CLEVER TREVOR’S GENIUS

Date: August 7, 2025 -

NO DOUBT Little Museum of Dublin (LMD) founder and curator Trevor White is delighted with the amount of media coverage being devoted to his much-loved and well-funded project on St Stephen’s Green, which has just undergone a costly revamp. His most recent outing was in the Indo, where columnist Sarah Carey gushed over Clever Trevor,… Read more »

BERTIE AHERN TO LOSE OUT

Date: August 7, 2025 -

THAT SUNDAY INDEPENDENT poll showing Bertie Ahern ahead even of Micheál Martin in a Fianna Fáil presidential candidate survey (by the somewhat embarrassing score of 24% to 19%) may have come as sweet music to Bertie’s ears. But there is no sudden rush in political and media circles to declare that the former taoiseach is… Read more »

OONAGH O’HAGAN’S BACKER

Date: August 7, 2025 -

THERE HAVE been some developments at the business of Goldhawk’s favourite ‘celebrity pharmacist’, Oonagh O’Hagan, with a big injection of moolah from her hubby following hefty losses in the group. As usual, the never not busy Oonagh has been posting energetically on her own Instagram… Read more »

IIEA ECONOMIC GURU WARNS IRELAND (II)

Date: August 7, 2025 -

WITHIN DAYS of the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) chief economist Dan O’Brien having his invitation rescinded to speak to the Oireachtas foreign affairs committee, he has spoken out again on his pet topic – the mortal threat the Occupied Territories Bill (OTB) poses to the Irish economy. Last month O’Brien was preparing… Read more »

VOL 43 NO 16

Date: August 7, 2025 -

PLAYGROUND FALL

Date: August 7, 2025 -

THE DREADED taxman has just registered a judgment for €70,000 against a company called Playground Music Ltd (PML), which was behind Andrson, an exciting new music business established a few years ago by Trinners duo Neil Dunne and Zach Miller-Frankel. Despite apparently being destined to make it to the top, things haven’t quite worked out… Read more »