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PAT MCDONAGH’S BAD NEWS

Date: August 7, 2025 -

IT’S NOT too often that Pat ‘Supermacs’ McDonagh reports losses of €½m but one of his multitude of investment companies, Cave Projects Ltd (CPL), has just delivered less-than-tasty figures. In this case, however, Pat will be hoping that he can scoop a few million quid from a very lengthy legal battle. Fans of Goldhawk will… Read more »

SINN FÉIN DIVIDE ON MARY LOU

Date: July 24, 2025 -

THE DIVISIONS within Sinn Féin over whether to run party leader, Mary McDonald, for the presidency are multiple and have created political paralysis within the party. Even worse, it has handed the leadership of a united, anti-government presidential campaign to Independent candidate, Catherine Connolly and… Read more »

PROFILE: JAMIE BRYSON

Date: July 24, 2025 -

What manner of man is Jamie Bryson, the man who described placing an effigy of immigrants in a boat on a loyalist bonfire in Tyrone as an “artistic political protest”? Like his political hero Napoleon, Jamie is short in stature and like his unionist ally, TUV… Read more »

YOUNG BLOOD: JENNIFER BRAY

Date: July 24, 2025 -

While Jennifer Bray only took up the position of political editor of the Irish edition of the Sunday Times in March, she is flat out promoting her forthcoming debut fiction novel at present. Although Bray’s thriller, The Lies Between Us, is not due out until February 2026 on Penguin Sandycove — who were the victors after a three-way auction… Read more »

MAURICE REGAN’S OTHER ACTION

Date: July 24, 2025 -

WHILE CONSTRUCTION magnate Maurice Regan is not a party to the high profile litigation between John Magnier et al and Richard Thompson Moore and the other owners of the sprawling Barne estate, the previously low-profile Kerry-born billionaire has featured large in the reporting of the action. Having offered €7m more for the Tipperary property than… Read more »

SOARING AIB SHARES HEADING FOR A €½ BN WAKE-UP CALL

Date: July 24, 2025 -

THE IRISH banking duopoly is back in business, returning combined pre-tax profits of €4.6bn as the competition has cleared off, principally KBC, Ulster Bank and Bank of Scotland (Ireland). AIB has been the star performer, returning jaw-dropping profits and return on equity but all this is set to change as the European Central Bank’s (ECB) cutting… Read more »

MILK WAY

Date: July 24, 2025 -

Fat-filled milk powder (FFMP) is the biggest Irish export you’ve never heard of. While it can’t be legally described in the EU as “milk”, enterprising Irish dairy PLCs have sold over 415,000 tonnes of the “nutritionally mediocre” stuff into West African markets in just the last four years. Bord Bia has spent €170,000 in taxpayers’… Read more »

NÍ DHUIBHNE’S NEW PLOT

Date: July 24, 2025 -

LOTS OF coverage for the new Laureate for Irish Fiction, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, whose appointment balances the male/female ratio as expected, with Anne Enright having been installed as the first laureate in 2018, followed by Sebastian Barry and Colm Tóibín. This is a nice gig, with a pretty undemanding schedule and oodles of kudos. Nevertheless,… Read more »

EOIN KEENAN’S WELLNESS BOXES

Date: July 24, 2025 -

LONDON-BASED Trinity College graduate Eoin Keenan must have been delighted with the extensive coverage generated earlier this month for Goodrays, the cannabidiol brand he co-founded. The news blitz was on foot of a £5m fundraiser backed by investment house Guinness Ventures, although boasting a share register that includes Vernon Kay and Tess Daly naturally helped… Read more »

BEYOND PR

Date: July 24, 2025 -

BACK IN 2000, energy giant BP announced that in future its initials would now stand for ‘Beyond Petroleum’, rather than the outdated ‘British Petroleum’. As part of this radical rebrand, its logo was changed to that of a sunflower. At the dawn of the new century, BP set itself firmly on course to break radically… Read more »

EDDIE IRWIN’S TRACK RECORD

Date: July 24, 2025 -

HAVING MANAGED to keep a low profile for decades, it will have come as no surprise to John Magnier’s “fixer” (sorry Coolmore finance director) Eddie Irwin to find himself tagged in the extensive media coverage of the High Court action involving his boss and the disputed €15m sale of Barne Estate. It has been alleged… Read more »

VOL 43 NO 15

Date: July 24, 2025 -

ROBBO’S DOC

Date: July 24, 2025 -

NO DOUBT the legions of Mary Robinson’s fans will have been glued to their tellies this week for the terrestrial broadcasting of Mrs Robinson, which enjoyed a (brief) run in cinemas here last August. Described by RTÉ as “a fresh look at the life and legacy of Ireland’s first woman president”, the less than critical… Read more »

NEW ARTS COUNCIL CHIEF

Date: July 24, 2025 -

AS PREDICTED (see The Phoenix 11/7/25) culture minister Patrick O’Donovan has gone outside the Arts Council to find an interim director to replace Maureen O’Sullivan. The new face turns out to be troubleshooter Moling Ryan, a favourite at the department. Although the Arts Council told Goldhawk that its board “has the responsibility of appointing a… Read more »

MI6 FOUL-UP PUTS AGENTS AT RISK

Date: July 24, 2025 -

WHITEHALL MANDARINS and MI6 agents in Britain, Ireland and around the globe have been having sleepless nights after yet another flabbergasting data leak which has exposed details of MI6 agents, this time in Afghanistan. The identities of over 18,000 Afghans, who worked for the UK, were leaked by an official working at UK Special Forces… Read more »

HEINOUS PLOT BY MARTIN

Date: July 24, 2025 -

THERE ARE good reasons for believing reports that northern academic, Deirdre Heenan would appeal to Micheal Martin as a presidential candidate for Fianna Fail, but there are also caveats. For a start Deirdre dismisses out of hand the prospects of a border poll and in… Read more »

RTÉ’S BOARD VACANCIES

Date: July 24, 2025 -

AT LONG last, culture and media minister Patrick O’Donovan has got around to advertising for expressions of interest in filling a ministerial vacancy on the board of RTÉ. Given the level of scrutiny the directors will be under in the coming years, as the public broadcaster undergoes its post-Tubs ‘transformation’, the position may prove less… Read more »

BRITANNIA RULES THE RIGHT

Date: July 24, 2025 -

A year on from the European and Local Government elections Ireland’s emerging right wing networks are still desperately trying to establish a united political party that can have an impact electorally. However, these efforts have recently been dogged by controversy due to the involvement of British right wing figure Jim Ferguson in the ‘unity’ process…. Read more »

NAIRAC AGAIN …

Date: July 24, 2025 -

All the portents are that Operation Denton’s report into the crimes of the UVF’s Glenanne gang, will paint a double coat of whitewash over the roles played by MI5, Capt. Robert Nairac and the RUC special branch, in control of the gang. However, a detailed account of many of the more egregious offences  of the… Read more »

LIFE ON THE RIGHT

Date: July 24, 2025 -

HOW COULD it be controversial for the Primate of All Ireland Archbishop Eamon Martin to participate in an anti-abortion march? Well the matter in question for the Archbishop arises from the new-right wing organisations he chooses to march alongside. The recent All-Ireland Rally for Life organised by the Life Institute and Precious Life which Archbishop… Read more »

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Date: July 24, 2025 -

While the government is maybe the head and brain of the country, the presidency is more about the heart of the country and you are a man with a huge heart. Brendan O’Connor’s forensic interview with potential presidential candidate Michael Flatley, RTE Radio 1 Rather than feel the pressure of expectation from the huge partisan… Read more »

STARMER’S LEGACY

Date: July 24, 2025 -

Sir Keir Starmer’s plans to deal with the north’s intractable disputes about security force killings in the north are under attack on several fronts. The British Labour party’s manifesto promised to repeal the Conservatives’ 2023 Legacy Act which no one but the Conservatives supported. Easy to promise, but what do you replace it with? It’s… Read more »

IIEA SPLIT ON ISRAEL?

Date: July 24, 2025 -

FEW PEOPLE would regard the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) as a front for Hamas, but neither is it a cheer leader for Benjamin Netanyahu and the IDF in Gaza, despite its Europhile outlook. However, not all institute members share the Irish empathy with Palestinians and one of these, Dan O’Brien, who glories… Read more »

DPP V DPP

Date: July 24, 2025 -

MUCH CRITICISM was levelled at the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) by various media and others for failing to prosecute the late Ian Bailey for Sophie Toscan du Plantier’s murder in 1996. Now there is something of a spat going on between the DPP and the official assigned to the murder file… Read more »

SHANE ROSS’S RECOMMENDATION

Date: July 24, 2025 -

SHANE ROSS comes over as the essence of sweet reason these days as exemplified by his proposal in the Sindo last weekend that Micheál Martin, should put the chairman of the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, Maurice Cohen, into the Seanad. Ross praised Cohen’s moderation, relative to Alan Shatter’s “over-the-top script” as the two attacked… Read more »

JAMES CONNOLLY IS ALIVE AND WELL!

Date: July 24, 2025 -

IT IS hard to say what Labour’s policy on neutrality and EU militarisation actually is given the confusion in the anti-war movement about the party’s stated position when compared to its absence from planning meetings and protest rallies (see The Phoenix, 16/5/25). But its sole MEP, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, appears to be quite certain that… Read more »

RTÉ’S NEUTRALITY

Date: July 24, 2025 -

WESTERN CLICHÉS about Orwellian media bias in Russia and other ‘bad‘ countries could well describe RTÉ and Coimisiún na Meán’s (CnaM) response to a complaint about alleged “false … misleading” and “wholly untrue” statements in an RTÉ Prime Time report recently. A complaint from viewer Stephen Kelly (he subsequently became chair of the Peace and… Read more »

‘GOOGLE IT’

Date: July 24, 2025 -

IRiSH TIMES group MD, Deirdre Veldon, welcomed aboard the paper’s newly appointed director, David Martin — former senior director at Google — saying “It’s a good time to introduce innovative thinking and digital expertise to the Irish Times to help us navigate this dynamic landscape”. What Deirdre meant was that it’s late in the day… Read more »

SINGER NOT THE SONG

Date: July 24, 2025 -

A MOST mannerly, intellectual exercise of the sort that can, some say, lead to blindness, has been arranged involving mutual participants, Fintan O’Toole and Sam McBride. The college debating device whereby well-spoken young fogeys choose sides to argue issues whether or not they agree with the motion chosen will be played out by the two… Read more »

NANCY HARRIS’S REVIEWS

Date: July 24, 2025 -

IT HAS been a smooth run in recent times for playwright and TV screenplay writer Nancy Harris (daughter of Anne and Eoghan Harris), who is probably best known for the RTÉ comedy-drama series The Dry. Earlier this month, Harris was the subject of a wide-ranging interview by Dónal Lynch in the Sindo, ostensibly to mark… Read more »

STILL PURRING ALONG

Date: July 24, 2025 -

THE AMENDED result of Down Royal’s Laura Nicholas Handicap last month raised a few eyebrows and, not surprisingly, there was quite the kerfuffle online, which appears justified by a subsequent appeal outcome. The second-placed horse Bamako, trained by Andy Oliver, was promoted ahead of the original winner, Purring Along, trained by Pat Fahey, by the… Read more »

COLIN KEANE’S ROUGH RIDE

Date: July 24, 2025 -

JUDDMONTE’S NEW retained rider Colin Keane was the latest rider to fall foul of the British Horseracing Authority’s whip review committee, resulting in a 14-day suspension. The ban means Keane will miss the ride on the odds-on favourite for the Goodwood Sussex Stakes Field Of Gold, a horse he described as “the best” he’d ever… Read more »

DARRAGH O’LOUGHLIN’S ‘ACTIONS’

Date: July 24, 2025 -

IRISH HORSE Racing Regulatory Board (IHRB) chief executive Darragh O’Loughlin has revealed in the 2024 IHRB annual report that “significant actions” have been taken to improve the financial governance procedures on foot of the high-profile investigation carried out by Forvis Mazars. It will be recalled (see The Phoenix 22/9/23) that the investigation followed the transfer… Read more »

KEVIN DUNDON’S RECIPE

Date: July 24, 2025 -

CELEBRITY CHEF and Dancing With The Stars alumnus Kevin Dundon continues to expand his menu, most recently popping up with co-presenter Sunday Worst journo Caoimhe Young on the Indo’s ‘Under the Grill’ podcast. This is “where Irish celebs dish up their food memories with some saucy chats and dollops of nostalgia”. No doubt, it is… Read more »

DATALEX SHAREHOLDERS CONTINUE TO LOSE ALTITUDE

Date: July 24, 2025 -

THIS YEAR Datalex is 40 years old and still losing money, airborne only thanks to Dermot Desmond’s decision to back the venture all the way. The good news is that a positive bottom line is targeted for 2025, but will any change in the flight path boost the price of a stock that has suffered… Read more »

RYAN MURPHY’S CHOPPY WATERS

Date: July 24, 2025 -

JUST A month after the Murphy family featured prominently in RTÉ’s well regarded four-part documentary series on the lives of fishermen and women in Ireland, Tarrac na Farraige, a company controlled by Ryan Murphy, skipper of the MVF Menhaden, is to be wound up. The Murphys have been fishing for over 50 years, starting with… Read more »