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PAUL TWEED’S MATCHMAKER

Date: June 13, 2024 -

An intriguing mention in the Irish Times recently reported that dating agency Intro Matchmaking is seeking an injunction against one of its former clients, clothes designer Fionnuala Bourke. The story also mentioned that Intro’s legal firm is celeb lawyer Paul Tweed’s WP Tweed & Co. The background to this story involves an investigation last October… Read more »

‘MORNING IRELAND’ REPLACEMENT

Date: June 13, 2024 -

NOW THAT the venerable Dobbo’s replacement on RTÉ’s News at One has been appointed – Morning Ireland’s Rachel English – speculation about who will replace English on the morning news programme is swirling around Montrose. Top of the table of potential presenters is Justin McCarthy, whose interview of Web Summit chief executive Paddy Cosgrave last… Read more »

DOMINO EFFECT

Date: June 13, 2024 -

NEW GUIDELINES issued by Revenue – following its successful Supreme Court appeal last October regarding the employment status of Domino’s pizza delivery drivers – look set to have a domino effect across the ‘independent’ film and television business. The guidelines, published last month, have caused such a scramble that Susan Kirby’s Screen Producers Ireland (SPI)… Read more »

TARKA RUSSELL’S EXIT

Date: June 13, 2024 -

SO FAREWELL then to Tarka Russell, who has stepped down from the board of the Glucksman art gallery in UCC after five years. The 30-something London/New York-based gallery director added a touch of glamour to the Lawrence O’Hara-chaired board. Certainly, not too many directors have appeared in the Daily Mail under a headline like: “Sean… Read more »

DENIS HOGAN HITS OUT

Date: June 13, 2024 -

AS FANS of Goldhawk are aware, trainer Denis Hogan is no stranger to the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) stewards and he made his feelings pretty clear earlier this month following their enquiry into the recent Club Lemon Handicap Hurdle at Down Royal. Hogan’s runner, Benji’s Benefit, was sent off favourite for the two-mile bank… Read more »

EOIN O’BRIEN’S DOUBLE TROUBLE

Date: June 13, 2024 -

ANOTHER POOR reflection on the regulatory standards in Irish racing was evident when the same appeals body subsequently sat to consider the case of Eoin O’Brien, the winning rider of Hunt Away at the Dawstown point to point on May 6. The matter had been referred to the appeals panel by the acting stewards on… Read more »

EVANS BEVAN’S ESTATE

Date: June 13, 2024 -

HAVING ACQUIRED the impressive Fortwilliam Estate on 400 acres outside Lismore, Co Waterford, just over a decade ago for almost €8m, the wonderfully named David Gawain Evans Bevan and his wife, Phillippa, are upping sticks. They are seeking a rather chunky looking €12m for the sprawling demesne. Fortwilliam – which was quietly offered for sale… Read more »

JOHN BYRNE SADDLES UP

Date: June 13, 2024 -

CONGRATULATIONS TO moneybags horse owner John Byrne, who has ended up in the saddle at the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board as senior steward and chairman, having succeeded Martin O’Donnell. Ballsbridge-based Byrne runs the show at the hugely valuable property empire built up by his father, John Byrne Sr (who was rather well known to Squire… Read more »

KEYWORDS STUDIOS PLAYING THE RIGHT GAME

Date: June 13, 2024 -

KEYWORDS STUDIOS plc was established in Dublin in 1997 before eventually floating on the AIM market in 2013, driven by then CEO Andrew Day. The IPO saw Keystrokes raise £28m, valuing the company at £50m. Now the video games services firm has been targeted for acquisition by a player that has put an eye-watering €2.6bn… Read more »

PROFITABLE RYANAIR’S PROBLEM IN THE COCKPIT

Date: June 13, 2024 -

THE RYANAIR results for the full year to March 2024 show a modest 9% increase in passenger numbers to 184 million but a stonking 34% jump in net profits to €1.92bn, driven not by operational expansion but rather price hikes, with average fares up 21%. Nevertheless, the market reaction to what look like excellent results was… Read more »

MAGNIER & CO DIG DEEP

Date: June 13, 2024 -

A COMPANIES Office filing reveals that another €20m has just been pumped into the Curragh racecourse by its assorted shareholders that includes a who’s who in Irish racing. The €82m (and growing) cost of the redevelopment of the famous track – home of the Irish Derby and other classics – has attracted plenty of attention… Read more »

SUSAN BERGIN BOWS OUT

Date: June 13, 2024 -

Given arts and media minister Catherine Martin’s promise to bring forward a proposed new funding framework for RTÉ before the Dáil recess on July 11, it may be a while before she gets around to appointing a new chair for the film funding agency, Screen Ireland (SI). The vacancy has arisen following the resignation of… Read more »

NORMAN CROWLEY’S DEPLETED ENERGY

Date: June 13, 2024 -

JOINT LIQUIDATORS Ken Fennell and Brendan O’Reilly of Interpath Advisory have been installed at Crowley Carbon, owned by the media-friendly Norman Crowley. The move must have come as quite the shock to the companies fans in the Irish business media. The writing, however, was on the wall for some time. In recent years, Stormin’ Norman… Read more »

LEFT SOLIDARITY WITH CLARE DALY

Date: May 30, 2024 -

PEOPLE BEFORE Profit TD Bríd Smith has become a lightning rod for those on the left – Clare Daly supporters in particular – who will be looking for a scapegoat should the under-pressure Daly lose her seat in the European Parliament. They have in fact already identified the guilty party and candidate, with ‘comrade’ Smith… Read more »

PROFILE: CIARAN MULLOOLY

Date: May 30, 2024 -

FORMER RTÉ midlands correspondent Ciaran Mullooly could become the first member of the European Parliament to emerge from a party of the new Irish right, Independent Ireland (II). Mullooly’s self-projected image is that of a man who is conscious of his roots and his local, rural community and he has indeed shown much commitment to… Read more »

YOUNG BLOOD: LISA CHAMBERS

Date: May 30, 2024 -

Can 37-year-old Fianna Fáil senator Lisa Chambers finally justify party leader Micheál Martin’s faith in his preferred west of Ireland politician or will she once again just fall shy of the mark, leaving the great leader to ponder? Chambers is exactly the new image that Martin wants to project for Fianna Fáil. She is young,… Read more »

GOLDEN BOY’S TARNISHED IMAGE

Date: May 30, 2024 -

IT IS natural that the grown-up children of Tony O’Reilly would praise their father’s qualities in funeral eulogies, as would any bereaved family members and friends. But the selection of tributes paid to the businessman focused heavily on his contribution as a publisher and, to a lesser extent, his commitment to politics and peace in… Read more »

TOP OF THE NEW RIGHT

Date: May 30, 2024 -

POLLS INDICATE that, if a breakthrough for new right-wing candidates is to come about, Independent Ireland (II) candidates are the ones most likely to be successful in the European Parliament elections. With Ciaran Mullooly on 7% in the Midlands-North-West constituency and Niall Boylan on 5% in Dublin, they are significantly ahead of candidates for the… Read more »

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S PODCAST

Date: May 30, 2024 -

WITH THE elections to be held next week, money starts to become more of a factor, as advertising spend is ratcheted up, especially on online marketing campaigns – an area that is seen as increasingly important when it comes to targeting younger voters. It turns out that there has also been a few bob spent… Read more »

SHANE ROSS’S RECORD

Date: May 30, 2024 -

MANY YEARS after he had honed it to a fine art, Sindo columnist Shane Ross was back puffing up his former boss, Tony O’Reilly, in his weekly column last weekend, with a gushing tribute headlined: “A Titan and treasured family man”. His was of course only one of many such tributes from former employees to… Read more »

MARTIN KELLY’S €8M MANSION

Date: May 30, 2024 -

LOADED TYPES looking for a secluded but glamorous property within striking distance of Dublin will have noted the recent advertising for a cool €8m of Dunran Demesne (aka Dunran Castle), which sits on 100 acres outside Ashford in Co Wicklow. The sprawling estate is owned by Martin Kelly – the face of former men’s fashion… Read more »

STEENSON MELTDOWN

Date: May 30, 2024 -

PROMINENT ANTI-IMMIGRATION activist Malachy Steenson is standing as an Independent candidate in Dublin’s North Inner City local electoral area and the Dublin EU Parliament election. The cut and thrust of the campaign seems to have got to Steenson and on May 19 he had somewhat of a meltdown on his X account, publicly haranguing Sinn… Read more »

JOHN NAGLE CARPETED

Date: May 30, 2024 -

THE ONE-TIME bankrupt John ‘Payzone’ Nagle has just run into yet another spot of bother, this time courtesy of the dreaded taxman. Nagle was one of the poster boys of the boom times until his payments transmission and terminals company, Alphyra (later Payzone), got disconnected by the crash and the investors all ended up screwed…. Read more »

BRUCE ARNOLD’S OBITUARY

Date: May 30, 2024 -

THE TIMES of London published a lovingly crafted obituary of Bruce Arnold this week under the headline: “Writer who needled the Irish establishment”. But did it accidentally unmask the man who for long was suspected by malevolent forces in the service of Aawrish Teeshock, Squire Hockey, of being a British agent? The obit indulged in… Read more »

VOL 42 NO 11

Date: May 30, 2024 -

HITTING THE RIGHT NOTES AT 2FM

Date: May 30, 2024 -

RTÉ 2FM alumnus Doireann Garrihy has spent the past few months calmly putting in place the arrangements for her future business endeavours. It began in June 2023, when she and sister Ailbhe transferred their 100% ownership of Dublin Bay Ferry Services Limited back to mum and dad, Eugene and Clare Garrihy. Fans of 2FM will… Read more »

MARTIN’S BACK CHANNEL RHETORIC

Date: May 30, 2024 -

A FORTUITOUSLY timed declaration of recognition for Palestinian statehood – shortly before the EU and local elections – was explained last week by foreign minister Micheál Martin’s favourite newspaper, the Irish Times, as down to Martin’s “back-channel diplomacy”. As an example of rapid revisionism there can be no better example – unless one recalls the… Read more »

CLANCY STANDS NEUTRALITY ON HEAD

Date: May 30, 2024 -

THE TOP BRASS may not be able to put a ship to sea and may soon have to bring back press gangs to replace voluntary recruitment to the armed forces but they know how to manipulate the media and public opinion. For months Irish ministers, as well as military and foreign policy chiefs, have been… Read more »

SIMON PAYS

Date: May 30, 2024 -

THE LIQUIDATOR is now in place at the homelessness charity, North West Simon Community (NWSC), which ran out of moolah less than two years after a meeting with the housing department to plead its case. Donegal TD Thomas Pringle was in the chair here and had been vocal about the need for support for the… Read more »

OPERATION DENTON RE-VISITED

Date: May 30, 2024 -

OPERATION DENTON is examining the decades-long homicidal rampage of the UVF’s infamous Glenanne Gang. Its members operated in the mid-Ulster area during the three decades of the Troubles and were responsible for multiple atrocities, including the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings. There is a considerable body of evidence that points to the fact the gang… Read more »

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Date: May 30, 2024 -

Providence bestowed many gifts on Tony O’Reilly: stunning good looks, outstanding sporting talent, business acumen, charm, intelligence and wit (with a flair for mimicry that would put Oliver Callan in the shade). Mary Kenny, Sunday Independent Vicki Notaro: the debut author tipped as the new Jackie Collins. The Sunday Times has high praise for the… Read more »

A SINKING SHIP

Date: May 30, 2024 -

Downing Street’s press officers made a mess of what will be the last visit of Rishi Sunak to Belfast on his frenetic, gaffe-ridden tour of the UK the day after he announced a snap general election. His press people insisted on dividing the media into ‘national’ and ‘regional’, the latter including RTÉ and the Irish… Read more »

FF TRIO DEVOUR EACH OTHER

Date: May 30, 2024 -

FIANNA FÁIL’S car-crash EU campaign in the Midlands North-West constituency is beginning to attract large crowds to candidates’ press conferences and photo shoots in the hope that there will be ever more spectacular fireworks. But the fratricidal displays by Barry Cowen, Niall Blaney and Lisa Chambers are not simply a product of the usual competitive… Read more »

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Date: May 30, 2024 -

The decision by the Electoral Commission to make Laois and Offaly two three-seat constituencies at the next general election is a significant problem for Green Party senator and junior minister Pippa Hackett. She lives on a farm not far from the village of Geashill in Offaly, which is only a few miles from the county… Read more »

BERTIE ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

Date: May 30, 2024 -

VOTERS IN the Cabra-Glasnevin local election area will have been surprised (pleasantly, one hopes) to see Bertie Ahern canvassing for aspiring councillor John Stephens, who is running on a two-candidate ticket for Fianna Fáil. But despite the involvement of the most experienced living vote getter in Irish politics, there is little harmony and no dual… Read more »

COOLMORE CREW’S CASH

Date: May 30, 2024 -

ASSORTED IRISH racehorse owners featured prominently on the recent UK Sunday Times ‘Rich List’ and those with Coolmore connections were to the forefront. Some other familiar runner and riders featured too. Bahamas-based currency trader Joe Lewis ranked highest of those listed at 38th, with a guesstimated fortune of £5.3bn. The rather secretive Lewis – the… Read more »