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MATT COOPER’S HOT AIR

Date: October 17, 2024 -

One of the features of our post-truth, Trumpian world is the increasing confidence of some commentators to disregard science, logic and other boring stuff peddled by what one of George W Bush’s aides derisively called the “reality-based community”.  Take Matt Cooper’s column in last Sunday’s Business Post. In one of the more disturbing comment pieces… Read more »

DUBLIN BOMBS: MORE DISCLOSURES

Date: October 17, 2024 -

When Drew Harris was appointed Garda commissioner in 2018, the public was assured that there was no conflict of interest between his new post and his former RUC/PSNI role. Harris had served as deputy chief constable of the PSNI and was deeply involved in RUC-MI5 liaison. Yet, a conflict arose over the greatest crime in… Read more »

MARY LOU NOT NOW IN FIRING LINE

Date: October 17, 2024 -

MARY LOU McDONALD’S leadership is under enormous pressure, according to the media, which is more ferocious even than Government parties in its pursuit of Sinn Féin over TDs Brian Stanley and Patricia Ryan and northern press officer Michael McMonagle. But SF members have a different take on the issues and on those they hold responsible… Read more »

TERRY GEORGE’S PICKET PLOT

Date: October 17, 2024 -

THERE WAS consternation among Palestinian solidarity groups in Galway when famed film screenwriter and director Terry George ignored a picket placed on the G hotel, which hosted the World Conference of Screenwriters. The G is owned by Israeli billionaire David Fattal, whose hotel chain has hosted events in Jerusalem to support the Israeli Defence Forces…. Read more »

BRIT SPIES TARGET RUSSIAN SPIES

Date: October 17, 2024 -

THE SUNDAY TIMES has over-reached itself with that story about a Putin “agent in the Oireachtas”. Stories about the use of a honeytrap – “a striking looking female agent (used) to entertain the politician romantically”, as the recent ST story put it – and other James Bond-type fantasies provoked much hilarity. That the story became… Read more »

ISRAEL’S ALLIES

Date: October 17, 2024 -

ISRAELI DIPLOMATS and PR spinners are aghast at the Irish response to the carnage in Gaza but they may have been pleasantly surprised at the benign treatment their state and the mad bombers of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) received from the Irish Times recently. IT journalist Ronan McGreevy reported recently on the anniversary of… Read more »

CRAWFORD GALLERY’S NEW LOOK

Date: October 17, 2024 -

ARTS MINISTER Catherine Martin is seeking to appoint a director to the board of the Crawford Art Gallery (CAG) in Cork but the successful applicant will be arriving immediately after the gallery has shut its door for a full two-and-a-half years. The vacancy was advertised at the start of the month and, given the huge… Read more »

BAD BEHAVIOUR

Date: October 17, 2024 -

THOSE HOPING for some real nitty-gritty in Susan Liddy and Fergal Rhatigan’s Screen Ireland-funded report for Women In Film & Television Ireland (WFT) – Behind the Scenes: Exploring Harmful Behaviours in the Irish Screen Industries – will have been left disappointed. Unfortunately, despite WFT claiming that “this comprehensive study examines the critical issue of harmful… Read more »

CHAMPIONS WEEKEND WOES

Date: October 17, 2024 -

WHEN REVIEWING the recent Irish Champions weekend, bookmaker Brian Keenan stated: “I was bored at Leopardstown and I love racing.” Keenan’s sentiments were echoed by his rails colleague, Brian Graham, who threw in his tuppence worth: “I was very disappointed with the atmosphere at Leopardstown. It never got going and a lot of people said… Read more »

JOORABCHIAN FLASHES THE CASH

Date: October 17, 2024 -

HIGH-PROFILE football agent Kia Joorabchian hit the headlines at Tattersalls when purchasing the second-highest ever priced yearling at the sale for a whopping 4,400,000 gns. The Frankel filly was acquired by the millionaire’s Amo Racing operation after a bidding duel with Mitsu Nakauchida and the horse will now go into training with Ralph Beckett. Beckett… Read more »

MARTINA BYRNE’S PR SKILLS

Date: October 17, 2024 -

THE BOARD of the National Gallery of Ireland (NGI) is back to its full complement following the appointment by arts minister Catherine Martin of Public Relations Institute of Ireland CEO Martina Byrne. Back in April the minister appointed three new directors to the NGI on foot of the exit of “accountant, poet and performer” Gary… Read more »

SHEIKH MOHAMMED V JOHN MAGNIER

Date: October 17, 2024 -

THERE WAS some unexpected evidence at the recent Goffs Book 1 Orby yearling sale of increasing dominance for Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum’s Godolphin operation in its regular head-to-head with John Magnier’s Coolmore crew. The sale saw Coolmore outgunned for all of the top three lots. Goldhawk was also interested to see a company registered in… Read more »

GLANBIA SHARES UNFAIRLY RATED BY MARKET

Date: October 17, 2024 -

SIOBHÁN TALBOT clearly made an impact at Glanbia over the decade of her reign up to last year and her successor, Hugh McGuire, has struggled to impress investors to date. A costly recent acquisition has not reversed the tide and Glanbia’s shares are well down since its latest figures were reported in August. It does,… Read more »

CLONTARF ENERGY’S LITHIUM LONG SHOT

Date: October 17, 2024 -

IT IS still not clear why John Teeling stood down as executive chairman of Clontarf Energy three years ago. It may be that he hadn’t got the appetite for drilling offshore Western Australia that the current CEO, David Horgan, clearly had. Today, the expensive Australian project has failed to deliver although it remains on life support,… Read more »

KEVIN DUNDON’S NEW RECIPE

Date: October 17, 2024 -

SO-CALLED ‘celebrity chef’ Kevin Dundon was rather modest during one of his (very) frequent media appearances recently, telling the Irish Examiner that his hotel was “treading water”. In reality, unlike many operators in the hospitality sector, Kev has very little to be concerned about. “We’re paying all our bills and we’re paying all our staff… Read more »

DAWSON STREET DETOUR

Date: October 17, 2024 -

A COMPANY that had planned to completely redevelop the high-profile Dawson Hotel on Dublin’s Dawson Street is now going into liquidation. In 2022, the firm – backed by big guns such as Michael McElligott’s Tetrarch Capital – abandoned its plans (dating back to 2017) to develop a new hotel. McElligott et al incorporated Miro Hotels… Read more »

IAN BAILEY: J’ACCUSE!

Date: October 3, 2024 -

THE MOST startling aspect of the efforts of crime correspondent Senan Molony to posthumously convict Ian Bailey of the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier in his book, Sophie: The final verdict, has been the intervention of Tánaiste Micheál Martin. The Fianna Fáil leader made a point of not merely praising the book’s verdict but… Read more »

PROFILE: MICHAEL MULCAHY

Date: October 3, 2024 -

AS A man with fingers in an extraordinary number of pies, the debonair Michael Mulcahy seems to have developed a winning strategy when it comes to one strand of his multi-pronged business. The canny Cork-based entrepreneur hosts myriad award ceremonies through his various media brands and they appear to be a great way of getting… Read more »

YOUNG BLOOD: MIRANDA BAUER

Date: October 3, 2024 -

UCD STUDENTS’ UNION (UCDSU) president Miranda Bauer is facing an uphill battle as she begins her one-year term. The union is having an identity crisis, currently split between socialist-leaning political activists or an organisation that fights for student issues. With the way the Argentinian-born president has begun this year, the latter seems to be the… Read more »

MARTYN TURNER’S YELLOW STAR

Date: October 3, 2024 -

WHAT WERE Irish Times cartoonist Martyn Turner and editor Ruadhán Mac Cormaic thinking with the recent publication of a cartoon depicting an armed Israeli soldier with what looks like a yellow star exploding in the handset of a Lebanese person? A Dr Ed Abrahamson wrote from London to accuse the newspaper of portraying the Israeli… Read more »

MORE SPLITS ON THE RIGHT

Date: October 3, 2024 -

THE IMPROVING performance of the Alternative for Germany and the Austrian Freedom Party in local elections illustrates the political potential for right-wing populist parties in Europe. But the right-wing organisations emerging in Ireland have shown a distinct incoherence of ideology. With 15 years of experience working in the European Parliament, Hermann Kelly of the Irish… Read more »

BROWN-NOSING MICK SMURFIT

Date: October 3, 2024 -

GOLDHAWK WAS not surprised to see business hack Tom Lyons of The Currency legging it over to sunny Monaco for a love-in with Mick Smurfit last month. The excuse was the fifth anniversary of the media business Lyons founded with Ian Kehoe but Tom has always had a soft spot for Sir Mick. The journo… Read more »

KATE NEGOTIATES ELECTORAL RETURN

Date: October 3, 2024 -

THE ASCENSION of Simon Harris to the Taoiseach’s job and leader of Fine Gael was supposed to mean that one of his most ardent supporters, former TD Kate O’Connell, would be imposed on the party’s Dublin Bay South (DBS) general election ticket alongside current Dublin lord mayor, James Geoghegan. However, protracted negotiations at national leadership… Read more »

JOHN NAGLE BOUNCES BACK

Date: October 3, 2024 -

CONGRATULATIONS TO former bankrupt John ‘Payzone’ Nagle, who hasn’t let the dreaded taxman cramp his style too much. Nagle was one of the poster boys of the boom times until his Alphyra (later Payzone) got disconnected by the crash and the investors all ended up screwed. Nagle’s own interest had been valued at over €100m…. Read more »

FEAR AND LOATHING AT GLENCREE

Date: October 3, 2024 -

FANS OF Goldhawk will be familiar with the carry-on in Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, where peace-building has been noticeably absent in recent times (see The Phoenix 23/3/24). The worthy conflict resolution charity has witnessed a remarkable level of turnover on the board as a result of a complete breakdown… Read more »

VOL 42 NO 20

Date: October 3, 2024 -

PAUL ANDERSON’S €20M HOUSES

Date: October 3, 2024 -

FANCY DUBLIN 4 houses coming on the market with seven-figure price tags barely raise an eyebrow these days but this is not the case when there are eight-figures involved. Hence, there has been a lot of chatter since Lisney Sotheby’s International launched a pair of adjoining properties in the heart of Ballsbridge last month. The… Read more »

IRISH ‘DIPLOMACY’

Date: October 3, 2024 -

A RECENT Irish Times article about the Spycatcher court case in Australia, which so embarrassed British cabinet secretary Robert Armstrong in 1986, was the pretext of a generous letter to the newspaper by former Irish diplomats Sean Donlon, Noel Dorr and Michael Lillis. Being the three surviving members of the team that negotiated the Anglo-Irish… Read more »

MEDIA BUDGETARY ECHO CHAMBERS

Date: October 3, 2024 -

Hats off to the Government handlers who secured fawning coverage of the budget long before Jack Chambers uttered a word last Tuesday. The media fanfare has been like no other. Just over a week out and all matters budgetary were already at a boil. The daily Indo splashed with the fervid plans of Fianna Fáil… Read more »

BARKING MAD!

Date: October 3, 2024 -

WITH THE ban on importing, selling and rehoming XL bully type dogs kicking in this week, the level of protest from the various lobby groups reached a crescendo, with familiar names like celebrity vet Peter ‘Pete the Vet’ Wedderburn and assorted charities maintaining the ‘deed not breed’ mantra to the end. The question now is… Read more »

DUBLIN-MONAGHAN BOMB FILES MISSING

Date: October 3, 2024 -

FORMER BRITISH ARMY officer Colin Wallace worked as a psychological operations officer at the army’s HQ in Lisburn in the 1970s. He rubbed shoulders with MI5, MI6 and military intelligence officers on a daily basis. He became privy to many unpleasant secrets. Shortly after the Dublin-Monaghan bombings, he learned the names of nine of the… Read more »

DECLAN POWER’S LEGITIMATE TARGETS

Date: October 3, 2024 -

DESPITE Ireland’s new right recent poor performance at local and European elections, these movements remain a potent force on the streets and online. Also, in contrast to the failures at the ballot box, Ireland’s new right has made significant progress in developing a network of intellectuals to frame the discourse and activities of this milieu…. Read more »

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Date: October 3, 2024 -

I would have been better off earnings and pension-wise if I had gone into the civil service. I’m doing OK but I think I would have a much bigger pension now if I was in the civil service. Sean O’Rourke’s regrets, Sunday Independent Life Magazine The menswear has developed into a foundation for the Irish… Read more »

FARM MEDIA PR FANTASIES

Date: October 3, 2024 -

Behind the media and marketing façade of Irish agriculture being all about traditional family farming that is uniquely clean, green and sustainable, there lies a dense web of vested interests colluding to sell this fantasy. At the centre of the labyrinth is the powerful agribusiness sector, comprising billion-euro PLCs whose sole interest is in maximising… Read more »

PARKED!

Date: October 3, 2024 -

Months of bitter opposition by city centre business interests, backed by Ibec and junior FG minister Emer Higgins, to extremely modest proposals to reduce private car numbers driving through the city narrowly failed to have the plan cancelled, amid apocalyptic warnings on what would happen as a result. In the few weeks since it was… Read more »

NORTH HARMONY?

Date: October 3, 2024 -

The north’s first minister, Michelle O’Neill, gave the Sinn Féin ard fheis a glowing report on the Stormont executive. She said the four executive parties were “working together with a unity of purpose and we are determined to deliver good public services, good governance, economic growth and strong communities that we all depend on”. It’s… Read more »