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BARKING AT HEATHER HUMPHREYS

Date: July 25, 2024 -

IT WAS inevitable that when Heather Humphreys moved to introduce a ban on American Bully dogs, there would be a reaction from the dog charities, rescue bodies and other animal advocates, with articles in the media and petitions being organised online. There is plenty of life in the old dog protest yet. Among the high… Read more »

FRED HOLROYD’S ORWELLIAN TRAUMA

Date: July 25, 2024 -

OPERATION DENTON has recently interviewed Fred Holroyd as part of its investigation into the 1974 Dublin-Monaghan (D-M) bombings, perpetrated by the notorious Glenanne gang. Holroyd served as a Military Intelligence Officer in the Special Military Intelligence Unit, NI, 1973-75. He was attached to the 3 Brigade area where members of the Glenanne gang operated. Holroyd… Read more »

MERCIFUL TORY MERCER

Date: July 25, 2024 -

KEIR STARMER’S pledge to repeal the controversial Legacy Act, opposed by all political parties in the north, must come as a blow to former Tory Minister of State for Veterans’ Affairs Johnny Mercer. The act set out to provide indemnity and immunity from prosecution for some perpetrators of crimes during the Troubles. In introducing the… Read more »

CIARAN MULLOOLY’S ‘INDEPENDENCE’

Date: July 25, 2024 -

THE ANNOUNCEMENT by the European Democratic Party (EDP) that it had received and accepted an application for membership from newly elected Irish MEP Ciaran Mullooly — elected as a member of Independent Ireland (II) — came as a shock to many on the Irish right. The EDP is one of the parties associated with the… Read more »

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Date: July 25, 2024 -

Walking around New York city, listening to the audiobook of Hannah Arendt’s The Origins Of Totalitarianism (fail to prepare, prepare to fail), I’m sometimes interrupted by messages from friends asking “what’s it like over there?” As an outsider dropping in, what it’s like is living in the pages of a history book, if that history… Read more »

MARTIN: SUCK IT UP

Date: July 25, 2024 -

AI is coming for us and there’s nothing we can do to stop it. That was the message delivered by Micheál Martin in Ennis this month as he talked tough about the need for more data centres and the proposed Ennis Data Centre. In a warm-up of sorts for the All-Ireland hurling final, the Corkman… Read more »

ON YER BIKE!

Date: July 25, 2024 -

In the recent European election campaign, Fine Gael’s Regina Doherty was ridiculed over her Trumpian claim that the Green Party had turned Dublin “into a spaghetti junction of cycle lanes that have divided the city like East and West Berlin”. Doherty is prone to shooting her mouth off, so when she returned to the issue… Read more »

UNION’S LOST LEADER

Date: July 25, 2024 -

Who is the leader of Unionism? Up until Good Friday when he was arrested and charged with historical sex offences the answer was Jeffrey Donaldson. Donaldson, unquestionably the dominant figure in Unionism, had led the DUP in year-long negotiations with the British government to try to nullify the Windsor Framework, which streamlines the operation of… Read more »

CARROLL MACNEILL SOUNDS OFF

Date: July 25, 2024 -

AN INTERESTING double act was that recently performed by the new junior minister for EU affairs and defence, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, and Sunday Independent editor Alan English. Minister ‘Thatcher’ MacNeill demanded that the government double the current goal of a €1.5bn defence budget to a €3bn annual defence spend (nearly treble the annual spend for… Read more »

JIM O’CALLAGHAN’S NEXT GIG

Date: July 25, 2024 -

WHAT SOOTHING words emanated from Micheál Martin’s managers to media pol corrs about the party leader’s motivation in making TD Jim O’Callaghan chair of the Oireachtas justice committee — something that has yet to transpire. According to these helpful handlers Martin’s choice of O’Callaghan for this post is a deliberate attempt by the forgiving, statesmanlike… Read more »

RIGHT ON!

Date: July 25, 2024 -

THAT MOST reasonable figurehead in the new right, Hermann Kelly, leader of the Irish Freedom Party (IFP), made a most mature, statesmanlike appeal for unity following the fractured electoral performance of the disparate right wing groups in the local and EU elections. Presenting as the essence of moderation Hermann Kelly spoke via video to right… Read more »

RYAN’S POLITICAL DAUGHTERS

Date: July 25, 2024 -

GREEN ACTIVISTS could tell there was a crisis in leadership circles when outgoing leader, Eamon Ryan declared that he was openly backing his parliamentary assistant, Cllr Claire Byrne, against councillors Hazel Chu and Carolyn Moore in the contest for the party’s general election candidacy in Dublin Bay South (DBS). This admirable ‘transparency’ did at least… Read more »

‘MY CHURCH, RIGHT OR WRONG’

Date: July 25, 2024 -

Last December, The Irish Times published a statement from the Church of Ireland in a report by Arthur Beesley saying that it “neither owned nor operated” mother and baby institutions. Griffith College media academic Niall Meehan responded in a letter, based on research on behalf of survivors, that CoI clergy oversaw the Bethany Home and the aptly named… Read more »

INO’S HIGH NOTES

Date: July 25, 2024 -

OPERA FANS are excited by the news that Irish National Opera (INO), which is chaired by former top legal eagle Jennifer Caldwell, is to stage its first ever Wagner work, The Flying Dutchman, next year. It looks like the company is aiming big for the show, as it has launched a fundraising programme targetting well-heeled… Read more »

RALPHIE RETURNS

Date: July 25, 2024 -

GOLDHAWK WASN’T too surprised to see his favourite film producer, Ralph Christians, turn up in the trade press ahead of Miriam Allen’s Galway Film Fleadh. Despite his Magma operation having gone down in flames – owing €5m to creditors on top of €3m in non-recourse loans from Screen Ireland – Ralphie has remained a hardy… Read more »

DANNY’S POOR FORM

Date: July 25, 2024 -

BOLSHY DANNY Dunne made another journey to the offices of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) in relation to his latest bout of bad behaviour. It looks like he may have got off pretty lightly this time, given his poor form to date. On July 9 the Robert Dore-chaired referrals committee found that under Rule… Read more »

TONY MARTIN’S CELEBRATIONS

Date: July 25, 2024 -

AS A result of his OTT celebrations following the win for Alphonse Le Grande at Newcastle last month, the nag’s suspended trainer Tony Martin also made a familiar trip to the IHRB offices to appear before the referrals committee, chaired by judge Siobhan Keegan. The Bowler Hats said Martin’s behaviour demonstrated a “flagrant disregard” for… Read more »

DENISE PHILLIPS’ CROWN PRINCE

Date: July 25, 2024 -

CONGRATULATIONS TO “award-winning hair professional” and social media fan Denise Phillips (aka Denise McLean), who has been named as a finalist in the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Ireland awards in the ‘Emerging’ category. Goldhawk was surprised to see no mention in the coverage of her business partner and co-founder of the Voduz hair care… Read more »

BILL DURKAN’S GUINEAS

Date: July 25, 2024 -

THERE WAS a lot of moolah being splashed about earlier this month in Newmarket and centre stage was moneybags Bill Durkan of Durkan New Homes, who admitted he had to “push the boat out a little” to purchase Star Runner at the July sale. The nag was knocked down to Bill’s assistant, Gary Bannon, for… Read more »

ROBBIE DOLAN’S EXTRAVAGANT VILLA

Date: July 25, 2024 -

A FEW weeks after first going on the market with a hefty €4.5m price tag, the opulent 8,500 sq ft Villa Barton in the K Club complex, Co Kildare, got another media outing in the Daily Mail earlier this month, as the sellers await a well-heeled golf fanatic to step up with the spondoolicks. It… Read more »

WHAT NEXT FOR OVOCA BIO INVESTORS?

Date: July 25, 2024 -

IN A surprise move after the failure of the clinical trials for Ovoca Bio’s Orenetide drug, the CEO, Kirill Golovanov, resigned last week. More surprising, perhaps. was the decision of American non-executive director Tim McCutcheon (previously a CEO of the company in its Ovoca Gold iteration) to step in as Golovanov’s replacement and also to… Read more »

SHARON BYRNE’S BIG BET

Date: July 25, 2024 -

THE LATEST accounts for the Irish Bookmakers’ Association (IBA) – the gambling lobby entity chaired by Sharon Byrne – provide an update on the heavy going associated with the running of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission Stakes. The IBA has found itself caught up in the midst of a major investigation by the CCPC,… Read more »

AKO AMIRI’S HAIR CUT

Date: July 25, 2024 -

A LITTLE over a year on from the collapse of the Just For Men Ltd (JFM) barbers and male grooming chain in Cork, the liquidator has submitted his report, which suggests that there is plenty still to untangle here. The main player here is director and shareholder Ako Amiri, while the other listed director is… Read more »

MUM’S THE WORD

Date: July 25, 2024 -

ACCOUNTS WERE filed last week for Associated Newspapers (Ireland) Ltd, the company behind the Oirish Daily Mail and assorted publications it has snapped up here, such as Business Plus magazine. Another of its acquisitions is the parenting website Everymum, which was sold off by Zahra Media Group (ZMG), the operation owned by John Mullins and… Read more »

JOE FOLEY V STEVE PARKIN

Date: July 25, 2024 -

AS PREDICTED by Goldhawk (see The Phoenix 5/4/24), the legal eagles have galloped on the track in the row between Ballyhane stallion master Joe Foley, and his minted former client, Clipper Logistics founder Steve Parkin. (In happier times,the latter had described Foley as “nearly family”.) The split was described as a “breakdown” in the relationship… Read more »

SPOOKY STARMER

Date: July 11, 2024 -

At long last, Britain’s Deep State can breathe a sigh of relief as the keys to 10 Downing Street are finally in a safe pair of hands – those of Sir Keir Starmer. Gone are the days when Britain’s spies withheld intelligence from Boris Johnson, a politician who – against the wishes of MI5 and… Read more »

PROFILE: JACK CHAMBERS

Date: July 11, 2024 -

THE MEDIA consensus – or should that be group think – is that the newly elevated finance minister, 33-year-old Jack Chambers, is Ireland’s very own John F Kennedy and the Fianna Fáil leader-in-waiting. There are other ways to describe Chambers, one being that of the… Read more »

YOUNG BLOOD: LISA JORDAN

Date: July 11, 2024 -

IT’S BEEN a busy few months for social media influencer and businesswoman Lisa Jordan (aka Just Jordan), with multiple product launches, a swanky new house and a best-dressed award that left her “an emotional wreck”. Jordan has two brands, Luna by Lisa (makeup and hair care) and a fashion line called Edit Row. While she’s… Read more »

TRINITY’S DEFINITION DILEMMA

Date: July 11, 2024 -

HAVING FACED down the college authorities in May over ties between Trinners and Israeli institutions, the TCD Students’ Union and the Trinity Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions group can’t have been overly impressed with last month’s decision to award former Belgian prime minister and hardcore Nato advocate… Read more »

JOHN MCGUIRK’S COURT CASES

Date: July 11, 2024 -

GOLDHAWK WONDERS if right-wing firebrand and Gript editor John McGuirk has had a chance to peruse the correction published in the latest issue of The Village magazine, given that he is ensconced in far-off Ukraine. The Village’s correction deals with a couple of minor inaccuracies in its cover story published in February this year, in… Read more »

PHIL HOGAN’S DOCTORATE

Date: July 11, 2024 -

CONGRATULATIONS TO former EU commissioner and current unofficial advisor to Simon Harris, Phil Hogan, who landed an honorary doctorate in science from University College Dublin. Goldhawk was eager to read the citation for the controversial lobbyist, who was forced to step down from his EU… Read more »

RORY GODSON’S TWEET

Date: July 11, 2024 -

STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS heavy-hitter Rory Godson doesn’t spend much time tweeting but he clearly likes to get some things off his chest. Last month, he was walking down the leafy street where he lives in London’s SW1 when he spotted a chap pissing on his neighbour’s doorstep. Rory made his disdain clear to the “guy, who… Read more »

JUSTIN BARRETT RIDES ON

Date: July 11, 2024 -

SOME OBSERVERS feared that a poor showing for new-right movements in Ireland in the local government and European Parliament elections might push a section of these movements towards more extreme politics. There is ample evidence that this fear of anger and disillusionment fuelling radicalisation was… Read more »

RAY MORAN’S TURNTABLE

Date: July 11, 2024 -

A DECISION is due shortly from the planners in Dublin City Council on an application for the retention of an unusual “vehicular turntable” in the driveway of an impressive three-storey Georgian pile on Upper Leeson Street, D4, near Burlington Road. It turns out that the house was recently acquired by moneybags medic Ray Moran of… Read more »

DOUBLE STANDARDS AT THE ‘IRISH TIMES’

Date: July 11, 2024 -

JUSTIFIABLY, AND admirably, newspapers, and TV and radio programmes reported and commented on the recent suspended sentence for soldier Cathal Crotty, who viciously assaulted Natasha O’Brien. Outrage was followed by reporting on Army and Garda tolerance of violent offenders and on the unending war on… Read more »

VOL 42 NO 14

Date: July 11, 2024 -