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THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Date: September 21, 2023 -

Ireland’s rugby journey isn’t just about sport. It’s a testament to a nation’s mettle, and it casts shadows deep into our tech world’s relentless innovation. Jamie Heaslip, Twitter He is healthy and preposterously fit – pictures of him in his swimming togs had the ladies of Leinster House swooning over his six-pack a few years… Read more »

WOLVES AT THE DOOR

Date: September 21, 2023 -

“These figures speak for themselves”. So read the statement from the European People’s Party (EPP), of which Fine Gael is a member. The statistic in question is that around 18,000 livestock a year are killed by wolves. What the EPP failed to mention is that, across the EU, there are around 300 million livestock, so… Read more »

THERE’S SUMMIT UP IN THE NORTH

Date: September 21, 2023 -

THE NORTH’S much-heralded International Investment Summit took place in Belfast on September 13. It was a flop. When the Brits announced the plan in the spring, they envisaged the ‘summit’ being addressed by ministers from a recently re-established Stormont executive. They would be signalling that the north ‘is back in business’. As predicted in these… Read more »

DUBLIN BAY NORTH AFTER BRUTON

Date: September 21, 2023 -

AFTER ALL the recent paeans of praise lavished upon Richard Bruton, the former minister and former leader of a failed coup in Fine Gael, the real question is what effect his absence will have on the constituency of Dublin Bay North (DBN). All the other… Read more »

SEERY KEARNEY’S LAW ‘N’ ORDER PITCH

Date: September 21, 2023 -

SENATOR MARY Seery Kearney was a little OTT with her demand that the Oireachtas media committee draw up protocols to guide journalistic standards. This followed Virgin Media’s decision to broadcast lengthy interviews with the loveable John Gilligan, prompting Scary Kearney’s attempt to get out in front of the pack on the law ‘n’ order issue…. Read more »

KYIV’S YURII FURY

Date: September 21, 2023 -

A STORY about a pacifist being prosecuted by his government that is engaged in all-out war with a neighbour would receive much sympathetic support from our Government and media if it was happening in Russia. That the scene of the action is actually the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, explains why there has been no outcry in… Read more »

AOIFE MOORE’S SHORT GAME

Date: September 21, 2023 -

AOIFE MOORE, political journalist and author of the latest ‘tell-all’ book on Sinn Féin, The Long Game — Inside Sinn Féin, has cleverly developed Shane Ross’s trick in promoting his book on Mary Lou McDonald. Ross told how SF denied him access or information but… Read more »

THE HARP THAT ONCE…

Date: September 21, 2023 -

WHEN MEDIAHUIS last year launched a strong campaign to abolish Vat on newspapers, it claimed that democracy in Ireland was threatened by any decline in reporting capacity, to which the Vat burden was a contributory factor. Once the Vat rate was abolished in last year’s budget, it appears that Mediahuis embarked on a strategy that… Read more »

CORRECTION

Date: September 21, 2023 -

GOLDHAWK HAS been contacted by NewsBrands Ireland to point out that the newspaper lobby group, along with the Press Council of Ireland and Google News Initiative, does not, as stated in The Phoenix (see edition 25/8/23), organise the new Irish Journalism Awards. Alchemy Event Management now manages “all aspects of the awards, including financial”. We… Read more »

ON THE FRINGE

Date: September 21, 2023 -

AS THE Dublin Fringe Festival draws to a close there has been little sign of the outfit known as the Trans Writers Union (TWU) looking to organise any boycott of the Irish Times, which is one headache less for Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. Back in 2021 the IT was targeted by the TWU courtesy of an… Read more »

JACK CANTILLON’S LONG SHOT

Date: September 21, 2023 -

LAWYER TURNED bloodstock entrepreneur Jack Cantillon’s latest venture into the stallion market has hit a significant speed bump. Jack Cantillon recently teamed up with racing broadcaster and general multitasker Kevin Blake to purchase a French-trained sprinter called Bouttemont with the intention of retiring the nag from racing this autumn and standing him as a stallion… Read more »

BYRNES FAMILY FORM

Date: September 21, 2023 -

CHARLES BYRNES and his sons, Philip and Cathal, have generated acres of column inches in recent times but an incident that went under the radar involved jockey Philip, who was riding a horse named Gendarme for his father at Sligo. Although Gendarme was second favourite,… Read more »

CHANTILLY SPACE

Date: September 21, 2023 -

AN IMPRESSIVE pile has gone on the market in Rathmichael, Co Dublin, with a chunky €4.65m price tag. It turns out to be owned by sailing-mad investment suit Richard Goodbody – director of stockbroking at Cantor Fitzgerald – and his wife, Gillian, but has also had some interesting previous tenants. Chantilly House, which sits on… Read more »

EAMONN ROTHWELL’S LOSS-MAKING CAR FERRIES

Date: September 21, 2023 -

THERE WAS yet more good news this month for the lucky Irish Continental Group (ICG) captain, Eamonn Rothwell, when P&O Ferries announced it was exiting the Dublin-Liverpool ro-ro freight route, leaving some handy pickings for Irish Ferries. Rothwell previously lucked out when P&O got in a pickle on the Dover-Calais route on foot of attempts… Read more »

KINGSPAN’S TROJAN HORSE

Date: September 21, 2023 -

Does Kingspan have a Trojan horse strategy for the US? The news that the company had been in talks about a merger with an American outfit called Carlisle came as something of a surprise. Kingspan has been on an acquisition spree lately but this putative deal represented a different calibre altogether. Who would have been… Read more »

AILISH KELLY’S COSMETIC CHANGES

Date: September 21, 2023 -

THERE WAS plenty of media coverage devoted to the announcement that Goldhawk’s old friends in The Avoca Clinic have received a whopping €7m courtesy of British equity fund BGF, with the likes of RTÉ, the Irish Times, the Indo all giving the deal a plug. Happily, a number of High Court legal actions in the… Read more »

‘IRISH TIMES’ UKRAINE U-TURN?

Date: September 7, 2023 -

HAS THE Old Lady of Tara Street finally realised that John Redmond-type calls to defend poor little Ukraine are really an effort to involve Ireland in that big battle between the beasts of East and West, Nato and the Brics? Worse, it looks as though… Read more »

PROFILE: JUSTIN BARRETT

Date: September 7, 2023 -

OVER THE almost four decades that Justin Barrett has been active on the extremes of Irish politics, he has shown a remarkable consistency in advocating a far-right ideology for which there has been little or no support. Whether he was acting in the role of public relations officer of the Borrisokane branch of Fine Gael,… Read more »

YOUNG BLOOD: ELISA O’DONOVAN

Date: September 7, 2023 -

THEY SAY that vengeance is a dish best served cold but there’s an added spice to the ambition of Elisa O’Donovan, the Limerick Social Democrat councillor, to take Green TD Brian Leddin’s Dáil seat in the next general election. In 2021, Leddin was forced to… Read more »

LIMERICK LEGAL SPATS

Date: September 7, 2023 -

HIGH COURT proceedings have just been issued – for the second time – by Limerick legal eagle and environmental campaigner Michelle Hayes against architectural historian, commentator and public relations officer Emma Gilleece, who is a familiar face in Irish Georgian Society circles as well as RTÉ. These are not the only actions currently faced by… Read more »

VANISHING VANISHING TRIANGLE

Date: September 7, 2023 -

THE GARDAÍ have been coming under fire in recent months and it may be the case that the boys and girls in blue are happy enough that, The Vanishing Triangle, a proposed fictionalised account of the real-life disappearances of several young women in the Leinster area was nowhere to be seen in Virgin Media Television’s… Read more »

DAVID HARVEY’S HOT SEATS

Date: September 7, 2023 -

CONGRATULATIONS TO David Harvey, producer of this week’s documentary on John Gilligan. The media-savvy and politically connected producer garnered huge exposure for his show, not least from RTÉ, where he is a director. Harvey, however, has many strings to his bow and is a significant figure in the Irish arts and culture sector. Monday’s Confessions… Read more »

COLM O’ROURKE’S NEW ROLE

Date: September 7, 2023 -

MEATH LEGEND Colm O’Rourke, who has been enjoying no little success in his role as manager of the county GAA team, which won the Tailteann Cup by beating Down in Croker in July, has also been installed as a manager of a very different sort. O’Rourke, who landed a couple of All-Ireland winner’s medals in… Read more »

PAUL STENSON’S NEW HAT

Date: September 7, 2023 -

THERE IS no sign of former loudmouth cafe owner Paul Stenson finding someone to stump up a few bob for his White Moose brand, “one of the most unique food business businesses in the world”. He has, however, got back in business in the west with a new partner. Stenson generated more than his fair… Read more »

LUKE COMER’S LONG SHOT

Date: September 7, 2023 -

MONEYBAGS DEVELOPER Luke Comer holds the record in Ireland for training the longest-priced winner, He Knows No Fear, having won at Leopardstown three years ago at odds of 300/1. He came pretty close to repeating that feat when his Navajo River turned over the Joseph O’Brien-trained odds-on favourite Fisherman’s Beach to win at 200/1 at… Read more »

MARTIN DYAR’S LISTOWEL GIG

Date: September 7, 2023 -

THIS WEEK sees the new director of Listowel Writers’ Week (LWW) festival unveiled and it is clear that, unlike his predecessor, Martin Dyar is no outsider. As fans of Goldhawk are well aware, the 2023 shindig was a fraught operation, given that the Arts Council had moved to impose a significantly greater degree of professionalism… Read more »

FERGAL NAUGHTON AND THE BRENNANS

Date: September 7, 2023 -

SO, GLEN Dimplex heir Fergal Naughton and his missus, Rachael, are the new owners of Dermot Desmond’s Georgian townhouse on Merrion Square in D2, having lashed out €9.25m. The couple have been chucking their money around down in Kenmare too, although the actual state of affairs at Francis and John Brennan’s high-profile hotel business is… Read more »

VOL 41 NO 18

Date: September 7, 2023 -

THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING

Date: September 7, 2023 -

AS THE Russian war with Ukraine grinds to a brutal winter stalemate, there are increasing tensions between Ukrainian citizens in Ireland – namely ethnic Ukrainians and ethnic Russians normally domiciled in Ukraine – an ominous development to which justice minister Helen McEntee’s departmental officials appear oblivious. Since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, more than 90,000… Read more »

POST PARTING

Date: September 7, 2023 -

ALONGSIDE Swedish giants Bonnier buying into the Business Post, a share restructuring has seen Derek Butler’s Endeavour Fund emerge as the second-biggest shareholder. This follows the exit of New York-based Liam Lynch’s Irish Studio Media Publishing, owner of the Irish Central website. It will be interesting to see how Lynch did out of the deal,… Read more »

FAR-RIGHT ‘SECURITY’

Date: September 7, 2023 -

The internet has had a huge impact on the growth of far-right organisations. Instead of having to face the predictable political opposition on the streets, they can distribute propaganda, meet, fundraise etc online. But a recurring problem for the far right has been the hacking… Read more »

ELUSIVE FINGERPRINTS

Date: September 7, 2023 -

THE MCGURK’S Bar bomb massacre in Belfast in 1971 claimed 15 lives. In 2011 the Police Ombudsman NI reported that it had no evidence relating to the three vehicles driven by the killers. It emerged a few weeks ago that it had a fingerprint ledger… Read more »

CYBER WAR IN EUROPE

Date: September 7, 2023 -

In May Dr Richard Browne, the director of Ireland’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), revealed to the Oireachtas committee on foreign affairs that his organisation has been providing “non-lethal aid” to Ukraine but that he would not “go into all of the details of what we’ve been doing”. Given the more recent revelation that Ireland’s… Read more »

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Date: September 7, 2023 -

Conceived in grave debt on a former stockade for political prisoners in colonial Sydney, passed through the healing hands of the great Mandela, then sold like a sack of potatoes to uncaring merchants, but somehow still alive. Now passed on to us to nurture and cherish. Let the festival begin. Matt Williams on the Rugby… Read more »

RYAN BOWS TO BIG TECH

Date: September 7, 2023 -

Big Tech likes to be a law unto itself, free of pesky regulations, taxes and accountability. That’s why so many tech giants locate in Ireland. However, having to compete with the rest of us for precious resources such as electricity and water is increasingly cramping their style. And with data centre energy consumption rapidly approaching… Read more »

MCMANUS’S HOT AIR

Date: September 7, 2023 -

RTÉ TV’s autumn schedule includes too much of “Official Ireland’s latest pet cause”, Irish Independent columnist Darragh McManus claims. The pet cause he refers to is a phenomenon that will cause at least a billion deaths this century on its current trajectory, according to a new study published in the scientific journal Energies. Yeah, but… Read more »