Search the Archives

CLIMATE CAMP POLITICS

Date: August 10, 2023 -

Ireland’s first Climate Camp in 2009 pitched up beside the peat-burning power station at Shannonbridge. The plant has since shut. In 2010 they protested against a planned new road in Tyrone. It was never built. There’s been only one Climate Camp since then – last… Read more »

MUSK’S NEW MOVE

Date: August 10, 2023 -

AS SOON as Elon Musk took over Twitter last October, climate denial began surging on the platform, along with hate speech. Like many on the right, Musk is a “free speech” absolutist but is not so keen on critical speech directed at him. He’s now… Read more »

DONALDSON’S TRIMBLE MOMENT

Date: August 10, 2023 -

Former UUP leader Reg, now Lord, Empey says DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson is “approaching his David Trimble moment”. By that he means Donaldson is going to have to make a decision that will be unpopular with many in his party and may lead to a split in the DUP. The sweet irony here is that… Read more »

O’FLYNN’S HOUSING ‘GUIDELINE’

Date: August 10, 2023 -

THE SPLIT on the Government’s Housing Commission sees one side, led by developer Michael O’Flynn, arguing that a housing referendum should be more of a guideline than a hard imperative. The ‘fear’, apparently, is that making the issue a hard and fast constitutional tenet – doing what it says on the tin, so to speak… Read more »

GENERAL CLANCY’S CALL

Date: August 10, 2023 -

THE DEFENCE Forces chief of staff, Lieutenant General Seán Clancy, made quite a statement at the recent unveiling of a monument to honour the national army dead in the Civil War, even if those who regard themselves as guardians of the national record failed to notice or record it. For 100 years the mantra from… Read more »

LIMERICK’S FIRST CITIZEN

Date: August 10, 2023 -

FEW CANDIDATES of calibre have stepped forward yet to proclaim their candidacy for the Limerick mayor’s job, although ex-finance mandarin John Moran wrapped the campaign victory (to secure Limerick’s mayoralty) around himself when it was announced. Moran has engaged in a personal and public campaign… Read more »

CLIMATE-FRIENDLY BANKS

Date: August 10, 2023 -

LISTENERS TO RTÉ’s Morning Ireland awoke last week to the sound of Bank of Ireland’s new CEO, Myles O’Grady, reading a statement about how the bank’s new strategy, Refresh, had helped to deliver half-year pre-tax profits of more than €1bn. Meanwhile the polished Colin Hunt, chief executive of AIB, announced that his bank’s operating profits… Read more »

‘SLAPPING’ THE MEDIA

Date: August 10, 2023 -

GOLDHAWK WAS greatly impressed by the deliberations of various politicians, lawyers and media executives who gathered at the Oireachtas joint committee on justice last month to discuss amendments to the Defamation Act 2009 that might ease the crippling burden that defamation laws impose on the media and free speech. A particular tactic that some have… Read more »

STEVE AIKEN’S BROADSIDE

Date: August 10, 2023 -

Steve Aiken, former Ulster Unionist Party leader from 2019 to 2021 and before that a commander on Royal Navy nuclear-powered submarines, launched an attack on Irish neutrality recently in the News Letter. Aiken said that what “Ireland really needs to do is have a serious, grown-up conversation about potentially joining something like Nato”, adding it… Read more »

O’DEA V DOOLEY

Date: August 10, 2023 -

Much media ink – and pixels – have been devoted to Fine Gael justice minister Helen McEntee in recent weeks, with quite a few stories referring to her positioning within the party for an eventual leadership bid. But a piece by Willie O’Dea in the Sunday Independent, and an immediate riposte by Timmy Dooley on… Read more »

FILM BOARD’S DIVERSE CAST

Date: August 10, 2023 -

TO THE surprise of absolutely no one, arts minister Catherine Martin has yet to fill two seats on the Screen Ireland (SI) board, which have been empty for three months. As there are only seven seats on the Susan Bergin-chaired board, a total of five members are currently overseeing the multimillion-euro budget. The terms of… Read more »

COVENEY’S NEW CHAIR

Date: August 10, 2023 -

UNLIKE SCREEN Ireland, whose board members receive not a cent in fees, the directors of the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland (DCCI) are paid €7,000 for their eight meetings a year (every second one of which is virtual), while the chair gets €12,000. This week was the closing date for applications to enterprise minister… Read more »

SHEIKH FAHAD’S BARGAIN

Date: August 10, 2023 -

IT WAS around this time last year that British bloodstock agent Richard Knight began his $20m spending spree at yearling sales in Ireland, England, France and the US on behalf of Kuwaiti owner Saleh Al Homaizi. A few months later the sales companies began to claim that Al Homaizi had not paid his sales invoices… Read more »

CATHAL BYRNES BRISTLES

Date: August 10, 2023 -

WHEN THE referrals committee of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) ruled that jockey Gearoid Brouder had tested positive for a metabolite of cocaine and suspended his licence for four years, it led to an outburst from Cathal Byrnes, the son of trainer Charles Byrnes. Brouder’s failed test stemmed from a routine IHRB testing of… Read more »

NEIL JORDAN’S PLOT

Date: August 10, 2023 -

FILMMAKER TURNED novelist Neil Jordan has been generating plenty of media hype for his latest buke, The Well of Saint Nobody. He might also be paying some attention to the long-listing of Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting for this year’s Booker prize. Jordan may have been well off the boil in recent decades when it… Read more »

MARKET STILL CONFUSED BY GRAFTON’S STRATEGY

Date: August 10, 2023 -

AS GAVIN Slark was in situ as Grafton Group CEO until November 2022, he has the bulk of responsibility for where the company now finds itself. The changes in the direction at Grafton have clearly confused the market and the underwhelming share price reflects these concerns. This should make Grafton a bargain but cost-of-living increases… Read more »

WAITING ON OVOCA BIO’S BLOCKBUSTER DRUG

Date: August 10, 2023 -

AS AN Irish company now dominated by Russian shareholders, Ovoca Bio has been badly impacted by the Ukraine war and CEO Kirill Golovanov has had to develop an appropriate strategy. Investors are now waiting for the results of a delayed trial of a possible blockbuster ‘wonder drug’ but not too many are holding their breath…. Read more »

THE BUTCHERS’ CUT

Date: August 10, 2023 -

IT HAS been a long time coming but Goldhawk’s favourite butchers, brothers Sean and Paul Nyhan, are set to be restricted from acting as company directors following a decade of hard slog by liquidator PJ Lynch. There is, however, no good news for the hapless unsecured creditors. Rostella Properties Ltd was the entity behind three… Read more »

JACKIE’S FLAG WAVING

Date: August 10, 2023 -

WHEN KATEO Investments Ltd, owner of the Thomas Moore Inn on Aungier Street in D2, applied to Dublin City Council for permission to retain a number of flag poles outside the boozer, the principals might have been concerned to see that a third-party submission had been lobbed in by planning consultants Hughes Planning. The submission… Read more »

BEYOND SAVING

Date: August 10, 2023 -

THIS WEEK a creditors’ meeting will be held for the impressive sounding CashDirector EU Ltd, a digital business service provider that was incorporated three years ago by Polish suit Rafal Strzelecki, who offers “Beyond Banking solutions for SME banks” no less. According to his LinkedIn page, Rafal has a “wealth of experience and expertise” and… Read more »

NURSING THEIR WOUNDS

Date: August 10, 2023 -

A TAX judgment has been registered against a company called Eldabane Properties Ltd (EPL), which was involved in the development of a nursing home in Co Roscommon. The two main players here are Martin O’Dowd and Simon Knowles, who built up extensive interests in the nursing home sector, although they had their fair share of… Read more »

BAKHURST ‘CONFLICT OF INTEREST’

Date: July 27, 2023 -

RTÉ’S SAVIOUR, new director general, Kevin Bakhurst, has made much of the need for a register of RTÉ employees’ interests and the avoidance of conflicts of interests. Bakhurst knows what he is talking about here as he came under fire from BBC rivals who levelled… Read more »

HELEN’S WALK ON THE WILD SIDE

Date: July 27, 2023 -

FOR ONCE justice minister, Helen McEntee’s accomplished PR handlers made an error of judgement in their staging of a photo opportunity with Helen McEntee sauntering around Dublin’s north inner city accompanied by senior gardaí and public expenditure minister, Paschal Donohoe. McEntee herself was dressed smart, casual in an expensive outfit that was more appropriate for… Read more »

PROFILE: PASCHAL DONOHOE

Date: July 27, 2023 -

IN 2002, Jim Mitchell TD was Fine Gael’s deputy leader and finance spokesman. Neither of those exalted positions saved him from losing his Dublin Central seat as FG suffered savage losses across the country in the general election that year. Mitchell’s task in retaining his seat wasn’t made any easier by a redrawing of constituency… Read more »

YOUNG BLOOD: KIERAN CORRIGAN

Date: July 27, 2023 -

EVER SINCE he kicked off his social media career in 2019, Kieran Corrigan has been trying hard – some might say way too hard – to launch himself into the influencer big league. The bogger mouthpiece has cultivated a sizeable following that predominantly appears to dwell in the boreens of rural Ireland, but he has… Read more »

TOFFS AGAINST TERRORISM

Date: July 27, 2023 -

MI6 CHIEF Richard Moore paid a visit to Prague recently where he implored Russian officials to contact his service to help overthrow Vladimir Putin. Moore’s words were designed to prick Putin’s paranoia rather than a serious recruitment gambit. MI6 describes this sort of activity as ‘destabilisation’. Richard Moore is the grandson of a decorated Cork… Read more »

JOHN MALONE’S TACTICS

Date: July 27, 2023 -

IT WAS hardly surprising that Virgin Media should wade into the RTÉ pay and governance row. The owner of the station is so-called ‘cable cowboy’ John Malone, who has, however, been facing some corporate governance criticisms of his own. Malone would be no fan of Montrose given that he competes directly with the station through… Read more »

FERGUS CRONIN’S NEXT GIG

Date: July 27, 2023 -

THE REMARKABLE level of promotion of the debut collection of short stories from septuagenarian businessman-turned-scribbler Fergus Cronin continues to impress Goldhawk. The latest gig for the fledgling artist is at the Arts Council (AC) funded Kilkenny Arts Festival next month. Cronin has clearly delivered with this buke given that a short story collection from an… Read more »

LAURA BONNER’S BACKERS

Date: July 27, 2023 -

INTERESTING TO see that legal eagle Joseph O’Malley has joined the board of Laura Bonner’s much-hyped booze operation, Muff Liquor Company (MLC). This follows on foot of a €¾m injection for a 30% stake by the celebrity-fuelled MLM Distillery Investments, whose shareholders include Ed Sheeran, Russell Crowe, Ronan Keating, Jimmy Carr, and one Noel Kelly… Read more »

BARRYROE SAGA STARTING TO LOOK VERY EXPENSIVE

Date: July 27, 2023 -

THE SAGA of the attempts by Barryroe Offshore Energy (BOE) to develop a huge oil and gas field off the south coast of Ireland continues to cause headaches and, utterly unsurprisingly, assorted legal eagles have now been called into the fray. This follows on foot… Read more »

VOL 41 NO 15

Date: July 27, 2023 -

TOM BARRY’S FERTILE PROFITS

Date: July 27, 2023 -

CONGRATULATIONS ARE in order for agribusiness operator and property investor Tom Barry, who has been making hay while the sun shines. Clearly, he has put his embarrassing carry-on in the Dáil well behind him. Blueshirt Barry represented Fine Gael in the Cork East constituency after being elected in the 2011 general election. He proved a… Read more »

RYANAIR’S HOT AIR

Date: July 27, 2023 -

THIS YEAR is, according to the Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC) “a critical year for delivery of Ireland’s national climate action”. Given that total national emissions reductions in 2022 amounted to a paltry 1.9%, and which doesn’t even include fast-rising emissions from aviation, and with the emissions-intensive livestock sector doubling down on dairy intensification, any… Read more »

MALIGN MALIAN MISSION

Date: July 27, 2023 -

SOMETIMES THE language of western diplomats jars with reality, especially when explaining the high-minded, humanitarian reasons for invading countries or even, as recently, when rationalising a hasty exit when things are not going to plan. The explanation for the presence of Irish troops in the EU Training Mission (EUTM) Mali – a former French colony… Read more »

MALCOLM BYRNE’S “EXTRAORDINARY” EVIDENCE

Date: July 27, 2023 -

THE IMPROPER sacking of Aodhagán Ó Súird as principal of Wexford primary school Gaelscoil Moshíológ has generated plenty of headlines given the 11 years it took for the matter to be finalised in the Four Courts earlier this month. Goldhawk, however, feels that the starring… Read more »

RTÉ BOARD BACK IN THE MONEY

Date: July 27, 2023 -

WITH THE wait for RTÉ’s 2022 annual report going on, there will be some information included that may be of interest to followers of events at Montrose, specifically a return to the good old days of fees for the directors. When the Moya Doherty-chaired board… Read more »