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IMMA’S NEW CHAIR

Date: March 23, 2023 -

THERE IS set to be a change at the top in Imma, with broadcasting entrepreneur David Harvey stepping down as chairman after seven-and-a-half years. Although he was reappointed by arts minister Catherine Martin at the end of 2020 after his initial five-year term, Goldhawk understands that Harvey made it clear at the time that he… Read more »

KIN 2 – RTÉ ONE

Date: March 23, 2023 -

AFTER A slow start to the first season, gangland series Kin proved a rarity for RTÉ – a drama that achieved a significant level of both critical and audience traction. While the second season’s much-hyped debut still contained the occasional longueur, it nevertheless proved a novelty for viewers in being an essentially domestic offering that was often… Read more »

CRH’S SHARE PRICE COULD DOUBLE AFTER US MOVE

Date: March 23, 2023 -

AS CRH boss Albert Manifold looks towards his legacy, the CEO is rebranding the group as an American business by moving its so-called primary listing to New York. In doing so, Dublin-headquartered CRH will be able to take advantage of the higher market rating that US companies attract in the building materials sector. The big… Read more »

PTSB MISSING OUT ON ULSTER BANK JAM

Date: March 23, 2023 -

IT WAS surprising to read media reports earlier this month with headlines such as “Permanent TSB swings to €267m pre-tax profit amid gain from Ulster Bank deal”, presumably inspired by outgoing chairman Robert Elliott. He noted in his 2022 review: “We are reporting a very significant increase in profitability for 2022, with our reported pre-tax… Read more »

ANNE HERATY’S HEIRLOOM

Date: March 23, 2023 -

GOLDHAWK’S FAVOURITE jeweller Chupi Sweetman is profiled in this issue (see p17), having raised a fair whack of moolah for her eponymous brand. It turns out that some familiar faces have come on board here. A high-profile investor in Chupi turns out to be the minted co-founder of the CPL recruitment agency, Anne Heraty, who… Read more »

NEIL JORDAN’S ‘MARLOWE’

Date: March 23, 2023 -

IT’S NOT necessarily a good look for a film when the names in the credits immediately after the lead actor are those of the director’s wife and his film’s producer. But so it is with Neil Jordan’s much-hyped Marlowe. Liam Neeson’s name is followed by Brenda Rawn and Alan Moloney, playing “office secretary” and “office… Read more »

JEREMY HUNT’S FILM PLOT

Date: March 22, 2023 -

ONE-TIME arts minister John O’Donoghue likened film production incentives to a “Dutch auction”, whereby governments compete to give away the most money to film and television producers. Now that the UK is free of EU state-aid shackles, Jeremy Hunt’s recent budget promised a range of “reforms” to Britain’s TV and film tax reliefs. In what… Read more »

OUR MAN IN THE CARIBBEAN

Date: March 22, 2023 -

Sindo READERS were this month treated to a colourful article from long-time scribe Liam Collins, who had been, er, “wintering in Barbados” and ended up on the tiny island of Canouan, part of the Caribbean empire owned by Dermot Desmond. Surely the most interesting line in the piece was that Dermo “had ended our brief,… Read more »

IRISH TIMES HOT AIR

Date: March 22, 2023 -

Times are tough in the print media, but there was still a collective gasp at the decision of the Irish Times last weekend to run a half-page advert headed “Look to us for energy security and climate action”. The climate warriors in question are the Canadian Energy Centre, a fossil fuel industry front dedicated to… Read more »

SPY GAMES

Date: March 22, 2023 -

TWO SHARPLY contrasting takes on alleged Russian ‘spy’ Marina Sologub – booted out by Australian authorities and the subject of much spooky speculation by Sunday Times security correspondent John Mooney – have been presented by the ST and Sunday Independent. Born in Kazakhstan but educated in Ireland since childhood, Sologub worked at the National Space… Read more »

O’REILLY V HOURIGAN

Date: March 22, 2023 -

THE GREEN Party chairperson and ultra-loyal lieutenant of Eamon Ryan, senator Pauline O’Reilly, is gunning for Neasa Hourigan TD as the latter contributed greatly to the embarrassing swell of support to retain the eviction ban, not to mention the danger it posed to the Government. Obviously warming to her role in disciplining dissident voices, O’Reilly… Read more »

SUE GRAY STILL TO RUN UK?

Date: March 8, 2023 -

THE MOST powerful woman in Britain – according to various British sources – is Sue Gray and she has now emerged as British Labour Party leader Keir Starmer’s chief of staff. This, some say, is a sure sign that the permanent UK government and its intelligence eyes are convinced Labour will be in power before… Read more »

PROFILE: EDWARD HORGAN

Date: March 8, 2023 -

RECENTLY ACQUITTED of criminal damage to a US navy warplane in Shannon Airport six years ago, the 77-year-old ex-military officer, commandant Edward Horgan, must be one of the most resilient (and formidable) anti-establishment campaigners Ireland has seen for many years. He has been in and out of Irish courts and Garda holding cells down the… Read more »

YOUNG BLOODS: NAOMI O’LEARY

Date: March 8, 2023 -

THERE’S A new breed of journalist stalking the land – confident, ambitious and committed, with their eyes set firmly on the future. Naomi O’Leary, Europe correspondent of the Irish Times, shines out as one of the brightest stars. As O’Leary clearly knows, modern journalism is as much concerned with shaping opinion as with the mere… Read more »

LITTLE MUSEUM, BIG BRANDS

Date: March 8, 2023 -

CLEVER TREVOR WHITE, director of the Little Museum of Dublin, exudes ethical concern for children, climate and other issues as manifest in various ways. Last September White commissioned Irish women’s history academic, Dr Mary McAuliffe, to deliver lectures at the museum on people such as trade union activist Margaret Skinnider and Ladies Land League founder… Read more »

MODEST ANNE HARRIS

Date: March 8, 2023 -

THE HEROISM attributed to TD Catherine Murphy by Anne Harris in the Irish Times this week was a study in selfless endeavour untainted by any egotism or self-interest by the writer. So eager was Harris to bathe Murphy in adulation for her critique of Denis O’Brien that – in reference to the allegations made about… Read more »

BRENDAN MULLIN SCORES

Date: March 8, 2023 -

INTERESTING TO see a judgment for the sum of €163,000 being registered against a property development company by one Brendan Mullin – former Ireland and Lions star outside centre. The last year has been a tricky one for Mullin, who was capped 55 times for his country before moving into the financial services sector, as… Read more »

SOC DEMS LEADER TO LOSE SEAT?

Date: March 8, 2023 -

THE BIG bounce that new Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns gave the party – up five points to 9% – says something about the way in which the two mesdames of Irish politics, Róisín Shortall and Catherine Murphy, may have been holding back the party. In fact, back in 2020 the two women had promised… Read more »

ARTS COUNCIL EXIT

Date: March 8, 2023 -

THERE WERE some significant developments in the Arts Council last month, including the sudden exit of council officer Rachel West, probably best known for her stint as head of theatre on 70 Merrion Square. While her departure is not linked to any wider staff problems in the council, it comes at a time when the… Read more »

PRINCE KHALED’S IRISH JET

Date: March 8, 2023 -

GOLDHAWK WAS interested to see that a colourful Saudi prince, Khaled, who owns the most expensive house in the UK, is currently embroiled in litigation with a company registered in Dublin. Prince Khaled bin Sultan al-Saud is a beneficial owner of a mansion on four acres of Regent’s Park called The Holme, which he picked… Read more »

LAUREN WHELAN’S MANAGERS

Date: March 8, 2023 -

RTÉ WAS undoubtedly hoping to attract some of TikTok star Lauren Whelan’s 1.6 million followers when it posted her off to Donegal to acquire the cúpla focal with Amanda Brunker, Des Cahill, Fred Cooke and Oisín Mullin. This was good news for the influencer’s management team, Sarah Kiernan and Conor Cochrane. The eclectic quintet are… Read more »

TRICOLOURS AND THE FAR RIGHT

Date: March 8, 2023 -

SOME OF the boneheads running the Irish far-right scene have stumbled on the contradictions of cosying up to right-wing extremists and criminals from Blighty such as Tommy Robinson – real name, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. The self-professed loyalist has supported British paratroopers involved in Bloody Sunday and has served prison sentences for various offences including stalking, fraud… Read more »

VOL. 41 NO. 05

Date: March 8, 2023 -

CONSULATE’S OSCAR PERFORMANCE

Date: March 8, 2023 -

THERE IS one possible result at Sunday’s Oscars that may not be top of the wish list for film funding agency Screen Ireland. While the media coverage has focused on The Banshees of Inisherin and An Cailín Ciúin, there has been relatively scant regard afforded to the production nominated in the Oscar’s best short film… Read more »

ROBERT QUIRKE’S MALTESE MOOLAH

Date: March 8, 2023 -

THE Comptroller and Auditor General’s scathing report into the farce surrounding HSE spending on ventilators in the early days of the Covid pandemic reminded Goldhawk of his old pal, Robert Quirke, who is currently happily ensconced in Malta. The Westmeath native owns a number of firms but surely the most interesting is Roqu Media International… Read more »

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Date: March 8, 2023 -

WAR IN UKRAINE Dear Editor, I want to say that the article you did on the war in Ukraine was excellent. There are no media outlets saying it as it is. This ban on talking about the war in any other terms than the current narrative is bordering on fascism. Dare I say the word…. Read more »

BURNING ISSUE

Date: March 8, 2023 -

If an outsider were to land in rural Ireland for the first time in recent weeks, what would be their enduring impression of the ‘emerald isle’? Most likely, they would conclude that many Irish people hate nature and are actively trying to wipe out what little remains of our indigenous flora and fauna. From late… Read more »

SWIFT JUSTICE?

Date: March 8, 2023 -

FOLLOWING THE shooting of detective chief inspector John Caldwell at Omagh last month, PSNI chief constable Simon Byrne was quite bullish in his claims of how the PSNI would bring the killers to “swift justice”. For some years now the mantra in media, north and south, is that dissident IRA groups have been thoroughly infiltrated… Read more »

THE HOT AIR BRIGADE

Date: March 8, 2023 -

When Cairns’ name is mentioned, the first things I always hear – from people of all political affiliations – are almost effusively positive sentiments; “I love her!”, “she’s so great!”, “what a boss!”. These feelings she evokes are significant. Una Mullally on Holly Cairns, Irish Times Holly for Taoiseach. It’s not as crazy as you… Read more »

BIG FLY IN THE WINDSOR SOUP

Date: March 8, 2023 -

AS FAR as the British are concerned, it’s a done deal. The choreography worked perfectly. EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen came to Windsor rather than prime minister Rishi Sunak having to go to Brussels. One wag said if they’d called the Northern Ireland Protocol the ‘Winston Churchill Protocol’ in 2020 there’d never have… Read more »

GREEN PARTY DROPS TRIPLE LOCK

Date: March 8, 2023 -

THE FIANNA FÁIL leader and Tánaiste, Micheál Martin, will be pleased with Cabinet colleague Eamon Ryan, who recently persuaded his now-domesticated Green Party members to adapt to modern realities – ie the need to clear the decks for future wars with anti-western forces that threaten EU interests in particular parts of the globe. In turn,… Read more »

MICHEÁL MARTIN’S NUCLEAR RECORD

Date: March 8, 2023 -

THE 2023 Conference on Disarmament in Geneva last month heard Tánaiste and foreign affairs minister Micheál Martin denounce Russia for its recent pronouncements on nuclear weapons. Days earlier Martin boasted: “Our efforts to secure international peace at both the official and political levels were recognised when Ireland, as the long-standing champion of nuclear non-proliferation, was… Read more »

SINN FÉIN FLEES TO CENTRE

Date: March 8, 2023 -

A RECENT statement by left-wing TDs and senators, excluding Sinn Féin, in the Irish Times made the ever so provocative suggestion that Ireland should use its neutral status to call for a ceasefire and peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. The reaction from those who, in the first place, do not accept that Ireland’s neutrality… Read more »

‘IRISH TIMES’ CENSORSHIP

Date: March 8, 2023 -

THE RECENT statement to the Irish Times from various TDs and senators proposing a peace dialogue in Ukraine was responded to by a sack full of letters, which were overwhelmingly hostile. The paper of reference made sure to clear the decks for this most important polemic and published reams of war-like correspondence demanding there be… Read more »

EILIS O’HANLON’S ‘INTERNALISED LOATHING’

Date: March 8, 2023 -

THE JOINT committee on children, equality, disability, integration and youth held a discussion on “integration and refugee issues” in the Dáil last month, which attracted the malign attention of some right-wing social media warriors, as well as Eilis O’Hanlon. The seven TDs and five senators in attendance were joined by representatives from Le Chéile; Kurshiv… Read more »

DANA V VIRGIN MEDIA

Date: March 8, 2023 -

ONE OF the last defamation actions in the raft of such cases undertaken by Dana following the acquittal on all charges of child abuse against her brother, John Brown, in 2014 is now being sorted in front of a High Court judge. When reference was made to the charges against Brown in a TV3 programme… Read more »