Last week it emerged that Phil Hogan, the former Fine Gael minister and one-time EU commissioner, had finally made it out of the Golfgate rough. With his nemesis Leo Varadkar out of the Fine Gael leadership picture, Simon Harris brought Hogan in from the cold, appointing the Kilkenny man to an unpaid role on a party election committee. Not that Big Phil has spent the last few years in mourning. Now a busy Brussels lobbyist, he recently updated his EU declarations to include two new clients, both with Irish links.
Hogan is now working on behalf of the Enfer Group, established by Tipperary entrepreneur Louis Ronan and now led by his son, Louis Ronan jnr, who is married to broadcaster Mairead Ronan. He has also been lobbying on behalf of Velico Medical, a start-up founded by Irish entrepreneur Richard Meehan, which is seeking to create dried blood plasma technology that can be used to treat injured soldiers on the battlefield. Hogan could have used some of that after his Golfgate mauling.
Alan Shatter urges the public to think of the children
You know those public meetings politicians like to hold, particularly in the months leading up to elections. It gives them an opportunity to plaster an area with images of their mugs without breaching rules governing the timing of election posters. So there will be plenty of raised eyebrows over the posters popping up around south Dublin featuring the familiar face of former Fine Gael minister for justice Alan Shatter, who now goes by the title of chairman of the Inheritance Tax Reform Campaign. Shatter is holding a public meeting in The Goat pub on Monday, urging the public to stop the Government from stealing their children’s inheritance. He hasn’t gone away, you know.
Killarney seeks to honour one of its most famous sons
Alan Shatter once dressed up as Star Trek’s Captain Kirk in an election leaflet, warning voters that if he didn’t get their number one, he may be forced to resort to his phaser weapons. If he does make a return to politics, perhaps he can help those in Co Kerry trying to boldly erect a statue of Star Trek character Chief Miles O’Brien, played by Irish actor Colm Meaney in the sci-fi series. More than 1,000 signatures have been collected calling for a statue of the engineer in Killarney, the town in Co Kerry where he was born, or indeed will be born in September 2328, according to Star Trek lore.
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“Star Trek represents a hopeful vision of the future – one where poverty and discrimination have been overcome on planet Earth,” the project’s backers say. “This statue would shine as a beacon of hope for our world standing at the centre of one of the most beautiful regions of Ireland, if not the galaxy.” Perhaps there’s even some hard Vulcan logic to it. Riverside, Iowa, in the United States already has a bronze statute of William T Kirk, while Vulcan, Alberta, in Canada has a bronze bust of Spock, both of which are popular pilgrimages for devoted Trekkies. Killarney may find that resistance is futile.
Bewley’s to remain outdoor types
It’s been a tumultuous few years for Bewley’s on Grafton Street. First there was a tug of war between landlord Johnny Ronan and owner Paddy Campbell over the cafe’s historic Harry Clarke stained windows. The pair have also been in court over the cafe’s new lease. You would need a cup of coffee and a sticky cinnamon bun to calm your nerves after all that. Fortunately for its customers, you will now be able to continue doing that on the street outside the oriental cafe.
An Bord Pleanála has sided with the cafe’s operator after an appeal against a decision by Dublin City Council to force Bewley’s to remove its outdoor seating on Grafton Street. The appeals board ruled it should be entitled to keep eight tables, 16 seats and four screens outside because of its “iconic” status as a relic of auld decency in Dublin.
The tealeaves suggest Clare Daly will not run for the Dáil
Having lost her seat in Europe, will Clare Daly, the former Independents for Change MEP, have a tilt at the Dáil at the next general election? It looks increasingly unlikely. Dean Mulligan, a protege of Daly’s, has said he is running in Dublin Fingal East in the general election, Daly’s old constituency, although it has since been split into two after the recent boundary redraws. Last week Daly declined to comment on her own plans but said Mulligan had her “full support”. She has also put her money where her mouth is: she recently chipped in €500 to a GoFundMe set up by Mulligan to finance his campaign.
Concerns raised about Banty’s plans for House of the Living
The future of James Joyce’s House of the Dead at 15 Usher’s Island may have been saved by Labour TD Alan Kelly. Back in 2015, Kelly, the then minister for housing, set the minimum size of a one-bedroom apartment at 45sq m. A company owned by former Monaghan football manager Seamus “Banty” McEnaney is seeking to turn the house from Joyce’s short story, The Dead, into 10 apartments, made up of seven one-beds and three studio units. But Dublin City Council have told Banty that the quality of the apartments is “of a low level” in terms of “apartment minimum floor areas and individual room areas and widths”.
The council’s conservation officer also raised concerns that the subdivision of the house, with an intensification of mechanical and electrical services, could have “potential adverse impacts” on the protected structure. McEnaney has now been asked to address these concerns before proceeding. Ironically, the development proposed could have been the type of place that the peripatetic Joyce, whose family moved around Dublin frequently due to his father’s drinking and debts, could well have ended up living in.
Irish Daily Mail publisher remains silent on legal action against Minister
DMG Media, the publisher of the Irish Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, has been assiduous in covering a series of High Court actions involving RTÉ and the Minister for Social Protection in relation to the classification of workers as self-employed in recent months. It wasn’t so keen to discuss a case it lodged last week against the Minister for Social Protection and an appeals officer of the Social Welfare Appeals Office. When asked why it had lodged the High Court case, DMG said it did not comment on legal actions.
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