Who was on the taoiseach’s Christmas card list last year? Thanks to a Freedom of Information request, we know who Simon Harris had in the naughty and nice categories when he drew up his list in December, when he was taoiseach.
Unsurprisingly, the US president Joe Biden and vice-president Kamala Harris made the cut but he hedged his bets by also sending cards to president-elect Donald Trump and his veep, JD Vance.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas also got a card from the Taoiseach. Not unsurprisingly Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu was overlooked.
Of course Canadian leader Justin Trudeau made the cut, as did the governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, a Democrat whom Harris met while he was in the United States last September. But surprisingly there was no room on the list for British prime minister Keir Starmer.
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All the members of the European Council got one, as did the president of the European Parliament, the president of the European Central Bank, the president of the European Investment Bank, the executive of the European Medicines Agency and the president of the Court of Auditors.
Government ministers and the Attorney General also made the nice list, as did the four Fine Gael MEPs.
On top of the right to sit at cabinet, the super juniors all got Christmas cards from the boss, but in an illustration of the pecking order, regular junior ministers alas didn’t make the cut.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and Labour leader Ivana Bacik also received seasonal greetings from the then taoiseach, although there was no card for other opposition leaders such as Holly Cairns.
Also notable by his absence on the list was President Michael D Higgins. Surely an oversight.
Bernard Jackman correction
In the Overheard column of the 9 February last, we published an article about an application for planning permission by a Bernard Jackman, which had been rejected by Wicklow County Council.
We incorrectly reported that the planning application had been made by the former Ireland rugby player, Bernard Jackman. Mr Jackman’s solicitors have contacted us to inform us that the application was not made by their client. We accept that and we regret the error.
Love/Hate reunion
Confusion abounded earlier this month when actor and director John Connors suggested that RTÉ‘s Love/Hate may be returning, only for everyone involved to deny the claim.
Stuart Carolan certainly doesn’t seem to be spending his time grieving over Nidge et al. The crime drama’s writer has signed up to a new project with Metropolitan films, which incidentally also made Love/Hate, called Tall Tales and Murder.
Chris Addison is attached to direct and the drama has just received a €950,000 funding award from Screen Ireland.
Carolan is also writing The Witness, a film about Joseph O’Callaghan, the youngest person to ever go into witness protection in Ireland. The project is something of a Love/Hate reunion, with the crime drama’s producer, Jane Gogan, on board, as well as its director, David Caffrey.
Rose-coloured view
Accounts filed last week by the company that runs the Rose of Tralee shine further light on its parlous finances.
The company made a modest profit of €51,492 last year, reducing its liabilities to 269,492 but that’s before taking into account a High Court action taken by shareholder Richard Henggeler over an alleged unpaid loan.
The accounts show the loan was for €96,414, although settling the matter will also involve significant legal costs.
Company directors Anthony O’Gara and John McCarthy note in the accounts that they believe the festival turned a corner by “returning to profitability” last year and they see this continuing in future years.
They have put their money where their mouths are: the pair have provided a personal guarantee to Bank of Ireland of €80,000.
Michael O’Leary’s big-budget pad
In 2021, the Russian embassy was ordered by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) to pay Michael O’Leary almost €20,000 for damage “in excess of normal wear and tear” to a period house he was renting to embassy officials in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.
The RTB heard the Russians had damaged woodwork in 12 Raglan Road by cranking the heating up to between 27 and 29 degrees on a regular basis.
Undeterred by his experience renting to Russian envoy Yuri Filatov’s heat-seeking diplomats, O’Leary is continuing to rent the redbrick pile out and it has just come back on the market, although those who frequent budget airlines probably need not apply.
When the Russians were in situ, the monthly rent was €10,860. This week the refurbished five-bed, which cost him €5.9 million back in 2009, is all yours for €13,450 a month.
Garden buildings' fate
The Government’s plans to relax planning rules for back garden cabins, dubbed the bed-in-a-shed proposal, can’t come quickly enough for Jimmy Flynn, one of the owners of Flynn & O’Flaherty, the developers of hundreds of houses and apartments in the Phoenix Park racecourse development.
Flynn recently asked Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council for retention permission for a series of unauthorised structures in the rear garden of his Clonskeagh home in south Dublin.
The six single-storey buildings, all constructed between 2020 and 2021, are made up of an art studio, a bar, a living space, a tool shed, a storage shed and an outdoor WC.
In his defence, Flynn’s planning consultant says the gardens are “very large” with mature trees, so the structures don’t overlook any neighbours.
“Our client was not aware that planning permission was required for such developments,” the retention application states.
Looking well
Apple Cider Vinegar, Netflix’s series about cancer hoaxer Belle Gibson, was the most popular TV series on Netflix in Ireland last week. Less well known is Ireland’s link to the “wellness warrior”.
The six-part series is based on a book, The Woman who Fooled the World: The True Story of Fake Wellness Guru Belle Gibson, written by journalists Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano.
These days Donelly lives in Co Kilkenny, having moved to Ireland from Melbourne after marrying an Irish woman.
Donelly continues to ply his trade in Ireland, working first for the Sunday Times before taking up a role last year with online investigative news site Belingcat.
A composite of him and Toscano is played in the series by Australian actor Mark Coles Smith, although Donelly points out for the record that as with most journalists depicted on screen, he is far better looking.
