Sebastian Barry's new play Hinterland concerns the reflections of a former Taoiseach and his failed relationship with his family. Joe Jackson asks director Max Stafford-Clarke if the story is based on anyone in particular
Considerable as the controvery has been over the decision of Judge Kevin Haugh to send questionnaires to the 1,100 potential jurors in Charles Haughey case, one significant factor has been missed.
IT IS heartening to note that Mr. John Major has recently joined the Bad Language Revival Movement, founded by the former Irish Prime Minister, Charles Haughey.
It s gas. Some idiot in a world observatory of finance or somesuch has dropped Ireland down the least corrupt league. S/he thinks we are more corrupt than, say, five years ago. And why is this? Because we have these tribunals, that s why. Logic? Don t talk to me about logic. It s no wonder the financial order goes pear-shaped from time to time if that s their logic. Because, of course, the tribunals are a sign that we were once corrupt, that we know it and are getting better, not the other way around.
In the final months of his battle with cancer, Tony Gregory sat down with Hot Press to discuss his life and career. Knowing it would be his final interview he was in a reflective frame of mind...
In domestic politics, there was a curious sense throughout the year of everything and nothing staying the same. The tribunals progress continued apace, but the effect on Fianna Fail was not easily quantifiable.
The most hyped show on earth may not have lived up to expectations but the year 2000 did provide the usual mix of giddy highs, horrible lows and the odd blast of flat out weirdness. THE WHOLE HOG reflects on 12 months in the history of our world, while our regular columnists have their last word on the first year of the new century
It's been good to know ya. He had his faults, but there was a lot to like about the Taoiseach. And the fact that he was central to achieving peace in the North will be a lasting legacy.
In the final months of his battle with cancer, TONY GREGORY sat down with Hot Press to discuss his life and career. Knowing it would be his final interview he was in a reflective frame of mind.
Regarded by most sane citizens as an irrelevant safe haven for pompous political windbags, Seanad Eireann is really . . . an irrelevant safe haven for pompous political windbags. Why then, is the decidedly sane TCD academic, ivana bacik, so anxious to get elected to Dail Eireann s Upper House? liam fay finds out.
Albert Reynolds has, it seems, wilfully wrecked a coalition government whose achievements were numerous and real, possibly endangering the peace process while he’s at it. BILL GRAHAM wonders why, and ponders the repercussions of the foolhardy actions of Harry Whelehan’s No. 1 fan.
The task facing SEÁN HAUGHEY is a daunting one: to attempt to emulate the achievements of his father, a man who spent decades at the very centre of Irish public life. Liam Fay talks to the most famous moustache in politics about life, love and the pursuit of happiness, and asks: is Dáil Éireann to be the House of the Rising Son? Pix: COLM HENRY.
As the major force in the "Club of '22", whose attempts to oust Charlie Haughey from the leadership of Fianna Fail finally resulted in Dessie O'Malley's departure to form the Progressive Democrats, Charlie McCreevy was long considered a thorn in the side of the Taoiseach by the party faithful. Ironically then, it was McCreevy himself who was to be instrumental in setting up the talks with the P.D.s following the recent election which would result in Charles J. Haughey continuing to stay in power in a new kind of coalition government.
Generally regarded as one of the most candid of Irish politicians, Charlie McCreevy here lives up to his reputation as he shoots from the hip on matters both political and personal.
Expelled by the Labour Party and reviled by some of his former colleagues, JOE HIGGINS is seen by his own supporters as the only genuinely socialist politician in Dail Iireann. No friend or fan of Labour, golden circles or U2, he tells JOE JACKSON that revolutionary change is not just possible but essential. Pix: Colm Henry.
It is an old Republican principle. But it could also be applied to the attitude the authorities have taken to Ireland’s longest serving political prisoners, Paddy McCann and Colm O’Shea. Jailed for the killing of two Gardai during a bank raid in Roscommon in 1980, as the peace process reached its final stages they were asked to sign up to the Good Friday Agreement. They subsequently put their names on the dotted line. That was ten years ago. So why have they not been released in the meantime, like dozens of other former Paramilitary activists? In an extraordinary, confessional interview, PADDY MCCANN makes his case against the State.
It was the early hours of Valentine’s Day in 1981 when the fire started in the Stardust nightclub in Artane on the north side of Dublin. It quickly went out of control, and in the ensuing holocaust 48 people died and 214 were injured.
At a time when public disillusionment with politicians is arguably at an all-time high, Cork Fianna Fail MEP BRIAN CROWLEY continues to buck the national trend by commanding a huge personal vote. But then, this is not a man who fits easily into any obvious political mould. A former rock singer and still a passionate music fan, he has survived a near-fatal car crash and learned to live with a permanent disability resulting from an earlier life-changing accident in his teens. Here, the man many tip to be a future President of Ireland, talks candidly to JOE JACKSON about matters personal and political. Pics: COLM HENRY.
As the turbo-charged economy he helped create teeters, Charlie McCreevy talks about medical cards for the aged, the Eircom shares debacle, explains why he wouldn't swap places with current Finance Minister Brian Lenihan.
As Albert Reynolds basks in the post-ceasefire glow and Dick Spring’s Labour party strives to assert its
independence in government, BILL GRAHAM believes that the real losers in the new political landscape are the Progressive Democrats.
Fianna Fail TD, guitar player, marathon runner and father of David, TOM KITT on: Charlie, Beverly, Liam, Bertie, Carr Communications, drink, dope, religion, protest singing and the high regard in which he holds his famous son.
Interview: OLAF TYARANSEN. Photography: MELLA TRAVERS
In his most revealing interview yet, Dick Roche explains why he doesn't trust Libertas' Declan Ganley and shares his thoughts on the use of Shannon airport by US military.
Senate leader Donie Cassidy, a reluctant interviewee, opens up about his rivalry with Fianna Fail colleague Mary O'Rourke and reminisces about his days in the show-band business.
Albums such as Streetcleaner and Pure have established Brummie noise terrorists godflesh as one of the most exciting alternative bands on the planet. Their latest effort, Love And Hate In Dub, is a radically overhauled remix version of its predecessor, Songs Of Love And Hate. The band s
talkative mainman justin broadrick explains all to jonathan o Brien.
Though their second album, All The Way From Tuam, has yet to hit the shops in Britain, The Sawdoctors are beginning to pack em in in the strangest of places like Norwich and Leeds. Bill Graham talks to Leo Moran about the band s phenomenal success to date and, against a backdrop of cynicism among rock s self-conscious cognoscenti, asks the perennial question: what is hip?
ADRIENNE MURPHY reports on the planning
controversy surrounding GLENDING WOOD in Co. Wicklow and its potentially catastrophic implications for the area?s rich archaeological heritage.
He s the editor of Private Eye, a regular on one of television s most populAr shows and he got his big career break from Peter Cook. Notwithstanding all those bruising court battles, IAN HISLOP has more reasons than most to be cheerful. Interview: BARRY GLENDENNING.
Rabble-rousing controversialist and after hours man, sure. But one time devoted mass goer who now drinks once or twice a month and finds Stringfellows seedy? Welcome to the other side of Eamon Dunphy.
When blues legend B.B. King came to town for his recent bash at College Green, as part of the Guinness Blues Festival, BILL GRAHAM caught up with the man whose extraordinary career has spanned many decades and which shows no sign of abating.
Pix: CATHAL DAWSON.
It’s a different world than it used to be! In this special extended birthday column, The Hog takes a necessarily selective – and typically colourful – look at the 30 most important influences on the process of change that has brought this country all the way from there to… well, where else but here?
With the opinion polls predicting a tight finish in the upcoming General Election, there is an increasing likelihood that the Greens will play a part in the next Government. So what is their leader Trevor Sargent really made of?
Never has a leader of a government so suicidally snatched defeat from the jaws of victory as Albert Reynolds has. BILL GRAHAM mulls over the reasons why.
. . . she was reet petite! That's not true, actually. Instead, the maverick motorbike-riding DUP councillor and former Lord Mayor of Belfast talks about loyalist paramilitary violence, the assassination of prison officers, the indifference of London, his hostility to Mary Robinson, his scorn for the Official Unionist Party - and his own willingness to take up arms in the cause of keeping the six counties out of a united Ireland. Interview: JOE JACKSON. Pix: CATHAL DAWSON
And so, unbelievably another year has bitten the dust. Here, continuing a tradition as Christmassy as the eating of turkey and the consumption of way too much alcohol, The Hog reflects on a turbulent year, when we all grew older and much, much wiser.
Colm O’Hare reports on the latest developments in the Irish film world which – thanks to initiatives spearheaded by Michael D. Higgins, Minister of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht – is experiencing an unprecedented boom period.
With The Panel set to return for a series of election specials, show regular Mairead Farrell discusses the state of the body politic, doorstep meetings with Bertie Ahern and her encounter with Bill Clinton.
That would certainly seem to be the policy in RTE, where the hugely successful Scrap Saturday was ditched and Extra Extra promoted as A GREAT IDEA. Widely considered Ireland's most talented and controversial comedian, Dermot Morgan has suffered more than most in a climate where safety remains the bottom line. Here he talks about Teasey and Haughey, Bishop Casey's bedroom habits, Chris de Burgh's ladies in bed, the loves Labour have lost in government and what makes a legitimate target – along the way excoriating RTE for their unwillingness to take even the slightest risk in the cause of decent comedy.
Interview: Joe Jackson.
More than four years ago, Hot Press called for a Tribunal of Inquiry into the Catholic Church s handling of the issue of child-sex abuse by priests. We have regularly repeated the call since. Now it has been taken up in another publication. Maybe we are getting somewhere.
30th Anniversary Retrospective: Well, in 2007, at least the choice is yours. Which is a bit of a change from 1977 when Hot Press launched. Back then, you couldn’t even buy a condom legally in Ireland…
I’m sorry to hear of an old acquaintance, John Eddie McNicholl, taking a hit from the Bush regime, and even sorrier to note the reaction of an influential element of Irish-America.
