Overheard: El Diablo’s grandson hopes to join the Haughey political dynasty at the second attempt

Bertie Ahern is not the only grisly ghost of Fianna Fáil’s past trying to rehabilitate their reputation. Cathal Haughey, a son of Conor Haughey and grandson of former taoiseach Charlie, took part in an event in Howth last week in praise of El Diablo, as PJ Mara used to call his old boss.

Dr Philip O’Connor from DCU gave a talk, Charlie Haughey’s Neglected Place in Irish History, to the Howth Peninsula Heritage Society, hosted in St Mary’s Church.

“An interesting talk with a focus on social partnership/the economy, with interesting questions from the floor,” Cathal posted on X afterwards.

Of course Cathal has more than a familial interest in improving his grandfather’s tarnished reputation; he is running for a council seat in the Howth-Malahide area. Indeed Micheál Martin was out canvassing with him last week in Baldoyle.

Afterwards the Tánaiste tweeted that Haughey, a “first-time candidate (and soon-to-be first-time Dad) is keen to bring a fresh approach and new way of thinking to the issues facing his community in Howth-Malahide”. Except he isn’t a first-time candidate. Haughey ran in Clontarf in 2019 but didn’t get elected.

Ireland’s involvement in Trump’s criminal conviction

Thursday was a momentous day, with Donald Trump becoming the first serving or former US president to be convicted of a crime. As reported previously, an Irish man was the foreman of the jury that delivered the verdict. All we know about the unnamed juror is that he’s originally from Ireland, enjoys doing “anything outdoorsy” and watches both MSNBC and Fox News. We also know now that he retained his Irish accent, with reports that all 34 “guilty” counts of the historic verdict were delivered in an Irish “brogue”. Will we ever find out where that accent was from?

His beard will come (and go)

Residents of the south inner city have been doing a double-take at election posters for Sinn Féin candidate Daithí Doolan in recent weeks. Doolan, a sitting councillor, is running for re-election to Dublin City Council but is also one of the party’s candidates for the European Parliament alongside Lynn Boylan. Doolan, who will act as an electoral domestique to help get Boylan elected, has plenty of shiny new posters up for his European campaign. In them he sports a full beard. But in his presumably recycled council posters, he’s smooth-shaven.

Can voters really trust a politician who flip-flops so much on his facial hair policy?

Love lost at Intro Matchmaking

It’s a sign of the times when even Cupid is lawyering up. Our eye was caught by an application for a High Court injunction last week by a company that trades as Intro Matchmaking, which claims to arrange up to 100 dates every week for clients. Intro, run by “dating coach” Feargal Harrington, is seeking the injunction against a former client who has been critical of its service in the media. It has hired WP Tweed, founded by defamation specialist Paul Tweed, to defend its reputation.

What would John B Keane have made of it at all?

Dyson gets to work on historic Irish home

James Dyson hasn’t let the dust gather on Ballynatray, his new historic estate in Co Waterford. The builders have already been in to carry out some small repairs and last week he applied for planning permission for a huge renovation, including restoring four lodges and re-rendering the entire house in lime. Dyson has hired Consarc, a specialist conservation architect, to oversee the project.

The firm, which also worked on JP McManus’s Adare Manor and John Magnier’s Cashel Palace Hotel, is not overly enthusiastic about some of the previous work on the house. In the application, it states that work carried out in the 1990s saved the house from falling into disrepair but “also undermined its historical integrity and aesthetics”.

The house will require “extensive investment” to reverse “bad conservation practice”, they say. We think Dyson, who reportedly has a net worth of about €25 billion, can afford it.

Dáil EV chargers cost half the ESB’s going rate for the public

You can’t say that Leinster House authorities aren’t doing everything they can to encourage politicians to switch to EVs. The Oireachtas has just added eight new charging points at Leinster Lawn, which is good news for the likes of Eamon Ryan, Catherine Martin, Richard Bruton, Robert Troy and Róisín Shortall, who all drive electric cars.

As with the Dáil bar, where politicians can quaff subsidised pints, the juice for their cars is quite a bit cheaper than the going rate, too. The new chargers cost 30 cents per kWh, almost half the standard 56 cents per kWh charged by the ESB at its public charging points across the country.

The bottom falls out of the RTÉ 2FM departures theory

One of the theories behind the departures of some of 2FM’s leading presenters such as Jennifer Zamparelli and Doireann Garrihy was that they may be linked to new requirements for RTÉ employees to seek permission for side gigs and declare earnings from them on a new register of external activities.

The theory falls apart, though, when it comes to Zamparelli’s replacement, Laura Fox. While Zamparelli had a few “collabs” outside RTÉ, including a parenting podcast with Lottie Ryan, Fox has promoted everything from soft drinks and fake tan to dental products and hair extensions on Instagram.

Last year she promoted – with permission from RTÉ – a company offering non-surgical “butt lifts”. You can bet your bottom dollar she’s not going to give up all those side hustles.

• Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
• Find The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
• Our In The News podcast is now published daily – Find the latest episode here