Sole Seafood & Grill had something to celebrate this week after being at the centre of a storm over the long distance some of its produce travels to diners’ plates.
The Dublin 2 eatery was selected as “Global Winner in the Luxury Seafood Restaurant category” for a third straight year at the World Luxury Restaurant Awards in Romania.
Sole, part of a group owned by Padraic O’Kane and Bord Bia chairman Larry Murrin, recently attracted the ire of farmers after a review by the late Irish Times food critic Corinna Hardgrave. She was shocked to see a restaurant with a food philosophy “honouring seafood sustainability and local Irish producers” charging €35 for a chicken supreme involving non-free-range Dutch meat. She also noted the presence of Polish chicken and farmed seafood originating in Spain, Turkey, Greece, Scotland and Bangladesh on the menu.
Members of the Irish Farmers’ Association, which has previous with Murrin over his Dawn Farms food group importing Brazilian beef, subsequently held a protest outside the Drury Street restaurant, arguing its use of imported chicken was “making a mockery of Bord Bia”.
Sole, in its defence, said it sourced as much of its chicken from Ireland as possible, but it had not been possible to find a consistent supply.
O’Kane described winning the award, based on an online public vote, as “a wonderful achievement” and expressed gratitude to “our guests from Ireland and around the world”.
“We are proud of the Irish and international producers we work with, and the quality ingredients they bring to our menu,” he said, noting Sole’s “commitment to quality, provenance and transparency”.
What’s in a name? Plenty in the case of Regan’s ‘Luck Penny’
Luck Penny, a horse owned by construction magnate Maurice Regan’s Newtown Anner Stud, claimed a first victory at Belmont Park in New York last Sunday. The two-year-old filly went off at 8-1 and finished strongly under jockey Flavien Prat in the 6½-furlong Maiden Special Weight event.
— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) October 18, 2026What a 𝗟𝗨𝗖𝗞(y) 𝗣𝗘𝗡𝗡𝗬! ✨🪙
Jockey Flavien Prat pilots the 2y/o filly through rivals and finds space to get up for the win in R6 at Belmont Park! The daughter of MCKINZIE is trained by George Weaver. pic.twitter.com/oAm8s1dRfq
In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the female protagonist reflects on forbidden love and the meaningless nature of family rivalry as she ponders “what’s in a name?”. In Luck Penny’s case, there appears to be plenty.
The notion of a “luck penny” came up during last year’s High Court litigation over billionaire Coolmore owner John Magnier’s failed purchase of the Barne Estate in Co Tipperary. Magnier believed he had a €15 million deal but was gazumped by a €22.25 million bid by Regan, who was not a party to the court case but loomed large throughout.
The court heard that Richard Thomson-Moore, then an heir to the 751-acre estate, was “shocked” by an “untoward” offer of “two envelopes stuffed” with €50,000 in total from the Magnier camp.
This was meant as a “luck penny”, the court heard, a sum normally given by a seller to a buyer to bring good fortune. In this case, the Magnier side said the money, later returned by the Thomson-Moores, was a token of “appreciation” for letting them on to the land before the purported deal was finalised.
Judge Max Barrett ultimately found no binding €15 million deal had ever existed and dismissed Magnier’s claims.
Luck Penny, who the cynical might speculate was named by Regan’s camp with intent, won a little more than the aforementioned “luck penny”, securing $63,000 (€56,084) for her first-place finish.
Haughey’s guile and greed recalled at Browne’s book launch
There was standing room only in Dublin’s Royal Irish Academy (RIA) on Wednesday for the launch of Vincent Browne’s new book – Charles Haughey: Glory, Greed and Guns.
The book had a significant gestation period, with the journalist first mooting it in 1980, just after Haughey took power. He didn’t start work on it until 2017, after his departure from TV3 (now Virgin Media).
Browne recalled a fraught meeting at the Berkeley Court Hotel in Dublin in 1979, during which Haughey held his head in his hands.
“I said to him: ‘There are people over there looking at the two of us and they are probably thinking we’re having a homosexual tiff,’” he said.
The pair’s love-hate relationship spanned decades and Browne’s speech highlighted Haughey’s greed and bad faith acts, but also his achievements in office. These included free travel for pensioners, which – Browne joked – “most of you here tonight have availed of”.
[ Vincent Browne: Haughey loved Terry Keane. She made his life miserableOpens in new window ]
Former tánaiste and Labour Party leader Dick Spring, who once compared Haughey to a “cancer eating away at our body politic”, launched the book and recalled a confrontation he had with the former Fianna Fáil leader and taoiseach.
“How did you get away?” Spring asked him.
“Get away with what?” Haughey responded, innocently.
“I live in a modest house in Tralee. If I change my car in Kerry, they are talking about me for a week. You live in a Gandon mansion, you have a yacht and you own an island in my county. How do you get away with it?” Spring explained.
“Feck off,” Haughey replied.
Garda aims to clamp down on souped-up e-bikes and scooters
The Garda recently reported that officers in Co Wexford had seized a “significantly adapted” e-bike being ridden by a 13-year-old, with a 16-year-old passenger on board.
The souped-up machine was “capable of speeds of up to 79.9km/h”, the force said in a social media post highlighting “the serious risks” of modified e-bikes, which the Road Safety Authority notes are expected to obey a 25km/h limit.
Pressure has been mounting to halt injuries and deaths related to e-scooters and e-bikes, with age restrictions and requirements around helmets and high-visibility clothing introduced recently.
Legislation that would put the machines in the same category as motorcycles and cars, requiring users to hold licences and insurance, has been promised.
Another tool will be coming soon, and the Garda wants this one to fit in a car boot. The force this week sought tenders, worth up to €4.5 million over several years, for roadside test rigs to identify illegal modification of the machines. The “portable dynamometer systems” must be able to measure their speed, power output and “unladen weight”.
The initial contract, for 60 portable rigs and associated servicing, is valued at €900,000 excluding VAT. These must be “transportable in the luggage compartment of a standard Garda patrol vehicle” and ready for testing “within five minutes of removal from its transport case”.
The successful bidder will have to agree to provide expert testimony in court during prosecutions, where necessary, should the integrity of evidence need defending.
“No charge shall apply for witness attendance at the Criminal Courts of Justice [in Dublin],” the tender documents note, but for those travelling “more than 7km” to the courts, “applicable Civil Service rates shall apply”.