Something in the blood

Creating magazines seems to be in the Mulcahy genes

Creating magazines seems to be in the Mulcahy genes. When Nick Mulcahy held a party on Tuesday night to celebrate his new magazine, Business Plus, his father John Mulcahy, publisher of Phoenix magazine, was there to offer his congratulations. Another ex-editor giving Nick a boost was Frank Fitzgibbon of Success and Irish Business, two titles which, he joked, "have long since gone to the newsagents in the sky from which there is no returns".

He recalled various press junkets in his past, including a particularly good one to Australia courtesy of Waterford Crystal. Motor distributor John Hayes also remembered that trip, though for a different reason - his father, Paddy Hayes, was head of the company at the time. Meanwhile, Seamus Brennan grumbled that if he went off on those kind of trips he'd get into all sorts of trouble. Liz O'Donnell TD officially did the honours, although she insisted she was there in a private rather than an official capacity. Liz has long been a friend of Nick's since they both studied law in Trinity and worked on the "interestingly titled" Trinity Intellectual Times. She wished every success to Nick, who was accompanied by his wife, solicitor Ann O'Neill, and her sister, Shona O'Neill. The presence of Mary O'Rourke as well as Nick's brother, councillor Michael Mulcahy, completed a healthy showing of politicos and, of course, the business community were out in force too: among them Pat Barry and Gillian Fanning of Guinness, which sponsored the reception; PR supremo Rhona Blake, who was accompanied by her husband, Charles Murless of Punchestown Racecourse; Ken Hutton of 98 FM; James Morrissey of Murray Consultants; Chris Goody of Eireann Publications, and Brian Kennedy of Absolute Promotions who wrote a piece for the mag.