// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhy did The Phoenix rise in readership? It had a blazing circulation.
 January 2020 cover | |
| Type | Magazine |
|---|---|
| Format | Current affairs Satire |
| Owner | Penfield Enterprises Ltd. |
| Founder | John Mulcahy |
| Editor | Paddy Prendeville |
| Founded | 1983 |
Ceased publication | June 15, 2026 |
| Headquarters | 44 Lower Baggot Street Dublin 2 Ireland |
| ISSN | 0790-0562 |
| Website | www |
| Part of a series on |
| Irish republicanism |
|---|
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The Phoenix was an Irish political and current affairs magazine, established in 1983 by John Mulcahy. Sometimes compared to the British magazine Private Eye,[1][2][3] the magazine was edited by Paddy Prendeville from 1984 to 2026.[4] The publication was generally published fortnightly, with a larger annual issue each December. The Phoenix has produced "a fortnightly diet of humour, financial analysis, and news with an insider slant from the worlds of security, politics, media, arts, and law."[5] It was announced in June 2026 that the magazine would be closing down after 43 years.[6][7][8]
History and operations
[edit]The magazine was launched in January 1983. It was established by journalist and publisher John Mulcahy,[9] who had previously run the Sunday Tribune newspaper, which first collapsed financially in 1982, and the Irish republican political magazine Hibernia, which ceased publishing in 1980 after a libel action.[9] The name Phoenix was a reference to its "emergence from the ashes" of these two publications.[9] Mulcahy, who wrote under the pseudonym "Goldhawk", intended the magazine to publish inside stories that mainstream outlets would not print.[10]
Published by a company named Penfield Enterprises Ltd., and based on Baggot Street, the magazine had an ABC-audited circulation of 19,014 for 2004 and 18,268 in 2007.[11] It has been described as having "played a pivotal role in investigative journalism in Ireland".[12] Among the magazine's notable stories were a 1996 report that Charles Haughey had received more than £1 million from supermarket tycoon Ben Dunne, and coverage of the Telecom Éireann scandal in 1991, which contributed to the resignation of Michael Smurfit as chairman of that company.[10] In December 2008, the magazine reported that Anglo Irish Bank was "technically bankrupt", prompting legal threats from the bank's solicitors demanding withdrawal of all copies from shops; Anglo Irish Bank was nationalised the following month.[10]
Mulcahy oversaw the magazine's operations until 2007.[13][14]
In 2026, it was announced that the magazine would cease publication and the company behind it go into liquidation.[6][7][8] The NUJ described the closure as "another blow to media plurality in Ireland".[12] In June 2026, former Phoenix contributor Pat Leahy published a retrospective on the Phoenix. In his article, Leahy argued that the Phoenix did not primarily fail because it struggled to adapt to the internet, but because it gradually lost the distinctive insider journalism that had made it essential reading. In Leahy's view, the magazine published fewer exclusive revelations, became more focused on opinion, and operated in an Ireland where political corruption had declined since the tribunal era, reducing demand for the kind of investigative reporting on which its reputation had been built.[10]
Layout and style
[edit]Features in the magazine included a news column; detailed profiles ("Pillars of Society" and "The Young Bloods"); "Affairs of the Nation", which looked at political scandals; "Bog Cuttings" which consisted of humorous and unusual events outside Dublin (often bizarre court cases), "Hush Hush" and "On the beat", which dealt with security and intelligence matters; and a satirical section, "Craic and Codology". It also had an extensive financial column, "Moneybags".
Like Private Eye, the cover featured a photo montage with a speech bubble, putting ironic or humorous comments into the mouths of the famous in response to topical events. Other features included an "Apology" section (where the magazine offered an ersatz apology for the failings or success of some person or event), "That Menu in Full", the use of ("That's enough of this. -Ed" type interjections) and their derivatives, and the Christmas Gift lists, where implausible gifts with ridiculous features were offered for sale.
In contrast to Private Eye, the Phoenix was printed on magazine stock rather than newsprint, and used colour, including photography, quite extensively.
Positions
[edit]In the 1980s, the Workers' Party was a frequent target of satire and investigation over its funding methods, which resulted in Phoenix founder John Mulcahy receiving threats from the Official IRA.[15]
In the late 2000s, it was highly critical of the Corrib gas pipeline and supported the Shell to Sea and Pobal Chill Chomáin campaigns against the laying of the pipeline. It published a supplementary summary and commentary on the Goldstone Report on the siege of Gaza[16] and attacked the actions of the Israeli government over the illegal use of Irish passports in the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, and the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid.[17] The magazine was highly critical of the 2007–2011 Fianna Fáil–Green Party coalition. It called for the 2011 Irish budget to be defeated and pointed out that the money loaned as part of the EU stability fund would come at the cost of a crippling rate of interest.[18]
During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, The Phoenix was highly critical of Ukraine, and accused the Irish media of seeking to undermine Irish neutrality by exploiting "Ukrainian misery".[3]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ "By The Time I Get To The Phoenix..." Hot Press. 20 September 2002. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
the most obvious prototype for The Phoenix is Britain's Private Eye
- ↑ "Phoenix founder John Mulcahy who lampooned elite dies at 86". The Times. 8 September 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
In 1983 Mulcahy set up The Phoenix, a fortnightly current affairs and satirical magazine in the mould of Private Eye
- 1 2 Burns, John (26 May 2022). "These days The Phoenix is short on news and tediously long on vituperative attacks". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 15 August 2025.
- ↑ O'Mahony, Catherine (25 May 2003). "Phoenix still rising after 20 years". The Sunday Business Post. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 8 April 2009.
- ↑ "The Phoenix – almost serious". VillageMagazine.ie. 3 May 2013. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
- 1 2 Cox, Aengus (15 June 2026). "Phoenix magazine to cease operations after 43 years". RTÉ.
- 1 2 Pope, Conor (15 June 2026). "Phoenix magazine closing down after more than 40 years on newsstands". The Irish Times. Retrieved 15 June 2026.
- 1 2 Domownik, Anna (15 June 2026). "The Phoenix Magazine Going Into 'Voluntary Liquidation'". The University Times. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
- 1 2 3 Dublin, Ireland: The Irish Times, 7 Jan 2006, p. 14, "Publisher who became monarch of the magazine sector."
- 1 2 3 4 Leahy, Pat (27 June 2026). "Why the Phoenix magazine failed after 43 years of pestering those in power". Irish Times. Retrieved 28 June 2026.
- ↑ "Phoenix boast falls flat". Sunday Independent. 25 February 2007 – via Independent.ie.
- 1 2 Finn, Sophie (16 June 2026). "Closure of Phoenix magazine 'another blow to media plurality', union says". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
- ↑ "John Mulcahy obituary: Fearless journalist and publisher". Irish Times. 22 September 2018. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
John Denis Mulcahy, who has died aged 86, was one of the most significant journalists and publishers of the last half-century in this country
- ↑ "Founder of The Phoenix John Mulcahy has died". TheJournal.ie. 8 September 2018. Archived from the original on 12 September 2018.
- ↑ The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers’ Party
- ↑ "The Phoenix Special 16-Page Supplement on the Goldstone Report". Irishleftreview.org. Archived from the original on 26 February 2014. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
- ↑ http://www.thephoenix.ie/phoenix/subscriber/library/volume-28/issue-11/page-02-06.pdf[dead link]
- ↑ http://www.thephoenix.ie/phoenix/subscriber/library/volume-29/issue-01/contents.pdf[dead link]
