Golly, some amazing old footage of Glenstal Abbey and a very young Br. Patrick (Mark Hederman, still going strong). Thanks for posting this

Hannah Daly: When the crisis is caused by oil dependence, the solution isn’t cheaper oil The tactics used by protesters show that our vulnerability is the fossil fuel system itself

super analysis by @hannahdaly.ie: "We can, and should, aim to make this our last fossil fuel crisis, but Ireland still lacks a serious plan to leave that system behind, with no serious timeline, and after this week, less money to achieve that."
www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...

Increasingly, Ireland’s problems are ones that only institutions, not money, can solve; and the institutions were never built.

Could a workaround be a dedicated track from Connolly Station to Dublin Port with 1,435mm gauge?

In all seriousness, we should be planning for this and ordering a new all-electric ferry fleet capable of carrying trains

Mind the Gap Ireland is the second richest country in Europe, and this week a single protest shut it down. Here's why.

A thought-provoking and insightful piece — well worth a read.

“Governance by Liveline” aptly sums up how Ireland is being run.

This by Sinead O'Sullivan is an astonishingly sharp analysis of how the Irish state's failure to invest in public institutions, year after year and with no excuse, is creating a vacuum that our own Maga or Brexit will fill.

The Inverted Fence Turning Ireland’s landscape inside out

@aislinnn.bsky.social and I continue our musings on what a Biosphere for Ireland might look like
substack.com/home/post/p-...

it was a demonstration of tactical urbanism in disguise

Whitaker State of Mind On pessimism, possibility and choosing change

"The worst thing we can do is convince ourselves that change is no longer possible.

Because that is the real trap. Not failure, but resignation."

If you're need of a bit of hope, I recommend giving this Substack by @aislinnn.bsky.social a read!

Was there ever an own-goal on climate action and energy security so predictable, so predicted, so concentrated in its benefits and so general in its costs?

I'm sure it was apocryphal. I think I read it in Geoffrey Robertson's (delightfully partisan) biography of the regicide John Cooke

I remember reading that the resistance at Clonmel was so tenacious that Cromwell was at the point of giving up when he noticed that the town's defenders were firing shot made from silver, indicating that they had run out of lead

UK to receive last tanker of jet fuel from Middle East this week Industry warnings of disruption contrast with government calls for calm

Hilarious how for years serious people have said that you can't rely on renewables because they are prone to disruptions in supply www.ft.com/content/19f1...

Nature Restoration Plan Farmers and environmentalists have agreed an ambitious plan to restore nature. The only open question now is will government give it the funding it needs.

“Loss of nature is a loss of what it means to be Irish”. A clear statement of people’s values following a year long consultation. Translated into a plan for nature jointly devised by farm orgs and enviro NGOs.

But will government fund it?
#RTECountrywide

Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...

it's been a joy to collaborate on this piece, and more to come!

In Brussels around this time last year, Thomas introduced this idea to me and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.

I’ve been delighted to collaborate on it as a thought experiment around what a national biosphere could mean for Irish nature restoration.

What if Ireland went all in on nature? Why Ireland needs a bold, joined-up vision for land, climate and community

In our first joint post, @aislinnn.bsky.social and I explore how a national biosphere for Ireland offers a chance to reverse a legacy of extractive land use – not as nostalgia and not as bureaucratic compliance, but as a collective act of repair. substack.com/home/post/p-...

Flood prevention is not the only, or even the most important, benefit of nature restoration, but it's helpful if nothing else to show how repairing nature is a solution, not a luxury or an imposition.

What if Ireland went all in on nature? Why Ireland needs a bold, joined-up vision for land, climate and community

For generations, we have extracted from the land until little was left to give.

A national biosphere offers a chance to reverse that trajectory.

A collective act of repair.

A living country cannot simply be inherited.

It has to be rebuilt.

This is our time to go all in.

Fuel prices are going up again. A quick thread on the wonders of e-bikes

Man when a cyclist = cyclist.

Man when driver = man.

Don't ever tell me the media does not dehumanise people who cycle.

And it's your job not to follow press releases word-for-word, so don't bother using that as an excuse. It only took a quick email to confirm it was the driver who was arrested.

Ireland needs to get real about nuclear power Failure to mention this is striking

Is there a mansplaining logo we can slap on such trite letters to the Irish Times so people know that they don't have to bother reading them? This is a tediously uninformed riposte to @hannahdaly.ie's excellent op-ed about energy security
www.irishtimes.com/opinion/lett...

yeah, i know... I do dislike those buildings so much but agree it's probably not a great solution to demolish them

imagine closing the gyratory traffic sewers and reinstating the original medieval street form...

I think that's the right scale of ambition, and maybe we need to dream bigger. Both buildings (Sam Stephenson's original truncated towers and the more recent river frontage) are at odds with the urban fabric and I wonder if they shouldn't be demolished, and the whole area to Christchurch be reborn

The progressive caucus of Dublin City councillors would need to get behind a few strong demands to provide a binary choice for the executive.

Maybe a community-based effort to reimagine what this entire site could look like, repurposed for people, art, affordable housing, public spaces, nature and history

Can the disposal of the Wood Quay site be a chance to repair, somewhat, the contemptuous decision by Dublin Corporation in the 1970s to destroy the priceless Viking heritage of the city?

this could be a great focus for a sustained political campaing by progressive councillors on what kind of city Dublin wants to be.

the bollards are there to remind people on cyclists that they are not, in fact, driving a car at that exact moment.