I wouldn't. I thought he should have gone.

Couple of thoughts on this.

Mainly that if we're a trading nation who wants to build relationships outside of the US sphere, this looks terrible. Taoiseach had been due to meet Mark Carney and do a slate of events.

Taoiseach and Ministers cancel a trade mission to Canada due to fuel protests.

www.irishexaminer.com/news/politic...

Yeah, a lot less impactful, but probably considered so as not to mess up full scale traffic when schools are back?

The problems with a protest like this from a tactical level are:

- With no clear structure or demands, the Government isn't going to meet a group of independent hauliers/farmers
- If your opening move is to block streets/fuel depots, you don't really have another move

Those BAFA lads were too big for me!

5 for 5 on 4th quarter go ahead kicks, in case you were wondering. 😎

Of course you can't replicate game pressure, but you can train for it. The point on praciticing them is to make the mechanical part of it as unconscious as possible.

Absolutely insane that anyone is arguing against professional footballers practicing penalties ahead of knockout games.

I played kicker in the lowest level of American football imaginable, but I obsessively practiced so that when there was pressure, you had faith in your mechanics.

Sammie would also have hit a penalty instead of either Browne or Azaz.

That is a disgusting, intentional foul on Szmodics that has been coming in football for too long.

Sees the guy in the air, sizes him up, never looks at the ball and hits him.

Started in the Irish Examiner 6 years ago today. Glad the weekend followed that six-year trend of being calm and precedented.

The US had a 118% yoy increase in layoffs for January announced the other day. ICE, Epstein Files, historically low approval, inflation.

Serious people are not distracted by his latest culture war dead cat.

Can't wait for the read pieces on what Bad Bunny means for Trump or something.

What the hell dictionary does the NYT Crossplay use?

Thanks so much, Emma.

I've said it before but I was lucky that when I was in crisis, I had access to and could afford a private therapist. No idea what would have happened if I had been on a public waiting list.

Paul Hosford: The State should not be absolved of its role in the public's mental health The focus of the mental health discussion must shift now to staffing levels, to facilities, to ensuring that children don’t have to languish on waiting lists because of a lack of staffing

Today's column is more personal than usual and is one of my strongest beliefs: the conversation about mental health has to evolve to the same place as the health system.

It can't be about mental wellness if there are staffing and access issues.

www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/colu...

The Cabinet's St Patrick's Day destinations are to be announced shortly. One spoiler: Taoiseach is going to Washington.

Paul Hosford: Ireland must rethink its dependence on the US under Donald Trump Trump’s Greenland obsession exposes a harsher world order — and why Ireland must diversify alliances and protect its strategic autonomy

Of course, Ireland is exposed to the whims of the US president, but at what point does one ask the glaring question; is an ally that you have to allow do whatever they want for fear of retribution an ally at all?

www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/colu...

Still trying to process how the guards thought it appropriate to interview a journalist about how he knew something was in open court after it had been in court a number of times.

When you read it like this, I think Trump could be turned away from Greenland simply by showing him a Peters Projection map.

Not great, this.

Autistic girl's family told to seek special school place in other counties Autistic girl's mother, Áine Curtin, says: 'It's not just me... They have kids getting on buses in Cork and going to schools in Kerry'

"I talk to hundreds of families all the time online, and they have, especially in the countryside, they have kids getting on buses in Cork and going to schools in Kerry."

www.irishexaminer.com/news/politic...

Only in rugby could a ref ignore a shoulder to the chest off the ball, then stop the game because players are shouting for decisions and be praised by the commentators.

Munster absolutely robbed, there.

Homelessness is now seen as an almost inevitable problem Normalisation lowers our empathy, lowers expectations of government action, and allows inadequate systems to persist, writes Paul Hosford

The single biggest danger we face is homelessness becoming seen as unavoidable or inevitable.

www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

Long read from myself and Alison O'Reilly in today's paper on those spending Christmas in emergency accommodation.

I have a Black Friday deal going on right now where you can get a year of TRK for 40% off.

So the supersub tier for €25. Three podcasts and three in-depth articles a week, plus access to the TRK Discord.