After failing to publish data on Irish companies granted licences for military exports to the US and Germany because of “a new IT system”, the Department of Enterprise has confirmed the licences increased by tens of millions of euros between 2024 and 2025
www.ontheditch.com/department-o...
Israel tells Germany how high to jump.
European Union decides to continue supporting Israel.
First pic of @simonharrisireland.bsky.social smiling in ages. What’s he up to?
What is this Government’s vision for the future of young people in Ireland?
In at least one Dublin house, dozens are sharing overcrowded rooms and paying hundreds for a bed.
This is not a housing system. It is a return to tenement conditions.
Yes. The cruelty is astounding too.
This is fantastic solidarity. The EBU must expel apartheid Israel from Eurovision for its genocidal crimes against the Palestinian people. Until then, we #BoycottEurovision
Over a thousand musicians support the boycott of Eurovision until Israel is banned.
Ireland needs to regulate social media that is hate speech.
The US didn’t.
Look what happened to us.
Accounts like Libs of TikTok has directly ruined the lives of so many innocent people.
And gotten rich on doing so.
A shameful episode
There is no limit to my rage against 82,000,000 men, and counting.
#RapeAcademy
www.instagram.com/reel/DXYhg_4...
💯
In his final months, Pope Francis gave his blessing for a Popemobile used for a papal journey to the Middle East to be converted into a mobile health clinic for the children of Gaza.
It lies parked a few miles from Gaza, awaiting permission to enter despite repeated pleas.
jrnl.ie/7013271
Remember when Catherine Connolly warned of Germany's military-industrial complex.
'As its export model breaks down, Germany is pivoting from cars to cannons—and trying to turn industrial decline into a defense boom.'
www.wsj.com/world/europe...
Online abuse of politicians is a profitable business Senator Eileen Flynn's comments on far-right use of the tricolour have made her a lightning rod for online abuse - because viral hatred is highly profitable
In the space of a few weeks in 2025, Simon Harris required armed gardaí at his family home due to multiple bomb threats, while former taoiseach Leo Varadkar was subjected to a homophobic tirade by a self-styled citizen journalist who filmed the confrontation for social media. A man is due before the courts in July in connection with an alleged assault on Mary Lou McDonald and two canvassers the day before the presidential election last year. The incident was filmed and went viral online. So, last week when a video of Senator Eileen Flynn speaking about racism and nationalist propaganda went viral, a predictable and inevitable online pile on began, with posts attacking Flynn's "patriotism" or perceived
Much of the abuse directed at Ms Flynn came from Irish accounts run by people who benefit from algorithmically amplification (so called blue tick accounts), and content monetisation. Monetisation is now a commonplace feature on social media platforms like X/Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, that allows the company to "share" revenue. The more attention (likes, shares, comments etc) a post gets, the more revenue a user earns. Influencers also often have accounts on three or four platforms and post dozens of times a day, and can also benefit from tips, and paid subscribers so it is difficult to gauge how much they earn, but a single viral post on X can generate over €300 for an influencer, so this can become a quite lucrative activity for not a lot of work. Power
The abuse directed at Ms Flynn did not only come from Irish accounts; international social media influencers whose attention was already on Ireland since the fuel protests latched onto it too. Defiant Ls, an account run by a Macedonian influencer who promotes Maga content shared the video, as did the account LibsofTikTok, with the caption, 'Irish Senator Eileen Flynn says that she is "terrified" to see her nation's flag and thinks it's "disgraceful" to fly it', received more than 250,000 views and over 1,300 comments, mostly abusive. LibsOfTikTok has nearly five million fans and the account is run by Chaya Raichik, a right wing influencer who has previously targeted schools, hospitals and libraries across the United States. Victims of her attention have gone to be inundated with threats of violence.
I have a piece in the Examiner today on how content monetisation is fuelling a new wave of online harassment
Irish influencers with monetised accounts are mimicking the behaviour of people like Chaya Raichik, the owner of LibsOfTikTok, who has turned online abuse & harassment into a business model.
Great bunch of lads for their constituents with “valid concerns”
Context: "11 U.S. states and dozens of city, county, and tribal governments ... are currently taking major oil and gas companies to court to hold them accountable for deceiving the public about the dangers of fossil fuels and make them pay for the resulting damages."
The payola must be massive
It is both true that rural areas are subsidized by urban areas and that planning (or lack of) in rural areas has made the provision of the most basic services incredibly difficult and impossible in somecases... Making rural areas hard places to live
Realizing US citizens paid $166 Billion in illegal tariffs and now it’s being refunded back to corporations instead of us.
I guess the cameras have time travel technology too
South Lebanon today. Reports soon @irishtimes.com
📢 Check out the goodies in our online shop! Get yourself some great Palestine merch all while supporting our work. ➡️ palestineshop.ie
#FreePalestine
Listen to Nancy Pelosi, Virginia: You have the absolute power to elect a Democratic Congress that will respect the people and hold Trump accountable. TOMORROW, April 21st, is Election Day—make your plan to vote YES! 6am–7pm.
#VoteYesVirginia
#sheshed
Hard to credit Mandelson’s appointment occurred BEFORE the vetting.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Poster for a protest “the energy crisis is the climate crisis”. Leinster House, Wed 22 April 5.30 - 6.30
“The energy crisis is the climate crisis.”
Protest Leinster House, Wed 23 April, 5.30-6.30
"You won't like me when I'm forensic"
The increase in US military flights, particularly the 56% increase last month, is clearly linked to active military operations.
But Helen McEntee said there is “no reason to believe” US aircraft involved in the Iran war are overflying Ireland.
www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026...
A pensioner who can’t afford groceries.
A nurse working 60 hours a week considering sleeping in her car.
These are the realities of the cost of living crisis.
The Government must listen and act with real, targeted supports for those under the most pressure.
New Hungarian PM brutally confronts a news channel that banned him for years.
Locals in Bray have been urged to stop feeding a deer who has become a frequent visitor to a roundabout.
Bray's Bambi has become something of a local celebrity.
jrnl.ie/7014270
We let the worst people on Earth become the most powerful people on Earth, at a time when the most powerful people on Earth had ready access to the tools to destroy Earth.
Those words will be on humanity's gravestone—should any of a dozen rolling disasters cause global collapse.
