The eldest had a sub teacher in primary school today, and apparently most of the day was taken up with replaying yesterday's goals from a number of angles and the Troy Parrott interview. We are so back. #COYBIG

Join us at DCU's St Pats campus for an evening seminar comparing the Irish and Indian constitutions, hosted by the Ireland India Institute, next Wed 26 Nov. Some leading constitutional lawyers and historians will explore shared influences and challenges between 🇮🇳 and 🇮🇪. All welcome

I am thrilled to be the new #ASLH president, receiving the gavel yesterday from former president Barbara Welke at our Detroit conference awards ceremony. My term is 2025-27. Excited to get to work! #legalhistory

Spoke too soon.

That was properly insane. #COYBIG

My article about Catherine Connolly’s inauguration speech, the symbolic power of the presidency, and its limits www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

The second Trump administration is characterised by an insistence that others accept the administration's characterisatipn of events, whrther or not they are true. This has happened in US media and the courts. Now they are trying to export it to the UK: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Thoughts on presidential speech by @eoinmauricedaly.bsky.social www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Brice Dickson delivering the Irish Legal History Society winter discourse...

The last remnant of the Royal University of Ireland 1884-1909, in Queen's University Belfast.

The @secondcaptains.bsky.social pod just dropped. Just in time for an Enterprise train to Belfast...

The youngest's reponse to the card was fits of laughter while saying "Ronaldo sucks"

Foolishly brought the kids along tonight, and have given them a false sense of what it means to be an Irish fan. #COYBIG

What a time to be alive...

Strong opening to O'Sullivan v National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Some people are assuming that there will be some sort of faithful reporting of the Epstein-Trump links. If you look at the landing page of Fox News, this is simply not the case. One key issue we have is information systems and the (lack of) regulation that exists in relation to them.

One of the least intuitive set of icon/function pairings I've ever come across.

Interesting idea from @dsquareddigest.bsky.social that the decision to appoint the next Director General of the BBC should be made by Irish universities. Obviously an oversight to omit Maynooth, but that can be sorted before implementation. (from backofmind.substack.com/p/the-cognit...)

Dr Orla Kelleher pushes back against the narrative that judicial reviews are to blame for the housing crisis.

"Siblings, let us not be downhearted. One total catastrophe like this is just the beginning!" - the life of Brian.

Delighted to be part of a wonderful team and leading the new @reveljmce.bsky.social. Lots to come in terms of activities (please follow us!) - for now: thanks to our wonderful colleagues @maynoothlaw.bsky.social; @muresearch.bsky.social for their invaluable support!

BOOK: Philip BAJON, Informal Decision Making in the European Community under the Luxembourg Compromise. The Law that Never Was (London: Bloomsbury/Hart, 2025 📖 esclh.blogspot.com/2025/11/book...

Dublin and the Wicklow Mountains on a golden November morning.

This will definitely end up before the courts. It's probably in the running for an Article 26 reference (provided our new President agrees). Objectors will be on the hook to pay six-figure legal costs under judicial reviews clampdown www.independent.ie/irish-news/o...

My strategy in the Traitors if I was a faithful would be to try and convince everyone to vote for themselves at the first roundtable. The only people who wouldn't be able to do it under the rules of the game would be the traitors.

I had the pleasure of reviewing Sionadh Douglas-Scott's excellent book, 'Brexit, union and disunion: the evolution of British constitutional unsettlement' for the Journal of Comparative Legal History. If this works, there should be 50 free eprints of it here: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/H7WTN...

Maitland's "Why the history of English law is not written" is best understood as an apology to his co-author for falling behind.

Excellent piece featuring commentary by colleagues @maynoothlaw.bsky.social Chris Schreck, Ian Marder, and @lynseyblack.bsky.social

The eternal struggle...

The most bizarre thing about that Cheney incident where he shot a guy was that the victim apologised to Cheney: www.theguardian.com/world/2006/f...

V pleased that my Public Law article on judicial retirement (written with @bymyong.bsky.social) is now open access - see the link in Peter's post below. For those interested, some highlights of our research in this thread: bsky.app/profile/did:...

Paul Hosford in @irishexaminer.bsky.social calling for an overhaul of the political elements of the Constitution, including presidential nominations, constituencies, and cabinet: www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/colu...

TG4's Misneach had an episode about the McGees which is still available on the player: tg4.ie/en/player/ca... Gives some small idea of Mary McGee's strength of character. RIP.

Lough Leane.

Tolkien: "Here are some big trees that are literally fighting back against polluting industry." Tech bros: "My new LLM which I've called Entmoot after the Lord of the Rings needs more energy. Burn down the Amazon."

Brian Friel's "Translations" in Dakar: www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Atlantic Ocean from Beara peninsula, Ballydehob railway bridge.

James's Fort.

Kinsale Harbour from Charles Fort.

J.M. Kelly, original author of the keading Irish constitutional law textbook and later Fine Gael Minister and Attorney General, advocating an active presidency in 1966.

Spotted a seal in Dublin Bay on the way back from voting.

For overseas followers: in Ireland every seven years we vote for someone to tell the Government they are a bunch of evil clowns and every five years we vote in the evil clowns.

The National Library has a Halloween themed lego model in the foyer...

Call for papers for a workshop on Economic Aspects of the Constitution: www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_...

New job with us in Maynooth School of Law and Criminology: universityvacancies.com/maynooth-uni... Happy to chat on an informal basis with anyone interested.

J.M. Kelly, original author of the keading Irish constitutional law textbook and later Fine Gael Minister and Attorney General, advocating an active presidency in 1966.

New review of the Cambridge Constitutional History of the United Kingdom, in which I was privileged to write the 'Ireland in the Union' chapter: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

#HistIR Interesting point to consider with the history of international relations is the role of translations in transforming our opinions. Grotius wrote in Latin. he used the word imperium not sovereignty. our English translation comes from the French translation of 1724 which used souversinete

This is the week where one of the kids goes to a school which is a polling station on Friday, and the other does not. As you might imagine, there are questions.

There is going to be friction about this stuff in the end, because people down the country can't afford to stay in hotels in the city and come only come along for a day trip, but there are normally public transport restrictions during the periods they can travel. There will be a gradual rift.