Another brilliant @upstreampodcast.bsky.social. David McNally explaining with such clarity and rigour why Atlantic slavery and the plantation system were capitalist (not 'pre-capitalist'), and the manifold forms of resistance waged by the plantation proletariat. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/u...

“If you want democratic governance of AI, block datacentres. Google’s not coming to any democratic table, not listening to any rules, without people showing force.” @astradisastra & Saul Levin on the anti-data centre movement. Ireland can learn. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The public debate on neutrality & the Triple Lock has been limited. Media have repeatedly platformed a small group of experts & commentators, while specialists in international law, peace studies and the arms trade have been ignored. This Forum aims to rectify that imbalance.

A People's Forum on Peace and Neutrality will take place in Tailor's Hall, Dublin, on 19th and 20th June. Over two days, Irish and international speakers will come together in Dublin to discuss Irish neutrality, international law and the arms industry. More details to follow.

Talamh Óg's Field School, cultivating the future of the youth land movement, June 6-7th. 'The agriculture and food systems we will inherit are profoundly broken, but we believe a better world is possible!' More details and tickets available here. www.eventbrite.ie/e/talamh-beo...

Launching my book on May 26th. Join me in conversation with Rory Hearne, hosted by Kitty Holland. Should be a great discussion of housing politics and the PRS @maoiliosarey.bsky.social @fingalpimpernel.bsky.social @pbresnihan.bsky.social @ciantocallaghan.bsky.social docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

There is a lot of sensible, even obvious, advice in this report by the independent Climate Change Advisory Council on Ireland's energy transition. Better the Govnt heed this advice, rather than focus on nuclear energy and data centre expansion. www.thejournal.ie/ireland-expo...

The Govt decision to advance nuclear energy is not something to celebrate on the 'environmentalist left'. It is myopic, anti-ecological & politically naive to think otherwise. Thankfully @kaiheron.bsky.social has written all that needs to be said. 1/2 aontachtmedia.ie/why-the-left...

Always find the long sweep of Torkil Lausen's analysis clarifying and heartening. The last 8 minutes of this @upstreampodcast.bsky.social is so good on the historic struggles between globalised capitalist accumulation and projects of sovereign development. A phase we have entered again.

The Left Éire event in June looks like it will be class. Already has an excellent line up of speakers, sessions and music, and pulling in people from the whole island. Amazing work going on in Dundalk. www.ticketsource.com/left-eire/le...

It is interesting how one infographic has generated so much noise, but the main explanation for unequal development in Ireland appears stuck in the dead-end of 'state failure'. But what does that mean? And where can we find better explanations? 1/4

Pat Brodie & I wrote this op-ed about the Private Wires Bill nearly 3 yrs ago. Legislation is now being finalised as we read of potential state partnerships with AWS to generate nuclear energy. US tech companies are becoming de facto energy utilities. www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

Excited to be speaking at the annual James Connolly Festival tomorrow (Saturday) at 4pm in the New Theatre. Title: 'Imperialism, Sovereignty and the spectre of neutrality'. Sound scarier and more serious than it will be.

“So take, for example, large US multinational that needs data centres in Ireland and is doing an interesting nuclear technology in America. Then Ireland might see if that company, Amazon or whoever it is, might be willing to develop a partnership.”

Anyone interested in talking about nuclear energy in Ireland needs to be honest (or more clear-sighted) about what is driving this policy and why it needs to be challenged. www.businesspost.ie/politics/ire...

The energy 'expertise' shaping the debate in Ireland is retrograde. Just look at Spain: since 2019, doubled renewable energy, lessened dependency on US (and energy instability caused by US wars), reduced household bills and advanced decarbonisation. www.irishtimes.com/business/202...

Other than Mistral, the EU has no AI companies capable of developing models that require this scale of compute. These 'gigafactories' will also rely on Nvidia chips, deepening dependency on the US. 'EU strategic autonomy' has no plan or direction. www.politico.eu/article/eu-a...

The reason we suffer the highest electricity prices in the EU is because FF/FG have shaped our energy transition around the needs of US FDI (data centres) not social need and decarbonisation. www.thejournal.ie/ireland-high...

'Surely this House is not going to sanction any subsidised competition....we will drive all private capital out of the country, and the effect will be to draw us into the meshes of inefficient socialism.' Seanad debate on the 'socialist' Ardnacrusha project, 1925

Interesting piece by @eoghangilmartin.bsky.social connecting Spain's green energy transition with positive engagement with China and other majority world countries, diversifying alliances in the face of a declining and aggressive United States. jacobin.com/2026/04/pedr...

As Ardnacrusha gets spun by everyone from tech boosters to nuclear advocates, let's be clear. Ardnacrusha was built by the ESB, the first public, national energy utility in the world, *because* the private sector did not consider such projects to be profitable. www.thejournal.ie/readme/irela...

Since 2019, Spain doubled solar + wind capacity. Now electricity prices are some of lowest in EU. Ireland has increased RE capacity but all of it has been absorbed by DC growth. You can't talk about energy transition (including nuclear) in Ireland without talking about DCs.

As government politicians and business lobbies (and some on the Left) look to nuclear energy as a solution to Ireland's energy problems, important to understand why it is not the silver bullet they wish it was. www.versobooks.com/products/301...

uh, most of the data center buildout planned is for speculative shit, undisclosed, not for more chatbotting, and none of it is for "citizens" jacobin.com/2026/04/ai-d...

This is such a bad take that effectively amounts to some wishy washy call for greater 'deliberation' over data centre development. jacobin.com/2026/04/ai-d...

All weekend the news has led with the story about US troops being withdrawn from Germany. Meanwhile, a US Colonel has become deputy head of the Operations Division in the German army, where missions are planned. There is no transatlantic rift. www.politico.eu/article/germ...

In 1927, the ESB was established as the first national public energy utility in the world. FF/FG will reverse this achievement with the Private Wires Bill, effectively allowing data centres to construct their own private grids. Nuclear for AI is their vision. www.businesspost.ie/politics/new...

IT didn't include full quote in the headline because it is just so offensive. 'He compares sensitivity surrounding security to past attitudes towards birth control. “Several decades ago, the Irish were reluctant to speak about contraceptives."' www.irishtimes.com/world/europe...

Don't think the public will buy that one. 'Davis said the public must be made aware that investment in defence is to protect the undersea cables, major infrastructure and data centres that prop up the Irish economy.' www.businesspost.ie/politics/ire...

On May 1, 1974, the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order (NIEO), with proposals to end neocolonialism and dependency, advance South-South cooperation, and guarantee economic sovereignty for all nations.

On May Day, worth remembering that in the first three months of 2026 over 8000 US troops passed through Shannon airport on their way to wage illegal wars. Ireland is 'militarily neutral' but that doesn't stop us having a de facto US base on our soil. www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026...

'May Day is about affirmation, the love of life, and the start of spring, so it has to be about the beginning of the end of the capitalist system of exploitation, oppression, war, and overall misery, toil, and moil.' - Peter Linebaugh

Data centres privatising our energy grid & providing minimal jobs is 'positive side of the ledger'? 'On the positive side of the ledger is that AI-related investment in data centres is one factor behind a stronger than expected economic performance last year.' www.irishtimes.com/opinion/edit...

These articles are so boring but something new and sinister is how the familiar trope about Ireland's 'defencelessness' is now being linked with the fuel protests and 'public disorder'. Policing during EU Presidency will be something to watch. www.businesspost.ie/politics/ire...

Online Neutrality Roadshow this evening at 7pm. We'll be talking Triple Lock, EU militarisation, international law, subsea cables and the need for social and ecological security, not armed (in)security.

Between 2014-2024, corporation tax rose from €5bn to €28bn in Ireland. In same period, data centres went from using 5% of energy on the grid to 22%. Meanwhile, majority struggle to make ends meet. Chronic problems of Ireland's FDI-led development model are becoming acute.

The Govnt is more concerned with protecting subsea cables than the health of the people who live here. 'Mr Dempsey said that many patients face a postcode lottery, as machines around the country age and are not replaced as soon as they become outdated.' www.rte.ie/news/health/...

One of the (v real) risks highlighted here is that the US would demand Europe remove Chinese technology from its energy systems 'or face tariffs, sanctions or reduced security commitments.' Problem is EU's dependency on US, not Chinese green technology. www.ft.com/content/c9cd...

We're hosting an event in @ConnollyBooks in collaboration with CATU on May 21st. Housing activists & organisers from LA, Greece, Berlin, Dublin. We'll also be launching a booklet about conditions in public housing made with residents in Cromcastle Court and Emmet Buildings.

One of the biggest labour demos in Irish history took place in 1979. It wasn't over wages but taxes. Cost of living was high, public infrastructures non-existent and multinationals were benefitting from grants and tax breaks. Sounds familiar. www.rte.ie/archives/exh...

Ireland spends the lowest proportion of GDP of an EU state on nature restoration and needs spend up to €700m a year just to implement EU regulations. But it is (neutral) Ireland's 'poor performance' in defence spending that receives endless coverage. www.rte.ie/news/environ...

This report comes on the same day Europe is found to be the fastest warming continent. Ecological restoration and the transition towards alternative forms of food production are far more urgent and tangible security issues than protecting subsea cables. www.rte.ie/news/environ...

This is excellent @upstreampodcast.bsky.social with Matteo Capasso. Cuts through the endless hot takes and idealistic analysis to clarify the world-historical significance of US-Israeli wars on sovereign national projects in West Asia and beyond.

We have to move beyond framing AI as a technology that can be tamed or regulated to serve society. The development of AI is inseparable from the concentrated power of (mostly US) tech companies and their centrality within US geopolitical interests. That is the frame. www.gov.ie/en/departmen...

Headline suggests big investment in infrastructure - maybe in public housing, healthcare, and clean energy to meet social and environmental needs? No, main growth forecast is data centres, their associated energy needs, and defence. Sectors we need to degrow. www.irishexaminer.com/business/eco...

'We must use the state’s current wealth to pay for a deep shift in how we use our land, feed ourselves, and meet the basic needs of our people, from housing to health to transport and other infrastructure.' @talamhbeo.bsky.social talamhbeo.ie/ireland-has-...

A 9GW data centre project built beside Utah Air Base will use more than twice the total energy of the state, powered by new fossil fuel infrastructure. The developer pitched it as way to compete with China. Military-fossil fuel-tech industrial complex. www.sltrib.com/news/2026/04...

'Seventy-six percent of Irish soccer fans believe the games with Israel should not go ahead.' #stopthegame jacobin.com/2026/04/irel...

Shocking that a quote like this from a senior officer in the British army passes without comment by our national broadcaster. "The RAF is here to get used to operating from here, and who knows where that will take us." www.rte.ie/news/2026/04...

"We need to, as an EU, uphold our fundamental values", says Helen McEntee. That a majority of EU members did not support the suspension of the EU-Israel agreement, going against the UN and ICJ, tells us a lot about 'EU fundamental values'. www.rte.ie/news/2026/04...