"I never imagined a human being created by God would do this." www.bbc.com/news/article...

Looking forward to facilitating this discussion on the launch of Patrick Bresnihan and Pat Brodie's fascinating new book 'From the Bog to the Cloud'. This evening at TU Dublin, 6:30-8pm. See you there!

#12 An Clogán - Cé gur tugadh ainm Gaelach ar an irisleabhar, chuir sé díomá orm nach raibh alt Gaeilge ar bith ann. Ar scor ar bith, cuid mhór ábhar machnaimh atá ann - ná hailt le @sineadmercier.bsky.social , @clairemitchell.bsky.social , Martina Anderson agus Ursula Ní Shionnain go háirid

A beautiful heartfelt essay by my mom Anne Gately Mercier aired on RTE's Sunday Miscellany last weekend. Outing the family as turf-cutters - but change is afoot where we once footed turf. www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...

From the 1990 Presidential Election

This is an exact encapsulation of why I moved to Bluesky. No amount of handwringing in the Atlantic about how I owe some eternal Promethean suffering to the discourse is going to make me stay on a site I hate, that stopped doing anything for me professionally years ago.

We're hosting our final project event on 29 Sept. Land, Property and Spatial [In]Justice: Towards a Legal Geography of International Law W/ project team & stellar guest speakers who influenced us @amandabyer.bsky.social @sonyacotton.bsky.social @sineadmercier.bsky.social @elaj-ucd.bsky.social

Our first project PhD has officially graduated! Congratulations @sonyacotton.bsky.social for her research on the meaning of 'community' in international law, and its effects on legal standing + spatial justice in post-apartheid southern Africa! @amandabyer.bsky.social @sineadmercier.bsky.social

This is a small but significant win for Ireland. bsky.app/profile/were...

We’re thrilled that the @businesspost.bsky.social has published a major investigation based on findings from our @erc.europa.eu-funded project at @ucddublin.bsky.social. It shines a spotlight on how multinationals shift profits through Ireland. A thread👇 democracychallenged.com/2025/05/06/o...

Thinking about historical parallels. People talk about coups and autogolpes, the fascist seizure of power in the 1930s, and there are resemblances. But there are other models we could think about.

Some amazing maslaigh here for feminist reclamation. www3.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gaeilge/focl...

The colour pink has been shown to shift our brains away from fight or flight & into rest & digest. Here are some botanical pinks to let your eyes pause on for a while in case your Monday has stress in it:

“Failure of a State to take appropriate action… including through fossil fuel production, fossil fuel consumption, the granting of fossil fuel exploration licences or the provision of fossil fuel subsidies — may constitute an internationally wrongful act which is attributable to that State.”

Time and politics are cyclical on this island.... www.bbc.com/news/uk-nort...

Re-learning from Auntie Audre and working to focus my rage with precision.

This day next week! We'll host a panel discussing the Central Bank's trading of Israel’s 'war bonds' Featuring: Senator @aliceeire.bsky.social , Helen Mahony @ipsc.bsky.social, Faten Sourani (Trócaire), John Reynolds (Maynooth Law) 📣Spread the word! www.financialjustice.ie/get-involved...

The most immediate way to revitalise the Irish language and stem the flow of young people from rural Ireland would be to ban Airbnb.

"The EU supplies at least a third of Israel’s arms imports and has its most comprehensive association agreement with the country. Conditional on respect for international law. If the political will exists, the EU has the means to act." - Josep Borrell, past EU Foreign Policy High Representative.

Does the popularity of Scandi girl style & hygge home decor reveal the people's desire for Folkhemmet? When democratic socialism is shut out from our everyday life - the workplace, politics, media - the longing for bread & roses finds expression in sheepskin throws & a classy mule/barrel jean combo.

It was wonderful to have the Property[in]Justice gals (including @sineadmercier.bsky.social and @amandabyer.bsky.social) together again. Thank you so much @owenmcintyre.bsky.social for this brilliant conference, very impressed that you even managed to make the weather amazing for the event.

Call for Papers: The Irish Political Constitution. Symposium date: Friday 28th November 2025, NUI Merrion Square. Deadline for Abstracts: 30 May 2025 We have an agreement in principle to publish a special issue of the Irish Jurist containing papers presented at the symposium

Choices in government.

A beautiful quote from Justine McCarthy in a beautiful paragraph in Diarmaid Ferriter's new book: "It is criticising that has brought about some of the most attractive features of modern Ireland" - bringing a little heart leap of hope for the future in these dark times ☀️

"You’re scared of doing the right thing because the right thing comes with a price, and I stand proud with it because I take that price as the price of humanity, a price that I can bear, and you should do the same” - Francesca Albanese thecurrency.news/articles/184...

In 2023, and despite lack of government opposition, a Bill to protect Ireland's environment and meet climate goals lapsed with the dissolution of the Dáil. Jamie McLoughlin explores this innovative and potentially transformative Bill in more detail: elajucd.com/2025/03/15/a...

My paper "Self-Determination in the Age of Algorithmic Warfare" has just been published in the EJLS. It argues that the use of AI-DSS in Gaza, purportedly improving IHL compliance, justify the entrenchment of surveillance and thus violate the right to self-determination. ejls.eui.eu/issues/speci...

Our children are robbed of their freedom - and sometimes their lives - because streets are designed for traffic, not their safety.

Absolutely appalling. The fact that our own police force would engage in tactics designed to systematically subjugate and silence women in Northern Ireland. Really shocked at this. www.rte.ie/archives/col...

Overheard in central southside Dublin: "It's a great business to be in..." "What?" "Wealth."

i'm bringing my Arms Embargo Bill back to Seanad tomorrow! Myself & my Seanad CEG colleagues want an end to Ministerial exemptions that allow flights to carry weapons directly or indirectly through Ireland to Israel. No more 'turn a blind eye' complicity in horrific breaches of international law👇

Two Irish citizens ordered to leave Germany over pro-Palestinian protests despite no convictions. Lawyers say the move undermines civil liberties for EU citizens. www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...

Some exciting post this morning. My copy of Legal Transfer and Legal Geography in the British Empire arrived today from @maxplancklaw.bsky.social - includes my chapter 'A Haunting Absence' on the origins of international energy law in the legal techniques used in the colonial conquest of Ireland.

The bluebird carries the sky on his back. - Henry David Thoreau 📷: Eastern Bluebird

"We’re in the Midst of an Authoritarian Takeover ... We’re beginning to see the effects on universities. It’s very, very frightening" (Law Prof Lee Bollinger, Pres. Emeritus of Columbia University) & yet many are in denial and/or normalising what's unfolding www.chronicle.com/article/were...

Irish Dáil debates rarely disappoint. This gem from 1968 on the Continental Shelf Act. Anyone know who the Irish Houdini in New York is? #speirgorm

Sonya's PhD examined how 'community' can work in international law to inhibit justice & climate action. Dedicated, precise & grounded, she drove 100s of miles across Namibia & South Africa interviewing affected groups. A brilliant thinker. Hire her asap Ireland, she'll be snapped up internationally!

Justin Timberlake, welcome to the war on cars!

Congratulations to the amazing and wonderful Dr. Cotton!💐❤️💐🎉💐 @sonyacotton.bsky.social

Bhí mé ar Nuacht TG4 an tseachtain seo caite ag míniú cén fáth gur shínigh mé agus 400 acadóir eile an litir thíos chuig an Taoiseach Micheál Martin ag glaoigh air an Glas Triarach a choimeád ar son na síochána @nuachttg4.bsky.social @ucdschooloflaw.bsky.social universitytimes.ie/2025/03/400-...

We lay in the grip of the dying British Empire. A readymade set of allies. One Irish Taoiseach attended a meeting of African leaders & later, as they relaxed, it turned out that they had all gone to Christian Brothers schools & had teachers in common.

There are tales of the Irish ambassadors to the UN, where everyone is seated alphabetically. Ireland, Iraq, Iran & Israel - strange bedfellows yet only the Irish civil servants moved freely amongst them. Even when the worst excesses of ‘the West’ were decried - they never included the Irish Republic

The strange thing about growing up in Ireland in the ‘70s, was you had a ring side seat to Brit & US culture, whilst at the same time having experienced how those cultures were based on exacting a toll from the colonised, like us. It was a discombobulating experience. Belonging & not belonging.

Why our native honey bee deserves protection #Spéirghorm www.rte.ie/news/environ...

Check out Sinéad Mercier's brilliant chapter on the 'placelessness' of energy law in Ireland!

Over the 🌔 to have the first part of my PhD research out published by @maxplancklaw.bsky.social alongside wonderful colleagues @property-injustice.bsky.social @ucdschooloflaw.bsky.social - examining the development of Irish #energylaw from the 1600s to Ardnacrusha. www.lhlt.mpg.de/4594726/GPLH...

My monograph, Placing Property, published under the Property [In]Justice Project, is open access and available here: link.springer.com/book/10.1007... @property-injustice.bsky.social