Why Ireland needs to stop forcing parents to buy their children laptops for school

The mandate that secondary students should have individual laptops is a mistake. Weak to no evidence it improves learning outcomes; expensive for families; bad for concentration and focus of our kids, and their physical health; damaging to the environment. www.irishtimes.com/life-style/2...

On April 29th a fire raged through a bog on Slieve Beagh, nearly destroying a curlew nest with 4 eggs had it not been for Roosin Kearney @rspbni.bsky.social Donal Beagan @breedingwaderseip.bsky.social. Listen here - www.rte.ie/radio/radio1... @rteradio1.bsky.social

Ireland already knows how to deliver an ambitious plan, and it comes down to this: you fund it. A nature restoration plan without money is like a human without a heart. It will never work. www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

Imagine a world where we could safely drink and swim in all our rivers? 🤔 Unfortunately, that is not the case in Ireland today! 🚨🤮 💧Check out the most recent article by Irish Times writer Ella McSweeney for more on the state of rivers in Ireland and why we should be angry about it!

Water is our great truth-teller. You cannot fake your way to a drinkable river. www.irishtimes.com/life-style/2...

Deer management is a necessary reality of native woodland conservation. Those of us who want to see more woodlands in our landscape really need to accept the necessity and see the opportunity in deer hunting. Thanks for raising awareness @ellamcsweeney.bsky.social www.newstalk.com/podcasts/hig...

vegans don’t listen. @seanmoncrieff.bsky.social @newstalkfm.bsky.social www.newstalk.com/podcasts/hig...

‘If I were to invent an Irish nickname for the dandelion, it would be something like An Bhialann Órga, the golden restaurant.’ Beautiful piece by @ellamcsweeney.bsky.social Archive link in comments www.irishtimes.com/life-style/2...

"In the future, standing either side of the river Shannon on drained bogs, we'll look back and ask, 'How did we get this so wrong?'" Strong piece from Ella McSweeney. I watched this account of the Abbeyleix bog project just last week. We can save these ecosystems: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaFa...

The irreplaceable Shannon bogs warrant full restoration. What we stand to lose by draining them for energy infrastructure is trading a guaranteed long-term asset for short-term expedience and convenience. By me for the @irishtimes.com #cornafulla www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

"In a world humans have broken, conservation and restoration also requires perpetual, unglamorous killing." Deer culling and the control of invasive species are not exceptions but integral parts of modern conservation, uncomfortable, yet unavoidable realities. www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

‘I’m not a natural-born killer but I’ve learned to shoot ethically and I’ll help cull deer’

Looking forward to my discussion with @ellamcsweeney.bsky.social @granardbooktown.bsky.social 19/4 2026 Come for the craic and stay for the craic! #books #festival #ireland #literature #writers #author #firsbook 🌳 🌿 🌍🦤🧪🦊📚💙 @pelagic.bsky.social @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social @aicbrn.bsky.social

Could Ireland’s burial grounds become memorial places where our late loved ones are remembered not with the deadly permanence of plastic, but with plants, flowers and trees that will, like all of us, eventually return to the earth? www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

I wrote a bit about the recent Coolglass court judgement and how it has revealed a deeper crisis: Ireland’s land-use policy is a fragmented, siloed, splintered mess.

“We need an overarching national policy based on evidence, data and a judgment about what is fair and reasonable for local communities.” - @ellamcsweeney.bsky.social Yes. Long overdue.

'And so we get to the real crisis: Ireland’s land-use policy is a fragmented, siloed, splintered mess.' - Excellent, honest writing, as usual, from @ellamcsweeney.bsky.social www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

Tomorrow, Too Big to Fail, a doc on Larry Goodman, is a reminder of one of the most important moments in Irish investigative journalism, when Susan O’Keeffe took on a story many believed was untouchable. Monday 9th March, 9.35pm, @rteone.rte.ie

For me, nothing heals better than being alone in the wild. www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

He rarely gives interviews. At 89, he‘a the largest exporter of beef in Europe. €2.5b in annual turnover. Ireland's biggest player in private healthcare. A vast property empire. Now, for the first time: his story. 📺 Too Big to Fail by Ciarán Cassidy, Ella McSweeney, Hugh Ormond & Colum McKeown

Nature and climate funding must now be articulated as infrastructure: as essential to food systems, public health, energy stability and geopolitical resilience. In security terms, biodiversity is not sentimental, it is strategic. www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

The Dublin city half hectare that became a self-sustaining sanctuary for nature, until recent clearance works - photo 2023 (left) and 2025 (right) www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

“All of the reductions in carbon emissions we’ve achieved through sustainable sources and electric vehicles will be reversed by the inexorable rise and insatiable appetite of AI” @financialtimes.com giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

I loved reading this and its lessons on curiosity and happening upon any of the myriad wonders our planet has wrought that empower us to access awe. "In many ways, cotterite is as much a story about attention – paying it and following it... – as it is about chemistry and geology." #Geology #Earth

Wrote a bit about a 7 year old boy who found one of the world’s rarest minerals near his home in Cork, and the geologist Dr Patrick Roycroft who brought the story together… www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

Good article from @ellamcsweeney.bsky.social - this is but one example where lack of spatial planning causes conflict when land with environmental constraints is zoned for development. www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

Framing Dublin’s housing delays as “geese vs the people” is erroneous & misleading. Brent geese aren’t the problem - a broken planning system is. @irishtimes.com www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

Let’s be ambitious for a plan to establish a real record of the majestic Shannon’s condition www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

A few weeks ago, a local walking along Bray seafront came across a leathery, pouch-shaped object with tendrils on each corner. It turned out to be a flapper skate egg case - a find so rare in the Irish Sea that scientists have been left astonished. www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

Rebuttal to John Collison's highly contested Irish Times “sermon to the nation", by lawyer @andrewlrjackson.bsky.social. A fact-check pushing back on the tech-optimist, deregulation-first vision - defending environmental law, democratic oversight & evidence-based planning elajucd.com/2025/11/21/o...

“How do you build a local food community when the money is not going towards the people who are trying to do that?” Cass & Nick on the challenges of being small-scale farmers in Ireland - www.rte.ie/radio/radio1... @rteradio1.bsky.social

Treat Lough Derg like a bin, and it will show you what that looks like. www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

Public records about North Cork Creameries - a company that is a "leading supplier of butter to the internationally renowned Kerrygold brand" - paint a disquieting picture of how regulators are performing www.irishtimes.com/environment/...

25 years ago local community stood up for bog's protection for people, place and nature - celebrating community action #Abbeyleix @communitywetlands.bsky.social @tocharstories.bsky.social beautiful storytelling via @ellamcsweeney.bsky.social @rteradio1.bsky.social www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...

This article by Ella McSweeney covers a fish die-off in one of Ireland’s rivers like a crime story. Brilliant read.

“Using their 40-year data set and historical research as far back as 1886, Little and Sterling see the extent of the decline of life in the lake. Life is draining away. It is, says Little, “very sad”.” #loughhyne www.irishtimes.com/environment/...