Unless I hear them saying it publicly, what they say privately isn't worth squat. So who told Matt to take a beat?

Deleted previous reply as realised the “100%” could have been misinterpreted- but yeah there is definitely a strong difference of opinion within the party

Surely Carthy is merely spouting off wider shitty SF policy on the issue. He's not going off on a solo run. But I actually agree that other left parties need to improve their vote share regardless of what SF do. You ideally want the Zack Polanski in the UK type progress

Re SF. I think SF decision makers think they need to appeal to people of various views. I'm very disappointed with them. I preferred the Martin Kenny standing up for refugees at a meeting version myself.

Sadly those of us who tried to do it in the past didn’t get anywhere

Here are the Irish MEPs who just sided with the far-right (fascists, racists, sexists, homophobes, climate deniers) from across the EU They've voted to gut protections that would have made businesses check and report their supply chains for child labour, human rights abuse or nature destruction

We have to be clear about the truth in the face of government spin. Disabled people have been made poorer by about €1400. Don't be fooled. It's a political choice to make people struggle more this year.

so it turns out the culture of not understanding jokes on bluesky comes right from the top

Absolutely! A junior colleague asked when she started if there was monitoring she needed to log into on her remote days - I said: it would so quickly be clear if you weren’t doing your job, because you’re essential! Plus, we hired you because it’s clear how diligent you are, so we trust you!

I've seen a study suggesting that productivity is highest where there is a culture of trust and good leadership. If your company is struggling following remote work offerings, it may actually be a signal to assess the performance of your managers rather than forcing a return to office for everyone

Today I realised just how frequently I've been published in the opinion/letters pages of a few papers, while criticising the government, so I'm formally accepting solicitations for a regular column entitled "Old Man Yells at Clowns" #spéirgorm

It wasn't perfect, but everyone made life work. This was without organised racism & anti-immigration sentiment. This was without politicians like Timmy Dooley repeating far right rhetoric & scapegoating migrants for their failures. They deserve better & so do we. Up The Banner. 3/3 #Speirgorm

Ireland's 1st Muslim TD, Dr. Bhamjee, was from Clare. I worked for a Sikh family for years that still employee people in Clare. Rusangano Family & Denise Chaila are from or have strong connections with Clare & "keep the Banner on my chest plate" I knew Iraqis in Ennis fleeing Sadam. 2/3

As an honorary Clare man (aka blow-in), I second Rob's call that the people of Clare deserve better leadership. Clare has a strong history of welcoming immigrants, be they intercounty like myself, Northerners escaping the troubles, or of Indian, Asian, or African descent, or from anywhere else. 1/3

👏👏👏

If you're a Sinn Féin member and you wish to ensure the party takes the correct direction at this vital juncture I encourage you to write to them today asking them to be much more careful in their language and policies regarding immigration. Particularly Matt Carthy. Please. #Spéirgorm

My letter in today's Clare Champion calling out the xenophobic dog-whistling from our local TD, Timmy Dooley, as well as Sinn Féin's Matt Carthy. Immigrants are not the reason I've struggled to retain housing or buy my own home - Government policies are. Landlords like Timmy Dooley are. #Spéirgorm

This is what it looks like when the firewall is torn down for good. EPP, under the leadership of Manfred Weber, using the entire extreme and far right (including German AFD, French RN) for trashing sustainability and due diligence requirements for big business. The masks are off for good.

Once again, the government is willing to do anything to fix the housing crisis, except for anything that will actually fix the housing crisis

How about speeding things up by chatting to CSO Ireland to get locations for 72,000 (yep!) vacant dwellings announced in September & apply use it or lose it They should also chat with Revenue to understand why only 2300 properties paid the Vacant Homes Tax #DerelictIreland #VacantIreland

“Judicial reviews serve the common good ..a deregulatory agenda, facilitating curtailment of public’s rights & compromising public accountability. This will undermine the rule of law & risks exerting political pressures on our independent judiciary” www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

And when that's in the wash, an air of begrudgement.

So the Fine Gael party – 🇮🇪 EPP member in the EU Parliament – is siding with the hard-right to downgrade citizen sustainability protections in favour of protecting corporate power. Good to know.

If this was the first paragraph of a book you browsed through in the bookshop, you'd buy it. bsky.app/profile/shan...

It's huge. The narrative around the last Crash was dominated by negative equity as if that was of paramount importance. Well, as someone who's house was in massive negative equity it didn't make a damn difference to me as I just kept paying the mortgage on my home. Where I still live.

'We want to get away from yearly targets', says the Government that has been missing housing targets for years.

It’s a great plan. It reaffirms the commitments made when the former minister affirmed his intention to reaffirm the Govts overwhelming affirmative affirmation to a deep commitment of reaffirmament.

Expecting Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to fix the housing crisis is like expecting your dog to drive a bus. Even if they wanted to, It’s not in their nature. They can’t even reach the pedals

If we were to extend this of reasoning or argument to its logical endpoint, i.e. "how long will that take", the IDA and Enterprise Ireland might as well shut up shop

“Rebuilding Ireland” (2016 housing plan) has disappeared for the web, so shared here for anyone who’d like a look back drive.google.com/file/d/1wEZJ...

As ecologists say, the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the next best is now. According to the Dept of Finance, we've 15 more years of a housing crisis

The ESB was established in August 1927. By March 1929 it had more than 800 employees.

8 months old. Still relevant today. This government are attacking the very idea of targets because they consistently fail to reach even the inadequate targets they set for themselves. We must do better. We can't give them 4 more years without accountability. #spéirgorm

Back in March I wrote about Minister Browne's aversion to targets. Unfortunately it remains relevant today. Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely targets are ESSENTIAL to any goal. A plan without these elements is just a gamble #spéirgorm www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/your...

You vs the burro's tail she told you not to worry about

Also the idea of the length it would take to form a company like this being motivation not to support the idea is fucking hilarious as if we're not a decade+ into a homeless crisis

Added to which the failure to replace local authority housing stock that was sold to tenants. Plus the rebounding of a house as a commodity, not a home.

My son is in his 40s. A single parent civil servant. One of his children is now an adult, the other not far off it. His best hope of owning a house is me kicking the bucket. I'm not enthusiastic about that as a plan.

One of the most annoying things about visiting a warm country is seeing huge thriving plants that you were unable to keep alive as houseplants.

In the same way that subsequent generations have wondered why fascists weren't stopped sooner in the 1940s, future generations are going to wonder why we did nothing to stop the billionaires.

Humans: capable of building entire skyscrapers but still afraid to put the scary number on one of the floors

I do not care if a state construction company will take many years to come to fruition. We are in this position because decisions are made in terms of 5 year electoral cycles. We need to start solving the housing crises our kids will be facing 15/20/30 years from now. #spéirgorm

The Govts new housing plan - Delivering Homes, Building Communities - opens by recognising a home as a need, not a right. It goes on to say they’ve made significant progress? Like increasing homelessness is progress? You can’t solve a problem if you don’t acknowledge it, lads.

This is the (unconstitutional, un-republican) underpinnings of a few of the Government’s current announced plans- most notably the announced proposal to deliberately limit access to the courts by adding additional legal costs to *successful* planning challenges by judicial review.

The AG’s argument is that the Executive does its work for the common good and so it should not have to compensate individuals as a matter of right, because to do so would reduce the money for its other projects. It is an effort to create a new justification for a return to the pre-1972 immunity.

This idea- that the State and the Executive are a unified entity and so suing the Government goes against the State- has its roots in the U.K. idea of the Crown as the sovereign. In 1972, the Irish Supreme Court rejected the assertion that this protection from accountability had carried over.

An Cailleach brings the winter 🌬️ The mythological figure in Irish, Scottish, and Manx tradition who summons winter, and is associated with storms, reshaping the landscape, and horned beasts like deer. She defies convention and is a force for regeneration. Prints: www.ciaraioch.com/artprints/p/...

here’s the actual ACP decision (now published). The news headlines are very misleading. This site is zoned for open space. www.pleanala.ie/anbordpleana...

the long backstory 🧵 bsky.app/profile/orla...

‘Irish Times headline “Brent geese put paid to 580 Dublin apartments” does a disservice both to journalism & to environmental protection’ www.irishtimes.com/opinion/lett... (Irish Independent blamed the geese too, & both papers published the story before the decision was publicly available)