Lucy Michael: Ireland’s Taser pilot is bad science and bad policy

Lucy Michael: Ireland’s Taser pilot is bad science and bad policy

Gardaí need adequate tools and training. But Ireland must learn from international evidence about when Tasers add to safety and when they reduce it

irishtimes.com

🧵 I think it would help if people stopped ‘feeling’ whether or not a person or party is/was extreme or far right. There’s actually a fairly respected definition. Let me take you through it & then you can decide if someone meets the definition. This is aimed, in particular, at journos [1]

"If progressive or left-wing critics of government policy are portrayed as anti-government, their democratic role as checks & balancers gets blurred.. It significantly decreases the space for critical engagement" @lucymichael.bsky.social on reductive media framings open.substack.com/pub/lucymich...

The anti-Government candidate

The language of our media is worth watching right now - Describing Catherine Connolly as an ‘anti-government candidate’ misrepresents her role and the nature of Ireland’s parliamentary democracy.

open.substack.com

‘Lower socioeconomic groups, people working in healthcare and social services, and marginalised groups face a higher risk of poor mental health’. Suicide is leading cause of death for young people in Europe, new research shows jrnl.ie/6805543

Suicide is leading cause of death for young people in Europe, new research shows

Research from the EU think tank also found that in Ireland, “significant” mental health issues exist – largely due to economic and housing pressures.

jrnl.ie

Governments should not lose sight of their human rights obligations when negotiating deals to transfer asylum, return and border control functions to other countries, the Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner has warned. @commissionerhr.coe.int

Externalised migration policies ‘may lead to human rights violations’

Governments should not lose sight of their human rights obligations when negotiating deals to transfer asylum, return and border control functions to other countries, the Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner has warned.

irishlegal.com

Irish NGOs Afri & Comhlámh, "are urging all Irish civil society organisations & concerned individuals to use their voices now to end Ireland's complicity in genocide of Palestinians & to demand urgent government action", including that Ireland join the Hague Group docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Sign Our Urgent Civil Society Open Letter: Ireland Must Join the Hague Group to End Complicity in the Genocide of the Palestinian People

We are asking Irish civil society organisations to: Add your name to the open letter to all TDs and Senators (below) calling for Ireland to join the Hague Group before the deadline. Share this call wi...

docs.google.com

In today's @irishexaminer.bsky.social , Siobhan Kangataran addresses recent racist attacks. www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

Siobhán Kangataran: Our migrant communities need your voice

The people who are immune from a crisis have the best ability to effect change — it's not enough to be non-racist, you must be actively anti-racist

irishexaminer.com

Part 2 of our series looking at threats to our native seals. This one beggars belief, especially after the outrage in 2022 when a seal pup was killed after being picked up by a tourist for a selfie 😔 ⬇️

The Journal Investigates@investigates.thejournal.ie · 12mo ago

Tourists are disturbing Ireland’s largest grey seal colony by flying drones and picking up pups for selfies. The latest in our series looking at threats to the protected species by @trishdevlin.bsky.social http://www.thejournal.ie/tourists-drones-selfies-seals-6787750-Aug2025/

A few weeks ago while I was on vacation in Copenhagen (a wonderful city!) I went to the museum of Danish Resistance - both because I was interested in Denmark’s unique history during WW2 and to find out if there was anything to learn about our country’s slide into authoritarianism. 🧵 1/?

NEW: More than half a dozen prominent authors have pulled out of the Bendigo Writers Festival after being told to sign a code of conduct that would inhibit criticism of Israel. www.deepcutnews.com/p/authors-wi...

Authors withdraw from Bendigo Writers Festival over anti-Palestinian 'censorship'

Festival organisers sought compliance with controversial definition of antisemitism that includes criticism of Israel

deepcutnews.com

Working with refugees or international protection applicants and want to upskill? A small number of spaces left on our new micro-credential at UCD! 50% subsidies available for eligible learners www.ucd.ie/microcredent...

A significant part of our work at lucymichael.ie is reporting on human rights and equality in Ireland for the EU Fundamental Rights Agency. We regularly conduct desk-based reviews and field studies for EU FRA on a wide range of rights issues as part of the FRANET 27-country research network.

Minister for Integration Colm Brophy hopes incoming Garda Commissioner will prioritize racism attacks, but denies that a crackdown on immigration was emboldening people who might attack migrants.

Minister for Integration Colm Brophy hopes incoming Garda Commissioner will prioritize racism attacks, but denies that a crackdown on immigration was emboldening people who might attack migrants. | Dr...

Minister for Integration Colm Brophy hopes incoming Garda Commissioner will prioritize racism attacks, but denies that a crackdown on immigration was emboldening people who might attack migrants. http...

linkedin.com

bookriot.com/penguin-rand...

"None Of These Books Are Obscene": Judge Strikes Down Much of Florida's Book Ban Bill

In a major win for intellectual freedom, a judge rules against Florida law that led to removing hundreds of books from school libraries.

bookriot.com

Jones has lost control of his media empire to a newly-appointed receiver who will sell it off to pay the Sandy Hook Elementary School families who sued Jones for defamation after the 2012 shootings.

Infowars conspiracist Alex Jones is a big step closer to losing his studio and brand

Jones has lost control of his media empire to a newly-appointed receiver who will sell it off to pay the Sandy Hook Elementary School families who sued Jones for defamation after the 2012 shootings.

n.pr

Despite demographic changes in N. Ireland, the PSNI is completely unrepresentative in religious & black and ethnic representation. The post-conflict arrangement of 50/50 recruitment was dropped and they've engaged in egregious discriminatory policing unchecked. 'A police force for all communities'

Catholic PSNI officers one and half times more likely to be investigated for misconduct

Snapshot of internal police investigations show apparent imbalance

irishnews.com

We even have some real world experimental data on what happens when a government compels tech to open a surveillance backdoor, from the US. There, in Nov 2024, it turned out that Chinese spies had also strolled through that same backdoor and were using it to track millions of phones.

If you need more ideas on how to explain to a TD (who may get their secretary to print out emails and then handwrites the replies in fountain pen) why this is a bad idea, I have a few extra ones here (no paywall) www.thegist.ie/the-gist-a-b...

The Gist: A Bad State of Affairs

This week, the talk has been about empowering the state. This is the Gist.

thegist.ie

Please read this piece by the irreplaceable Olga Cronin explaining why the Government’s plans to legislate to break encryption are a Bad Idea, and then explain it by email (good), phone call (better) or personal visit (amazing) to your local TDs. www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

Opinion: Letting gardaí access our WhatsApps and chats to investigate crime could backfire

Forcing companies to create access pathways would insert vulnerabilities that could be exploited

irishtimes.com

This latest madcap Internet plan from the Irish Govt will have EU-wide consequences as many of the most critical encrypted messaging systems companies are based here. Use Apple’s iMessage or Meta’s WhatsApp in the EU? You should be contacting your Govt and getting them to object to Ireland’s plan.

Simon McGarr@tupped.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Please read this piece by the irreplaceable Olga Cronin explaining why the Government’s plans to legislate to break encryption are a Bad Idea, and then explain it by email (good), phone call (better) or personal visit (amazing) to your local TDs. www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

BREAKING: A federal appeals court affirmed that Louisiana's state legislative districts dilute the power of Black voters and must be redrawn.

The latest spate of attacks on Indian people is simply the outworking of a renormalisation of racism within our public discourse.

Irish Examiner@irishexaminer.bsky.social · 12mo ago

The vigilante group are now raging that the PSNI are patrolling the areas they are operating in.

“We’re here to talk about A levels” “Free Palestine the BBC is complicit” 💀💀

Policy research role, Dublin - apply by 3 Sept. 1 year contract, 3 days a week, Dublin. #hiring Research in equality, integration, human rights and justice. Postgraduate degree and research experience essential. Applications encouraged from underrepresented groups. lucymichael.ie/contact/vaca...

@migrantsrights.bsky.social found the 4 UK post codes subjected to the highest rate of immigration raids & enforcement are in N. Ireland and routes in and out of NI. BT3 (Belfast – Airport & Port) BT29 (Airport) CH41 (Birkenhead – Ferry to N. Ireland) DG9 (Stranraer – Ferry to N. Ireland) [2/2]

... around N. Ireland are enforced east – west, north – south, and within the 6 counties at a higher rate than across the UK. Migrant Rights Network has found that the 4 post codes in the UK subjected to by far the highest rate of immigration raids and enforcement are in Northern Ireland ... [2/5]

This report from Belfast-based human rights activist @queensips.bsky.social, sheds light on racism experienced by children of migrant families in NI and calls for more determined action from government and society to address the issue 👉 socialchangeinitiative.com/through-the-eyes-of-young-migrants

🚨Ireland has approved its plan under the new EU Migration Pact - impacting migrant children arriving here. The OCO is calling for children’s rights to be front and centre. 📄 Read our key recommendations to the Dept. of Justice: 👉 www.oco.ie/library/oco-...

New research out today: Amnesty International has found that X/Twitter played a central role in the spread of false narratives and content which incited violence against Muslim and migrant communities in the UK last summer