The moon in the old library in Trinity - absolutely gorgeous
Dr Mary McAuliffe
@drmarymcauliffe.bsky.social
Irish 🇮🇪 / gender Historian, feminist, academic (UCD), lefty / 2 cat 🐈⬛ Mom / Research-gendered & sexual violence in the Irish revolutionary wars / afterlives of Irish revolutionary women / Irish sexualities / she/her / Dublin via north Kerry/ views mine
This, from the hugely experienced Irish courts reporter, Isabel Hayes, on the Minister for Justice’s performative outrage over an ad about children and consent, is worth reading.
Thank you so much to last night's speakers @drmarymcauliffe.bsky.social @tomhulme.bsky.social @niallherron.bsky.social for a brilliant panel on New Approaches to Sexuality in Ulster. As one audience member noted, each paper challenged assumptions about Queer History in new ways!
Long before pumpkins became the Halloween tradition, people in Ireland carved turnips into spooky faces to ward off wandering spirits. This wonderful Ghost Turnip is on display at the National Museum of Ireland, Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, and it's guaranteed to stop you in your tracks!
Seems like Peadar Tóibín and Aontu just don’t like the idea of agency and consent … especially for women and children, most especially embodied agency and consent, but then generally that’s a right wing, patriarchy, authoritarian position, so, of course🤷🏻♀️ #speirghorm
Need to stop assuming leftist views mean someone is an ally to women. Many men, including darlings of the left in Irish entertainment and beyond, have used the cover of progressive causes and legal threats to silence credible accusations of sexual violence from women. It's not a reliable indicator.
I loved my grandparents very dearly, but even as a child I was not into hugging that much - as anyone who knows me now, knows! Consent is something children need to know about, it gives them agency to express what’s within their comfort zone.
The Journal@thejournal.ie · yesterdayAdverts run by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre looking at consensual hugs between children and their grandparents has been suspended after criticism. Aontú's Peader Tóibín called the ad "bonkers", as he urged a "need to build resilience" among children. www.thejournal.ie/grandparents...
Just to add that what DRCC are talking about here is a long-standing, bog standard position in books about parenting and among child psychologists and social workers. This is something that was uncontroversial a quarter of a century ago.
The Journal@thejournal.ie · yesterdayAdverts run by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre looking at consensual hugs between children and their grandparents has been suspended after criticism. Aontú's Peader Tóibín called the ad "bonkers", as he urged a "need to build resilience" among children. www.thejournal.ie/grandparents...
Please sign this petition to end the EU-Israel Association Agreement now. Stand with Palestine. #SanctionsNow www.aodhan.ie/act/
Stop Rewarding Israel | Aodhán Ó Ríordáin MEP
Since October 2023, over 70,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel. Yet Israel continues to enjoy the benefits of the €45 billion EU Israel Trade Agreement.
aodhan.ie
"lawyers for the minister had "made inquiries overnight" and could confirm that the language documents had in fact been received by the department but "for some reason" did not go before the person who had decided to reject Ms Abudalu's application." www.rte.ie/news/2026/10...
'Substantial hole' in defence of Gaza student visa denial
A judge hearing a judicial review of a Minister for Justice decision to deny a study visa to a student in Gaza has said there is "a substantial hole" in the case being put forward by the minister in d...
rte.ie
When you take a step back, FFG have stolen reasonable rents, affordable home ownership, affordable energy, & many other things from people due to their naked neoliberalism. Neoliberalism has eaten itself & is morphing into militarism & fascism. Of course FFG are first in line. Disgusting.
RTÉ News@news.rte.ie · 2d ago#Breaking Legislation to scrap the Triple Lock has passed its first vote in the Dáil tonight after 79 TDs backed the change and 71 opposed it
Delighted to see my research get published in the Irish Examiner today, less than a week after presenting at PSAI in Cork! Huge thanks to @deshocks.bsky.social for liking the work and @theresareidy.bsky.social and UCC organisers for a fabulous conference. 👏👏👏 www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...
Female TDs haven't gone quiet — they're being drowned out
Ten years of Dáil questions show women still raise the issues that attract the most abuse, but their share of the record is shrinking
irishexaminer.com
"Poetry is a sort of connection between the individual mind and all these minds and sensibilities that move outside you." WATCH: 'Writer in Profile: Brendan Kennelly' broadcast Oct 17, 1976 #brendankennelly www.rte.ie/archives/201...
Writer In Profile Brendan Kennelly
Irish poet, novelist and Professor of Modern Literature at Trinity College Dublin Brendan Kennelly.
rte.ie
The world has lost the opportunity to prevent global warming significantly exceeding the critical threshold of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, according to a major new UN report.
World can no longer avoid exceeding 1.5C threshold - UN
The world has lost the opportunity to prevent global warming significantly exceeding the critical threshold of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, according to a United Nations report.
rte.ie
Another edge lord comedy / pod bro using sexual violence against women for laughs … time to cancel them all. 🤬🤬
McDowell's article in the Irish Times is a mess but it is striking that he offers no assessment of why the "centre" is crumbling in France. It is because it has been marked by the very combination of ultra neoliberal economic and social policy and hardline security policy that define his politics.
Just a gentle reminder that the last day for receiving applications is fast approaching (31 October). please spread the word if you know someone who might benefit from this bursary.
Women’s History Association of Ireland@whaireland.bsky.social · 2mo agoWe are now receiving applications for the Anne Parnell Travel Grant. This year we have increased the value of the grant to €500. The application form can be found in the link below. Closing date for applications is 31 October 2026. womenshistoryassociation.com/grants-prize...
How can anybody never mind survivors have trust in a Minister for Justice who weaponises rape for political gain - he doesn’t get it - this is unacceptable and he needs to go #rape #speirgorm #ireland
RTÉ News@news.rte.ie · 3d agoA solicitor working in criminal legal aid has described the comments by the Minister for Justice that solicitors had deliberately targeted rape cases in their dispute as beneath the dignity of his office.
Ms Abdualu’s mother and her two sisters and brother were killed in an Israeli missile strike in March 2024. Her grandparents, her aunt, and other relations were also killed in the attack. Ms Abdualu was buried under rubble beside the body of one of her sisters for hours before being rescued.
Visa refusal for Gazan student irrational, court told
A decision by the Minister for Justice to refuse a study visa to a Gazan student is unlawful and irrational and should be set aside, lawyers representing dozens of Gaza students seeking judicial revie...
rte.ie
Please join us on Thursday at 6pm for our panel on New Approaches to the History of Sexuality! In person in 27 University Square @irishstudiesqub.bsky.social or online (register below) @tomhulme.bsky.social @drmarymcauliffe.bsky.social www.ticketsource.com/ulster-socie...
USIHS: New Approaches to the History of Sexuality Panel at Online
Tickets are now available for USIHS: New Approaches to the History of Sexuality Panel at Online, Online on Thu 22 Oct 2026. Click the link for further information and to secure your tickets now!
ticketsource.com
@elainecrory.bsky.social has a v powerful piece in #TheMorrigan on the sentencing of Jeffrey Donaldson - former MP and leader of the DUP - for 18 counts of child sex abuse, including one of rape & its relationship with power dflw.ie/the-sentenci...
The Sentencing of Jeffrey Donaldson & What it tells us about Power - Doing Feminist Legal Work
For as long as feminists have been writing and speaking about sexual violence, we have repeatedly framed it as an issue not connected to desire or
dflw.ie
In today's Irish Times Letters to the Editor. Another medical system kept afloat by *immigrants*. #speirgorm
'If life in little places dies, Greater places share the loss; Life, if you wish, may not be worth One passing game of pitch-and-toss; And yet a nation’s life is laid In places like the Crooked Cross'. (Brendan Kennelly, The Crooked Cross, 1963)
Like it doesn’t do that and more already? The public service delivers for human beings, the environment, healthcare, education, culture and society etc - value is intrinsic to that and always has been.
polifeed@feed.gavreilly.com · 5d agoTheJournal.ie: Public sector pay deal must deliver ‘value for money’ and productivity says Taoiseach
I’ve a piece in @irishexaminer.bsky.social this morning about Ireland’s economic identity crisis www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...
Liz Carolan: Who was the Government AI conference actually for?
Our FDI strategy has become a pair of golden handcuffs — which was evident in the Government's deference to Big Tech
irishexaminer.com
Musk cannot be trusted - diversify from starlink and Tesla and let him concentrate to sending himself to Mars … good riddance
Angelica Shalagina Official🇺🇦@angel-shalagina.bsky.social · 7d ago🚨 BREAKING: Elon Musk personally proposed slowing down Ukraine’s Starlink access, and Trump agreed, The Telegraph reports, citing four sources. Musk reportedly later feared backlash from European customers and publicly denied responsibility, blaming the White House instead.
Arundhati Roy on the ‘Age of AI – Actual Idiocy, Actual Super Idiocy, Recursive Snowballing-Idiocy … Colonisation always comes bearing shiny gifts. But AI is colonisation of a kind few of us can even imagine. It’s capitalism’s final destination.’ www.equator.org/articles/aru...
Apocalypse Now and Then • EQUATOR
Artificial intelligence is capitalism’s final destination
equator.org
