Emma Rogan 🇵🇸
@emmadragon.bsky.social
Res Non Verba Brain health activist playing the long game 🧠 Fascinated by it all. Typical human attributes with additional super-power to chat to strangers. "You do not find the happy life. You make it”. Dublin, Ireland 🏳️🌈
🇮🇪 Big Tech tried to shape the priorities of the Irish presidency to push for digital deregulation. Meta met 41 lawmakers on the Digital Omnibus, while Google met 30. ⚠️ In July, academics warned that “Ireland’s reliance upon giant non-EU firms creates insurmountable conflicts of interest".
“Other countries are demonstrating what can be achieved through effective enforcement, safer road design, appropriate speed limits and technology. The problem is not a lack of evidence. It is a lack of political will to turn that evidence into action.” www.independent.ie/county/sligo...
Call for Ireland to implement proven European road-safety measures
Frustration at Ireland’s failure to systematically adopt proven road-safety measures used across Europe has been expressed by councillor Marie Casserly who is calling for urgent political leadership, ...
independent.ie
‘architects have a responsibility to challenge unsafe decisions. We can’t just knock up homes for sake of meeting targets. We have to think about people living in those homes inadequate living situation poses a real risk to both mental & physical health’ www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/we-cant...
‘We can’t just be knocking up homes’ to meet targets, AJ100 told
Architects must resist pressure to prioritise housebuilding targets over quality, housing campaigner Kwajo Tweneboa told an AJ100 lunch club
architectsjournal.co.uk
Today, 27th October is World Occupational Therapy Day 2026 with the theme, Participation Matters. “...small changes can make a big difference to everyday life. Introducing memory strategies, adapting routines or finding ways to manage energy more effectively..." #speirghorm #WOTD #MS
You’re gonna want to see what the BlueSky guys have decided is too intolerant for you to read.
@lastpositivist.bsky.social · 3d agoBrazil going the way of South Korea. Basically around the world women are desperately trying to keep power out of the hands of incredibly stupid fascistic grifters while men keep trying to hand it over. Men are an embarrassing cringe gender.
When gov. sets a poverty line, & places disability/care payments below it, it's an enforced, exclusionary poverty, as disabled people/carers often *cannot* access equal, or *any* incomes via labour market. #Spéirgorm Many people fail to grasp work/welfare realities, as the article comments show.
The Journal@thejournal.ie · 3d agoIreland's minimum income benefits aren't even close to enough to keep people out of poverty, new research shows. Those earning less than €377 per week below the poverty line, but the jobseeker's and disability allowance are just €254. www.thejournal.ie/ireland-soci...
Worth remembering in this context that Zuckerberg / Facebook appear to be the primary sponsor of Ireland's EU presidency, and members of the Irish government really should be wearing their logo when making public appearances.
Tom Pepinsky@tompepinsky.com · 3d agoI will not forget that Zuckerberg and Facebook shut down the accounts of the most popular presidential candidate in one of the largest democracies in the world, and he was elected anyway
Have Brazilian women saved the actual planet?
Jo Wolff@jowolff.bsky.social · 4d agoIncredible gender difference in voting intention in Brazil.
Kansas Dem Sen. nominee Adam Hamilton on trans rights: “I don’t think we should take a small group of people and bully them, pick on them, and hurt them. I understand one thing really clearly when it comes to transgender people, and that is Jesus told me I was to love my neighbor as I love myself”
I have refused many invitations to be interviewed by Piers Morgan over the years. This time I made an exception, on the condition that it be one-on-one, not a scream fest, and that it actually be about the book Astra and I wrote. It was... an experience. youtu.be/SMFQBQx-qSU
“Did you read it?” Naomi Klein spars w Piers Morgan
YouTube video by Naomi Klein
youtu.be
“…modern socialism often looks less like Soviet central planning & more like a robust safety net combined with democratic governance. It’s universal healthcare in Sweden, tuition-free universities in Finland, & public housing in Vienna. It’s not the abolition of markets…” #spéirghorm #IrishPol
Nosfrogtu@pogue.omg.lol · 3d agoit's true
You’ll have heard a lot about violence among French protestors. You’ll hear very little about the violence committed by French police against the protesters. And you’ll hear almost nothing about the violence of austerity. This is not a coincidence. graceblakeley.substack.com/p/class-war-...
Class War in France – And the Media Still Ask All the Wrong Questions
As protests erupt across France, you’ll hear almost nothing about police violence, or the extreme violence of austerity.
graceblakeley.substack.com
Thankfully it’s a long weekend & we do have the bandwidth for this & linguistic jousting in the replies. 🤩 #spéirghorm
Merriam-Webster@merriam-webster.com · 4d agoWe acknowledge that no one has the bandwidth for this, but if it helps: -It’s ‘sleight of hand’ -It’s ‘bated breath’ -It’s ‘lo and behold’ -It's 'buck naked' -It’s ‘brass tacks’ -It’s ‘free rein’ -It’s ‘toe the line'
Remember the clocks tonight lovely #spéirghorm peeps! 🌅🎃👻🌕
Alan Dunne@aldunne.eurosky.social · 4d agosomeone shared this in the normally very dry neighbourhood whatsapp group and lmao
Cruelty has always been at the heart of direct provision, most of which had been spared Ukrainian refugees until now. #spéirgorm #EndDirectProvision #FFGFailures
Cathal Malone@cathalmalone.bsky.social · 4d agoOh, Jim. The cruelty really is the point, isn't it? www.echolive.ie/corknews/ari...
When did EU leaders lose their humanity?
Joe Noonan@joenoonan.bsky.social · 5d ago"I think that the European Union, both as it is and into the future, has been severely damaged by the absence of any moral position. "How can these people be aware of all of this and not call it a genocide?" - Michael D. Higgins
Worth remembering that Ireland had a referendum where we put the rights of the child into the constitution despite those who campaigned against such rights. Also this attack on DRCC sends such a poor public message to teenagers (the actual video shows one teenager who likes hugs & one who doesn't)
Finns are seething after Google illegally toppled 250,000 trees for a data center [via @theguardian.com]
Finns are seething after Google illegally toppled 250,000 trees for a data center
The company was ordered to stop work, but it clear-cut anyway.
motherjones.com
Which wrapper will Big Jim go for?
Adrian Weckler@adrianweckler.bsky.social · 5d agoShould gardaí /police be allowed to break into WhatsApp messages to fight crime? Most people do not want the State accessing their encrypted messages, but a new Bill could extend surveillance powers to communications ‘whether encrypted or not’ www.independent.ie/business/tec...
Sharing this bit about how NGOs' reliance on the state for funds impacts their advocacy from a piece I did earlier this year, in light of the MoJ causing a DRCC ad to be pulled
This proves behind any reasonable doubt that our government is at the behest of outside influences. There is absolutely no logic here. Devastating for these students and making us, as a nation look like a complete joke. Let’s not let it fall from the top of the feed. 😡 #spéirghorm
Joe Noonan@joenoonan.bsky.social · 5d agoSwearing that important documents were never delivered to your Department when the truth was the opposite. Then having to tell the Court so. www.rte.ie/news/2026/10...
'Between 2022 and 2025 alone, Ireland recorded €50 billion in budget surpluses, with no discernible improvement in public services.' #SpéirGorm www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
Eoin Drea: Ireland’s relationship with Big Tech is a bad case of Stockholm syndrome
As debate raged in Brussels about dependence on US tech firms, Google celebrated Ireland’s EU presidency
irishtimes.com
1. A minister should not be able to censor the work of an NGO or advocacy group. The point of NGOs is to challenge, influence policy or act in the interests of their issue. 2. No one should touch a child without consent. 3. Jim O'Callaghan wants to be in the media every day this is a tactic.
