Yesterday, the CSO announced that a record number of households are in arrears over electricity bills. Today, we learn the CEO of state owned ESB has a pay rise to €410k. Such blatant unfairness is a result of EU deregulation of the energy sector in the 90s.

As rivers dry up in soaring heat, most governments are massively expanding data centres which *dry up rivers*. The levels of absurdity & death cult are incredible. Now is the time to make investment unattractive, stop the worst. The rivers are ours, water is life. ethicalgeo.org/the-cloud-is...

The Cloud is Drying our Rivers: Water Usage of AI Data Centers  | EthicalGEO

Cloud computing is drying out our rivers, lakes, and oceans. The average 100-megawatt data center consumes about 2 million liters of water a day, equivalent to the water consumption of 6,500 American ...

ethicalgeo.org

We've talked about this in our gatherings, online sessions and podcasts recently, and will be following up. Here's a small podcast about Ireland, where they've been facing facing this for a while already, with the cloud eating into the bogs... soundcloud.com/earthcarefie...

15. Data, Energy, Bogs and Earth Politics - ecomodernist mirages in Ireland

THE ECOPOLITICS OF TECH In this episode we speak to Patrick Bresnihan of Maynooth University about the nexus between energy, data and ecology in Ireland. Pat recently published 'All we want is the Ea

soundcloud.com

Looking forward to speaking at this with @dondeniamh.bsky.social, Paulie Doyle and Kelly Earley next Tuesday 11th August. We'll be talking about AI warfare, drones, data centres, the tech sector and militarisation, and Peter Thiel. Tickets and info: www.takeyourseats.ie/readme/kille...

Last month, Ireland took part in a military parade in France alongside NATO members, now it is sending defence attachés to France, UK and the US. F/FG will ensure there is a Joint Expeditionary Force/NATO base in Ireland before long. www.thejournal.ie/defence-atta...

Ireland appoints three new defence attachés to work in London, Paris and Washington DC missions

The Journal understands that a selection process was held recently by the Irish Defence Forces and that the officers, understood to be of Colonel rank, have been selected.

thejournal.ie

Good piece on the deepening links between big tech, finance and militarisation. 'Industry reporting suggests that global AI sales within military markets alone are set to increase nearly five-fold between 2025 and 2034, from $22 billion to $101 billion.' phenomenalworld.org/analysis/def...

Alfredo Saad-Filho & Jack Taggart | Defense Dividends

The interpenetration of private finance and the military

phenomenalworld.org

In 2003, 70,000 people died from heatwaves in Europe. This should have been the moment to shock the EU into climate action. Now it is rolling back on climate obligations in the name of 'competitiveness' and committing 12 x more money to militarisation than civil protection.

If you are not familiar with Rundale, you should check them out In the summer issue, our penal policy advocate @keithadams.bsky.social explores how the State delays and redacts investigations into its own violence

Patrick Bresnihan@pbresnihan.bsky.social · 2w ago

The summer issue of Rundale is out. Articles on Ireland's prison system, the 150th anniversary of the Catalpa rescue of Fenian prisoners, and two contributions from the annual Afri Famine Walk held in June (including one by me). rundale.org

Facility-level information on data centre water and energy consumption is such a basic and necessary demand. Opposition parties should get behind it. www.thejournal.ie/readme/data-...

Data down the drain: We're told to cut our showers short, but data centres face no such pressure

As the hosepipe ban stays in effect around the country, it is becoming increasingly clear that data centres have a transparency problem no one wants to solve.

thejournal.ie

Students from Gaza being denied visas to study here because they can't supply original bank statements or account for gaps in their education. Shameful. www.rte.ie/news/educati...

Concern over study visa refusal rate for Gazan students

Concern is growing in Irish universities over a high rate of refusal of study visas to students in Gaza who are due to take up college scholarships in Ireland this September.

rte.ie

Brendan O'Connor is host of a flagship RTÉ show and has a regular column. He should be asking questions of the EU defence and competitiveness agenda that is reversing climate action or why climate change isn't considered a priority security threat. www.independent.ie/comment/opin...

Brendan O’Connor: We just shrug our shoulders and carry on while the world burns

The picture of the week was a couple sitting on a beach in Lacanau, near Bordeaux in France. His leg is cocked at a jaunty angle, while she holds her phone up, perhaps filming, perhaps doomscrolling.

independent.ie

I don't remember Microsoft having to engage a global supply chain auditor over allegations that it provided unlawful data processing for the IDF (facilitating war crimes) through its Irish-based data centres. www.independent.ie/irish-news/p...

Aughinish Alumina offers ‘third-party verification’ of its exports to Russia as State’s probe is inconclusive

Peter Burke says Department of Enterprise could engage independent supply-chain auditor

independent.ie

Arguably the silliest (and most worrying) part of this article is the line that 'Security has displaced climate'. Written as France faces one of the biggest evacuation operations seen since World War II due to out of control wild fires.

It is getting beyond a joke that these four speakers are presented as 'for and against' neutrality. MacGill Summer School, 2026.

Why is there so little Marxian analysis of the EU? There are so many references for understanding capitalist development and imperialism from the US, UK or most national contexts, but for the EU it just seems to be a black hole.

With Europe on fire, I hope to see Ireland make good on this commitment. 'We will address Europe’s security in all its dimensions. We will work to enhance environmental security as an important element of the Irish Presidency’s agenda.' irish-presidency.consilium.europa.eu/en/programme...

Programme of the Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union

Ireland will assume the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the eighth time, from 1 July to 31 December 2026. The Irish Presidency will take forward an ambitious agenda, focused on the...

irish-presidency.consilium.europa.eu

Imagine if, as it should be, climate change was considered the primary threat facing Europe. All the financial resources, planning efforts, research and technology that would be mobilised to positive social and environmental ends. www.france24.com/en/europe/20...

Live: France's A400M military plane completes first firefighting mission

A military transport plane deployed by the French government on Saturday to help fight wildfires carried out its first firefighting mission. The A400M military aircraft, equipped with a dispensing kit...

france24.com

As fires rage across Ireland and the rest of Europe, the Minister has the gall to say that climate law has been 'weaponised' by NGOs. This is Trumpian language and climate denial. www.thejournal.ie/jack-chamber...

Chambers claims climate law has been 'weaponised' by NGOs to halt infrastructure projects

Friends of the Earth have said disapplying climate laws sets ‘an alarming precedent’.

thejournal.ie

Ireland should be doing everything it can to undo dependency on the US. 'The state department has promised “increased scrutiny of nations that refuse to reject the ICC’s false authority while relying on US assistance”.' www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Trump says he will dismantle the ICC ‘brick by brick’. It could be his most chilling move of all | Steve Bloomfield

The US is aligning itself with dictators and autocrats to prevent those accused of genocide, ethnic cleansing and war crimes from ever facing justice, says Steve Bloomfield, former international edito...

theguardian.com

'If the Triple Lock is dismantled and we start operating outside of the UN mandate system, EU-led full-combat peace-enforcement missions will be the first port of call for future Irish military engagement abroad.' www.rundale.org/2025/07/31/t...

The Triple Lock and the Case of Ireland in Mali - Rundale

The EU-led neo-colonial war in Mali and the Sahel is a stark example of why the Triple Lock should be strengthened if we are to preserve meaningful neutrality heading into an uncertain future.

rundale.org

Europe is the fastest heating continent in the world. By 2030, prolonged heatwaves and drought will be more frequent and intense. As countries struggle to deal with this clear and present climate danger, the EU is committing €800bn in preparation for war that can be avoided.

Nearly three years and no let up. And still the EU supports Israel. "What is particularly alarming is that these warnings have been followed by attacks on the very areas where people have been told to flee,” al-Khalili said. www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/...

Israel bombs Gaza after displacement orders, kills two Palestinians

Humanitarian situation in Gaza is 'desperate', UN official says, as Israeli violations of 'ceasefire' intensify.

aljazeera.com

'In 2026, the Green Wave is at a crossroads. It can keep functioning as soft power for a state that does not house its citizens, or it can refuse to function as cover.' Brian Coney on exported Irish culture. tribunemag.co.uk/2026/07/iris...

Irishness Is Not A Brand

Exported Irish culture is enjoying a renaissance. But who benefits?

tribunemag.co.uk

Delighted to be speaking with Pat Brodie at Féile an Phobail this year. 'AI, Big Tech, and Ireland's Energy Futures'. Belfast, 5th August.

Development, but only on our terms. 'Western leaders claim they want to fight climate change, cure cancer, and end poverty — but they cannot allow China to lead the way on any of them.' www.theglobalcurrents.com/p/the-proble...

The problems with the "China Shock 2.0" narrative

The West welcomed Chinese exports for decades. Now it's angry that China listened.

theglobalcurrents.com

At the launch of this new paper by the IIEA. The refrain is 'security and competitiveness', pushing to position Ireland as a strategic hub for digital infrastructure that needs 'securing'. This is where Ireland's FDI economy meets geopolitics and militarisation. 1/2 www.iiea.com/events/irela...

Revisionist history complete. "It is also fitting that a building so central to Ireland’s political emergence is now an engine room for our digital and economic future." Micheál Martin www.rte.ie/news/busines...

Google to open new office building in Dublin

Google has unveiled plans to open a new office building in Dublin's Docklands.

rte.ie

The summer issue of Rundale is out. Articles on Ireland's prison system, the 150th anniversary of the Catalpa rescue of Fenian prisoners, and two contributions from the annual Afri Famine Walk held in June (including one by me). rundale.org

'Sustainable peace requires sovereignty on both sides, not because they must love each other, but because only subjects can conclude agreements that hold.' www.economist.com/by-invitatio...

Why a broken Russia is bad for the world

When the war in Ukraine ends, Moscow will need to be part of the new security architecture, argues Andrey Melnichenko

economist.com

'The answer to not knowing if America will show up to help isn’t parking nuclear bombers on Russia’s doorstep. That road ends in disaster. The only real way out of this is diplomacy...before it’s too late.' responsiblestatecraft.org/macron-nucle...

France's nuclear expansion risks destabilizing European security

Macron's efforts to deploy strategic warheads in northern Europe may strain relations with Russia — and within NATO

responsiblestatecraft.org