Dominic McGrath

At least nine Irish citizens have been detained by the Israeli military after an international flotilla trying to deliver medicine and food to Gaza was intercepted overnight, organisers have said. Those detained were Sinn Féin Senator Chris Andrews, Catríona Graham, Louise Heaney, Sarah Clancy, Diarmuid Mac Dubhghlais, Cormac O'Daly, Colm Byrne, Thomas McCune and Tara O'Grady, according to the Global Sumud Flotilla.

"At least nine Irish citizens have been detained by the Israeli military after an international flotilla trying to deliver medicine and food to Gaza was intercepted overnight, organisers have said." www.independent.ie/world-news/m...

A mad little story of brazen food PR nonsense, and a wider indictment of media context collapse in Ireland and everywhere else.

Excellent work by @allthefood.bsky.social

❌ Offaly County Council DOES NOT nominate Gareth Sheridan for #aras25.

An FG/FF-led proposal to back no candidates is carried by 11 to 5.

That all but ends the 36-year-old’s presidential aspirations.

@virginmedianews.bsky.social

Professor Conor Gearty KC (Hon) | 1957 - 2025 | Online-Tribute.com It is with deep sadness that Matrix announces the death of Professor Conor Gearty KC (Hon).  Conor was a founding member of Matrix and highly respected member of the legal community. A formidable…

Would recommend reading some of the beautiful tributes to Conor Gearty on Matrix chambers' website.

Really capture what an incredible person he was. www.online-tribute.com/ProfessorCon...

An Irish Ferries ticket

The Poolbeg Chimneys

A view of Dublin Port

A view out the window of a ferry, with the PoolBeg Chimneys visible

Just some sail+rail propaganda of a Sunday

Screenshot: Statement by the Chairman and CEO of Aena, Maurici Lucena, on the announcement by Ryanair It would be hard to find in contemporary business history another case such as Ryanair where the dissonance between a company’s operational excellence and the dishonesty of its communications policy is so striking. Ryanair's impertinence and uninhibited public demands on democratic governments in countries where it operates its flights with the aim of obtaining economic advantages, shed light upon two deep-rooted and unedifying characteristics of this airline company. The first is that Ryanair has a disturbingly plutocratic idea of the political system, i.e. it seeks to intimidate public opinion by slashing its flights, calls for the resignation of ministers from half of Europe and the president of the European Commission, mocks democratically elected politicians, and calls for laws to be changed in its favour because it believes that government decision-making should bend to the interests of the most economically powerful companies such as Ryanair, instead of protecting the "general interest". The second characteristic is Ryanair's communications and institutional relations policy, which is in permanent and deliberate conflict with objective facts and truthfulness. Here are a few examples:

It sounds like Spanish national airport operator AENA is very much over Ryanair and MOL.

Haven’t seen something this… forthright in quite some time, and goodness me, forthright it is.

www.aena.es/en/press/sta...

Congrats, great news!

may as well pack it in UK. you're done

The deadly toll on journalists in the Gaza war With foreign media barred, Palestinians have reported alone, facing the ‘most deliberate effort to kill and silence’ them ever

The Guardian has today printed the names, and where possible, images, of all the media workers killed in Gaza, as part of an international day of action involving more than 150 media organisations.
www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Feels a bit odd to write a piece warning of musicians being silenced for political reasons, without mentioning the UK's current and ongoing prosecution of Kneecap. Odder still when your example is a Russian soprano who's working happily for the Royal Opera House and merely been subject to criticism.

Significant intervention from some of NI's leading civil society groups working on rights and peacebuilding in response to today's Policy Exchange report claiming that the GFA does not restrict the UK's from withdrawing from the ECHR and on the importance of the ECHR for NI:

We cannot stand by and watch more and more of our Palestinian colleagues being targeted and killed for doing their job. Without journalism, there is no accountability.

We stand in solidarity with media organisation across the world in demanding interactional action for these atrocities in Gaza.

Reuters and AP issue joint letter to Israeli officials to demand clear explanation for airstrikes that killed journalists in Gaza Reuters and AP issue joint letter to Israeli officials to demand clear explanation for airstrikes that killed journalists in Gaza

In joint letter after Israel double-bombed a hospital and killed their journalists, Reuters and AP question “whether Israel is deliberately targeting live feeds in order to suppress information”.
The second strike hit “while journalists and rescuers were responding” reutersagency.com/media-centre...

NUJ vigil outside Downing St for the 196 journalists and media workers killed in Gaza including the Al Jazeera journalist killed in a tent with other media workers this week. They work in the most dangerous conditions to keep us informed while Israel bans media from entering Gaza.

Anas Al-Sharif post shortly before his death under Israeli fire: “If this madness doesn’t end, Gaza will be reduced to ruins, its people’s voices silenced, their faces erased — and history will remember you as silent witnesses to a genocide you chose not to stop.”

Journalist Anas Al-Sharif reporting from Gaza, shortly before Israel killed him tonight:

“If this madness doesn’t end, Gaza will be reduced to ruins, its people’s voices silenced, their faces erased — and history will remember you as silent witnesses to a genocide you chose not to stop.”

The blank piece of paper that cost taxpayers £32,000 Government ‘obsession with secrecy’ descends into farce

🚨 New: The UK government spent £32,251 fighting to hide a blank form.

Yep - 30 grand plus to avoid releasing a blank template of the ministerial interests form.

A wild story - with a surprise twist. Would read to end of this one... 🙄 (🧵)

democracyforsale.substack.com/p/why-did-ta...

For Ukrainians asking if time on temporary protection counts towards citizenship, no clear answer from the government Opposition party Sinn Féin, meanwhile, is clear that it doesn’t think the time should count towards citizenship.

For Ukrainians asking if time on temporary protection counts towards citizenship, no clear answer from the government.
Opposition party Sinn Féin, meanwhile, is clear that it doesn’t think the time should count towards citizenship. More here www.dublininquirer.com/for-ukrainia...

Seán Rocks: Ireland has lost one of its great cultural champions Late broadcaster’s easy wit and big-hearted spirit belied a lifelong devotion to our rich culture

Seán Rocks: Ireland has lost one of its great cultural champions. A fine tribute by Mick Heaney

www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-r...

Palestine Action have won their bid for a full legal challenge against the British government's decision to ban it as a terrorist group

The High Court ruled that an internal Home Office process was "not suitable", partly because "many people now subject to criminal proceedings" linked to the ban

Palestinian who helped make Oscar-winning No Other Land killed in West Bank Israeli settler Yinon Levi, whom Trump removed from US sanctions list, arrested after death of Awdah Hathaleen

Awdah Hathaleen, a Palestinian activist and journalist who helped make the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, has been killed during an attack by Israeli settlers in the south Hebron hills.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

This is all happening within view & kilometres from places where people have unlimited food, water etc. etc.

All famines are man-made, all famines are political. Historians of empire and humanitarianism have known this forever. Gaza is not starving, Gaza is being starved, by Israel, and this starvation is enabled by our government and by every other government that does not step in to force food and aid.

Why would these companies take action? They deliberately enable illegal working because they profit from it. If you actually wanted to crack down, you'd make these companies operate as trade union closed shops.

The only time a golf-related fact has ever interested me

(This is wild)

Important work out today by @stemcdermott.bsky.social:

😬😬😬

The High Court has refused Palestine Action's application to stop the order banning at as a terrorist group coming into effect before the next stage of its legal action against the government is heard

The law is currently due to come into force at midnight

Nodding along to the entire thing, but most of all: “If I had known just how long I’d spend arguing about the nature of the soft left before I came to the UK a decade ago, I’d probably have moved to a different country”

British ambassador to leave diplomatic service but remain in Dublin after ‘falling in love with the city’ ‘The people we’ve met have been the highlight of our time here,’ says Paul Johnston

So good he doesn’t want to leave - British ambassador to leave diplomatic service but remain in Dublin after ‘falling in love with the city’

www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...

Archival research can be topical in all sorts of strange ways. Here's something I spotted while going through An Phoblacht at Linen Hall Library today.

Bob Geldof's ex-manager convicted under anti-terrorism legislation in 1987 for wearing a PIRA pin badge...