Mike McKillen

Decade-long decline: Irish waterways continue to be polluted Latest Water Quality Report from the Environmental Protection Agency indicates decreases in overall ecological quality of our waters

Decade-long decline: Irish waterways continue to be polluted

"We now need a step change in how we manage our waters and how we manage our land and wastewater. We can’t keep doing largely the same thing and expecting a different outcome"

www.antaisce.org/news/decade-...
#WaterQuality

Forget EVs. Cycling is revolutionising transport Pedal power is booming, spinning up a new culture war

“It is highly energy-efficient, costs almost nothing, reduces congestion and pollution, and obviates the need for huge car parks. Yet it is not the self-driving electric car, as tech moguls and car industry executives imagined. Rather, it is the humble bicycle.”

www.economist.com/internationa...

α-spectrin (red), lipid droplets (green), and nuclei (blue) are shown in adipocytes. Scale bar is 20 μm.

For #FluorescenceFriday, α-spectrin (red) and lipid droplets (green) are shown in adipocytes 🔬 #Microscopy #CellBiology

Well done in demonstrating yet again that we set up’ regulation’ to fail #LightTouchRegulation.
So which possible toxic chemical agents are suspected & which analytical lab has been mandated to ID them in the organs of selected fish?

The haze can be seen behind the actor. It is an aerosol that drifts across the stage with little settlement of the tiny particles.

THE SOUND INSIDE - Dublin Theatre Festival

I was at ‘The Sound Inside’ (Pavilion Theatre) @dublintheatrefest.bsky.social & a stark set had a light haze wafting over the stage.
It was a perfect illustration of an aerosol due to the lighting set up. Lessons for #COVID19 spread.

dublintheatrefestival.ie/event/the-so...

Excellent edition of @philipb-h.bsky.social's Countrywide running this morning on the Blackwater fish kill, and how it can be prevented from repeating.

Ireland significantly off track on 2030 climate targets Ireland has made progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) but the rate of reduction remains insufficient to meet the targets established.

While we approve more data centres, expand aviation and long-finger tackling systems solutions in agriculture, construction and transport - we see our ability to decarbonise and reduce emissions decline. Government burying the long-term consequences for people #Spéirghorm www.rte.ie/news/busines...

FFG just not serious about #ClimateCrisis as they head for 'growth' at any cost to future generations. Lift Cap at DAA/Retain nitrates derogation/Transport modal-shift paltry/sea fish stocks decimated/rivers polluted/

But in #Ireland, how many drivers both understand and accept this?

Cornwall 20mph zones supported by most residents, report says A report says all but one area in Cornwall is in favour of the lower speed limit zones.

Councillors were told crashes in Falmouth and Penryn, where the scheme was piloted, had reduced by 17% while road casualties had dropped by 21%, which included an elimination of fatalities.

Funding for TB eradication programme doubled in Budget A total of €2.3bn has been allocated to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for 2026.

Taxpayers will spend a stunning €157 million next year on dealing with the failure of the livestock industry to control TB

www.rte.ie/news/budget-...

With leaf fall well underway & twigs/branches from storm damage lying near the edge of the road it’s time to remind drivers that bike users will be taking the lanes.
This is national #roadsafety week but our road safety agencies are silent on this hazard.

1. I've had a surprising number of conversations about Covid-19 over the past week or so, all sparked by the fact that I was, as always, wearing an FFP2 respirator. People in healthcare facilities, taxi drivers, people on trains and buses.

Ice Diatoms Glide at Record-Low Temperatures - Eos New observations reveal how microscopic organisms move through polar ice and illustrate how they may have evolved to thrive in extreme environments.

Life knows how to keep going - even if it’s freezing -15 degrees C 🥶 outside. AGU just covered our discovery of ultra resistant ice diatoms gliding into a world record! 🧪🔬Enjoy the story here:

eos.org/articles/ice...

These perspectives exist within ni and have more support than ppl think. I think we have to learn to live with each other, understand why believe this and understand why violence happened. Still difficult tho.Ppl who supported violence need to get why people vehemently disagree.

October public meeting: Celebrating pedal-powered volunteers Join us for our October public meeting where we’ll be celebrating the many ways that cycling can help volunteers to get involved in their communities.

Join us for our October public meeting!

We’ll be celebrating the many ways that cycling can help volunteers to get involved in their communities. All welcome!

📆 This Thursday Oct 9
⏰ 7.30pm
📍 Academy Plaza Hotel, 10-14 Findlater Pl, off O'Connell St. D01 X2X0

www.dublincycling.com/events/octob...

Oh, not forggetting #SeatBeltSheriff!

National #roadsafetyweek so one might expect messaging from RSA & @garda.ie to have some focus on driver behaviour with #ActiveTravel users, considering that 40 of us did not return home so far in 2025.
Today it's tyres. Seatbelts later. Child-seats soon.
#ZeroVision
tinyurl.com/4595hx8s

Teachers & health care workers showing high rates of sickness leave.

Where is public health? The data in the plot represents only those who were hospitalised as @hselive.bsky.social & CMO not interested in community prevalence, even though it remains a notifiable disease.
Besides Tess Finch-Lees why no health journos writing about it? #LongCOVID blighting lives.

We have been in a steadily increasing wave of #COVID19 over the summer/autumn months as reported by @hspc.bsky.social respiratorydisease-hpscireland.hub.arcgis.com/pages/covid-19
Chart covers 26 May - 22 September.
Lots of folks in my circle ill with it (66% knew someone who had it recently).

Opinion: Those outraged by a €100k bike shed should look at the annual cost of renting out car park spaces We have completely normalised investment in congestion, pollution and the continuation of car-first planning, writes Ciarán Cannon.

'The real scandal here is not “bike shed groundhog day.” It’s the groundhog day of car dependency, subsidised at vast public expense, locking us into congestion, pollution, poor health and missed climate targets.'

Great piece from @ciarancannon.bsky.social

www.thejournal.ie/readme/bike-...

about risks and precautions – like ventilation, HEPA filters, masking, isolating and vaccination."
Where is our public health? Is it fit for purpose?

with hand sanitiser and Calpol as their only protections against the dangerous airborne disease."
"The studies cited here advise policy makers to conduct research, provide paediatric long-Covid clinics (none exist in Ireland) and monitor and prevent infections in children by educating the public

Tess Finch-Lees: Forever-Covid hurts young people’s health – and their futures Two years ago, I reported on a study finding that the corona­virus contributed to the 2022 surge of paediatric RSV cases “through the large build-up of Covid-19-infected children and the potential lon...

Just getting to read this report about #COVID19 in young people by Tess Finch-Lees in @independent.ie (25/09/25).
"Instead, children have returned again to overcrowded, under-ventilated classrooms amid yet another coronavirus wave,
www.independent.ie/opinion/comm...

Campaigners heap pressure on government to rollout 30km speed limit The Love30 campaign is stepping up the pressure - calling on the government to stop delaying and deliver a default 30km speed limit in towns and cities.

The science is clear: a default 30km/h speed limit in all urban areas will save lives!

Any further delay in implementing this long overdue change is unforgivable.
#Love30

In cities, street space is a really scarce (and under-valued) commodity. Increasing vehicle size costs everyone.

And vehicle weight determines your impact on the wear-and-tear of cities.

So this kind of public policy is really just common sense.

air quality safe.
Needless to say I was wearing a respirator throughout the flight (FFP2), but no one else was masked.
@ukhadds.bsky.social @nousaerons.bsky.social

The 2,700 ppm represents approximately 6% re-breathed air in the cabin.
In Irish health and safety law an employer has to ensure that the workplace air is safe according to statutory guidelines from our Health and Safety Authority: tinyurl.com/mtw9yksp
Airlines seem to be exempt from keeping cabin