Clare O'Grady Walshe

Hedge cutting season ends 28 February

Help protect nesting birds and other wildlife in our gardens. Complete any cutting/pruning of hedges + other vegetation before 01 March.

Find out more: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFsX...

@wildlife-wri.bsky.social @hedgerowsireland.bsky.social

It's over, and we won: the Spanish supreme court rejected the local authorities' appeal on our landmark case against industrial livestock pollution.
The judgment is now final: authorities must be accountable for protecting citizens' fundamental rights.

It's a game-changer for communities in Europe⬇️

We brought this landmark case with @amigasdelatierra.bsky.social and @cecuconsumo.bsky.social .

This victory is not just about one community in Spain. It’s about whether Europe – and the world – allows polluters to rewrite the laws that protect us.

i think this is what drives me nuts. people talk about how, say, the UN was founded by "starry eyed idealists" who didn't understand "reality." the truth is that the UN was founded by those who had just fought and *won* the bloodiest war in human history.

Illuminated street sign at night reading Surround yourself with people who fight for you in rooms you aren't in.

The only people sent to Limerick prison over Irish State complicity in lawbreaking at Shannon Airport have been those highlighting it.

‘Ireland must go beyond strong statements’ – Irish barrister advising South Africa in Israel genocide case tells Dublin lecture An Irish barrister working on a case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of Genocide said: “Ireland must go beyond strong statements.”

‘Ireland must go beyond strong statements’ – Irish barrister, Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC, advising South Africa in Israel genocide case, tells FLAC Annual Dave Ellis Lecture - Irish Independent

www.independent.ie/irish-news/c...

Stop Palantir taking over our public services! Our public services aren’t for a secretive profit-hungry US tech firm. Sign the petition to tell the Government to scrap all contracts with secretive US tech firm Palantir.

Our public services aren’t for a secretive profit-hungry US tech firm. Sign the petition to tell the Government to scrap all contracts with secretive US tech firm Palantir. you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/st...

THE IRISH TIMES Sir. - As an ethicist and a former law- enforcement officer from the United States, I urge Irish politicians to change he Department of Transport's present policy of not requiring permission by private aircraft to refuel at Shannon Airport ("Shannon Airport used for refuelling Ice deportation flights 10 times in_past year," February 9th). I make this point in even stronger terms when the aircraft are under contract by the US government or any other government conducting unjust, if not unlawful. activities I agree with Labour Party spokesman Duncan Smith that Ireland ought not 'be complicit in the indiscriminate mass dleportations by the Trump administration and its extremely undertrained and excessively forceful immigration enforcement agents TOBIAS WINRIGHT Professor of Moral Theology

Even shocking to this former US law enforcement officer, now a Professor at a famous Irish college.

d Another Ice deportation flight passes through Shannon ye V 2 CONOR GALLAGHER Crime and Security Correspondent tries they were deported to. In a case last May, a group of eight men was deported to Diibouti in violation of a courtorder. The Gulfstream G550 was also chartered by Icefrom Journey. S f Another aircraft chartered by the Trump administration as part of its mass deportation ef- forts refuelled in Ireland this week. It landed at Shannon at about 6.30pm on Wednesday before taking off a short time later and flying to Cairo. It re- mained on the ground there for two hours before returning to Shannon. As of last night, it re- mained in Shannon Airport. In January and February, two more Ice deportation flights stopped at Shannon while deporting groups of Pales- tinians to Tel Aviv in Israel. D r The private business jet stopped at Shannon Airport in Co Clare on Wednesday night whiletravellingto Cairo, Egypt. US sources confirmed the air- craft was chartered by Immigra- tion and Customs Enforcement (Ice), the agency leading presi- dent Donald Trump's immigra- tion crackdown. The aircraft used in those op- erations. a Gulfstream IV. is owned by Gil Dezer, a close friend of Trump. and had been hired by Ice from the aircraft rental company Journey. It is not known how many people were on board the flight or if Egypt was their final desti- nation. S The use of Shannon as a stop- over has been condemned by Opposition politicians. Howev- er, Irish authorities say the flights do not need to seek per- mission as they are technically private aircraft. As it ramps up deportation operations, Ice has increasingly turned to small and medium sized jets to remove people from the US. These aircraft have limited range meaning they often have to stop to refuel in Europe after crossing the Atlantic. P It is the sixth Ice deportation operation to refuel at Shannon since Trump returned to power a year ago. Last year, three air- craft chartered by Ice stopped at Shannon while bringing…

Hind Rajab

Too little, too late of course for so many.
Britain continues to aid Israel's genocide.

(3) Ground 6: that the decision to seek the Order proscribing Palestine Action was made by the Home Secretary in breach of her own policy on when she would exercise her discretion to seek an order proscribing an organisation; and (4) Ground 2: that the decision to seek proscription was contrary to the Human Rights Act 1998 (the HRA) because it amounted to an unjustified interference with the rights protected by the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention) under article 10 of the Convention, to freedom of expression and under article 1 1 of the Convention, to freedom of association and peaceful assembly: and further, amounted to discrimination contrary to article 14 of the Convention.

Here it is. Well.

www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/u...

Commuters disrupted as north Dublin hit by heavy rain Follow developments as flooding is being reported in parts of the capital, with north Dublin particularly impacted.

By lifting the Dublin Airport passenger cap, delaying funding for public transport that has planning permission and opening the door to commercial LNG, Minister @darraghobrientd.bsky.social's message to his constituents seems to be: prepare for much more climate chaos.
www.rte.ie/news/2026/02...

This is the second account - the first being in Chicago - of DHS agents mass detaining people and then *sorting them by race*.

When we trawled data on excess nitrate & phosphate pollution (key drivers of algal blooms) we found agriculture was the primary source in rural areas, sewage in urban areas. As Chowns says, to save our rivers, we need to tackle both.

share.google/bLY8yWL1AeIQ...

One on left is a black dog and above it the words “Reality”. Below it is “I chased a squirrel” One the right is a black dog and above it says “LinkedIn”. Below it says, Proud to announce that I effectively executed a rapid-response squirrel displacement strategy to mitigate potential yard intrusions. Humbled by the unwavering support of my family and local stakeholders. This experience reinforced the importance of vigilance, ownership, and continuous improvement. Looking forward to scaling this impact in future engagements.

😂

"A modern-day concentration camp ... People have been killed by the staff here." Irish citizen Seamus Culleton has been in ICE detention since September, despite having a valid work permit and his own business in the US.

Offence of torture. 2.—(1) A public official, whatever his or her nationality, who carries out an act of torture on a person, whether within or outside the State, shall be guilty of the offence of torture. (2) A person, whatever his or her nationality, other than a public official, who carries out an act of torture on another person, whether within or outside the State, at the instigation of, or with the consent or acquiesence of, a public official shall be guilty of the offence of torture. (3) A person guilty of the offence of torture shall be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for life. Related offences. 3.—A person, whatever his or her nationality, whether within or outside the State, who— (a) attempts to commit or conspires to commit the offence of torture, or (b) does an act with the intent to obstruct or impede the arrest or prosecution of another person, including a person who is a public official, in relation to the offence of torture, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for life. Prohibition on expulsion or refoulement of person to another state where he or she may be tortured. 4.—(1) A person shall not be expelled or returned from the State to another state where the Minister is of the opinion that there are substantial gounds for believing that the person would be in danger of being subjected to torture. (2) For the purposes of determining whether there are such grounds, the Minister shall take into account all relevant considerations including, where applicable, the existence in the state concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights.

Morally, people can make their own mind up.

Legally, imho this merits investigation as potentially breaching the Convention against Torture - a serious crime in Irish law.

Criminal Justice (United Nations Convention Against Torture) Act 2000:

All citizens shall, as human persons, be held equal before the law. At Ireland's highest seat of justice, Four Courts, Dublin.

“All citizens shall, as human persons, be held equal before the law.”

This includes any citizen aiding or otherwise complicit in the crimes of powerful non-citizens.

I believe the first journalist to report that these aircraft were using Ireland was Gillian Brockell @gbrockell.bsky.social who is definitely someone to follow.

Remember when our Govt denied that the US used Shannon for any extraordinary rendition flights?

Shannon Airport used for refuelling Ice deportation flights 10 times in past year The controversial agency chartered small private aircraft for the removal operations

Irish Times: US aircraft carrying out secretive deportations to Africa and the Middle East have landed in Shannon Airport on 10 occasions in the last year. Deportees are kept in chains on the aircraft.
Our Govt does not want to know.
www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026... @gbrockell.bsky.social

No only were developers allowed build what they wanted with no regard to building regs, now they are being granted aided to do remedial work. There are no fines, indeed they are incentivised to continue in business despite building with mica, flouting fire regs, endangering the public.

Here's the male Wren just now - oh, for some brighter light.
Notice the pair of Robins in the tree in the background - they are nesting in the ivy at the base. A 3rd Robin keeps intruding on the pair & the commotion occasionally disturbs the male Wren's approach.
#Wrens

‘The hysteria that has developed about abuse of women’ (Chomsky in an email to Epstein).To all the Chomsky defenders, esp those on the left-this sentence, alone, dripping with misogyny & a sexist dismissal of sexual violence against women condemns him.There is no acceptable apology for this #epstein

Rural Transitions in Mongolia and Central Asia: Pastoralism, Wellbeing and Economic Relations Full open-access volume Rural Transitions in Mongolia and Central Asia: Pastoralism, Wellbeing and Economic Relations (2026), edited by Ariell Ahearn, Gantulga Munkherdene, and Takahiro Ozaki.

New open-access book: 𝘙𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘈𝘴𝘪𝘢: 𝘗𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮, 𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘌𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘙𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, edited by Ariell Ahearn, Gantulga Munkherdene, and Takahiro Ozaki. Download it as PDF or Epub on our Environment & Society Portal. #EnvHum

Cork council to carry out pilot project to prevent infestation of sea lettuce on the coast The project will place oysters and mussel bags in the water to remove nitrates and reduce the nutrition sea lettuce depends on to thrive

This is the price our bays & estuaries pays for agricultural nitrogen pollution. These measures treat the symptom, they don't address the source.

This is what the nitrates derogation exacerbates.

Is this worth celebrating? Is it a price we're willing to pay?

www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster...

Cabinet to sign off on plans to lift passenger cap at Dublin Airport Elsewhere, the Government will also sign off on plans to extend the ‘Living City’ initiative in a bid to tackle urban vacancy.

The Minister for Climate to seek Cabinet approval this morning to lift the passenger cap that is in place at Dublin Airport.

A move that will dramatically increase emissions, worsen climate change, and harm human health.

‘Absolute hell’: Irish man with valid US work permit held by Ice since September Seamus Culleton has been in a detention facility in Texas for nearly five months despite having no criminal record

Kerryman who is married, living and working legally in the United States for >20 years has been incarcerated by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) since September 2025.

Profoundly disturbing report by Karlin Lillington @klillington.bsky.social
www.irishtimes.com/world/us/202...

Karol Balfe: A multilateral world is worth fighting for, it must start with justice for Palestine Ceasefires that don’t provide safety and a mechanism to rebuild a shattered land are not steps toward peace

Brilliant article @karolbalfe.bsky.social

'If Ireland truly believes in a multilateral world governed by law rather than force, then it must demand more not only from Israel, but from our allies and from itself.'

www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...