Stephen Bourke

Former state agency CEO told gardaí he was being ‘blackmailed’ by sitting senator The former chief executive of Inland Fisheries Ireland has said he made a statement to gardaí that he was “being blackmailed” by a sitting senator in a bid to force him to reinstate a suspended senior...

The former chief executive of Inland Fisheries Ireland has said he made a statement to gardaí that he was “being blackmailed” by a sitting senator in a bid to force him to reinstate a suspended senior employee.

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

(then there is the subtle difference in meaning between the nouns 'attaché' and 'attache'; the latter denoting some sort of clip or fastener and not a specialist diplomat who goes to things in uniform)

So disappointing to see the word "attaché" deployed here without its accent. Looks limp and uninviting on the page, like a deflated balloon. Surely half the point of this story is the fun of getting to use the word "attaché" in a headline in all its daring, dashing handsomeness.

ireland needs to grow up and take responsibility for its own defense, the time of nato freeloading is over

we must scrap our entire education budget and instead buy 3 fighter planes to instantly get shot down in a friendly-fire incident

there is no "magic wand" to wave to make this not necessary

Fianna Fáil insiders have bemoaned the loss in recent years of the Total Cunt vote, and the feeling within the Parliamentary Party is that Jim O’Callaghan is the man to win those Total Cunts back. Micheál Lehane, RTÉ News

As I have mentioned previously, the current government is composed of the stupidest remnants of the ancièn régime running on momentum and reactionary muscle memory.

"Shelter in place" has been the government's response to every outrage perpetuated by the Trump regime.

Only three years since 1,000 homeless children was considered a scandal:

www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2024...

Dismissed flight attendant felt 'triggered' by passenger A dismissed Aer Lingus flight attendant accused of refusing to let a passenger go to the bathroom on a delayed flight told his bosses he was under strain in his personal life and that the man "trigger...

A dismissed Aer Lingus flight attendant accused of refusing to let a passenger go to the bathroom on a delayed flight told his bosses he was under strain in his personal life and that the man "triggered" him by swearing, a tribunal has heard

"These pictures.. of the deputy leader of the Labour Party Lucy Powell.. you can see written on her face what Labour MPs have been telling me darkly for a few weeks now, which is that this exact scenario, a Green win, Reform in second, Labour in third, is their worst nightmare"

The first time I’ve seen “anything could happen 🤷🏾‍♂️” in chart form.

Patrick O'Donovan doesn't have to consider this, because when you're on a crusade against anything that looks a bit too urban for your liking, the question of holding anyone else to your exacting standards doesn't arise.

Sports Minister and Taoiseach give mixed messages on restoring astro pitch funding Micheál Martin says he expects funding will be restored despite pause announced by FG Minister over Dundalk pitch damage from flares

Patrick O'Donovan's low-wattage reactionary hardcoding clearly doesn't stretch to consideration of the precedent this sets. What's he going to do next time there's handbags at a big Munster club match? Defund the GAA?

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

Ireland to buy hundreds of French armoured vehicles under military modernisation plan Move will significantly expand capabilities of Irish Army to conduct on-island defence

Much to be concerned about here, mainly that the Irish defence forces feels the need to prepare for an "on-island defence" but doesn't quite seem to think the need is pressing enough to buy any main battle tanks.

www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026...

Snow in New York. Ireland cut off.

There seems to be a blindness to what has been done to the hills. The places in these photos are part of a 'Special Area of Conservation' and are acknowledged to be in terrible condition and yet nothing is done, even when downstream flooding affects people's lives

I don't ever remember seeing ashes that dark on someone's forehead, not least at the end of a long day. Perhaps there has been a renewed emphasis by the church on the performative aspects of Ash Wednesday, which might explain this (and the instant I've-been-cancelled).

Stephen Bourke

Freelance Forum Spring 2026: Saturday 21 March

* Reporting on Quasi-judicial bodies with Stephen Bourke, court reporter

NUJ members/students €5, others €20
ti.to/freelance-fo...

Can confirm I come across exactly this smarmy in person

I suppose the money will have to start coming from somewhere some day or else all the people who invested money in these ventures will lose their shirts.

Controversial take: entry-level jobs in the near future will be where the young employee is paying the employer to gain critical first years-on-the-job experience as opposed to them being paid wages (or even as a free intern). This will be like a college education where prestigious learning opportunities will be pay-to-play. This might even become an extended curriculum to the regular college experience. The undeniable facts are these (and I speak from direct experience): the learning curves, the awkward lessons, the face-palm “wow this kid knows nothing” moments that were endured because you had no other choice in raising the future mid-level class of your company are no longer necessary. That same training energy now goes into another entity that 1) is soooo much smarter in the practical sense, 2) is an insanely fast learner, 3) doesn’t forget what you said once you say it, 4) doesn’t complain, take sick days, have other Gen-Z (or gen-alpha) issues, and 5) can scale so that if you teach it once it’s like you trained an entire cohort of analysts, not just one. There is NO legitimate reason to endure the fresh graduate. Except for this: we must train the leaders of tomorrow. But we won’t. We will take the easy immediate wins with AI. ROI and shareholder value. So how will we train the future HOTL’s (human in the loop)? The seniors smart enough to govern the outputs of AI? The only answer I see is the one I started this post with. We must pay for the experience. Gaining this early experience, despite AI’s advantages, means that we must pay out of our pockets to cover the value differential. And by the way, every talking head out there saying that the future rests on teaching our kids how to use AI properly: puh-leeze, that will come naturally, it’s like saying teach your kids how to use the internet. The bigger question is how can we teach them about their full potential as humans when they’ll have AI doing everything goddamn thing for them from day one.

AI company CEO: "There's no reason to every hire entry-level staff again, who will need training, complain and take sick days. Therefore, people should now start paying _us_ for entry-level jobs." www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

As we all know, even one key figure on the No side in 96 saw the light (even though Barrett later told his followers something to the effect of 'there weren't no first marriage here and never was'.

Cyclist crushed twice by SUV in Dublin city centre recalls ‘the worst day of my life’ in court Andrew Brett told the court that he was ‘convinced he was going to die’ during the incident.

It's noted that he was wearing high-vis even though the driver was making an illegal turn and even with high-vis and all it's only counted as careless driving and not dangerous driving: www.thejournal.ie/courts-cycli...

They assured us Marriage Equality would do nothing to undermine the traditional family. So why is Dunnes only selling "Valentine's Special" steaks in 3-packs!?! And worse, 4-packs!!!

I had to overtake a van driver this morning who was so engrossed with his phone at the lights that he failed to notice they had gone green for a good ten seconds -- time enough for me to go halfway up the street and through the junction. He then rocketed off up a bus lane to make up for lost time.

If I decided to spend half an hour of my work day picking up cans, I would be in trouble. Street cleaners are paid from the public purse to clean the streets for public money. If they have time to stream the waste on the job, the money collected should go to the State.

A security company accused of the “systematic exploitation” of vulnerable migrant workers before its collapse last year has been likened to a “modern slavery” operation by trade union Siptu.

www.irishtimes.com/business/202...

XhatGPT idiotic layout of 13amp plug wiring. Just random wires really.

CoPilot AI diagram of plug wiring. Two live wires, one forked off the earthm and a screw head is also labelled Live.

And finally, Gemini AI diagram of 13 amp plug wiring. Hard to know where to even begin with this. Just a mess really.

One of the easiest ways to shoot down the idea that "AI" is an expert is to show how it deals with something people know about.

Younger readers may not get this as most appliances come pre-wired, but anyone 35+ can see these are chaotic fire hazards.

From Mastodon, AI asked how to wire a plug:

the crazy thing here is not that the chair of Bord Bia imported Brazilian beef, but that someone who owns and runs an agrifood company was ever appointed to run a state agency for the agrifood sector

The RSA did an advertising campaign whose basis was that if you are a young man and not driving, you are a big loser.