Political Libertarian, Cultural Conservative, Catholic. Member: Free Speech Union (FSU), Academics for Academic Freedom (AFAF), Assoc. Scholar—Mises Institute.
Nike, having received deserved criticism from female sports stars for using a transgender 'influencer', Dylan Mulvaney, to promote women's apparel, has doubled down on its decision. In what can only be described as a spectacularly tone-deaf move, Nike criticised its female
In the controversy over pronouns, could we get clarify something once and for all, and that is the difference between addressing someone and referring to someone.
In English, we address someone using a second person pronoun. In modern English, that pronoun is you or some local
"A group of parents whose children have changed gender plan to sue the Department for Education for not protecting them from trans ideology in schools.
"They accuse Ministers of failing to issue guidance to teachers and letting a 'damaging' gender ideology pushed by LGBT
This morning, I arranged to meet a friend for coffee and a chat. He designated Two Beans Speciality Coffee Bar, Dun Laoghaire, not an establishment I had ever been in before, as the place to meet. I gave my order and went to pay with cash, only to be told that they only accept
At 7.00 precisely, I entered my local polling station, the first and only voter.
By 7.03, my ballots were in the collection box. (It took 3 minutes because they weren’t quite expecting anyone!), but it only took me 10 seconds to put my X in the NO boxes.
Job done. Breakfast.
§3(2)(d) [below] of the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022 purports to tell us what 'gender' means. Read it through and ask yourself if, having read it, you now know what gender actually means.
No? Me neither. It's not a definition.
In regard to the appalling scenes of riot and mindless destruction in Dublin tonight, the Garda Commissioner tells us that they are the work of a “lunatic hooligan faction, driven by far-right ideology…..”
‘Hooligan faction’ seems to be correct, presumably the same hooligan
"Ireland has become hyper-woke,’ writes Brendan O’Neill in Spiked. "Its elites are fully converted to the gender cult. They promote the ruthless policing of ‘hate speech’, which really means dissent. They damn as ‘far right’ anyone who raises a peep of criticism about
"That India is full of Indians, and Brazil of Brazilians, and Africa of people of African origin, is never regarded as a problem....But Ireland being a mainly white society is seen as something that Irish people should wring their hands over."
E. O'Hanlon
Paul Murphy TD in the 𝐼𝑟𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 talking about his child.
“We’re not gendering it."
𝐼𝑡!
Your lawn mower is an 'it'; likewise your kitchen table. Human beings are not 'its'.
Murphy continues: "So we’re not describing Juniper as a boy, we’re describing Juniper as a
@griptmedia
@Ben_Scallan
What an extraordinary thing for a Government minister to say: ‘I’m not interested in the legislation”! He may not be interested in the legislation, but those of us who value free speech are very interested, and very concerned.
Not only does a Government Minister obdurately refuse to accept that she spread a falsehood about what the Constitution says, despite having this pointed out by the Chair of the (Government Appointed) Electoral Commission, but her senior Ministerial colleagues, in a demonstration
IGNORED: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar walks out of a press briefing as
@Ben_Scallan
is mid-sentence asking about government ministers spreading referendum misinformation.
"Here, in a word, is why the double referendum was lost. People thought it was BULLSHIT."
This is the opening sentence in Colum Kenny’s article in the Sunday Independent.
He goes on to anticipate and reject the excuses that will be made by the Pro-Amendment proposers: “This was
Ian O’Doherty, in Spiked:
"First came the riots in Dublin. Now we’re witnessing the cynical – and entirely predictable – government exploitation of the events of last Thursday to force Ireland’s draconian new hate-crime bill through the senate."
What is called 'gender-critical' thinking—the outrageous act of believing that women are women and men are men and that the one cannot transmogrify into the other—is the quintessential 21st century blasphemy, and those who blaspheme must be shunned, silenced and shut out.
"Every
Perhaps Mr Varadkar will explain how, if the Anti-Free Speech Bill were law, it would have prevented yesterday’s stabbing incident and the public disorder that took place last night in Dublin.
If, on the other hand, as seems entirely probable, it would have had no significant
You have been warned!
"Mary Lou McDonald has said a Sinn Féin government will re-run the referendums on family and care if they do not pass next month."
If you don’t vote the right way in the upcoming referendums (right, that is, according to McDonald and co.), you’ll be
This is quite fantastic!
Catherine Martin refuses to retract or correct her demonstrably false statement that “the Constitution says that a woman’s place is in the home”, despite having had the falsity of this statement clearly indicated by the Chair of the Electoral Commission.
Media Minister Catherine Martin is asked if she will delete a tweet in which she falsely claimed that the Constitution says "a woman's place is in the home" - a claim which was explicitly contradicted by her government's own Electoral Commission.
Question by
@Ben_Scallan
.
@NWCI
"Abortions are a normal part of reproductive journeys”!
This has to be a contender for the most egregiously false statement of the month.
Abortions may be spontaneous (miscarriages) or induced. In neither case, are they a normal part of reproductive journeys.
The rate of
Here are some excerpts from a revealing statement made by Senator Michael McDowell, in which he condemns Roderic O’Gorman’s Department’s FOI Cover Up.
Senator McDowell writes: "Minister Roderic O’Gorman’s Department has now decided that it would not be in the 'public interest'
“Far-right influence growing in Ireland, social media study finds” is the headline over an article by Darragh Nolan in the Irish Independent [20 November 2023]
This appears to be the conclusion of a report published by an organisation that calls itself the Institute for
I don't know what's worse. The incredibly bad 'Stepford Student' acting, the sinister sounding monotone chant "I should have known but I had to learn", or the really weird idea that there is such a thing as cultural appropriation.
Here is an excerpt from what I wrote about this
"The black contribution to Irish society has been wiped out.”
Eh? What black contribution to Irish society?
Some evidence for (a) this contribution, and (b) for its wiping out would be appreciated.
@WanjiruNjoya
@timcrowley_
@OHanlonEilis
@RuthDE
The newly selected Mayor of Derry from Kenya attempting to rewrite Irish history with her claims that the 'black contribution' to Irish society has been "wiped out". This is pure Orwellian to serve the globalist agenda of rewriting and erasing the glorious history of the European
Whatever happened to Mary McAleese?
How is it possible that someone I once respected and admired is capable of uttering such fatuous nonsense?
Referendums: Yes votes will see ‘new realities’ put into dated parts of Constitution, McAleese says
Don’t know what a ‘durable relationship’ is? Well, you’re not alone:
Ivana Bacik, Labour leader
“Durable relationships…is not a phrase which has that precise and established legal meaning which I think we need.”
Holly Cairns, Social Democrats leader
“What exactly is being
I came across this poster in Dublin today.
Given that it is presumably meant to be a picture of a woman who is a mother with her baby, it is not a little ironic that it is urging voters to approve of the removal of the words ‘woman’ and ‘mothers’ from the Constitution!
If the progress of the Hate Crime/Hate Speech Bill through the Oireachtas has been stayed, that is due to the efforts of many, among whom must be mentioned:
The young people of Free Speech Ireland; the Edmund Burke Institute; Senators Keoghan, Mullen and McDowell, and Deputy
I can understand why Gript was refused access to this information pre- Referenda!
REVEALED – the documents the state didn’t want you to see before the referendums via
@griptmedia
Here are some excerpts from an article by Eilis O’Hanlon in today’s [26 November 2023] Sunday Independent. The entire article is worth reading, even if you have to buy the SI in order to do so.
"Around 1.30 on Thursday afternoon, three children and a woman were stabbed outside a
Ireland has attracted the attention of the US’s National Review but not, I’m afraid, for any reason of which we can be proud.
In a brief article [“In Historic Turnabout, Irish Admit to Privilege” 20/10/23], Michael Brendan Dougherty notes that “In a draft of the state’s new
Senator Michael McDowell mused in his recent Irish Times article, “They may wonder just who replaces removed street tents with brand new ones, allowing encampments to proliferate in other areas.”
We may have an answer to that question.
RTE News reports, “As is well known by
"Dublin Pride terminates partnership with RTE.
Who knew they had a partnership? What kind of partnership? How did RTE benefit from this? Could any organisations I might belong to partner with RTE? If not, why not?
What is happening at the Department of Justice!
Michael McNamara, writing in the Sunday Independent, notes that in the widely-reported case in March 2024 in which the High Court struck down the State’s ability to return asylum-seekers to the UK, there was yet another aspect to
Given the voting trends revealed by the Sunday Independent poll on the recent referendums, the Coalition Government Parties, in particular Fianna Fáil, might now finally accept the fact that, apart from NGOs and other pressure groups, there is little or no support for the
Justice Minister Helen McEntee has said that the “vast majority” of Irish people would not like Ireland to have a Denmark-style asylum system, because “they detain people in the same way that you would in prison.”
Mr O'Gorman said 'Ireland also has a "moral and legal obligation" to house asylum seekers which requires the Government to "act quickly".'
Does Ireland also have a moral and legal obligation to house its own citizens?
If so, who gets priority?
An Irish Times opinion writer (1/11/22) describes the new Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences Bill (2022) as “a welcome attempt both to make prosecution easier and to prohibit and penalise transphobic speech.”
Why single transphobic speech out for special mention?
Maria Steen eloquently destroys Micheál Martin and the government's false assertion that Constitutional change will not bring about changes to legislation in areas such as succession law, immigration law, social welfare law and so forth. Legislation can be amended and overhauled
In this short clip, Simon Coveney says, among other things, that the March 2024 Referendums, if passed, will remove completely “outdated language that talks about the role of a woman being in the home….” [between 35-44]
What Coveney says here is, at the very least,
This March, you will have the opportunity to vote in two important referenda recognising that families are not defined by marriage, the importance of caring within families, and removing outdated language about a woman's role being in the home.
In connection with the upcoming referendums in March, Orla O’Connor, Director, National Women’s Council tells us that “…a No vote here would be a truly retrograde step. It would say that we accept a Constitution that says a woman’s place is in the home.”
No, it wouldn’t say
Under the headline "The evil trans ideology is in retreat, at last” Allison Pearson in the Telegraph (15 March 2024) writes"
"One landmark victory has been won. We must now end the indoctrination of innocent children in our schools."
@stellaomalley3
@OHanlonEilis
@DavQuinn
At last, someone in the media has the courage to tell the truth about what Biden’s ‘coming home’ trip was really all about.
“…the Department of Foreign Affairs sought to turn the country into a Disneyland version of Ireland that Democratic Party-supporting TV networks can beam
Lorraine Courtney, explaining why she’ll be voting NO in the upcoming referendum, writes:
"Leo Varadkar, in his grand announcement last International Women’s Day, declared: 'I am pleased to announce that the Government plans to hold a referendum this November to amend our
Three in four people believe that Ireland is taking in too many refugees, according to the latest Business Post/Red C poll, after the arrival of almost 100,000 people in the space of a year.
I’ve been getting quite a bit of abuse over the last few days. Nothing as bad as some other people I know on X get, and certainly nowhere near as much, but still, a substantial increase on my usual daily delivery.
Most of it is just the kind of low-grade abuse you’d expect from
Goodness gracious me! I can't believe what I read in the Irish Independent this morning [28 October 2023]:
“…there is a financial cost to accommodating more than 98,000 people and the Government has been spending billions of euro in its efforts to address the crisis….a
RTE News, under a headline “NWCI says it spent around €50,000 on Yes campaigns”, reports that, “The organisation, which receives some State funding, has been criticised for campaigning for Yes votes in the referendums."
Some State funding?
“In the last ten years the NWCI has
Ciara Kelly writes (or will write—the article is dated 1 April 2024!), “...in my 20 years as a doctor I’ve never seen such radical, experimental treatments ever given to kids in any other area of medicine with such poor evidence to support their use. I can only guess that it’s
Those who opened their copies of the Irish Times yesterday were greeted with this bizarre effusion (linked below) from Eamon Ryan, Minister for the Environment and Uncle Tom Cobley and all.
“I believe,” he said, “that what we need today is a much bigger state, one that is paid
Some people asked why, if the occasion should arise, one would be justified in refusing to refer to transgender individuals by their ‘preferred pronouns’. "Isn’t it just a mere matter of politeness to do so?" they ask. “What difference does it make to you?”
No. It isn’t just a
And so it begins….
“X, Elon Musk’s ‘free speech’ social-media platform, could soon be reined in or even banned in the EU. The European Commission has announced that it has launched an investigation into X for allegedly breaking EU law on disinformation and illegal
I was somewhat surprised to read in the Irish Independent yesterday [25 January 2024] that the Chair of the Electoral Commission said that “Durable relationships could be defined by a couple being invited to a wedding together or receiving a Christmas card in both names.”
I
Lots today on
#Crotty
ruling to force a referrendum on WHO Treaty, none of which would have happened if not for the hard graft, resilience & bravery of Barrister Tracey O Mahoney whose legal deconstuction of the WHO documents & identification of Crotty was pivotal. A heroine.
Senator Regina Doherty is notorious for having said: "today we probably have around nine genders…”
I emailed her at her office on 4 December 2022 (cc'd Taoiseach and IHREC) asking if she had ever identified these 9 or so genders.
Still waiting for an answer.
Will I get one?
In a tear-laden, self-pitying rant, characterised as much by its incoherent megalomania as by its casual profanity, this is what Ireland’s Eurovision representative said after the show:
“I just want to say, we are what the Eurovision is. The EBU is not what the Eurovision is.
Irish Eurovision contestant Bambie Thug CRIES after losing to Israel in shocking profanity laden rant.
“It’s been so horrible for us…F**k the EBU. I don’t even care anymore. F**k them.”
Well, gentlemen, did you choose the term durable because it is to be found already in EU law, [Varadkar: “[Durable] is a word that already exists in legal jurisprudence there in European law. That’s the reason why we chose it.
Or is it the case that that term durable that you
Yesterday, I made some gentle fun of Ms Justice Marie Baker, Chair of the Electoral Commission, who, when explaining Amendment 40 on Morning Ireland [19 February 2024] said. "The proposal is that recognition will be afforded to all care within the home, by men or women or people
The headline to Michael Deacon's article in The Telegraph tells us:
"It’s time to admit it: Black Lives Matter hysteria made fools of us all"
Er.... no, Michael. Not all of us.
@JoeHumphreys42
Really? Musk is coming after 'your democracy'?
Looking at the evidence, some might consider this judgement to be a classic example of retrojection. If anything is true, it is that the democracies (so-called) are rather ‘coming after Musk’ because X (Twitter) is no longer a
"Green Party’s wrecking ball hellbent on destroying economic prosperity" is the headline of Conor Skehan’s article in the Sunday Independent (17 March 2024) and it pretty much sums up the tone of the piece.
In the course of his article, Skehan writes, " The only tiny
@Niall_Boylan
To see a man of Professor William Binchy's learning and erudition treated with such contemptuous rudeness by a public representative is an appalling indictment of our political culture.
John McGuirk of Gript writes [27 October 2023], "...the case for the welfare state is fundamentally undermined by rapid immigration, because the deal has changed right in front of the eyes of voters. It goes from a system of defined obligations and benefits to one of unlimited
Roisín Murphy said on Facebook: “Puberty blockers are f.....d, absolutely desolate, big pharma laughing all the way to the bank. Little mixed-up kids are vulnerable and need to be protected, that’s just true.”
She added, “please don’t call me a terf [trans-exclusionary
"I think it is really important that dialogue is respectful and based on facts, I suppose, rather than based on just mere prejudice."
Such as the facts that transwomen are men and transmen are women, and the fact that the Gender Recognition Act is a legal Frankenstein's monster.
Senator Michael McDowell writes in the Sunday Independent [3 March 2024], "Putting words into the Constitution that nobody clearly explains or understands is collective madness and reckless….The 39th Amendment would introduce gross social uncertainty; the 40th Amendment removes
"A precedent is being set in Ireland’s parliament with worrying legal implications for Europe."
Our Hate Crime/Speech Bill is making international news, and not, according to the author of this piece, good news.
Human intelligence is having some trouble coming to grips with the meaning and implications of ‘durable relationships’ so let’s see if artificial intelligence can give us some useful insights!
I asked ChatGPT the following question: Could the insertion of ‘durable
“...Mohammed Said said he was woken by gardaí early this morning and said he was being moved to accommodation. Said, who said he was from Egypt…"
Egypt!
According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, "Egypt hosts more than half [sic!] 600,000 registered refugees and
An outbreak of sanity!
“A transgender self-identification law has been blocked at the last minute in Germany over fears it will be abused by criminals trying to escape punishment.
"The country’s 'transsexual law' was set to be replaced by a progressive “self-determination law”
For once, I find myself in agreement with Paul Williams when he writes in the Irish Independent [25 November 2023] that :-
“…it didn’t take much encouragement to set off the army of opportunistic, anti-social yobs who have been intimidating, assaulting and robbing citizens on
"Every country is entitled to have its own migration policy but I certainly don't intend to allow anyone else's migration policy affect the integrity of our own one” [Simon Harris]
So, that’ll be a NO to the EU Migration Pact and the Asylum Migration Management Regulation then?
"Every country is entitled to have its own migration policy but I certainly don't intend to allow anyone else's migration policy affect the integrity of our own one" Taoiseach Simon Harris unintentionally presents a compelling argument as to why Ireland should NOT opt-in to the
Leo Varadkar: “Despite what other people may say, I am actually somebody who believes in free speech — but there have to be limitations and standards."
The ‘but’, as always, is the giveaway word that distinguishes between those who believe in free speech, and those who believe
Senator Michael McDowell argues that “voting No is wisest option in upcoming blindman’s buff referendums” since “Apart from ideological gesturing, these amendments appear to serve no positive purpose.”
He concludes that " Far from [its] being retrograde,” as portrayed by Orla
It’s Pride Month once again, and June will soon be burstin’ out all over. Rainbows flags will flutter in the breeze, spectral colours will adorn shop windows, DART carriages and buses will be prismatically decorated, and those who have a mind to can engage in ambulatory
Sarah Carey has a piece in the Independent [3 February 2024] with the heading: "If you want to keep the State out of your love life, vote No to ‘durable relationships’"
She makes many valid points in her article but one that I particularly appreciate for its crisp coherence is
An article by Fintan O’Toole appears in today’s Irish Times (10 October 2023) headlined, “It is good manners to address people by preferred pronoun”. Despite the assertion in the headline, almost the entire piece is not about pronouns at all but about names or titles. Mr O’Toole
"I'll bet you a billion dollars": In an exclusive interview with Gript,
@Ben_Scallan
speaks to
@elonmusk
about Helen McEntee's hate speech bill, how climate policies like cutting herd sizes will impact on Irish farmers, and much more.
@HenryBluntDD
Precisely. Pronouns are meant to lighten the burden of having to repeat a noun constantly. If we permit a growing number of 'preferred pronougs' they become, in effect, quasi-nouns and the relief work of the pronoun is undone.
Inns Quay, Dublin Northside Quays.
From left to right: footpath; on-road footpath (!); generous bike lane; narrow median strip; buffer zone; single lane of car traffic; psv lane, footpath.
The on-road footpath, bicycle lane and buffer zone take up at least 50% of the road space.
In a democracy, we have always had to worry about the ignorance of the uneducated. Today we have to worry about the ignorance of people with college degrees. [Thomas Sowell]