Tara Connolly
@TaraConnollyEU
Followers
8,033
Following
8,511
Media
1,016
Statuses
21,756
All things just energy transition in Europe and beyond. Rants my own. Lived 🇸🇦 🇵🇬 🇳🇴. Spending more time in the other place: @taraconnolly .bsky.social
Brussels
Joined February 2009
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
#ขวัญฤทัยตอนจบ
• 574087 Tweets
オーロラ
• 477961 Tweets
Joost
• 327556 Tweets
jeonghan
• 127459 Tweets
Fulham
• 79631 Tweets
#SixTONESANN
• 76439 Tweets
Man City
• 74328 Tweets
#الهلال_الحزم
• 61542 Tweets
自分これ
• 61279 Tweets
HeavenlyVoice WithMrC
• 54936 Tweets
Gvardiol
• 51763 Tweets
Ali Koç
• 44051 Tweets
カクレンジャー
• 38465 Tweets
太陽フレアのせい
• 38155 Tweets
キンスパ
• 37413 Tweets
Dremo
• 36451 Tweets
マリノス
• 29498 Tweets
Burnley
• 27714 Tweets
SUPER READY FOR SUPERNOVA
• 25151 Tweets
SEE YOU NEXT MONTH JIN
• 24910 Tweets
Luton
• 19603 Tweets
Haley
• 18797 Tweets
Dursun Özbek
• 17255 Tweets
#AdayOlAzizYıldırım
• 16137 Tweets
やまとなでしこ
• 13543 Tweets
I've never seen anything like this before in Brussels.
EU staff sit-in for immediate ceasefire in Gaza, outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels today
404
4K
10K
102
3K
11K
Only 18% of the world's population has ever taken a flight.
In 2017, only 3% of the world's population took a flight.
People who fly are the anomaly. People who *binge fly* are the extreme anomaly.
#staygrounded
#flyless
#ClimateBreakdown
68
1K
3K
New housing estate in Wicklow Town. Concrete as far as the eye can see.
Every single house has two parking spaces instead of a front garden.
Yes the houses run off heat pumps but how can planning authorities still be signing off on estates built around cars like this?
157
89
958
If you are as perplexed as I am at the the German reaction, this article is a good place to start.
11
206
822
I'll never understand why deflating a car tyre illicits more outrage from many than this.
My children's lives are worth more than your ego.
I’ve had calls from constituents who last night had their tyres slashed in Churchtown by a supposed climate action group.
It’s now with the local Gardaí.
This thuggery is unacceptable, I’m hopeful the investigation can put a stop to this carry on but be vigilant.
3
31
173
60
62
781
A comment from a friend who was visiting Ireland on business this week:
"The train seems to be for those who cannot afford a car, not for business travellers like in other countries."
40
45
759
My partner took my son to the local A&E this morning.
He saw a paediatrician within 15 minutes of arriving.
Belgium spends the same amount per capita on healthcare as Ireland (h/t
@Marcusdstewart
).
This is why I can't move home.
It's so depressing.
26
74
608
8,000 children. I don't know how anyone is functioning properly at this point.
I know I'm not.
46
98
583
My favourite anecdote: the Norwegian health minister told Micheál Martin that Norway would be the 1st country to introduce a ban because the Irish are all talk.
Apparently Martin flew straight home and announced the date without consulting the cabinet.
10
78
534
So we're really going to do this?
After 300,000 years of humans, it's on our watch that we'll burn the Amazon down, eat all the fish, fill the planet with plastic, kill off the Great Barrier Reef, cause the mass extinction of countless species & watch it all on our smart phones?
29
210
506
@LeoVaradkar
I think you need to reverse the order there, Leo. Lots of changes on government level, community level and individual level.
Question: why did you need a
#GreenWave
to figure this one out? Was an existential warning from climate scientists not enough?
#LE2019
#VoteClimate
12
59
461
If you are as appalled as I am with the one-sided response of
@vonderleyen
and
@EP_President
, tell them.
VDL:
Metsola: mailto:roberta.metsola
@europarl
.europa.eu
Happy to DM anyone the text of the message I wrote.
There is deep concern among EU institutions and capitals that by appearing to sanction Israel's expected invasion of Gaza, von der Leyen has squandered the EU's credibility - including on Ukraine.
She had no mandate to visit Israel from the member states.
809
4K
12K
27
136
365
I'm finding it hard to stomach those Greens calling for us to leave government over a golf dinner while the fucking Arctic is melting at a unprecedented rate.
Yes it was stupid and shouldn't have happened but JFC some perspective please.
101
29
358
I first started campaigning for an EU 2030 45% renewable energy target over 10 years ago.
First the Commission proposed 27%, we got 32% in RED II negotiations, then COM proposed 40% and today finally 45%!
Wait for enough crises to happen and you can win your campaign too 😅
12
42
352
Ugh, no Islamophobia or anti-Semitism in the replies please.
2
5
329
In the word of bad takes, this one deserves a prize.
If you want to know where Irish media is on addressing the climate crisis, this is a good example.
Too many journalists prove time and again they have completely failed to grasp the situation.
28
54
321
I can't quite believe I just read a German Green MP write that a child's parents are to blame if he's shot.
The debate in Germany is deranged.
10
61
316
Irish dairy, feeding the world at double the price of its competitors.
175
28
304
"Dr Ryan said he was “somewhat cynical or at least depressed at the prospect of whether the world will wake up and we will actually see that epidemics are yet another consequence of our poor planetary and ecosystem management.""
4
93
281
Please can some international urban planners stage an intervention in Ireland?
We are still building housing estates that look like this.
Help.
18
17
283
I remember being heavily pregnant having to rush to cross rue Belliard because the tractors woudn't even slow down at the pedestrian crossings.
It's clear that some groups in our society are allowed to protest very aggressively while others are hardly allowed at all.
Here is where
#farmers
storm the EU area at Maalbeek near EU HQ. "It looks like civil war" say EU officials as tractors overwhelm police.
#FarmerProtest2024
#FarmersProtest2024
760
1K
3K
21
48
285
I was Brendan Halligan's intern in 2008-9.
He was one of the nicest, most generous & enthusiastic people I've ever met.
After I joined him in a meeting & the other person mistook me for his secretary, he suggested I change my title to 'senior policy advisor'. That was Brendan.
6
10
277
Ireland's beef industry: feeding the world by flying €18 steaks half way across the planet in chilled airplanes.
😳
Certified Irish Angus beef for sale in Ryan's Grocery outlet in Singapore. The chilled meat is flown from Ireland by ABP on a weekly basis from its plant in Cahir. Striploin steak is retailing for around €72/kg.
@AgrilandIreland
@Bordbia
#trademission
#beef
#angus
13
7
60
38
38
271
We are not living in normal times. This is the German motorist lobby asking people to drive slower and go by bicycle or public transport if they can.
Your move
@aaroadwatch
.
8
86
270
Things that were already terrible ideas but are now insane:
- using food crops to make fuel. 🌾
- using large amounts of grain to sustain enormous herds of beef and dairy cows 🐄
- using fossil gas to make fossil hydrogen 🔥
8
60
265
My 12 month old just almost got squashed in her pram by an SUV coming out of a side entrance.
All the driver did was throw his hands up as if to say "what can I do?"
SUVs are dangerous, not even taking air pollution and emissions into account. Why are people buying them?
28
35
247
I wish the parts of Irish Twitter that are outraged about Ukraine could stop being equally outraged when Irish ministers propose perfectly valid and logical energy savings measures.
Like it or not, Putin has Europe over a barrel on fossil fuels and this WILL help.
10
27
247
Look at that insulation 😍
This plus a heat pump is why we can disconnect this house from the gas grid entirely, something that is giving me A LOT of joy.
#fossilfreehome
14
19
231
This is the reaction by a large part of a Irish Twitter to Eamon Ryan tripping over some of his words yesterday.
Never mind that Ryan has just announced one of the boldest schemes to get Irish buildings off gas and an excellent model for Europe to copy.
It's pathetic.
19
18
222
To the person who just stole my phone while I was in the metro struggling to get an overtired baby and a toddler around town in the rain, I hope you have the worst Christmas ever.
11
18
210
A small bit of news.
I'll be joining
@GraceOSllvn
's team this autumn after 7 amazing years with the brilliant team at
@greenpeace_eu
.
So if you want to work with the best bunch of people & help tackle the climate crisis at the EU level, apply here. 👊
36
19
214
Quite something for the Irish Taoiseach to welcome the opening of an airport while attending a climate conference.
His first port of call when he arrived in UAE was a dairy farm.
What's next? Cutting the ribbon on a new coal plant?
Sorry Taoiseach but this is not sustainable or consistent with our climate targets. If the govt wants to support regional airports it must redistribute air traffic away from
@DublinAirport
. Aviation growth left unchecked will blow through the global carbon budget.
37
49
216
21
38
205
When we subsidise aviation, we use money that could be improve social services or public infrastructure & give it to a wealthy minority to engage in environmentally destructive behaviour.
In the context of
#ClimateBreakdown
and increasing global inequality, this is unforgivable.
12
49
195
She should have brought a tractor to the protest.
Dutch police using controversial bokkepootje wrist bend on 4’11” Greta Thunberg for protesting climate collapse and genocide at The Hague
73
2K
6K
3
37
194
Or maybe, just maybe we shouldn't be reinforcing the idea that looking after nature, the climate and better living cities is the sole responsibility of the Green Party.
9
21
189
We need to make sure climate action is "cost-effective", right?
2
34
174
Think €2.90/hour on street parking in Dublin is expensive?
It's €7.50/hour in Amsterdam.
The war on motorists is in full swing here and it's glorious.
9
21
176
I don't think I've ever seen an official European Commission Twitter account respond to a political party's misinformation like this.
Kudos to
@EU_ENV
.
Time for
@EPPGroup
to drop the Trumpish scaremongering tactics.
This is simply wrong
The
@EUCouncil
has agreed to better address large divergences within & between EU countries regarding urban green, notably in those cities with already large green areas, like Helsinki
They won't have to do the same efforts as less green ones
#ForOurPlanet
22
315
1K
4
42
178
This is big news.
8
49
172
But Varadkar's tweet was unacceptable.
Gotcha.
Israel’s Finance Minister declares there are “two million Nazis” in the West Bank.
Let’s be clear. This is genocidal language.
It is extremely rare for a state to keep using such openly genocidal language. Normally, they try and hide their intents.
1K
8K
16K
0
20
167
I think it's worth pointing out that
@Cmdr_Hadfield
is currently being paid by
@ElectricIreland
, the biggest single company responsible for Irish carbon emissions, to be part of one of their advertising campaigns.
His messages are copy/paste from ESB.
14
44
170
A good time to remind people that not all famines are natural.
These are the lyrics from a Sinéad O'Connor song.
5
47
169
Spending my day begging EU politicians to stop subsidising fossil fuels while watching one half of the planet burn and the other drown.
Let me tell you, it wears you down after a while.
8
12
166
This. It's horrific.
Gaza is the only place on earth where thousands of children could be trapped under rubble and there is not an international coalition planning a rescue
515
25K
55K
1
69
167
Um, does anyone know where I can learn some basic Ukrainian?
First refugee family are already arriving next week!
19
1
166
JFC. Fine Gael is setting up their own live crib up the road from Mansion House.
That's their priority.
I don't even know what else to say.
🎄🐑IT’S OFFICIAL: The live animal Christmas crib will return this year to the new location of St Stephen’s Green from December 8th!
328
41
322
25
8
162
Oh look. The Belgian consumer association is advising drivers to slow down to save money and petrol.
It's almost as if it's good advice.
8
19
162
I hope everyone channels their despair, anxiety and fear about tomorrow's IPCC report into absolute RAGE at the fossil fuel industry and complicit politicians - what they have done and CONTINUE to do to our planet.
Call your politicians, join an environmental NGO, anything.
6
31
165
An absolute mystery why most of Europe can have these collective bins while my kids have to cycle through rubbish to get to school.
9
3
162
Holy hell. What a speech.
"Let’s be clear — what you are doing is not about climate action or responding to an emergency. It never was. This is communication tactics disguised as politics."
Yesterday I adressed the
#AustrianWorldSummit
along with Angela Merkel, António Guterres, Alok Sharma and others.
2K
18K
53K
6
34
162
I have two e-sims for Gaza running on my phone.
I have no idea who's using them but they prioritise doctors and other medical staff.
It's a surreal connection to Gaza in my pocket. I can see the data usage on both of them.
Please consider donating one if you can.
Saleem Abu Rass from the Palestinian Red Crescent is using the esim to reassure the Families of the medical staff of Al Amal Hospital that they are alive and fine 🥹🥹❤️❤️❤️
This is what your esim donation is doing 🥲
#ConnectingGaza
@Connectinghu_
5
313
491
5
86
161
I cannot stress this enough. Hydrogen is *not* an energy source, it's an energy vector.
Talk of boosting hydrogen without clarity on how it's produced is utterly pointless,
@TimmermansEU
.
The only way more hydrogen can help is if it's not made from gas.
via
@POLITICOEurope
8
33
162
I've made the ultimate Belgian administrative error: I've lost my ID card.
Pray for me.
23
2
160
@OConnorOisin
In Belgium they use water and energy meter data to find properties that are unused for more than 12 months.
There's a fine for empty properties based on size, number of bedrooms etc.
And if there's no response from the owner after 2 years, the state can requisition it.
3
44
153
When do we get to vote on SUVs?
4
19
155
WELL WELL WELL.
First ever Irish offshore wind auction confess in at an average strike price of €86/MWh.
That's almost half the much publicised price cap of €150/MWh.
It looks like
@WindEnergyIRL
thinks the price will more likely be between €95 and €115 per MWh.
That's a lot less than €150/MWh.
4
2
19
17
36
153
Terrible message from an Irish politician. 😱
Decarbonising the energy system doesn't 'replace' decarbonising agriculture. We have to do both!
And we are in a biodiversity crisis *as well as* a climate crisis.
This is the opposite of leadership.
Offshore wind has the potential to “green” the country and fuel agriculture, industry and homes with green sustainable energy. We won’t need to worry about curtailing our agricultural sector, we’re good at farming and we should keep farming. People need good quality food and…
89
3
35
26
30
152
Wow, Schipol airport has just banned private jets - and night flights.
Succes! Schiphol verbiedt privéjets en nachtvluchten. Eindelijk lijkt de knop om bij Schiphol. En terecht, want de luchtvaart is helemaal uit z’n jas gegroeid en gaat ver over de grenzen van natuur, klimaat en omwonenden.🧵1/4
#krimpluchtvaart
#privejets
#Schiphol
#vervuiling
62
51
247
4
23
151
This is so obnoxious.
The
@greenparty_ie
have an incompetent Minister for Transport in
@EamonRyan
consistently failing the island of Ireland.
No decisions on connectivity. Abdicates responsibility to
@Fingalcoco
.
Ryanair fact check:
- awarded industry-leading A- rating (yesterday) on climate…
172
162
2K
59
9
146
I'm literally melting in Brussels right now but apparently I can't have trees to lower the temperature of my street because
@EPPGroup
thinks it's anti-farmer.
The right wing in
@EP_Environment
, led by
@ManfredWeber
has just defeated the
#RestoreNature
amendment on urban greening.
Their ideological crusade is so extreme that playing the "farmers party" means literally killing people in the cities. Just wow.
12
87
191
6
30
148
This week, the CFO of RTÉ said he receives a €25,000 annual car allowance.
The total across RTÉ is closer to €1m. This is different from mileage given to journalists.
Why are we doing this in the middle of a climate crisis?
12
21
145
This thread and images are incredible.
French farmers and environmentalists are mobilising to protest water grab by industrial-agro business.
These drone images look like a dystopia, but this is reality.
The battle for water has started.
#SainteSoline
77
956
3K
4
49
144
Alternative headline:
Why we must sacrifice the lives and livelihoods of billions to protect our business model and profits.
6
36
149
If I want to park my SUV outside my home in Brussels, I fill out a form, pay €10-15 and I'm away. I can actually park TWO SUVs on the street.
If I want to park my cargo bike outside my home in Brussels, I fill out a request form and wait for 10 years.
8
9
145
I can't imagine how much arguing Commission staff had to do internally to get this decision.
Credit to them and everyone else who helped make sure this decision went the right way.
6
18
143
It feels very strange not be heading into the
@GreenpeaceEU
office this morning.
But I'm looking forward to
@davitter
showing me the ropes in
@GraceOSllvn
's office.
Expect more tweets on Irish politics from now on.
18
3
144
⚠️ BREAKING ⚠️
11 governments call for the TEN-E regulation not to support fossil fuel infrastructure. And yes, Germany is one of them.
Crucial timing ahead of a COREPER meeting to discuss the council position tomorrow.
#fossilfree
4
45
137
Great.
@RyanTubridyShow
has joined the ranks of middle class white men 'just asking questions' about if Greta is OK and should be in school.
@GretaThunberg
is finally breaking through the media stupor on climate breakdown and this is their reaction.
Mandatory aspergers mention.
9
16
131
The Shannon LNG project is:
- hugely expensive
- unnecessary for energy security
- wasting public money on fossil fuel infrastructure
- facilitating the US shale gas industry
- only serves to lower US wholesale gas prices.
And yet..
@DanielTMurray
6
56
129
Via the wonders of Google Translate, my 6-year old son and the 7-year old Ukrainian girl are trading toilet humour jokes.
Some things are universal.
If you can host a family or make a financial donation, all information is now here:
1
23
130
When I come back to Ireland, I'm going to do some guerilla zebra crossing painting.
The lack of safe crossing for pedestrians everywhere (and I mean *everywhere*) is shocking.
No need for pedestrian lights - no begging buttons, no street clutter, no electricity, just some paint
14
10
125
So ESB:
- buys coal from a Colombian coal mine notorious for human rights abuses - displacement & massive local pollution,
- ships the coal to Ireland,
- burns the coal in the 30% efficient Moneypoint plant,
- refuses to rule out future purchases.
A just transition for who?
ESB’s failure to rule out future coal purchases from Cerrejón is exactly why we need new laws to compel state-owned & Irish based companies to check for human rights abuses in their operations & supply chains
2
23
68
6
37
127
Soup. On a painting.
French farmers pour manure on the office of the biodiversity agency in Cleracq in the department of Lo and Garonne.
224
172
1K
2
24
125
Zainab is talking about the racial abuse she's suffered in Ireland in FLUENT Irish.
She has lived in Ireland longer than I have.
She can also speak Irish a damn sight better than I can. But I'm white and I have an Irish name.
Who is more Irish? (Answer: we're both Irish.)
FÍSEÁN Zainab Boladale ag cur síos ina cuid focal féin ar na tarcaisníl chiníoch atá fulangtha aici
84
462
3K
1
27
123
If climate protestor did this, *most* media and politicians would crucify them.
An iconic statue has been town down in the center of Place du Luxembourg (nicknamed Plux) outside the European Parliament.
This will be very shocking and upsetting for people in Brussels.
11
73
216
4
23
123
Good morning from me and my heat pump, ready to keep a family of Ukrainian refugees warm and safe without Putin's warmongering, climate-destabilising fossil gas (or gas from anywhere from that matter. 🙂
8
0
121
I'm travelling this morning from Turin to Brussels by train.
This is the modern Torino Porta Susa train station.
8
3
118
That feeling when a jerk in a Merc beeps at you for taking a second too long at a green light, overtakes you angrily, turns the corner...and hits a tailback.
He saw me coming behind him, tried to block my way and shouted out the window as I passed.
My 4 year old was with me.
12
11
115
"Free Palestine is the new Heil Hitler" says German newspaper Die Welt.
Can someone please check on Germany because they're not well.
7
7
112
I might be wrong but this is the first Western government minister I've seen say this.
The language from Israeli Govt regarding its ongoing & planned atrocities in Gaza is deeply disturbing. There can be no equivocation; where civilians are targeted & killed it is a war crime.
What happened in Israel last w’end was horrific but it cannot justify war crimes
36
98
461
5
16
111
A senior member of the Irish government has said on Irish radio that Africans will starve if the Irish agriculture sector has to cut carbon emissions 30% by 2030.
We've hit rock bottom in this debate.
11
11
111
I genuinely don't understand why the people who do this aren't prosecuted.
This is our Corrib Curlew breeding sites burning tonight…from 5km+ away. Territory of multiple Cu and many other endangered bird sp., lots of other waders. SAC habitats. Huge carbon stores. N84 to headford closed. Total destruction.
@CurlewEIP
& farmers devastated…no words 😞
93
410
1K
9
15
109
A second Irish
@EPPGroup
MEP publicly states they cannot vote against the
#NatureRestorationLaw
tomorrow.
Who's left?
Nature Restoration Law 🌎
Tomorrow I will vote in favour of the EU Council text for a Nature Restoration Law!
I cannot support a full-out rejection.
I want to see new dedicated funding for farmers because we need to restore nature working alongside our rural communities.
54
36
412
4
17
110
😳😳😳
@vonderleyen
, PLEASE stop saying that LNG terminals can be converted to hydrogen terminals.
It is not true.
4
22
107
Oh god, now it's
@NewstalkFM
asking if we're willing to 'pay' for green policies. This is such lazy journalism.
Why not talk about the costs of congestion, of bad planning, of air pollution on our health, extra costs of owning/running an extra car, etc.
We are ALREADY paying!
4
33
107
"Both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael regard road projects as sacrosanct."
One day there's going to be an inquiry into Ireland's road building industry and its close ties with FF and FG.
7
22
106
Sorry what?
Congratulations
@GasNetIrl
on winning Green Large Organisation of the Year 2020 at the
#GreenAwardsIRL
10
1
15
9
10
104
Ireland has one of the lower rates of car ownership in the EU.
So why are so many transport abd urban design policies focused on motorists?
Surprising to see that Belgium has lower per capita ownership of cars than EU average.
@EurCorrespond
18
2
20
17
17
106
Reminds me of a cycling expert visiting Dublin a few years ago, surprised that most cyclists were young men until they realised how intimidating the lack of bike lanes was.
The sign of decent transport infrastructure is that every type of person can and does use it.
1
3
103
Poland is planning for its first nuclear plant to come online in 2040.
That's 17 years from now and 5 years after the
@IEA
says we have to have fully decarbonised the power sector.
How many solar panels and wind farms can you built in 17 years?
Poland’s environment agency greenlights country’s first nuclear power plant
Warsaw plans to build its first nuclear power plant on the Baltic coast by 2033. Construction is set to begin in 2026 and it is expected to come online by 2040.
☢️🇵🇱
5
3
15
26
30
103
After Germany submitted its plan yesterday, Ireland is now the ONLY country not to have submitted its NECP to the
@EU_Commission
.
The deadline was 31 December 2019.
Minister Bruton "The draft
#NECP
highlights once again the urgency of the work we are doing in developing our all of government plan to make Ireland a leader in responding to climate change. I will publish this all of government plan early in the new year."
1
0
2
7
39
104
Dear
@netflix
, could you please make Russian and Ukrainian subtitles and audio available to all Netflix accounts across Europe ASAP?
It's one way to help Ukrainian children learn the language of the country they've fled to.
2
23
104
🚨 Important news 🚨
For the first time ever the European Commission has promised not only to try to stop the exploitation of fossil fuel resources, but also not to buy them.
That is a big change in policy, and a good one.
1
20
103