Dean Buckley
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deanbuckley.bsky.social
Dean Buckley
@deanbuckley.bsky.social
360 followers 160 following 1.6K posts
bad news from the zone, tumbleweeds. writer & critic. catholic socialist. smalltown journalist. pop punk kid. podcaster. all opinions mine.

leftinthelurch.net | thesundae.net
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deanbuckley.bsky.social
On a light green background, Micheál Martin is smiling into the camera next to the words Fianna Fáil The Republican Party Moving Forward. Together. A photo of Simon Harris against a billowing tricolour, with a white frame. Text reads A New Energy Vote Fine Gael No. 1
November 28, 2025 at 3:34 PM
deanbuckley.bsky.social
Chief Economist of the Institute of International and European Affairs

vs

an arts grad (Eng/Phil) who got a C1 in honours maths for the Leaving Cert
Dan O'Brien tweet reading EU exports to the US have not been hit as hard as might have been expected by the biggest tariff hike in 95 years. Most categories of exports were generating similar revenues in Q3 2025 as a year earlier. Organic chemicals is the clear outlier, with revenues down two thirds. to which I have responded revenue has tripled, you're reading the graph wrong, you buffoon An edited version of the previous Dan O'Brien tweet that now says organic chemicals revenues are up two thirds to which I have responded still wrong, Dan, it's not up two thirds (66%), it's up 200% (six thirds). and you call yourself an economist? An edited version of the previous Dan O'Brien tweet that now says organic chemicals revenues are up massively to which I have responded still wrong, Dan. graph shows Q1-Q3, not Q3. the tripling of the organic chemical revenues is from the rush to export before tariffs
November 26, 2025 at 6:03 PM
deanbuckley.bsky.social
Josh Lawson as Dr. Bruce Schweitz in St. Denis Medical. He is a middle-aged white man with short red hair in green surgical scrubs, reading a joke off a phone Uh, yo mama is so fat-- David Theune as Keith Finger in St. Denis Medical. He is a middle-aged man in green surgical scrubs and a grey jumper with brown receding hair and a moustache. He responds My mom passed away in July Bruce replies Oh, sorry. Bruce resumes reading the joke off his phone Uh, yo mama WAS so fat-- He is cut off by a nurse off-screen saying his name
November 25, 2025 at 11:35 PM
deanbuckley.bsky.social
Nick Delehanty looked through the integration fund to try to find something to criticise and he picked "rape counselling for refugees who live in rural IPAS centres where it's difficult to access services" because he can use ambiguous wording to insinuate it's something else
Nick Delehanty tweet reading Irish Govt launches €3.6m Integration Fund. Mayo Rape Crisis Centre receives €26k for “Outreach counselling for those affected by sexual violence in rural IPAS centres” What? over a screenshot of funding amounts given to various projections through the integration fund. Nick has highlighted an item about rape counselling for refugees
November 23, 2025 at 9:46 PM
deanbuckley.bsky.social
like, would you not be scarlet to read that Progress Ireland thought it would be this easy to influence your opinion, that they could just show up, present themselves as Serious People and get immediate credibility, and for them to be completely right?
Progress Ireland’s pitch to prospective funders (kudos Lois Kapila in the Dublin Inquirer) sets out its stall clearly: “[T]he Irish [think tank] scene is wide open, with no real competitors,” we are told. “Ireland is highly conformist and is more prone to deference to elite or expert consensus than our British counterparts”. Bit rude, but go on. “[T]here are few organised voices for growth, abundance, and optimism in the political landscape [in Ireland]”, “We believe growth goes a long way to solving most public policy problems”. OK, growth, abundance, got it. Small ‘a’ abundance is “our North Star”, according to Progress Ireland’s Executive Director. Anyway, back to Progress Ireland’s pitch: “Ireland is a small place – politicians are relatively accessible, and there are few other orgs like ours competing for their attention”; “We will align and curate our pitches to present win-win proposals to politicians. […] We will produce work that advances their goals”; “We will pressure politicians via the media. Sometimes this will be at their request”; “Officials can’t enact ideas but they can slowly kill them”; “We will socially de-risk ourselves with officials by appearing as friendly faces at department conferences, policy launches, and speaker events”. “How will you avoid getting pigeonholed as right wing tech bros?” they ask. “Branding” is the first answer (though in fairness they also include “Policy choices” and “Funders” in their list). Et cetera.
November 22, 2025 at 3:25 PM
deanbuckley.bsky.social
Benicio del Toro directed by Anderson (2025)
Benicio del Toro as Zsa-zsa Korda in The Phoenician Scheme (2025, dir. Wes Anderson) Benicio del Toro as Sergio St. Carlos in One Battle After Another (2025, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
November 21, 2025 at 1:11 AM
deanbuckley.bsky.social
Elaine Mullally confirms this was Sharon Keogan's little shindig
Lovely evening, meeting some great people for dinner in the Dail recently, thank you @SenatorKeogan for the invite.
November 20, 2025 at 10:36 PM
deanbuckley.bsky.social
Galway County Council are going to have to waste time and money on fighting a frivolous, vexatious High Court case brought by two members of the "Irish Republican Brotherhood" sovcit group because they're using pseudolawfare nonsense to fight a planning case over a shed
Article by Dara Bradley in the Connacht Tribune entitled Shed case descends to farce Subheadline Solicitor says 'IRB members' sought €25k to attend planning court case
November 20, 2025 at 5:38 PM
deanbuckley.bsky.social
Ivor Cummins is a keto huckster turned COVID denier whose devotees include an Antrim councillor who died of COVID after falling for his crap and it is pretty disgusting to see him as a welcomed guest at Leinster House

m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/colu...
A good man died after too much Covid misinformation – while his hero, lockdown sceptic Ivor Cummins, goes on making money from devotees DUP councillor Paul Hamill was the victim of a pandemic of misinformation On the day that Paul Hamill died, the man whose undermining of public health advice had profoundly impacted the 46-year-old father-of-two made a typically self-assured post on Twitter. Ivor Cummins wrote about the coronavirus vaccine: “It’s the scam of the century, perhaps any century.”
November 20, 2025 at 12:14 PM
deanbuckley.bsky.social
Ken O'Flynn said he met people "from the Steen campaign" at this Leinster House gathering, but most of these people – Aidan Joyce, Paul Treyvaud, Nick Delehanty, Elaine Mullally and Ivor Cummins – are the organisers of the "official" Spoil the Vote campaign
Aidan Joyce, Sharon Keogan, Neil Steen, Paul Treyvaud, Nick Delehanty, Maria Steen, Ryan Casey, Elaine Mullally and Ivor Cummins sat around a dining table in Leinster House
November 20, 2025 at 11:53 AM
deanbuckley.bsky.social
anyway, it's all very normal and fine that this former journalist employed as an "economist" at a think tank primarily funded by the state (but also backed by private donors that it doesn't have to disclose) to provide foreign policy advice is obsessed with us buying arms
Dan O’Brien: Ireland needs to buy American gas and guns – in its own interests Trump wants something in return from the US's allies. Ireland needs gas and increased defence capabilities. Contracts for American LNG and naval hardware should be at the centre of the Taoiseach's St Patrick's Day visit to the White House.
November 18, 2025 at 4:58 PM
deanbuckley.bsky.social
and I know Dan knows this is who he is proposing to steal money from because his previous tweet before that one was about how it's a very common misconception that most welfare spending is dole, when dole is actually a small proportion of welfare spending
Dan O'Brien tweet reading There's a very common misperception that welfare spending is mostly about jobless benefits. In fact, they account for a tiny fraction - just 4% across the EU in 2023. Transfers to the elderly, sick and disabled are around 20 times higher than dole spend.
November 18, 2025 at 4:50 PM
deanbuckley.bsky.social
all the Irish militarists who act aghast when they are accused of wanting to cut welfare to fund militarisation are conspicuously not furious at their friend Dan for proposing exactly that!
Tweet from Dan O'Brien reading If European governments froze benefits for three years and spent the proceeds on defence, the cost of rearmament would be covered. This would seem a small price to pay for a de facto insurance policy that ensures war doesn't spread. As the chart shows, social protection (rightly) dwarves defence spending.
November 18, 2025 at 4:31 PM
deanbuckley.bsky.social
Artists and Models (1955, dir. Frank Tashlin)
Dean Martin as Rick Todd in Artists and Models, speaking on the phone I can't do that, Mr. Samuels. Dean Martin as Rick Todd in Artists and Models, speaking on the phone I'm in love with another girl. Dean Martin as Rick Todd in Artists and Models, speaking on the phone It's my duty to the United States of America? Dean Martin as Rick Todd in Artists and Models, speaking on the phone Are you sure?
November 17, 2025 at 5:09 PM
deanbuckley.bsky.social
calling spoiled votes /and votes for Jim Gavin/ in the presidential election "the biggest democratic crisis in the history of the state" is so unhinged
Tweet from Peadar Tóibín reading 3 weeks ago today was presidential election count day. 317,000 people either spoiled their vote or voted for a withdrawn candidate. This was the biggest democratic crisis in the history of the state. Since then, the political establishment has ignored it.
November 15, 2025 at 8:51 PM
deanbuckley.bsky.social
why did no one tell me there was a new Ramy Youssef show co-created with Pam Brady
title card from the animated TV series #1 HAPPY FAMILY USA that reads REPRESENTATION WARNING DO NOT USE THIS ANIMATED SHOW AS CULTURAL REPRESENTATION FOR ANY OF THE FOLLOWING COMMUNITIES: MUSLIMS ARABS PEOPLE FROM NEW JERSEY with a label at the bottom that says HARAM ALLAH PLEASE FORGIVE THE MISTAKES IN THIS PROGRAM
November 12, 2025 at 6:56 PM
deanbuckley.bsky.social
this is also fucking insane stuff from Paula Butterly. against whom have "we" been fighting this "huge battle in the last number of years to protect our rural life"? who caused generational rural depopulation thanks to chronic underinvestment and brutal austerity?
The first-time TD said CPOs are “absolutely fine” if we need a “road, if we need a railway, if we need a runway”, but “when it comes to a cycle on a Sunday and the choice of giving our young people a home, we have to say no to CPOs for recreational purposes”. “It’s not fair, it affects the way we live today, it will affect the way we live tomorrow,” she said. Butterly told those gathered at the protest: “We have been up against a huge battle in the last number of years to protect our rural life, our rural way of living, to ensure that our sons and daughters and future generations have somewhere to live in the countryside.”
November 12, 2025 at 5:22 PM
deanbuckley.bsky.social
as long as we're talking about press standards and the public interest, it'd be great if the Press Council got rid of its utterly absurd rule that people can only make complaints about member publications if they are "personally affected by the article"
a tweet from me regarding the Press Council apropos of nothing: it's absurd that the Press Council only allows people to escalate unresolved complaints against its members if they can show they're "personally affected by the article" in question. the public already has an unconditional moral interest in truth and accuracy! Followed by a screenshot that reads Before completing this form please ensure: That you have made a complaint by writing to the editor and have given him/her two weeks to respond. That you are personally affected by the article. That the article provides evidence of a possible breach of the Press Council’s Code of Practice (available here). That you have a copy of the article and a copy of your exchange of correspondence with the editor. That the subject matter of the complaint is not the subject matter of court proceedings. further tweets from me reading if a news outlet broadcasts an untruth in this country, anyone can complain to the regulator, but if they /print/ an untruth, you have to prove your right to complain, and that's just obviously insane, as well as unfair burden on the complainant to disclose personal information it also effectively means Irish print media have strong regulatory incentives to be accurate about people who might sue under our deeply unfair defamation laws, moderate incentives to not generally defame people, but an incredibly weak incentive to merely be factually inaccurate
November 10, 2025 at 3:42 PM
deanbuckley.bsky.social
in an Irish context, the broadcasting code explicitly states fairness does not imply a need to create "artificial balance", that you don't have to give an "equal hearing" to all sides of all issues, and that giving an "equal hearing" does not make you compliant with fairness principles.
Appropriate implementation of a fairness principle should not be taken to mean that an ‘artificial balance’ is required in order to comply with the Code, nor should it be taken to imply that equal allocation air-time is always necessary to achieve fairness. Conversely, demonstration of an equal allocation of air-time to different views on a particular subject may not satisfactorily discharge a broadcaster’s obligations in respect of fairness. It will be necessary for a broadcaster to consider the range of ways in which fairness is achieved and to ensure that active consideration is given to ensuring its achievement whether through the selection of contributors, the time allocated to a news and current affairs issue, the scope of the debate, the structure of the programme or the role of the presenter.
November 10, 2025 at 1:51 PM
deanbuckley.bsky.social
Peadar Tóibín invited this chancer to Leinster House to audition to be his candidate in the presidential election
Tweet from Declan Ganley reading Final day of my visit for meetings at ‘The Winter White House’, beautiful morning (again) here at Mar-a-Lago. With a picture of Declan Ganley at Mar-a-Lago
November 10, 2025 at 12:29 AM
deanbuckley.bsky.social
Nick Offerman as Chester A. Arthur, drunkenly yelling in a man's face I'm Chester goddamn Arthur, son of William Arthur, Nick Offerman as Chester A. Arthur, drunkenly yelling in a man's face chief collector of the Port of New York Nick Offerman as Chester A. Arthur, drunkenly yelling in a man's face and next vice president of you cocksuckers!
November 7, 2025 at 9:24 PM
deanbuckley.bsky.social
BEHIND BARS | Tricolour waving cocaine dealer who joined Loyalists at anti-immigration protest jailed Bernard Lavery stood impassive and handcuffed as Judge Donna McColgan KC ordered the 34-year-old to serve half his sentence in jail Drug boss behind illegal anti-immigration road block amid sinister UDA threat to foreigners Duck McTaggart only out of jail and back stirring trouble as he and other leading loyalists attend protest Brother of gangsters Wayne and ‘Fatpuss’ Bradley must stay away from Coolock protest site Gardaí ready to use water cannons if rally turns violent
November 7, 2025 at 2:08 PM
deanbuckley.bsky.social
not sure the far right have thought through going "ha, see, it wasn't us, it was organised criminals, a group with which we have no significant overlap"

m.independent.ie/irish-news/d...
Drug dealer who was jailed over man’s death among far-right agitators promoting major protest for day Dáil returns There was chaos around Leinster House last September amid aggressive far-right protests, with 13 people arrested
November 7, 2025 at 1:27 PM
deanbuckley.bsky.social
actually our media are extremely reticent to describe politicians as far right, but David lives in Plato's cave and spends all his time making up guys to be mad at
David Quinn tweet reading Our media are very quick to describe politicians as far-right. I have heard no news bulletins this morning call Mamdani far-left (which he undoubtedly is).
November 6, 2025 at 11:32 PM
deanbuckley.bsky.social
Marge Simpson vacuuming in her pink Chanel suit from "Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield" Ma Mary in Derry Girls Lois in Malcolm in the Middle Lucille Bluth in Arrested Development
November 6, 2025 at 1:25 AM