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eilymay.bsky.social
Eilís Ní Chaoimh they/them
@eilymay.bsky.social
610 followers 960 following 370 posts
PhD student researching neurodiversity and criminal justice. Yapping into the void. Sharing passing thoughts on books (mostly fantasy, mostly queer) and, from time to time, law.
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Reposted by Eilís Ní Chaoimh they/them
drmarymcauliffe.bsky.social
You would think that someone with a degree in history would understand that renaming a park cannot and will not erase any history of any community or group, similarly to how the taking down statues of slavers has not erased the history of slavery! #speirgorm
Statement from the Taoiseach condemning the denaming of Herzog Pk saying it would erase the history of Jewish people in Ireland
November 30, 2025 at 3:07 PM
eilymay.bsky.social
I supported the renaming of the park before this statement. But the complete over-reach by the Taoiseach and the President of Israel on a matter for the representatives of the people of Dublin has me raging.

Recognising the history of Irish Jews doesn't have to equate with honouring Zionists.
lauramca.bsky.social Laura McAtackney @lauramca.bsky.social · 6h
A statement like this by the Taoiseach sustains my concerns about how ‘heritage’ in Ireland is often uncritically conceived and has not evolved by claims of positive, nationalist & shrug. The belated naming (and potential renaming) of a park is political and can change for various reasons.
Official statement from the Irish Taoiseach condemning the current campaign to change the name of Herzog Park in Dublin.
November 30, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Reposted by Eilís Ní Chaoimh they/them
orla-hegarty.bsky.social
#Homelessness quick fixes

-enforce law on rental properties operating as holiday lets without planning permission

-prioritise bringing vacant property back to use, address barriers to scaling up this sector

-fix the regulatory burden for ‘over the shop’, Minister can do this at stroke of a pen
November 29, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Reposted by Eilís Ní Chaoimh they/them
donnchalaw.bsky.social
John Gibbons: A big freeze could turn the Irish into climate refugees

We should reflect on 'get-tough' proposals on immigration: If the Amoc currents that moderate Ireland’s climate fail, temperatures will plunge, making grass-based agriculture impossible

www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...
John Gibbons: A big freeze could turn the Irish into climate refugees
We should reflect on 'get-tough' proposals on immigration: If the Amoc currents that moderate Ireland’s climate fail, temperatures will plunge, making grass-based agriculture impossible
www.irishexaminer.com
November 27, 2025 at 9:41 AM
Reposted by Eilís Ní Chaoimh they/them
frankiegolucky.bsky.social
Why is Black Friday now 12-13 days?? Did the stores get the date wrong thinking it was yesterday rather than next week, and then had to switch it up and make it work out some how?
November 22, 2025 at 3:58 PM
eilymay.bsky.social
Harrowing, heartbreaking. An essential watch.

The pain and suffering these women and children went through is unfathomable.

The ways in which justice continues to be denied to them compound it.

youtu.be/HgEkKgFSlf0?...
Testimony Trailer 2025
YouTube video by Rocliffe Productions
youtu.be
November 23, 2025 at 11:49 AM
eilymay.bsky.social
Scarlet indeed.

But, also, I feel they fail to account for the degree to which we can be a nation of awkward f**ckers when someone gets our back up. And I think Progress Ireland might just have done that.
deanbuckley.bsky.social Dean Buckley @deanbuckley.bsky.social · 8d
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 3:41 PM
Reposted by Eilís Ní Chaoimh they/them
donnchalaw.bsky.social
Excellent piece by Andrew Jackson, UCD Law School:

On Environmental Democracy and the Collisons’ “Abundance-Verse”

elajucd.com/2025/11/21/o...
On Environmental Democracy and the Collisons’ “Abundance-Verse”
Andrew Jackson 21 November 2025 I. Introduction A clamour of praise greeted John Collison’s “how to get Ireland moving” Op-Ed following its publication in the Irish Times on 25th October: the Irish…
elajucd.com
November 22, 2025 at 12:18 PM
eilymay.bsky.social
My feelings around this are... Duh? But then again, some people think that small, dark apartments are apparently the solution to the housing crisis.
orla-hegarty.bsky.social Orla Hegarty @orla-hegarty.bsky.social · 9d
The Lancet: Architecture of mental health

Substandard housing is a significant public health
issue—insufficient space, restrictive layouts, low levels of sunlight & natural ventilation & inability to control privacy adversely impact quality of life & mental health www.thelancet.com/action/showP...
Page 13 “high policy performance buildings', with greater implementation of a combination of design requirements (n = 29) for solar and daylight access, acoustic and visual privacy, private open space, storage, communal circulation spaces, car parking and greater mixes of apart-ments, had significantly higher positive mental wellbeing. The key design requirements identified in this study are supported by previous studies on housing design and health. The benefits of natural light are well docu-mented, from vitamin D production (a lack of which has been associated with depression and obesity) to enhancing sleep patterns, mood, focus and productiv-ity. Inadequate daylighting or poor window views have been found to increase the probability of depression by 60% and 40%, respectively. Our findings also align with studies on indoor environments and the importance of natural ventilation and thermal comfort on occupants' physical health and cognitive function.3.6 While noise is pervasive in urban environments, noise from neighbours is perceived as more annoying by apartment residents & has been linked to a range of non-auditory health effects and adverse health out-comes, including sleep disturbance, cardiovascular disease & impairment of cognitive performance in children. Perceptions of apartment space & layout & communal area quality have also been independently associated with mental wellbeing & Internal private space typically impacts wellbeing via crowding, but quality communal areas may help minimise crowding by providing exposure to green space and the opportunity to interact with neighbours. An analysis of the communal outdoor space in the High Life buildings found the use of outdoor areas was positively associated with neighbouring, which protects against loneliness, and in turn, poor mental health”
November 21, 2025 at 7:59 PM
eilymay.bsky.social
Pushers, written by and starring Rosie Jones, is some of the best TV I've watched in ages.

Genuine laugh-out-loud comedy with some really important messages about disabled community.

The crips help crips scene = perfection.

youtu.be/_pqKGw6xOD4?...
Rosie Jones - Pushers trailer
YouTube video by Off The Kerb Productions
youtu.be
November 21, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Reposted by Eilís Ní Chaoimh they/them
novicsara.bsky.social
I will not fight with people on Threads about Makaton. I will not fight with people on Threads about Makaton. I will not thebaffler.com/outbursts/si...
Signed Away | Sara Nović
The hearing world continues to pillage and caricature the deaf community—most recently with the proprietary, sign-based system Makaton.
thebaffler.com
November 19, 2025 at 2:03 AM
Reposted by Eilís Ní Chaoimh they/them
damselindystopia.bsky.social
When disabled activists say that our disability doesn't exist just in our bodyminds but in society's failure to accomodate them, we aren't just describing how we think disability works, we are making a demand for a world that treats people better.
November 21, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Reposted by Eilís Ní Chaoimh they/them
sdoyleguilloud.bsky.social
"The research is so flawed and inconclusive that ECT would have absolutely no chance of obtaining MHRA approval in the UK, or FDA approval in the USA, if it were introduced today."

Users and survivors of psychiatry have been talking about their experiences of ECT for years. But we needed a study...
Electroconvulsive therapy may have more adverse effects than thought
Study calls for depression treatment to be suspended for more research after reports of heart problems and emotional blunting
www.theguardian.com
November 20, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Reposted by Eilís Ní Chaoimh they/them
sdoyleguilloud.bsky.social
The couple have been in a relationship for *two decades* but had to suffer this indignity. Glad the application was dismissed, but concerning to see the Court proposing a test that many of us would not be able to pass. Not sure I knew the ‘potential consequences’ of marriage when I headed into mine.
Couple with intellectual disabilities allowed to marry
A couple with intellectual disabilities will be able to marry following a decision of a judge in the Circuit Civil Court.
www.rte.ie
November 17, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Reposted by Eilís Ní Chaoimh they/them
riacheyne.bsky.social
Really sad to hear that Alice Wong has died. A brilliant activist and writer who made the world a better place.
thrasherxy.bsky.social Steven W. Thrasher is finishing The Overseer Class @thrasherxy.bsky.social · 15d
“Don’t let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.”
Black text on a yellow background - This is Alice's friend Sandy Ho, posting. Per Alice's wishes, this message is being shared at the time of her passing. Hi everyone, it looks like I ran out of time. I have so many dreams that I wanted to fulfill and plans to create new stories for you. There are a few in progress that might come to fruition in a few years if things work out. I did not ever imagine I would live to this age and end up a writer, editor, activist, and more. As a kid riddled with insecurity and internalized ableism, I could not see a path forward. It was thanks to friendships and some great teachers who believed in me that I was able to fight my way out of miserable situations into a place where I finally felt comfortable in my skin. We need more stories about us and our culture. You all, we all, deserve the everything and more in such a hostile, ableist environment. Our wisdom is incisive and unflinching. I'm honored to be your ancestor and believe disabled oracles like us will light the way to the future. Don't let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.
November 15, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Reposted by Eilís Ní Chaoimh they/them
irishlegal.com
Dr Orla Kelleher pushes back against the narrative that judicial reviews are to blame for the housing crisis.
Opinion: Beware of the judicial review red herring
Dr Orla Kelleher pushes back against the narrative that judicial reviews are to blame for the housing crisis.
www.irishlegal.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:38 PM
eilymay.bsky.social
“...people are being held three or even four to a cell, little bigger than a car parking space, with one sleeping on a mattress on the floor.

All of them confined in this space next to an open toilet... for up to 23 hours a day.

This is inhuman, degrading, and unworthy of Ireland in 2025.”
November 13, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Reposted by Eilís Ní Chaoimh they/them
donnchalaw.bsky.social
Dóchas go scaipfidh sampla an Chéad Saoránaigh i leith na Gaeilge ar fud na seirbhíse poiblí. Meastar go bhféadfadh an tUachtarán nua dearcadh níos dearfaí i leith na teanga a spreagadh ar fud na seirbhíse poiblí

tuairisc.ie/dochas-go-sc...
Dóchas go scaipfidh sampla an Chéad Saoránaigh i leith na Gaeilge ar fud na seirbhíse poiblí
Meastar go bhféadfadh an tUachtarán nua dearcadh níos dearfaí i leith na teanga a spreagadh ar fud na seirbhíse poiblí
tuairisc.ie
November 12, 2025 at 6:05 AM
Reposted by Eilís Ní Chaoimh they/them
eoinmauricedaly.bsky.social
‘Given our history, the normalisation of war and genocide has never been and will never be acceptable to us.’
- From the inauguration speech of the tenth president of Ireland.

president.ie/en/media-lib...
Inaugural Speech of President Catherine Connolly | President of Ireland
A Thaoisigh, A Phríomhbhreithimh, Airí, Baill Chomhairle an Stáit, Baill an Oireachtais, Ambasadóirí, Ceannairí Eaglaise, agus dhaoine...
president.ie
November 11, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Reposted by Eilís Ní Chaoimh they/them
ritawild.bsky.social
"The housing crisis will end when steps are taken to end it. It will end when entire streets’ worth of houses can’t be bought up by vulture funds, it will end when short-term rentals such as Airbnbs are banned or heavily restricted, .."

www.thejournal.ie/readme/surre...
Surrealing in the Years: Yates' Fianna Fáil dealings an open kimono moment for Irish politics
Agh, my eyes. My eyes!
www.thejournal.ie
November 9, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Reposted by Eilís Ní Chaoimh they/them
snig.bsky.social
I see the 2021 scandal around Kate Clanchy's book "Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me" is back in the news as Clanchy receives an apology from the publisher of that book. Here's a reminder of the racism, Islamophobia, anti-LGBT comments, and fat shaming from the book.
"Like all the Syrian kids, she is very pretty: pale skinned & dark eyed with a sensitive mouth & a tiny, high-pitched voice." p263 "Izzat so small & square & Afghan with his big nose & premature moustache." p139 "Aadil always seems so grand: a tall Somali boy with a deep, African voice, & the almost aristocratically calm manner that sometimes goes with being extremely good-looking." p85 "Cumar is long & slender as many of the Somali kids are, with a thin nose, narrow skull, & very dark, almost black skin. Aadil is more muscular & square-set, with chocolate-coloured skin, a broad-based nose, & rounded head." p85 "Jonathon, six-foot five inches tall with a slow, resonant African accent." p78 & "Tall, strong, African Jonathon." p243 "The small round Priti & her taller, silent cousin, Priya." p93 "She would call out to me for words, urgently, her black, almond-shaped eyes snapping, slim fingers blossoming." p108 All so different from "my Nordic height & Celtic colouring". Hijabs Clanchy thinks about hijabs - a lot. "I wonder again what Shakila does to her hijab, & why it seems to sit fuller & higher than the other girls' - a Mother Superior hijab, or one from Vermeer. It can't be starched. Maybe it's draped over twisted horns of hair like Carrie Fisher's in Star Wars. That would go with her furry eyebrows, her slanting, sparkling black eyes, her general, Mongolian ferocity." p78 "Her high-set, starched hijab - did she have extra ears under there?" p109 "It is possible to wear a flirty hijab, like Samira's leopard-patterned one. & that Farida's dress may be loose & floor-length, but it still manages to show the beautiful lines of her figure when she hitches it tight around her as she sits by the basketball courts." p117 "If I could put a burqa on Susie & Kristell tomorrow, I would. A year or two of being invisible to the male gaze, of going home quietly to study, could only be liberating, & enabling too, of the rest of their lives... It's important to say that nothing that Susie or Kristell ever wear, however brief, entitles them to any abuse, ever." p165 LGBTQI+ Clanchy is supportive of gay pupils, although she's hampered by stereotypes & sees camp as a "statement of otherness". Nevertheless, she takes an 18-year old to his first gay club, which she admits wouldn't be acceptable now. She sends him in with the words: ""Liam,' I said, 'I love you. You have to promise me to always use a condom & never get AIDS." p33 But she's more dismissive of trans pupils. Like much of what she writes, I understand the concern she's raising, but the tone is trivialising: "Are we all 'fluid' now? Perhaps. It is commonplace to proclaim oneself transsexual. & to actually be gay, especially if you are as pretty as Kristen Stewart is positively fashionable. A couple of kids have even changed gender, a decision so deliciously of the moment, so furiously defended by righteous students against non-existent opposition from staff that I worry only that they won't feel the freedom to change back if they feel the need." p34 Weight All the critical comments about weight are applied to girls, & most are in a section about health. Clanchy tries to include a compensatory compliment, but there are weird sexualising & classist undercurrents: "When Kristell arrived in Year 9, she had a bosomy, curvy figure, with a tiny waist & pretty ankles... She had a soft, breathy voice to match the Bambi lashes & fresh mouth." p237 Later "She has put on a great deal of weight, so that the pretty figure is blurred... The dark eyes gazing out of the fat pink cheeks are still so very lovely." p238-9 "Danielle really was special: she was exquisitely pretty in the dark & elfin, Audrey Hepburn mode. She knew it too; she was always finding occasion to take off her clothes & expose her pale, beautifully turned limbs." p233 Later "As if refusing middle-class food along with middle-class ambition, Danielle put on weight... her new bosom protruding ever more bulbously... I was surprised how hurt I was to see it. It wasn't the flesh so much as the loss of grace." p234 I know what she means with this next one, & there is a valid point. It's probably intended to be self-deprecating & tongue-in-cheek, but... "Lianne is stuffing fig rolls, my favourite, into her pretty fat face, & it is very hard indeed not to have one. I can manage it, I think, in the same way that I can manage to finish a poem, because I am middle class. Because, since I was a tiny child, I have been taught to wait for long-term goals." p235
November 4, 2025 at 5:07 PM
eilymay.bsky.social
Remembering Rosalind Franklin.

Attribution matters and Watson and Crick weren't the only contributors to the discovery of DNA.
November 8, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Reposted by Eilís Ní Chaoimh they/them
orla-hegarty.bsky.social
“Interrogating the arguments for small homes as a solution to the Irish housing crisis

“The paper critically interrogates main justifications & argues role of small homes as a potential solution to Irish housing crisis is overstated”

new research-Dr Mark Jordan www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Interrogating the arguments for ‘small homes’ as a solution to the Irish housing crisis
From 2015 onwards, successive Irish governments have promoted the proliferation of smaller homes through a range of measures including reductions in minimum floor size requirements and the removal ...
www.tandfonline.com
November 7, 2025 at 10:44 AM
eilymay.bsky.social
Absolutely devoured Midwinter of the Spirit, an ITV production now on Netflix.

I'm shook to learn there's a whole book series that was never adapted.

I want multiple series of Revs. Huw and Merrily trailing across Herefordshire using the bones of Tommy Canty (St.) to banish evildoers.
October 30, 2025 at 8:42 PM
eilymay.bsky.social
Look, Galway in the summer is, in theory, wonderful. But for me there are just too many people about.

Galway in the Autumn. That's my time of year.
darach.bsky.social Darach Ó Séaghdha @darach.bsky.social · Oct 30
Don't ask me to explain but Dublin, Belfast and Cork are all autumn cities but Galway is a summer city.
October 30, 2025 at 1:27 PM