Rob
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robosullivan.bsky.social
Rob
@robosullivan.bsky.social
Science Communicator. Lefty. Irish.

Hobbies: Wild food, gardening, playing music. Star Trek nerd.

I won't follow back if you're not using alt text on images.

I can't share every fundraiser I'm tagged in but I'll do my best to share what I can
Pinned
Bluesky buds outside of Ireland. I realise I'm posting more frequently about Irish politics to the point of potential annoyance. If you want to see less of it I'd recommend muting the terms FFG and #FFG as a start. That'll cover like 90% of my rants. Apologies but we've got some work to do here.
When I'm dictator every car will be fitted with a Faraday cage and the car won't start until you've put your phone in it.
November 27, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Reposted by Rob
its so crazy that young people became less interested in movies & tv at the same time weird tech guys mostly started deciding what gets made
November 27, 2025 at 3:42 AM
Reposted by Rob
The purpose of a system is what it does.
November 27, 2025 at 12:38 PM
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All of this “woe is me my house is now really expensive and so a tax is unfair” stuff completely negates to acknowledge the implicit fact that the house owner has made an insane profit by doing absolutely nothing
Mumsnet is already on the case.
November 27, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Reposted by Rob
Of course they don't actually want that! What they are talking about is restricting certain groups of people while others are unrestricted and they should be honest about it. If 200,000 French people decided to move to Ireland tomorrow all these restrictions will do less than nothing
November 27, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Reposted by Rob
You can't actually cap migration into Ireland without:

1. Dismantling the Common Travel Area
2. Leaving the EU
3. Placing a hard border between the Republic and the North

This "population growth" argument the self-declared sensible people have come up with is in reality really extreme
November 27, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Reposted by Rob
🏗️“David McWilliams’s characterisation of lawyers as “talkers” rather than “doers”
He decries legal process & points to Chinese projects. Four bridges collapsed in China in 2024 killing 42.. In 2024 Ireland recorded its lowest-ever number of workplace fatalities”
www.irishtimes.com/opinion/lett...
November 27, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Reposted by Rob
The endless delay and deflect Govt policy on nitrates - declining to plan an end to derogation - while our water quality, ecology and climate crisis worsens. Farmers are being poorly served in leadership - where's the plan for the future? #Spéirghorm www.rte.ie/news/ireland...
Commission recommends extension of nitrates derogation
Ireland's EU Commissioner Michael McGrath has said the European Commission has recommended to extend the nitrates derogation for Ireland.
www.rte.ie
November 27, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Reposted by Rob
and most public institutions and agencies weren't/aren't designed or, equally, don't have the capacity/capability to take citizen engagement and participation seriously
November 27, 2025 at 9:44 AM
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you can see this with the wide variation in the quality and quantity of public participation in various civic mechanisms - e.g. public consultations, etc - but also more mundane engagement with local councils and councillors ...
November 27, 2025 at 9:44 AM
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it can be hard work being an active citizen and lots of people don't have the time or capacity to do it. which means opportunities to participate in civic life are not equally distributed.
November 27, 2025 at 9:44 AM
And after avoiding a custodial sentence they'll be offered the chance to do it again in just a few years.
I'm all for road safety but you could have every cyclist in the land wearing a full suit of Christmas lights and drivers fucking around on their phones will still knock them down
November 27, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Reposted by Rob
my alternative thesis is that our planning and delivery of infrastructural projects, esp. transport and housing, relies too heavily on engineers’ and economists’ visions and priorities (which gives rise to familiar issues)
November 22, 2025 at 8:50 AM
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I'm an "A.i." abolitionist.

No consumer-facing LLMs or generative "A.i." in anything.

Sure, machine learning in science and a few other limited applications is fine.

But consumer-facing LLMs and generative "A.i." that are based on theft, push disinfo, and can be manipulated by billionaires?

No.
July 8, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Reposted by Rob
It's not asylum.seekers they can't deal with. It's their own failure.
Applications for Asylum are down some 40% on last year too. That the government cant deal with a misery 3000 applications shows how useless they are.
November 27, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Reposted by Rob
18 months ago University of Galway was honouring Palestinian human rights defender Shawan Jabarin of Al-Haq with a distinguished alumni award.

Now honorary doctorates are being refused because of ongoing links between the University and the complicit Technion Institute.

www.rte.ie/news/connach...
Third person refuses doctorate from University of Galway
A third person has turned down an honorary doctorate that was due to be conferred by the University of Galway, at a ceremony tomorrow.
www.rte.ie
November 27, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Reposted by Rob
An Amoc shutdown later this century could see millions of Irish people become #climate migrants; this is something our politicians talking tough on cracking down on migration to Ireland should keep in mind, as I discuss in today's @irishexaminer.bsky.social

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 9:12 AM
Reposted by Rob
Absolutely none of which matters when motorists speed, play on their phones, drive drunk/drugged/tired, or simply believe they own the road.

My first email this morning is from a resident about motorists speeding through pedestrian lights near homes, schools, a church and a library.

It's constant.
👀 Can you see me now?

The importance of visibility on our roads cannot be understated, particularly for vulnerable road users including pedestrians, cyclists, e-scooter drivers and motorcyclists.

#CanYouSeeMeNow #KeepingPeopleSafe
November 27, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Reposted by Rob
Apparently pointing out that FF and FG are responsible for direct provision and not funding the asylum process properly, over several government is 'playing politics'.

#enddirectprovision
#Supergluedpockets
#Spéirgorm
November 27, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Reposted by Rob
🗣️ "What do you mean the government isn't planning multi-year budgets?" says Naomi O’Leary, Europe Correspondent with the Irish Times.

#TonightVMTV
November 26, 2025 at 11:19 PM
I just choked laughing.
Niall Collins: You're continually playing politics.
Gary Gannon: I'm a politician...
#spéirgorm
🗣️ "It's exceptionally complex," says Niall Collins TD, Minister of State at the Department of Justice.
🗣️ "This is your failures... do the job you're supposed to do," adds Gary Gannon TD, Social Democrats Justice Spokesperson.

#TonightVMTV
November 26, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Reposted by Rob
🗣️ "It's going to cost us more to implement this than it is to take it back. So this is actually just performative cruelty," says Gary Gannon TD, Social Democrats Justice Spokesperson.

#TonightVMTV
November 26, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Reposted by Rob
I cannelloni apologise
November 26, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Reposted by Rob
Maybe just invest in new scales. They'll be worth every penne
November 26, 2025 at 10:48 PM