Aodhán Ó'Coileáin
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werslabber.bsky.social
Aodhán Ó'Coileáin
@werslabber.bsky.social
Belfast born. Galway domiciled. Here for the news and the views. Despise bots and their puppet masters. Ex-The Other Place, and happy to be cleansed of it.
Pinned
An historic day.
Reposted by Aodhán Ó'Coileáin
“My novels have been influential and popular in Britain, where I am among the bestselling literary authors of the last decade. The disappearance of my work from bookshops would mark a truly extreme incursion by the state into the realm of artistic expression.”

www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Sally Rooney says she will be unable to publish books in UK while Palestine Action banned
Irish author Rooney says her books could disappear from UK stores altogether
www.irishtimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Reposted by Aodhán Ó'Coileáin
Today going home from work at a Luas & pedestrian crossing with a green light for pedestrians 6 cars broke their red light and sped through the pedestrian crossing in case they got stuck waiting for the luas to cross and 2 minutes got added to their commute.
This happens Every. Single. Day.
Today, I saw a driver overtake a stopped bus and plough through a pedestrian crossing. He beeped three times as he sped though. The beeping was to warn people because, as he had overtaken a bus, he had zero visibility of who was about to step out onto the crossing.

But sure, more hi-vis, everyone
👀 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 7:12 PM
Reposted by Aodhán Ó'Coileáin
You see anyone acting the fuckin' fool on this matter - give 'em the facts and nothing else.

Trans rights are human rights, no matter how hard these people try to create spectacle, confusion and distraction.

#speirghorm #ireland #transrights
November 27, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Reposted by Aodhán Ó'Coileáin
War crime exhibit #1000000
A hidden camera captured Israeli soldiers executing an Innocent Palestinian to Death

No trial, No indictment, Nothing, The Crime - Being a Palestinian.
November 27, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Reposted by Aodhán Ó'Coileáin
it's so embarrassing to watch both Micheál Martin and Simon Harris constantly run down the clock on their speaking time in the Dáil by picking out some bit of rhetoric used by the opposition and contriving to suggest there's some disrespectful or disreputable about it
November 27, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Reposted by Aodhán Ó'Coileáin
"These are ordinary people who just take a decision to do the right thing."

Whistleblowers play an incredibly important role in our society — we have to support and protect them.

Instead, Fianna Fáil & Fine Gael allow many whistleblowers to be harrassed and penalised.

#Whistleblowers #SpéirGhorm
November 27, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Reposted by Aodhán Ó'Coileáin
Pearse Doherty needs to shut up and let the government get on with the job of not building houses.
(The Indos framing is not at all problematic)
November 27, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Reposted by Aodhán Ó'Coileáin
Assertion by councillor headlined as fact.
No statistical or other evidence offered beyond the bald statement from a politician happy to get his name in the news.
November 27, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Reposted by Aodhán Ó'Coileáin
After Lucy Letby was convicted in August 2023 of murdering seven babies, a number of experts contacted Eye columnist MD because they “believe the science and statistics presented at the trial were incomplete and flawed and that the case against Letby was not proven beyond reasonable doubt”.

🧵1/3
November 27, 2025 at 2:58 PM
The malign influence of Israel at work.

Trump declares ban on South Africa from attending next G20 jrnl.ie/6886771
Trump declares ban on South Africa from attending next G20
The presidency of the G20 was formally handed over by South Africa to the US this week.
jrnl.ie
November 27, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Reposted by Aodhán Ó'Coileáin
If anyone in Northern Ireland is looking for a great Christmas event for kids who don’t like a lot of noise or crowds, @downrail.bsky.social have a handful of places left on their Lapland Express ‘Quiet Train’ on Saturday 29th November. Details here:

www.downrail.co.uk/2025/10/lapl...
Lapland Express: Quiet Train 2025 - Downpatrick and County Down Railway
If you want to travel on our Lapland Express trains to meet Santa, Mrs Claus and the Elves but you have someone in your group who doesn’t respond well to crowds, music and other loud noises, you can n...
www.downrail.co.uk
November 27, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Reposted by Aodhán Ó'Coileáin
'peace eludes south Lebanon'
Yes, Lebanon just keeps misplacing its peace. How careless of it. It needs to keep its peace in a safe place so this doesn't keep happening.
BBC News: "Year after ceasefire, peace eludes south Lebanon as Israeli strikes continue"

So BBC News, is it, in fact, a ceasefire?
November 27, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Reposted by Aodhán Ó'Coileáin
It's the easiest thing in the world. Local buskenssses have many of the same products (or better ones!) and offer value for money - and that money stays inmour local economies.
Imagine this replicated in the north of Ireland, the whole of Wales, throughout Scotland and across England

#ShopLocal

#ShopIndie

#PeoplePower

Thanks to @philipoconnor.bsky.social for raising up small, independent businesses across Ireland and beyond
November 27, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Reposted by Aodhán Ó'Coileáin
Benefits Street (2014) was a biased and exploitative series so vile that you could be sure anyone who enjoyed it was a total piece of shit. It existed only to confirm the biases of the sort of people who read these papers.
It is IMO not possible to operate any kind of meaningful democracy when your national press is a joke and a travesty, but your mileage on that may vary. I think it’s incontestable that it is impossible to govern well and effectively, while being in hock to these pantomime clowns.
November 27, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Reposted by Aodhán Ó'Coileáin
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
Via Euronews: Black Friday or Buy Nothing Day: Which side of consumerism do you fall on?
www.euronews.com/culture/2025...
How Buy Nothing Day emerged as an antidote to Black Friday
While global shopping events such as Black Friday have been around for decades, anti-consumerist movements like Buy Nothing Day are now gathering more followers to combat overconsumption.
www.euronews.com
November 27, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Reposted by Aodhán Ó'Coileáin
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 Aodhán Ó'Coileáin
“It makes no sense to have two separate health services on an island of this size.”
~Pat Cullen @patcullen9

The Irish News

☕️🥐
November 27, 2025 at 7:45 AM
My alma mater is a disgrace.

RTE news : Third person refuses doctorate from University of Galway

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 6:09 AM
Reposted by Aodhán Ó'Coileáin
Bravo to Olwen Fouéré and Margo Harkin, who turned down honorary doctorates from the University of Galway over its ties to Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology which works closely with the apartheid state's "defense industries", key to its genocide of the Palestinian people.
#BDS
November 26, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Reposted by Aodhán Ó'Coileáin
country scared of large stupid dog
cnn.com CNN @cnn.com · 1d
The New York Times produced a detailed, data-driven report on President Trump showing signs of aging. The president, 79, responded by calling the female reporter who co-wrote the story “ugly.” https://cnn.it/48idUFL
November 26, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Reposted by Aodhán Ó'Coileáin
Miss Piggy FTW
November 26, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Reposted by Aodhán Ó'Coileáin
Happy to be one of the endorsing groups! Hold Israel to account. PFC
Look at this! 171 great civil society organisations and groups have endorsed our National March for Palestine on Saturday 29th, 1pm. Join us, let's show our government that we still demand sanctions on apartheid Israel and an end to our state's complicity in genocide #FreePalestine #SanctionsNow
November 26, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Reposted by Aodhán Ó'Coileáin
This is disgraceful. The trains are already overcrowded with a whole load of housing being built on the basis of the rail upgrade. At this stage it is a health and safety issue at the stations and on the trains with the existing volumes of passengers.
DART+ South West is shelved until 2030. It has full planning approval since 2024, no judicial reviews and is ready to go but construction won't start until after 2030. A lot of housing around Adamstown and Clonburris built in anticipation of this upgrade.
November 26, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Reposted by Aodhán Ó'Coileáin
Not the ‘UK’ folks. The right to a jury trial was abolished here in the north of Ireland years ago. The imperial boomerang at work
November 26, 2025 at 5:54 PM