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Virgin Media News @virginmedianews.bsky.social · 9h

ICYMI: Budget 2026 includes a VAT cut on apartment sales from 13.5% to 9%. Gavan Reilly says it’s “a bailout to an industry which is already profitable, at a time when everyone else has been told to suck it up.”

📺Catch up on #TheGroupChat on Virgin Media Play.

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Joe Noonan @joenoonan.bsky.social · 6h

MDH prediction from 2023:

“You know, in a couple of years’ time people will be able to resolve this issue themselves, in relation to whether they want a silent person, a puppet, or whether they want a president.”

- President Michael D. Higgins
#áras25 #Prescient

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Gavan Reilly @gavreilly.com · 5h

#Aras25 poll: Business Post/Red C
(October 1-7, MoE 3%)

ℹ️ Sampling began before Gavin’s withdrawal

Connolly 36
Humphreys 25
Gavin 12
undecided 27

After Gavin eliminated:
Connolly 39
Humphreys 31

W/o undecideds:
Connolly 56
Humphreys 44

www.businesspost.ie/article/red-...

Red C Poll: Connolly leads but Heather gains from Gavin exit

www.businesspost.ie

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Paul Murphy TD @paulmurphy.pbp.ie · 5h

Catherine Connolly is leading in the latest poll.

She's ahead despite the smear campaign. People can see that she will be a voice for us on housing, Gaza and neutrality.

They don't want to see FF/FG back in the Áras and they want them out of government too.

Two weeks to go.

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Mark Hamill @markhamillofficial.bsky.social · 6h

ONE WEEK FROM TODAY: Make your voices heard. Join us in a peaceful protest across our country against the most corrupt, deceitful & criminal Administration in U.S. History. We say NO KINGS, NO CROOKS, NO SPRAY-TAN CONMAN! 👎

Check for a location near you at: www.nokings.org

#BeThere 👍

No Kings

As the president escalates his authoritarian power grab, the NO KINGS non-violent movement continues to rise stronger. We are united once again to remind the world: America has No Kings and the power ...

www.nokings.org

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Philip O'Connor @philipoconnor.bsky.social · 6h

This is on every MEP who voted to strengthen Fortress Europe.

Reuters @reuters.com · 6h

61 bodies of migrants recovered in west of Libya's Tripoli, medics center says reut.rs/42AeyMW

61 bodies of migrants recovered in west of Libya's Tripoli, medics center says

At least 61 bodies of migrants have been recovered over the past two weeks on the coast west of the Libyan capital Tripoli, a medical center said in a statement on Saturday.

reut.rs

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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 12h

Imagine that

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Jen Keane @zenbuffy.bsky.social · 11h

Catherine Connolly told me her party piece is "listening".

Wait sorry, I'm getting reports that my notes are wrong on this one...

#SmearTheBejaysis #SpeirGorm

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Louth For Ever 🦋 @louthforever.bsky.social · 11h

✊🏼💚 #Áras25 #SmearTheBejaysus #SmearTheBejaysis

Paul Murphy TD @paulmurphy.pbp.ie · 2d

"I would smear the bejaysus out of her, simply because you've nothing to lose... you've got to create a fear... in my experience, nothing works like negative campaigning."

They're really openly saying the quiet part out loud now aren't they...🤔

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(Dr) Rena Maguire @justrena.bsky.social · 15h

If you want the best laughs today, read #SmeartheBejaysis tag.
( context for non-Irish folks: A ghastly politicians said his tactics to destroy socialist Catherine Connolly's presidential campaign would be to 'smear the bejaysis out of her- you'll see how people approach mockery here )

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George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 @gtconway.bsky.social · 13h

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Joe Noonan @joenoonan.bsky.social · 13h

Why am I voting for Catherine? She’s an ambassador for an Ireland that would have brought me home sooner.

Her election feels like the beginning of a broader movement to build a better Ireland, one worth fighting for, worth canvassing for. It’s a vision that feels like home.

Katie Ryan
Kilrush

Photo of Catherine Connolly with reader’s letter - I’m not a very political person.

That’s a strange thing to admit as someone with two degrees in politics, but whatever enthusiasm I had for political engagement was quickly snuffed out as I graduated into an Ireland of austerity and dwindling opportunities.

I knew change was needed and I was excited to vote for it, but time and again I was shown that change wasn’t possible. I voted to elect Labour — I got Fine Gael. I voted to elect the Greens — I got Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. If I just stayed home, I still got Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

Time after time, Ireland’s youth begged for changes that would give us some hope for the future, but every time we were told that our lives mattered less than rising house prices. It was obvious there was no future for me in Ireland, so I took the same path as so many others before me and sought a better life in Australia.

I had no intention of coming back. Ireland had turned her back on me long before I turned my back on her. Covid forced me back home and I wasn’t happy about it. I met someone when I returned and we’ve done our best to build a life here, but Melbourne has never stopped calling to me.

On September 22, my partner happened to be watching Catherine Connolly’s campaign launch and sitting beside him I felt something stir that I thought was long gone — hope.

Catherine Connolly and the people she shared that stage with shared a vision for Ireland’s future that had a place for me in it. I heard Holly Cairns express that the presidency can be a role that highlights who we want to be, not just accepting the shortcomings of who we are right now. I heard Mary Lou McDonald speak of an Ireland where the aspirations and wellbeing of the people come first. I heard Paul Murphy reassure us that there is indeed hope that the 100-year rule of Fine Fáil and Fine Gael can be ended.

Finally, when Catherine herself spoke, I saw why each of these leaders who took the stage had put t…

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Uilliam Mac ᚒᚔᚂᚂᚔᚐᚋ @uilliammac.bsky.social · 13h

Yates praises Thatcher/Reagan for slashing welfare and promoting self-reliance. He's been taking public pension since he was 43. He'd taken €250,000 by 50. He still gets €75,000 pa, and will for life. Funded by citizens who work for fractions of that.

www.independent.ie/business/iri... #Áras25

Yates nets €240,000 from pension before age of 50

FORMER Fine Gael minister Ivan Yates earned more than €240,000 in pension payments before the age of 50, the Irish Independent can reveal.

www.independent.ie

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Helen Shaw - Athena Media @athenamediaie.bsky.social · 12h

Excellent but deeply frustrating listen, defined by hand-washing, back-watching by the guys leading agencies and a very long-fingering (I've sent a letter to IFI Chair) denial of urgency by Minister. It can absolutely happen again as nothing has changed to ensure it couldn't. #Spéirghorm

Philip Boucher-Hayes @philipb-h.bsky.social · 14h

Q: Why was the person responsible for the Blackwater fish kill never found?

A: it wasn’t anybody’s job.

I talked to the heads of all the agencies involved in the investigation, about why the biggest pollution event in Irish history fell between the cracks.

Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...

CountryWide - RTÉ Radio 1

The CountryWide team feature the events, people and happenings that bring colour and life to communities, towns and villages across the country.

www.rte.ie

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Philip Boucher-Hayes @philipb-h.bsky.social · 12h

Global Warning now on Al Jazeera.

Episode 1 broadcast this week. Or you can stream it here.
👉 www.aljazeera.com/video/featur...
#Climate #ClimateCrisis hasn’t gone away.

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Joe Noonan @joenoonan.bsky.social · 18h

In some respects Shannon Airport belongs on this map. Not a base but close. A way station and pit stop.

Stuart Dillon @smdillon1975.bsky.social · 1d

Americans are getting upset that Qatar is going to build an air force facility in Idaho. Now they know how the rest of us feel having a US Air Force base in our countries.

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Joe Noonan @joenoonan.bsky.social · 18h

"There is a lesson here for me, for my team, for the people of Ireland that if you put your head above the parapet and you dare to speak out and give a rational opinion that is based on evidence, this is what we will do, we will take you out, and this is really a very serious point in the campaign."

The cost of dirty tricks is too high to bear.
Colin Sheridan on smear tactics.

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Dr Neutopia @oceanclub.bsky.social · 17h

She's praised Trump for blowing up boats of her fellow countrymen so yes I absolutely believe she would.

੮૦ɱɱყ ૦Ո ੮Һ૯ ૭υՆԲ ૦Բ ɱ૯૪ɿ८૦ @n2play.bsky.social · 18h

Do you believe the Nobel Peace Prize winner really called Donald Trump and told him that HE should have won it instead of her?🙄

Seth Abramson @sethabramson.bsky.social · 19h

This is real. This... {deep breaths} I cannot even find the right word... actually said this about this year's richly deserving Nobel Peace Prize winner.

He did everything he could to denigrate her win.

(Screenshot below altered merely to remove an ad.)

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Aodhán Ó'Coileáin @werslabber.bsky.social · 16h

That's the spirit.

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Denise Murray/Donnacha Ní Mhuireadhaigh @mousketeer.bsky.social · 1d

Fella who presided over Budget that screwed anyone on less than a TDs wage, and gave pensioners, disabled, carers a special financial kicking intends to vote Fine Gael.

How is that even news?
He's pure Fine Gael.

#IrishPolitics #SpéirGhorm

Criodán Ó Murchú (he/him) @criodanomurchu.bsky.social · 1d

Wow, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael really do not want to lose to a coalition of centre-left and left parties rallying behind an independent, do they?

www.thejournal.ie/micheal-mart...

#spéirgorm #Áras25 #connollyforpresident

Taoiseach says he'll vote for Humphreys and remains coy about whether he's voted Fine Gael before

Martin denied that the presidential election was a referendum on the government.

www.thejournal.ie

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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 1d

“I’m worried about my community… I’m out here in a frog costume to show how ridiculous the notion that we’re violent terrorists is, and showcase how that narrative is wrong…”

Serious Q: is it too late to give this dude the Nobel Peace Prize? 🐸 🏆

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Donncha O’Connell @donnchalaw.bsky.social · 1d

The Ivan Yates ‘smear the bejaysus out of her’ clip going mainstream and featuring on the likes of RTÉ News is seriously damaging to the FG presidential campaign…in the same way that seeing sausages being made is seriously damaging to sausages #Áras25

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Dáiligh @dailigh.bsky.social · 1d

Ya gotta love #speirgorm trolling ex Fine Gael ex Bankrupt in UK bookie Ivan Yates

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Loki @lokideburca.bsky.social · 1d

I saw Catherine Connolly watch an ambulance pass by and she didn't bless herself.

Izzy Fox, PhD 🍉 @izzyfox.bsky.social · 1d

Catherine Connolly seen buying 11 items in the 10 items or less aisle!

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Karl Stanley @karlstanley.bsky.social · 1d

It doesn’t get more on the nose that the landlord paying you back 16 years late for the rent he stole with no penalty or interest or even a few bob to compensate you for the trouble and stress. Jim Gavin is a Fianna Fáil man to his core, I can see why Micheál Martin picked him.

lex luddy (ichiban appreciator) @lexluddy.xyz · 1d

No interest and no inflation accounted for with €3,300 owed from 2009.

Average classy landlord.

The Journal @thejournal.ie · 1d

Jim Gavin has paid back the €3,300 he owed to a former tenant of the apartment he owned - money which has ended Gavin's presidential campaign.

The tenant received the money owed since 2009 this afternoon. http://jrnl.ie/6841325

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