Emmet Kirwan
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emmetkirwan.bsky.social
Emmet Kirwan
@emmetkirwan.bsky.social
Playwright & Actor
Reps. Writing: Curtis Brown. Acting: United UK & Lisa Richards IRL
https://linktr.ee/Emmetkirwan?fbclid=PAAaat-_vsdAnFapXO9hCuc6FR70ksrDJw7l-m7w4
Reposted by Emmet Kirwan
All Airbnbs being rented year round are in contravention of planning laws. Houses built for private residential tenancy need to apply for change of use. If you built a house without following the rules it could be torn down. We could solve this Airbnb problem overnight, there’s no political will.
November 12, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Reposted by Emmet Kirwan
Again if you find yourself wondering about things like Judicial review because politicians and some right wing journos say this is the reason we can’t get things done, just remember this is complete bollix and the real reason is lobbyists, lobbyists, lobbyists and politicians who become lobbyists.
November 12, 2025 at 9:17 AM
All Airbnbs being rented year round are in contravention of planning laws. Houses built for private residential tenancy need to apply for change of use. If you built a house without following the rules it could be torn down. We could solve this Airbnb problem overnight, there’s no political will.
November 12, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Reposted by Emmet Kirwan
Here's an essay I wrote and read for The Business at the weekend about Tech CEOs and their silly little outfits

www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...
Tech Bros Fashion Stakes
Comedy Writer Aidan Fitzmaurice considers whether the uniform dressing that is so common in the tech bro world is so tech bros can bland in, or so they can stand out.
www.rte.ie
November 11, 2025 at 9:24 AM
Reposted by Emmet Kirwan
I honestly don’t get the value of this company. They hoover up energy and water. Their product constantly gets things wrong and, in extreme cases, coaches people into suicide.

And it’s all built on what seems to be malicious and vast intellectual property theft.

What does OpenAI offer the world?
“authors & publishers who filed a lawsuit against the Sam Altman-led firm have secured access to internal Slack messages… discussing the mass deletion of a pirated books dataset… A NY district court ordered OpenAI to hand over the communications regarding data deletion”
futurism.com/artificial-i...
OpenAI in Danger After Authors Suing It Gain Access to Its Internal Slack Messages
Authors and publishers, who are suing OpenAI, secured access to internal Slack messages and emails discussing the deletion of pirated books.
futurism.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Reposted by Emmet Kirwan
The Government's new stated aim is to make it so unattractive for lawyers to take good cases against the State that they will stop. Not bad cases. Good ones. Successful ones. This new rule only applies if you *win* your case. Doesn't that worry anyone slightly?

m.independent.ie/irish-news/o...
Objectors will be on the hook to pay six-figure legal costs under judicial reviews clampdown
Objectors will have to foot six-figure legal bills for successful judicial review cases in a new move being brought to the Cabinet to speed up the supply of infrastructure and housing.
m.independent.ie
November 9, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Reposted by Emmet Kirwan
“Objectors will be on hook to pay six-figure legal costs under JR clampdown”

Judicial Review is about ensuring public bodies comply with the law. Upholding democratic laws isn’t “objecting”

Language matters
@conalthomas90.bsky.social @wayneoconnor.bsky.social
www.independent.ie/irish-news/o...
Objectors will be on the hook to pay six-figure legal costs under judicial reviews clampdown
Objectors will have to foot six-figure legal bills for successful judicial review cases in a new move being brought to the Cabinet to speed up the supply of infrastructure and housing.
www.independent.ie
November 9, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Reposted by Emmet Kirwan
"You may not know this, but there exists, among certain cohorts of the public, a perception that Ireland’s political establishment and media establishment are too intimately connected. And what on Earth would give them that idea?"

Happy Saturday, it's time to read my column.
Surrealing in the Years: Yates' Fianna Fáil dealings an open kimono moment for Irish politics
Agh, my eyes. My eyes!
www.thejournal.ie
November 8, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Reposted by Emmet Kirwan
If you have lived your adult life in Ireland you will know instinctively that politics & media is 'One big club and you ain't in it'. There is hope w/commentators like Carl pullling this apart. The stifling consensus between media & politics brought us the disaster of austerity, among other ills.
"You may not know this, but there exists, among certain cohorts of the public, a perception that Ireland’s political establishment and media establishment are too intimately connected. And what on Earth would give them that idea?"

Happy Saturday, it's time to read my column.
Surrealing in the Years: Yates' Fianna Fáil dealings an open kimono moment for Irish politics
Agh, my eyes. My eyes!
www.thejournal.ie
November 8, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Reposted by Emmet Kirwan
An 88 percent increase in the number of whole homes to rent in Gaeltacht areas on Airbnb – in just six years

'The history of the Gaeltachts as places of radical and forward thinking gets forgotten now when they've become a holiday destination,' say @CnaG

www.ontheditch.com/airbnb-expan...
Airbnb Gaeltacht expansionism: 88 percent listings increase
To truly understand Airbnb expansionism in Ireland look to the Gaeltacht.
www.ontheditch.com
November 7, 2025 at 4:42 PM
This generation of FF’s ‘going forward’ sound bite for government inefficiency. Funny how the solution is never let’s tax the bejaysus of dereliction and build not for profit housing.
November 6, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Reposted by Emmet Kirwan
Bobby Ten Gaffs complaining about the system his party created over a century of dominating the political landscape?
The sooner these gaslighting clowns are fired into the sun, the better.
November 5, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Reposted by Emmet Kirwan
🗣️ "We are talking ourselves into autocracy here, by taking away people’s rights," says Fred Logue, Solicitor Specialising in Planning & Environmental Law, highlighting the value he sees in the judicial review process.
#TonightVMTV
November 5, 2025 at 11:06 PM
Reposted by Emmet Kirwan
🗣️ "So you’re saying it’s not judicial review but it’s something else?" asks Fine Gael TD Naoise Ó Muirí.
"Yeah, it’s the permitting system," replies Fred Logue, Solicitor Specialising in Planning & Environmental Law, as they disagree on what is holding up progress on new developments.
#TonightVMTV
November 5, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Reposted by Emmet Kirwan
they're treating a Nazi takeover of the federal government as no big deal and the possible election of Zohran Mamdani as the end times. it's a remarkable job of failing to meet the moment, and the most revealing sign yet they don't want to do anything at all except cling to party power.
the anti-Mamdani crashout among status quo Dems (amidst a federal fascist usurpation no less) might well be the final harbinger of "whig irrelevance collapse" i've been expecting all these years
November 4, 2025 at 4:03 AM
Reposted by Emmet Kirwan
Oh so it turns out we are allowed criticise the EU after all, but only when it's about [checks notes] upholding environmental standards
November 3, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Reposted by Emmet Kirwan
Really at a loss of what to make of the David McWilliams effort in today's paper.
Equating the Connolly victory as somehow hearalding Peronism is quite the stretch, to the point of failure.
But wait, there's more:
Describing "drift toward populist economics" in the shadow of the latest budget... /1
November 1, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Ive seen some wild takes in the last few weeks from establishment media types but this is just… www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...
David McWilliams: Look out Ireland, our economy could go the way of Argentina
Ireland acts as if the good times will last forever
www.irishtimes.com
November 1, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Reposted by Emmet Kirwan
“Individuals on the ground sent a message that reached us Monday morning that 1,200 were dead,” Nathaniel Raymond, the lab’s executive director, said. “By that evening, they said 10,000. By Tuesday, we couldn’t reach them anymore. We assume our ground contacts are dead.”
Yale lab reports mass killings in Sudan, calls for student activism
The Humanitarian Research Lab was told this week that over 10,000 people in Sudan were killed within three days.
yaledailynews.com
October 31, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Reposted by Emmet Kirwan
Remember - the Irish government was told years ago when the total was still well under 10,000 how to eradicate homelessness by the man who did so in Finland, and it just ... didn't bother.
And since then, the majority of you kept voting for them.
Well done, everyone. Well done. 👍
The number of people in emergency accommodation increased last month to 16,614.

According to the latest figures from the Department of Housing, 11,376 adults and 5,238 children were in emergency accommodation in September.
jrnl.ie/6861181
Number of homeless people reaches new record of 16,614 including 5,238 children
It’s an increase of 261 people compared to the previous month’s figures.
jrnl.ie
October 31, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Reposted by Emmet Kirwan
The colonisation continues, have no doubt this is disgusting state enabled violence, should be no place for evictions in 21st century Ireland
Shame on successive governments led by @finegael.bsky.social @fiannafailparty.bsky.social & their buddies for enabling this
#DerelictIreland #HousingCrisis
October 30, 2025 at 9:24 AM
Reposted by Emmet Kirwan
A secretive group lobbying government for the arms industry is working with Lockheed Martin to connect Irish businesses with international weapons manufacturers for 'partnering opportunities'

One of its co-founders is a regular contributor to Irish media

www.ontheditch.com/irish-lobbyi...
Lobbyists connecting Irish businesses, weapons manufacturers
They're working with Lockheed Martin on 'partnering opportunities'.
www.ontheditch.com
October 30, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by Emmet Kirwan
My entry in the Trump ballroom discourse.

It’s a monument to Trump’s insecurities, a symbol of our descent into authoritarianism, and a gaudy bribery palace all in one. Read at @liberalcurrents.com

www.liberalcurrents.com/trump-loeil-...
Trump L’œil: The White House Ballroom, MAGA Aesthetics, and the Meanings of Trump’s Newest Building Project
Trump, the tacky and chronically bankrupt real estate developer, and Hitler, the failed artist who was too bad at math to try his hand at architecture school, are alike in at least these ways. A love ...
www.liberalcurrents.com
October 30, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Reposted by Emmet Kirwan
Another good piece of writing from @benfraser.bsky.social on how the story of #Aras25 has shifted to focus not on a left-wing victory, but on right-wing grievances.

"If they wanted a right-wing candidate, they need only have followed the rules and nominated one."
No Spoilers
How the story of the Presidential Election has been reworded
medium.com
October 29, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Reposted by Emmet Kirwan
The Overlooked Gap
October 29, 2025 at 3:21 AM