Dave Mathieson
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tinydbass.bsky.social
Dave Mathieson
@tinydbass.bsky.social
1.2K followers 380 following 750 posts
Likes jazz, cycling and software development. Opinions my own only and don't reflect anyone I work for, know, am related to, make eye contact with.
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Reposted by Dave Mathieson
pbresnihan.bsky.social
So glad for this article by Paulie Doyle on the 'Serious Guys' who flood our media with their repetitive and vacuous arguments in support of EU militarisation, ending Irish neutrality, US FDI and developer-led policy at all costs.

www.ontheditch.com/comment-taki...
Comment: Taking things Seriously
Seriousness’s function in the media: setting the boundaries of acceptable opinion
www.ontheditch.com
November 11, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Reposted by Dave Mathieson
bjpaddy.bsky.social
Moore rather gave the game away on Today just now when he mentioned climate change as one of the things on which the BBC should be impartial. Treating the truth and lies as though they are equal isn't impartiality, it's an abdication of the most basic journalistic responsibility
November 10, 2025 at 7:26 AM
Reposted by Dave Mathieson
uilliammac.bsky.social
We were told the interchange would cost €100 million and solve the congestion and tailbacks.

It cost €225 million, and it didn't.

The people who were 100% wrong about this – and blew 9 figures of public money on it – have a new suggestion.

More lanes.

www.independent.ie/regionals/co...
‘Jury still out’ on Cork city’s €225m junction as congestion continues
The head of the transport committee in Cork city says he is still not satisfied with a major junction that opened last year at a cost of over €200 million, and which still sees tailbacks on a regular ...
www.independent.ie
November 9, 2025 at 7:24 PM
tinydbass.bsky.social
Just finished Deluge by Stephen Marley. Really good book but feels a little too close to the bone and it'll stick with me for quite a while I think...
November 9, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Reposted by Dave Mathieson
agirlcalledlina.bsky.social
Here we go again, new bed wetting just dropped
GB news twitter post Zack Polanski wears a white poppy as he overlooks Remembrance Sunday ceremony at the Cenotaph
November 9, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Reposted by Dave Mathieson
majorpaul.bsky.social
Two faces of our Taoiseach, from Martyn Turner…
Taoiseach calls for leadership on climate crisis at Cop30 Taoiseach calls for u-turns on climate crisis at home
November 8, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Reposted by Dave Mathieson
anonopin.bsky.social
Unless there's an unbreakably valid safety reason why not, all button-operated pedestrian crossings should activate the lights in pedestrians' favour instantly when pressed.
November 8, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Reposted by Dave Mathieson
carlkinsella.bsky.social
"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 Dave Mathieson
elainemcgoff.bsky.social
Today I endeavoured to speak for the rivers, to provide a counter balance to the lobbyist's narrative on the polluting nitrates derogation.

Our rivers, lakes and seas deserve a chance to run healthy, wild and free from pollution

www.antaisce.org/news/an-tais...
November 7, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Reposted by Dave Mathieson
benfraser.bsky.social
Exceptional, searing column from Mark O’Connel.
November 8, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Reposted by Dave Mathieson
fintankelly.bsky.social
The Taoiseach is telling world leaders at COP30 that they need to speak honestly to the public about climate change. Meanwhile his government is sitting on the land use review because he has no intention of telling farmers about the scale of change needed share.google/7UFl4nDNHxip...
Taoiseach tells world leaders about how Ireland was hit hard by Storm Éowyn
“All nations, large and small, rich and poor, will reap what we collectively sow in these crucial years.”
share.google
November 7, 2025 at 12:18 PM
tinydbass.bsky.social
Very good thread about data centers and electricity
ketanjoshi.co Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 4d
I reckon the most interesting subset of discourse here is when presumed [good] factors are actually either actually bad, or there to downplay or dismiss the bad even if the amount of good is way smaller than the bad.

A short thread to explain: on "training for electrification" + "demand response"
volts.wtf David Roberts @volts.wtf · 4d
I would love it if public discourse on data centers could be just a skosh more sophisticated than "data centers good vs. data centers bad."
November 7, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Reposted by Dave Mathieson
hannahdaly.ie
Why is the Government playing chicken with Europe on climate?

My latest for the Irish Times.

www.irishtimes.com/environment/...
Why is the Government playing chicken on climate with Europe?
At a time of climate crisis: Climate action is fiscal prudence
www.irishtimes.com
November 6, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Reposted by Dave Mathieson
irishdocsenv.bsky.social
Ireland is one of the few European countries where road deaths have risen since 2019.

That’s not a coincident, but rather the result of a transport system that prioritises cars and speed over people and safety, with weak enforcement and timid road-safety policy.

Data from the European Commission.
November 5, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Reposted by Dave Mathieson
naomiohreally.bsky.social
Nevertheless, I have explained it. www.theirishpassport.com/podcast/half...
Halfpints: Why the poppy divides Ireland
A hundred years since the end of the First World War, the remembrance poppy remains a controversial symbol in Ireland. Why? Writer Kylie Noble explains what the poppy meant to her as a child growing u...
www.theirishpassport.com
November 5, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Reposted by Dave Mathieson
fancyvegaspro.bsky.social
The Government lurching to the right was 100% inevitable after the presidential election; this is how they deal with failure rather than any form of reflection.

But I'm fairly shocked at the speed and vigour with which they've done it, not letting the attempted murder of refugees get in their way
November 5, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Reposted by Dave Mathieson
oisinmcgann.bsky.social
It is not an exaggeration to say that we should be acting on the climate crisis on the same scale that we would a war. It will cause that kind of damage. Instead, we’re treating it as if it’s a Tidy Towns competition.

#SpéirGorm #ClimateChange
November 5, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Reposted by Dave Mathieson
louthforever.bsky.social
Here we fucking go. 💀

BUILD MORE HOUSES YOU TRAMPS
tonightvmtv.bsky.social The Tonight Show @tonightvmtv.bsky.social · 6d
🗣️ "The one thing that there is a problem with is housing right across the state, and the more that come to seek asylum, the more pressure it puts on that system.” - Fianna Fáil Minister of State Timmy Dooley
#TonightVMTV
November 4, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Reposted by Dave Mathieson
thejoegriffin.bsky.social
This is good.

"People vote for parties that speak to their hopes, not their fears."
November 4, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Reposted by Dave Mathieson
judesherry.bsky.social
I'm old enough to remember when criticising the EU was framed as unacceptable
Or is it only good to blame the EU when you're scapegoating your own failures

#HowIrelandWorks #spéirgorm #everyoneshouldhaveahome
November 3, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Reposted by Dave Mathieson
philipoconnor.bsky.social
'Member all the Irish wankers bemoaning "political violence" when Charlie Kirk was murdered - has anyone seen if they have anything to say about the attempted murder of women and children in the Drogheda IPAS centre?
No?
Funny, that.
November 2, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Reposted by Dave Mathieson
carlkinsella.bsky.social
“If this was, as Harris framed it, a referendum on Ireland’s proud history of better-things-aren’t-possible centrism, then surely he must accept that his conceptualisation of Ireland is actually… wrong.”

This week’s column is about how FG and FF have responded to the election results.
Surrealing in the Years: Sorry Simon, maybe Ireland doesn't want to be a 'centrist' country
Hey, I didn’t make the rules.
jrnl.ie
November 1, 2025 at 9:09 AM
tinydbass.bsky.social
Very glad to hear Prof John Sweeney draw a direct line between Hurricane Melissa and the need for climate action on RTÉ Drivetime a little while ago. Would be good if our political leaders showed a bit more willingness to draw the same connections rather than looking for excuses not to act.
October 28, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Reposted by Dave Mathieson
swimsure.bsky.social
In their Letter to the Editor published in the Irish Times @irishtimes.com, the scientists set the record straight by rebutting multiple errors in John FitzGerald's opinion piece last week:
"Framing the debate as a false dichotomy...distracts from the real choices"
www.irishtimes.com/opinion/lett...
Screenshot of the first half of a letter published in the Irish Times – Letters to the Editor, October 26th, 2025. Text reads: "Climate change and farming Sir, – In his recent article “Cutting the entire cattle herd to reduce emissions makes no economic sense,” Prof John FitzGerald usefully acknowledges the scale of change required in the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector. However, his article misrepresents our recent study, National temperature neutrality, agricultural methane and climate policy: reinforcing inequality in the global food system. First, FitzGerald writes that “some of these scientists also argue that Ireland should essentially end all livestock production”, and implies that this is advocated in our study. That is incorrect. Our study does not call for ending livestock farming. Nor does it make any recommendations about its future structure or scale. Second, FitzGerald suggests our work advocates a per-capita methane quota. It does not. We presented per-capita methane as a diagnostic to illustrate disparities in methane emissions across countries. The study does not propose a quota or trading scheme. Our study highlights the risks and uncertainties created for Irish society by the Climate Change Advisory Council’s (CCAC) proposed “temperature neutrality” approach to carbon budgets, which defines climate ambition around a moving target that depends on uncertain future global emissions. It also exposes the underlying value judgments embedded in this framing, which undermine climate ambition, global fairness, food security and land use policy. Arguments that hide the scale of the climate challenge behind a flawed national “temperature neutrality” target, and the false premise that Ireland’s agricultural sector is economically optimised and feeding the world, have become increasingly common. However, they avoid the clear-headed, strategic decisions needed to set Irish farmers up for success in a rapidly changing world. 2 Text: "From a global food security perspective, Ireland exports around 90 per cent of its animal-sourced food products, yet less than 1 per cent of those exports reach low-income, food-insecure countries. Domestically, fewer than half of Irish farms are economically viable, despite the sector receiving billions in public subsidies. Post-2030, Irish taxpayers will be paying billions of euro to purchase carbon credits from overseas to compensate for missing EU climate targets. Continuation of business-as-usual sells both Irish farmers & society short by failing to invest in our land’s potential to deliver healthy & sustainable food, bio-based materials, energy, carbon removals & ecosystem services. Our study does not present an extreme position. Instead, it calls for ambitious, Paris Agreement-aligned land use policy with clear targets, enabling Irish society to steer the AFOLU sector toward a sustainable transition pathway. The potential for a positive, resilient, & diversified AFOLU sector is clearly shown in scenario modelling contained in the yet-to-be-released Land Use Review Phase 2 report completed in May this year. The question is not whether farming will dramatically change over the coming decades, but how that change can be managed to deliver the most robust, sustainable, & secure outcomes for Irish society. Framing the debate as a false dichotomy between a flawed climate target and an “end to livestock farming” distracts from the real choices involved in shaping a more sustainable, resilient, & vibrant AFOLU sector. The climate, Ireland’s farmers, & society as a whole, are best served by ambition, scientific rigour & robust debate on real choices, not by shifting goalposts, or the mischaracterisation of legitimate research & researchers as extreme or anti-farming. – Yours, etc, Dr COLM DUFFY University of Galway, Dr RÓISÍN MORIARTY University College Cork, Prof HANNAH DALY, University College Cork DAVID STYLES associate professor, University of Galway
October 28, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by Dave Mathieson
news.rte.ie
The UN has estimated that nations' carbon-cutting pledges imply a far-from-sufficient 10% emissions cut by 2035, cautioning that it was unable to provide a robust global overview after most countries failed to submit their plans on time
World far off track to meet climate goals, says UN
The UN has estimated that nations' carbon-cutting pledges imply a far-from-sufficient 10% emissions cut by 2035, cautioning that it was unable to provide a robust global overview after most countries ...
www.rte.ie
October 28, 2025 at 7:33 AM