Donal Coffey
donalcoffey.bsky.social
Donal Coffey
@donalcoffey.bsky.social
Constitutional law, legal history. Assistant Prof in Maynooth University, Ireland.
Pinned
I've created a Legal History starter pack as I don't think anyone else has and it seems like the type of thing we should have. I'm sure I missed people (apologies!), so hit me up if I have: go.bsky.app/XJxJpA
Brice Dickson delivering the Irish Legal History Society winter discourse...
November 14, 2025 at 11:46 PM
The last remnant of the Royal University of Ireland 1884-1909, in Queen's University Belfast.
November 14, 2025 at 5:05 PM
The @secondcaptains.bsky.social pod just dropped. Just in time for an Enterprise train to Belfast...
November 14, 2025 at 2:11 PM
The youngest's reponse to the card was fits of laughter while saying "Ronaldo sucks"
What a time to be alive...
November 14, 2025 at 9:43 AM
Foolishly brought the kids along tonight, and have given them a false sense of what it means to be an Irish fan. #COYBIG
November 13, 2025 at 9:57 PM
What a time to be alive...
November 13, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Strong opening to O'Sullivan v National Parks and Wildlife Service.
November 13, 2025 at 8:24 AM
Some people are assuming that there will be some sort of faithful reporting of the Epstein-Trump links. If you look at the landing page of Fox News, this is simply not the case. One key issue we have is information systems and the (lack of) regulation that exists in relation to them.
November 12, 2025 at 10:12 PM
One of the least intuitive set of icon/function pairings I've ever come across.
November 12, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Interesting idea from @dsquareddigest.bsky.social that the decision to appoint the next Director General of the BBC should be made by Irish universities. Obviously an oversight to omit Maynooth, but that can be sorted before implementation.

(from backofmind.substack.com/p/the-cognit...)
November 12, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Reposted by Donal Coffey
Dr Orla Kelleher pushes back against the narrative that judicial reviews are to blame for the housing crisis.
Opinion: Beware of the judicial review red herring
Dr Orla Kelleher pushes back against the narrative that judicial reviews are to blame for the housing crisis.
www.irishlegal.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:38 PM
"Siblings, let us not be downhearted. One total catastrophe like this is just the beginning!" - the life of Brian.
November 10, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Reposted by Donal Coffey
Delighted to be part of a wonderful team and leading the new @reveljmce.bsky.social. Lots to come in terms of activities (please follow us!) - for now: thanks to our wonderful colleagues @maynoothlaw.bsky.social; @muresearch.bsky.social for their invaluable support!
November 10, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Reposted by Donal Coffey
BOOK: Philip BAJON, Informal Decision Making in the European Community under the Luxembourg Compromise. The Law that Never Was (London: Bloomsbury/Hart, 2025

📖

esclh.blogspot.com/2025/11/book...
BOOK: Philip BAJON, Informal Decision Making in the European Community under the Luxembourg Compromise. The Law that Never Was (London: Bloomsbury/Hart, 2025),
(image source: Hart ) Abstract: This book analyses the informal decision making process in the EU against the background of a gradually em...
esclh.blogspot.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Dublin and the Wicklow Mountains on a golden November morning.
November 9, 2025 at 12:16 PM
This will definitely end up before the courts. It's probably in the running for an Article 26 reference (provided our new President agrees).

Objectors will be on the hook to pay six-figure legal costs under judicial reviews clampdown

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 8:11 AM
My strategy in the Traitors if I was a faithful would be to try and convince everyone to vote for themselves at the first roundtable. The only people who wouldn't be able to do it under the rules of the game would be the traitors.
November 7, 2025 at 10:05 AM
I had the pleasure of reviewing Sionadh Douglas-Scott's excellent book, 'Brexit, union and disunion: the evolution of British constitutional unsettlement' for the Journal of Comparative Legal History. If this works, there should be 50 free eprints of it here: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/H7WTN...
Brexit, union, and disunion: the evolution of British constitutional unsettlement
Published in Comparative Legal History (Ahead of Print, 2025)
www.tandfonline.com
November 5, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Maitland's "Why the history of English law is not written" is best understood as an apology to his co-author for falling behind.
November 5, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Excellent piece featuring commentary by colleagues @maynoothlaw.bsky.social Chris Schreck, Ian Marder, and @lynseyblack.bsky.social
There’s a huge gulf between levels of fear of Dublin city centre, and levels of crime, a new survey shows. The City Centre Crime Victim Survey was commissioned by Dublin Inquirer and carried out by Amarách Research.
There’s a huge gulf between levels of fear of Dublin city centre, and levels of crime, new survey shows
The City Centre Crime Victim Survey was commissioned by Dublin Inquirer and carried out by Amarách Research.
www.dublininquirer.com
November 5, 2025 at 9:00 AM
The eternal struggle...
November 4, 2025 at 6:53 PM
The most bizarre thing about that Cheney incident where he shot a guy was that the victim apologised to Cheney: www.theguardian.com/world/2006/f...
Cheney shooting victim says sorry - to Cheney
Harry Whittington, the Republican lawyer shot by Dick Cheney in a hunting accident in Texas last weekend, emerged from hospital yesterday and apologised to the vice-president for all the trouble the s...
www.theguardian.com
November 4, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Reposted by Donal Coffey
V pleased that my Public Law article on judicial retirement (written with @bymyong.bsky.social) is now open access - see the link in Peter's post below. For those interested, some highlights of our research in this thread:
bsky.app/profile/did:...
OBLS is committed to making our research available as widely as possible. So a pleasure to share that @patrickcobrien.bsky.social article on "The decline of the judicial retirement convention, 1950-2020" is now available open access here:

radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/items/...
radar.brookes.ac.uk
November 3, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Paul Hosford in @irishexaminer.bsky.social calling for an overhaul of the political elements of the Constitution, including presidential nominations, constituencies, and cabinet: www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/colu...
Paul Hosford: Let's use the number of spoilt votes in Áras election to overhaul our entire political system
We should take the chance to have a proper discussion around all of our political structures and run a consultative process on which parts of the system work and which don't
www.irishexaminer.com
November 1, 2025 at 7:42 AM
TG4's Misneach had an episode about the McGees which is still available on the player: tg4.ie/en/player/ca... Gives some small idea of Mary McGee's strength of character. RIP.
October 30, 2025 at 10:12 AM