Kieran Ryan
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kieranryan.bsky.social
Kieran Ryan
@kieranryan.bsky.social
970 followers 1.3K following 1K posts
Westport, Mayo, Ireland.
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kieranryan.bsky.social
A peak behind the Iron Curtain.

(Co. Clare, circa 1990)
A childhood photo of Kieran riding a small red bicycle in a living room decorated with 1980s carpet and furniture. Kieran is wearing a very 1980s blue jacket and a broen woolen peaked cap.
October 30, 2025 at 8:06 PM
kieranryan.bsky.social
I have a feeling our new Uachtarán is a @martylyricfm.bsky.social in the Morning listener.
A screenshot from an article in The Journal reads as follows: When Catherine Connolly was asked during the presidential election campaign on Virgin Media who she would be bringing with her to live in the Áras, she gave a memorable answer: "My current husband. " That current husband, of 33 years standing, is Co Clare native Brian McEnery.
October 27, 2025 at 6:35 AM
kieranryan.bsky.social
Us too, Humpty. Us too.
A comic by artist WholsomeNsuchArt called Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, where Hompty is depicted enjoying some seasonal autumn scenes, like carving a pumpkin and walking through leaves. A small child in a yellow rainsuit, purple hat, and pink wellies stands among fallen leaves on a path.
October 21, 2025 at 10:53 AM
kieranryan.bsky.social
I think the basil plant might be in trouble.
A severely dessicated basil plant sits dejectedly in a small plastic pot on a kitchen countertop.
October 7, 2025 at 6:25 PM
kieranryan.bsky.social
Is it anything to do with the ongoing Covid-19 surge, which has hospitalised a couple of hundred people a week for the past several weeks? (Because it certainly isn't flu season yet.)
A chart showing Covid cases and hospitalisations over the past 12 weeks in Ireland. A chart showing flu cases and hospitalisations over the past 12 weeks in Ireland.
October 5, 2025 at 12:25 PM
kieranryan.bsky.social
It's not just a parenting issue either, unfortunately. In Ireland, fewer than half of hospital-based healthcare workers got their flu vaccine last winter.
A screengrab from a HSE report on seasonal flu vaccination. It says thay flu vaccine in healthcare workers reached its peak in 2021-22 with a 71.4% uptake. This dropped to 45.4% last winter.
October 5, 2025 at 11:42 AM
kieranryan.bsky.social
Got a bit of work done yesterday, just a couple of fillers in each arm. Keeps me feeling fresh. Would highly recommend.
Vaccine cards for flu and Covid.
October 5, 2025 at 7:23 AM
kieranryan.bsky.social
Tis blowy enough here in West Mayo now. #StormAmy @carlowweather.bsky.social
October 3, 2025 at 1:12 PM
kieranryan.bsky.social
The health service in Ireland published new guidance *this week* that pushes droplet transmission (within 1 metre 👀) as the main mode. Their reference is a study from December 2020, so that's where we're at here. 🤷🏼‍♂️
An extract from an Acute Respiratory Infection guidance document from the Irish health service. Highlighted is a line that reads, Covid virus is spread mainly by inhalation of infectious particles coming from coughing or sneezing of an infected person in close contact (1m).
October 2, 2025 at 2:12 AM
kieranryan.bsky.social
SILENCED!!
An Irish Independent feature article about Maria Steen and her husband accessory, with the headline "Maria Steen: I learnt a lot about politics and Michael McDowell this week but I'm not done with it just yet." The article is accompanied by a warm, homely photo of the perfectly preened Steens sitting on their couch, with a perfect vase of fresh roses on a shelf in the background.
September 28, 2025 at 8:44 AM
kieranryan.bsky.social
But wait, there's more silencing going on!
Yet another Irish Times article on Maria Steen: Michael McDowell and Maria Steen clash over failed presidential bid
September 27, 2025 at 6:28 AM
kieranryan.bsky.social
SILENCED!
A screenshot of a column in the Irish Times by Breda O Brien about Maria Steen A screengrab of a column in the Irish Times by Maria Steen herself.
September 27, 2025 at 5:39 AM
kieranryan.bsky.social
Last hurdle?
Screengrab from the Journal: Blame game begins as Maria Steen supporters divided on why her campaign failed at last hurdle?
September 25, 2025 at 1:14 PM
kieranryan.bsky.social
Steen and the Iona crowd for the next few months. #Áras

Art: @barrydeutsch.bsky.social
A comic by Barry Deutsch where an editor tells and columnist that his column is too extreme. This is followed by a series of talks, newspaper front pages and tv appearances where the columnist repeats the claim that he is being silenced.
September 24, 2025 at 3:45 PM
kieranryan.bsky.social
Me: It looks like a good day to cycle to the playground in Newport.

Narrator: It was not, in fact, a good day to cycle to the playground in Newport.
A photo showing flooding across the Greenway cycle path between Westport and Newport. Another photo showing more flooding across the Greenway cycle path between Westport and Newport. Another photo showing more flooding across the Greenway cycle path between Westport and Newport.
September 17, 2025 at 4:29 PM
kieranryan.bsky.social
Also a really bad time for every living creature (including me) that would like to not live in a polluted biosphere.
A headline from The Journal reads, "Fertiliser pollution of Irish rivers is getting worse - at a really bad time for the government."
September 17, 2025 at 1:52 PM
kieranryan.bsky.social
A still from the Little Britain comedy sketch show where the politician character repeatedly reads apologies from in front of his home, with his wife smiling vacuously at his side.
September 15, 2025 at 7:47 PM
kieranryan.bsky.social
If Micheál Martin really believes that there is "no justification for violence in democratic debate," then he needs to get the fuck off Elon Musk's social media platform.
Twitter post by Micheál Martin @MichealMartinTD My thoughts and prayers go to the family and loved ones of Charlie Kirk after his horrific murder in Utah. We think especially of his wife and young children today. There is no place for the gun in politics, no justification for violence in democratic debate. 7:34 am · 11 Sep 2025 · 378.4K Views A headline from The Journal: "You either fight back or you die, Elin Musk tells UK professors at Tummy Dickhead's rally."
September 14, 2025 at 11:01 AM
kieranryan.bsky.social
This is a just snippet from a Journal article about the Russian drone incursion on Poland, but I wonder if there's more to come from this story of the Ryanair flight that circled over Warsaw before diverting.

Full article here: www.thejournal.ie/drone-warfar...
Events unfolded between 11.30pm and 12.30am Irish time – as multiple drones crossed into Polish airspace, which is also NATO airspace. Security sources have suggested that the arrival of upwards of 20 drones into Polish airspace was an example of Russia testing NATO’s response to a largescale incursion. An emergency notice was issued to aircraft pilots that warned about military activity. Four airports, including Warsaw, were closed to flights. A Ryanair flight was seen on two open source flight tracking apps circling above the Polish capital before it diverted. It is not the first time that Russian ordnance has crossed into the Polish airspace but the sheer volume of the Shahed drones was different this time. Poland scrambled F16 fighter jets to shoot down the drones, there were reports of multiple aircraft, from multiple countries, in the skies above eastern Poland near the cities of Rzsezow, Lublin, Chelm and Zamosc.
September 11, 2025 at 9:59 AM
kieranryan.bsky.social
It's up there with the Repeal mural removal 👌
A photo of people taking pictures of the partially removed "Repeal the Eighth" wall mural in Dublin.
September 10, 2025 at 1:07 PM
kieranryan.bsky.social
Why doesn't the leader of our government just fund hospice care directly - from the government he controls - instead of shilling for Bewley's?

Am I completely crazy for thinking that's how government should work? Funding vital services from the public purse?
A screengrab from the Irish Independent showing the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, posing for photographs with a big sign that says, "Bewley's Big Coffee Morning for Hospice."
September 2, 2025 at 4:09 PM
kieranryan.bsky.social
Rich skies over the parish this evening.
A layered evening sky filled with white clouds, blue skies and golden sunlight sits above the rolling green drumlins of West Mayo.
August 28, 2025 at 7:06 PM
kieranryan.bsky.social
Are you not paying attention? 🤪
A chart showing the rise in Covid cases in Ireland overlaid with headlines from Irish news sites about the presidential election, the Oasis gig in Croke Park, and the U.S. tariffs.
August 26, 2025 at 4:10 PM
kieranryan.bsky.social
I took a look at mortality statistics for England & Wales, and "Diseases of the Digestive System" seemed to increase substantially as an underlying cause of death over the past few years.

I drilled down a bit further and found spikes in the following underlying causes of death since 2020:
A chart showing deaths in England and Wales with Gastrointestinal Haemorrhage as an underlying cause of death from 2013 to 2023. The number is relatively stable at around 1,250 per year until 2019, then climbs substantially from 2020, reaching 2,227 deaths in 2023. A chart showing deaths in England and Wales with Hernia as an underlying cause of death from 2013 to 2023. The number is relatively stable at around 1,000 per year until 2019, then climbs substantially from 2020, reaching 1,528 deaths in 2023. A chart showing deaths in England and Wales with Noninfective enteritis and colitis as an underlying cause of death from 2013 to 2023. The number is relatively stable at around 300 per year until 2019, then climbs substantially from 2020, reaching 456 deaths in 2023. A chart showing deaths in England and Wales with Diseases of the Liver as an underlying cause of death from 2013 to 2023. The number is climbing slightly until 2019, with 8,397 deaths that year, then climbs substantially from 2020, reaching 10,725 deaths in 2023.
August 26, 2025 at 10:14 AM
kieranryan.bsky.social
That hesitancy seems even stranger now, given this latest update on the story;
www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster...
Any potential spill is believed to have entered the River Blackwater, via the River Allow. That tributary was last year the subject of a fish kill that led to the deaths of 5,000 fish. The fish species affected included Atlantic salmon and brown trout. The IFI later took a successful legal case against Uisce Éirean after it was discovered 2,500 litres of polyaluminium chloride were released into the river accidentally from a burst pipe at the utility’s water treatment plant in Freemount.
August 26, 2025 at 6:11 AM