Cathal and Response

'As a court reporter, I cover child sexual abuse cases on a daily basis. I can categorically state that children who are given the tools to exercise autonomy over their own bodies from a young age are much better equipped to recognise abuse and report it before it escalates.' - Isabel Hayes

This is why I always say, if you wanna know who is an ally in the Palestinian liberation movement and who is not, listen to the Palestinians and not twitch streamers.

"I'm grieving the deaths of two German soldiers killed in Warsaw today, and praying for the full & speedy recovery of those who were injured."

This, from the hugely experienced Irish courts reporter, Isabel Hayes, on the Minister for Justice’s performative outrage over an ad about children and consent, is worth reading.

Ráiteas ón Uachtarán Connolly ar bhás do Dónal Lunny ~~~ Statement by President Connolly on the death of Dónal Lunny

I just don't have the spoons to ring my TDs but I've emailed all five of my TDs as well as emailing the Taoiseach & Tánaiste and big Jim himself to highlight that Jim O'Callaghan is simply unsuitable to hold the brief of Justice Minister and should not be blocking ads for safeguarding children...

Worth remembering that Ireland had a referendum where we put the rights of the child into the constitution despite those who campaigned against such rights. Also this attack on DRCC sends such a poor public message to teenagers (the actual video shows one teenager who likes hugs & one who doesn't)

Emailing my FF TD, Sean O'Fearghail, about how fucked Jim O'Callaghan's abuse of power regarding the DRCC and casually reminding him that I remember when he, O'Fearghail, wrote a character reference for a constituent who was convicted for sexually abusing a young relative.

what drivers see when you're wearing hi-viz vs when you're not

This is Dublin Rape Crisis Centre's donations page. Now would be a really good time to show your support for all their work - including education on consent. www.drcc.ie/donate/

Had a really bad dream where the Minister for Justice, in the name of the government, enabled a pile-on of a rape crisis centre because of a campaign to raise awareness of consent for children.

And then I’m going to ring the office of my local FG TD and read him Jennifer Carroll McNeill’s comments from the Dáil yesterday and I’m going to ask him if agrees that the idea of making a film promoting consent as the basis for touching children “doesn't represent the views of Government”.

I’ve slept on it now and when I woke up, I was still still mad about it. This morning, I’m going to ring the constituent office of my local FF TD and tell him just how mad it made me. Then I’m going to call the constituency office of my local SF TD, and ask if Matt Carthy’s support is their view.

Kids are often forced, by LAW, to spend time with people who abuse them. In no world would and adult be expected to spend time with someone who’d done something so violent and degrading to them. They are so incredibly fucking vulnerable.

I was in court a few weeks ago - family court sit at lunch, I was working away in the foyer when a man was screaming about having been ordered supervised visitation of his son because he pushed his face into his porridge when he wouldn’t eat it last time he saw him. Kid still has to see him

I’ve been fuming over the response from the “abortion is murder, protect vulnerable children’s lives” men who opposed children being emboldened to have their physical boundaries respected. When adults don’t want to hug (I personally am very non tactile.) it’s a non issue. The hypocrisy is stark

There's a lot of wicked chancers in the government, but I reckon Jim O'Callahan has to be genuinely evil. To go from demonizing solicitors for allegedly disrupting SA trials during their industrial action, to then turn around and attack the DRCC for daring to suggest kids have bodily autonomy?

I am a grandparent (step-grandparent, if you're all about the blood) in a fairly complicated family, who only gets to see kiddo fairly infrequently. Sometimes they want to hug & sometimes they don't & that's 100% up to them. Hugs are absolutely the right place to start consent education!

Call me a woke loser, but we definitely should let kids get used to asserting who does and does not have access to their bodies.

i genuinely don't understand why anyone is hype for this shit, man, i really don't

The idea that JC’s “stock is rising” is meaningless in a FF/FG + Ind coalition where each party has to have a certain amount of ministries no matter what and a minister can resign in shame and be back in cabinet 12 months later and even if they lose their seat they can be appointed to the Seanad.

Every year Ireland gets stern warnings about how reliant it is on corpo tax revenue and every year it cuts its other tax nets to make that reliance worse.

Anyone who spends €25 bucks on this book shouldn’t be allowed to own a credit card or get a loan.

I'm amazed that the baby from The Hangover is still a staple of the car window/bumper sticker industry.

I think when people feel they have no access to their oppressor they will choose an oppressor from those they do have access to and direct their anger at them, and I think that's a big part of the freak carry-on towards the bar owner/s from supposed patrons

"You're in a good mood today." Thanks, I saw a dog 5 minutes ago.

AI slop vertical dramas are wild. They're also a weirdly accurate illustration of the duality of Zionism. The abused and downtrodden yet secretly rich/powerful protagonist is how they see themselves, but the irrational, stupid and violent antagonists are how they actually are.

Bryant would fit right in at an Orange march, because he’s an utter flute.

Notice here how people from the North don’t actually exist in his mind. The people “looking to be outraged” are down here, the existence of actual residents being intimidated hasn’t even occurred to him.

Now this is my kind of foreshadowing

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Woop woop! Funded in under an hour! Go and back it and grab a copy to run for your friends! Such a cool game.

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A little over 4 hours to go and I am streeeessssed!

Hey, this is launching on Backerkit tomorrow. I think it's pretty neat. It's got all those great survival horror videogame tropes in tabletop form. You should back it, that's what a cool person would do #ttrpg #horror

every trans person in America is basically praying to whatever deity will accept them that the democrats don’t turn into Labour and decide to take turns with republicans throwing us into wood chippers. trans women have like a 30% unemployment rate. everybody fuckin’ Chill Out toward us a little

No, seriously, he's a fucking cunt.

How the fuck does Canada get into the EU before Türkiye??? (islamophobia is how)

Sport deranges people sometimes. The same people who'd abuse an Irish singer if they went to Eurovision and feel all righteous about it, will be all "Ahhhh but the poor wee football lads want to win points and the poor fellas can't be expected to stand up and not play. Sure they love the football!"

Anyone else a bit disgusted by the self congratulatory back patting Irish people are doing over the Macklemore/Dead Sheeran thing?

I just signed the petition to #stopthegame No to a change of venue. No to forcing players to play a game they don't want to play. No to sportswashing. No to bending for genocidal murderers. my.uplift.ie/petitions/pe... @uplift.ie

Not for nothing, but naming your development company after an object that seems harmless and natural but is actually pretty damaging to its local ecosystem is pretty hilarious.