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Donal Coffey

@donalcoffey.bsky.social
2.3K followers 434 following 2K posts

Constitutional law, legal history. Assistant Prof in Maynooth University, Ireland.

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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 3h
Think of how much better his poetry would be if he had used AI.
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dwmalone.bsky.social @dwmalone.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
We are on strike today, so you don't get a Maths Week Joke. I will give you a picture of a Möbius strip, which may be a good symbol for collective negotiations: it is never two-faced and if you try to divide it by splitting it down the middle, it remains united!
A Mobius strip.
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Public sector workers are striking today for a credible approach to pay that protects living standards. Hopefully the Government finally gets the message of how serious an issue this is to union members.
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Elizabeth Boyle @thecelticist.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
I have logged out of my email, shut my laptop, & closed my books. Solidarity with the teachers, nurses, firefighters, librarians, doctors, special needs assistants, administrators, prison officers, heritage workers, midwives ... We have strength together! ✊️🇮🇪 #Spéirghorm #Speirgorm jrnl.ie/7191256
jrnl.ie
The largest strike in 15 years is happening on Wednesday. Here's everything you need to know
Which services will be impacted, which won’t and why is the action happening in the first place?
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Dónal Hassett @donalh.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
Solidarity with colleagues in Edinburgh who are being treated terribly by their employer. A reminder to all higher education workers on this side of the Irish Sea why you need to join the union and participate in our pickets tomorrow.
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
The Article 2 ground here is potentially interesting: Supreme Court will hear Brazilian woman’s case over Irish naturalisation www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/co...
irishtimes.com
Supreme Court will hear Brazilian woman’s case over Irish naturalisation
Danielle Caroline Cordeiro Sousa Diniz was born in Brazil in 1995 and came to Ireland in 2006
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Proofs for the upcoming Hart volume...
'Moore v Attorney-General for the Irish Free 
State (1935) and British Coal Corporation 
v The King (1935): Conventions and the 
Constitution of Empire' by me.
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Gavan Reilly @gavreilly.com · 12/10/2026
Bit of positive news to start the week: the online voter registration system voter.ie is now live nationwide (having previously worked only for Dubliners) - now anyone in the State can register or update their details on the electoral register in a couple of minutes using only their PPS number.
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
I think it was "small gun".
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Ha, didn't realise you were in the room Joe. Some great stories.
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
My cycle route to work is pretty scenic.
Sun rising over Dublin Bay, stacks to the right side.
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"Things I do not understand why the Irish State is spending public money on advertising" - an occasional series...
A billboard announcing Ireland's Presidency of the Council of the EU
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UCD Press @ucdpress.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
🔗 Preorder at www.ucdpress.ie/page/detail/... New Zealand’s Irish Revolution examines the dominion’s relationship with Ireland, discussing notions of ‘home’, diaspora, identity, and belonging, and reveals new details about the lives and ideas of Irish residents and their descendants.
ucdpress.ie
New Zealand’s Irish Revolution
Offering original New Zealand perspectives on the Irish Revolution from the third Home Rule crisis to the establishment of the Irish Free State, this collection explores the political, social, and cul...
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I don't think this is correct. Clongowes Woods has a single fee structure for boarders, so doesn't distinguish between Irish boarders and others: www.clongowes.net/admissions/f...
clongowes.net
Fees | Independent School Kildare | Clongowes Wood College
Bursaries and sibling discounts available. No VAT on school fees.
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Which obviously raises the question: "why in Ireland are we subsidising the education of British kids in private schools, when the public school sector is so in need of funds?"
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Elizabeth Boyle @thecelticist.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Members @ifut.bsky.social staged a 1-hour walkout today at Maynooth as part of the Irish public sector pay dispute. Grateful also to the Postgraduate Workers' Organisation for their support. Solidarity with our colleagues in other unions who have begun working to contract. Power to the people! ✊️
Members of Maynooth University Postgraduate Workers' Organisation supporting the 1-hour walkout by the Irish Federation of University Teachers. A crowd of IFUT members and supporters gather while staging a one-hour work stoppage as part of the Irish public sector pay dispute. IFUT members and supporters gather during a one-hour work stoppage. A flag from the Climate Justice University Union is prominent in the bottom half of the photo.
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Dónal Hassett @donalh.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Great turnout for our one hour IFUT work stoppage today at Maynooth, part of the broader public sector campaign for fair pay and working conditions. We wre joined by a great cohort from the Postgraduate Workers' Organisation. Now I have to source some intimidating bunting for the picket...
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Anchorite's cell, Fore.
The interior of a Church with a cucifix inlaid on the floorA spartan cell
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
My kids still haven't been to a home game where Ireland have lost. I have had to explain to them that this isn't normal.
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Mary Gilmartin @marygilmartin.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Work stoppage for @ifut.bsky.social members. Monday. 12-1. Part of public sector industrial action across Ireland. www.independent.ie/irish-news/s...
independent.ie
Schools likely to shut due to strike as unions tell minister there is ‘no basis for us to engage in negotiation’
Parents receive messages warning of disruption on October 14
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Maynooth south campus in autumn.
A quad with a reddining of ivy in the side of a building.
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Glendalough yesterday.
A lake nestled between two hills, a shrub in foreground. The sky has a scattering of clouds.
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Why don't we just build a full university in Derry?
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
If you click into the article and read it, then it counts for the metrics that they track, which justifies continued employment. I realised I was getting nothing from those columns except irritation, so I just stopped reading her.
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Maynooth in autumn.
A quad with foliage starting to colour red.
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Pauric and Diego vote out Anna and then Carla, Pauric takes the cash? #TraitorsIRL
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Clever move by President Connolly - by referring to the text of the Constitution, she cannot be accused of trying to intervene on policy grounds. www.rte.ie/news/ireland...
She added: "He asked me my thoughts on the North (Northern Ireland), and I referred back to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 and consensus.

"And again, it was handy to have the Constitution because that’s set out in our Constitution that that issue will be resolved through consent.

"He asked me specifically, would it be resolved during my lifetime and I said I hoped it would.

"He made a joke about age, but a complimentary joke I might add, but we went back to the issue in relation to that, I would like to see it in my lifetime.

"But I went back a number of times to the constitution."
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Interesting. I tried to track it down, and the landing page for it is here: www.rte.ie/radio/radio1... but the audio doesn't work on it. It looks like the series had a podcast run as well, but it doesn't have this episode.
rte.ie
Miriam meets..... Moore and Michael McDowell
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
The Chief Justice launched our new Research Centre for Legal History today, and we had great papers by colleagues afterwards. We're looking forward to interesting work in the future.
The Chief Justice at a lecternSome colleagues at the morning session in front of the room.
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Can I ask what map that 2nd image is from?
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Fossa are going senior!
A view from Fitzgerald Stadium when Fossa win the Kerry Intermediate Championship
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
This is why she was elected.
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
We are launching the Research Centre for Legal Historyon 16.09.26. I am delighted to say that we have a great line up of incredible speakers. We have a very limited number of spaces in the room, but wanted to open it up to the wider legal history community www.eventbrite.com/e/2000181837...
eventbrite.com
Research Centre for Legal History Launch
This event is the launch the Mayooth University School of Law and Criminology's newly established Research Centre for Legal History.
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
It's been a bit hectic with work this week, but just to note: (a) the news about the LGFA and, seperately, citizenship is not good, (b) nothing is over yet, (c) Ireland is a country where officials respond (sometimes only respond) to pressure, so (d) contact your reps.
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Troy Parrott scores on his Champions League debut!
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
We are launching the Research Centre for Legal Historyon 16.09.26. I am delighted to say that we have a great line up of incredible speakers. We have a very limited number of spaces in the room, but wanted to open it up to the wider legal history community www.eventbrite.com/e/2000181837...
eventbrite.com
Research Centre for Legal History Launch
This event is the launch the Mayooth University School of Law and Criminology's newly established Research Centre for Legal History.
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Nothing like an objective source to weigh up the pros and cons...
An email from Currencyfair with the subject line 'Wise vs Currencyfair: which is right for your transfer?'
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I disagree.
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I think I'm going to be butchering the Irish language in a short clip on TG4 in a bit talking about the proposed citizenship changes.
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
That's about three quarters of a Crosscountry train in the UK.
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Interesting comparative riff on Mozart's 'Don Giovanni', Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata', and John Field's nocturnes by Alice Sara Ott at the Rheingau Music Festival last night.
The exterior of Schloss Johanisberg, the world's first riesling winery.
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
We're going to need a bigger bike shed...
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Sam Tranum @samtranum.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
So maintain fuel excise cuts to subsidise driving more, and raise public transport fares -- is that where we are at with transport policy atm
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Someone should commission a series based on Mantel's 'A Place of Greater Safety'.
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Taking the kids to see Coyote v Acme. As it currently stands, they are the only children in the cinema.
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UK Constitutional Law Association @ukcla.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Ben Yong: The Civil Service: A Public Good, Not the Enemy Within ukconstitutionallaw.org/2026/08/27/b...
ukconstitutionallaw.org
Ben Yong: The Civil Service: A Public Good, Not the Enemy Within
Reform Party MP Danny Kruger is concerned. The UK, he says, has ‘a bloated, paralysed centre of government and a mutinous bureaucracy’; and that ‘Real power is held not by the elected government bu…
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
For the week that's in it: youtu.be/3xwF2kUewQw?...
youtu.be
1985 - Petite 990 typewriter - Who remembers? #dollyparton #ireland #fancyashift #irish
YouTube video by Fancy a Shift? 💋☘️
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Pat Gilroy in the Irish Times today. He's right about Dublin. Once you split them up though, the population variance is much less acute. Why don't we trial it for 5 years or so and see how it goes? (www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic...)
Nearly six years on, Gilroy isn’t for rowing back. GAA growth in the capital needs more clubs and more land and, of course, more housing, but official predictions are that Dublin will have a population of over two million by 2050. Gilroy feels that will inevitably impact on the playing fields.

“Unless we’re absolute idiots, Dublin should win everything. If Dublin gets itself properly organised, which it will, that will happen,” he said. “I laugh when people go on about the tradition of the counties. Who put the counties there? The British. We didn’t have counties before that, we had túatha. The túatha was more or less like a GAA club. Why are we so wedded to the county system – a British system?
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Legal History Blog @legalhistoryblog.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
dlvr.it
Bremer on the Judges Bill and Administering the Courts
Emily S. Bremer, Notre Dame Law School, has posted Making Our Ministry of Justice, which is to appear in Notre Dame Law Review Reflection: William Howard Taft (LC) This Essay evaluates the Judiciary Act of 1925 from an administrative law perspective. It argues that principles ordinarily associated with administrative governance pervade the law's origin, purpose, means, and effect. The cumulative result was to transform the Supreme Court from an appellate court of last resort into a ministry of justice, i.e., an agency at the head of a hierarchically organized federal judicial branch.  --Dan Ernst 
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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
My pet hobby horse is that anyone scheduling a meeting should have to provide a figure for the hourly rate of all participants and then justify that 'spend' before proceeding.
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