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Sinéad Mercier

@sineadmercier.bsky.social
492 followers 393 following 56 posts

Militant optimist and mam. PhD researcher at UCD Law School PROPERTY [IN]JUSTICE project on decolonising international energy law. Rarely online. More at: sineadmercier.com - Gaeilge agus fáilte.

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Sinéad Mercier @sineadmercier.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
The Silk Road Café is a place our family goes to nearly every Sunday. Lovely, kind staff & one of the few spots in the city centre that's a welcoming place for babies & kids. The place is a core part of Dublin's cosmopolitan life. Appalling to treat them like this. www.thejournal.ie/silk-road-ca...
thejournal.ie
Owner 'furious' as busy café at Dublin Castle ordered to shut down for EU presidency
The Silk Road Café was looking forward to celebrating 25 years in business in July before it was told it must close for six months.
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Sinéad Mercier @sineadmercier.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Same with turf. The blue-greens never understood that the whole point of turf-cutting and access to the bog was to be energy sufficient in a context of the remaining tree cover on the island being privately owned by the Big House. What was offered in place had to be a form of energy sovereignty.
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Kevin Hargaden @kevinhargaden.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
An important argument from @sineadmercier.bsky.social about the ways in which the "Ireland should have nuclear" discourse is a classic case of structured climate delayism www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...
irishtimes.com
Renewed talk of nuclear power is a ‘distraction tactic’
Why are a number of centrist Irish politicians suddenly aligning their views on nuclear with the US and European far right?
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Barry McMullin @autofac.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
"Renewed talk of nuclear power is a ‘distraction tactic’" Great perspectives from @sineadmercier.bsky.social! www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...
irishtimes.com
Renewed talk of nuclear power is a ‘distraction tactic’
Why are a number of centrist Irish politicians suddenly aligning their views on nuclear with the US and European far right?
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An Taisce @antaisce.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Still time to register for this morning's webinar! #datacentres #sustainableenergy #climateaction
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Sinéad Mercier @sineadmercier.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
A real pleasure, as always, to attend the annual Law & Environment Conference at @lawucc.bsky.social - it's the highlight of Ireland's environment and climate law and policy social calendar. Congratulations to Owen again for a wonderful event. Honoured to have been part of this panel.
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Sinéad Mercier @sineadmercier.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
So kind Aoife, thank you. Thank you too to @ancloganmag.bsky.social for publishing the original and kindly allowing the repost. I feel very lucky to have had a place to write about Irish republicanism, constitutional theory, ecofeminism, David Graeber & Irish myth all at once! #TheMorrigan is right!
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Hannah Daly @hannahdaly.ie · 02/04/2026
My latest column: Ireland’s data centre policy will drive significantly greater fossil fuel use, contradicting multiple statutory and policy targets which require rapid reductions instead. www.irishtimes.com/environment/...
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Duke University Press @dukepress.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Save 30% on #NewBook "Wild Tides" by Patrick Brodie, which traces Ireland’s shift from reckless pre-2008 real estate development to a post-crisis investment in media infrastructure, revealing how financialization alters the daily life of a nation. buff.ly/NVSBjbJ
Cover of Wild Tides: Media Infrastructure and Financial Crisis in Ireland by Patrick Brodie. At the bottom of the cover there is a photograph of three empty houses in disrepair with abandon building materials and gravel in the foreground. The sky is dark and stormy. Above this, the cover is a solid dark teal green. The title is written in a white sans-serif type in all caps. The subtitle is below in the same type. The author’s name is below in a white serif font.
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An Taisce @antaisce.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
Happy St Patrick's Day ☘️ A great day to celebrate being green. Why not take a moment to enjoy the tiny natural wonders that surround us. They make our world infinitely better in ways we probably don't even realise. #StPatricksDay #SaveThePlanet #ClimateAction
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 12/03/2026
Ireland's new fossil-fuelled #Petrotech data center will increase Ireland's **total** (everything, not just the power sector) emissions by ~1% Absolutely nuts. A 1% national increase - for what? Come on boosters, explain why this is worth it 🫠 www.linkedin.com/posts/bgamaz...
View Boris Gamazaychikov’s  graphic link
Boris GamazaychikovBoris Gamazaychikov
   • 1stVerified • 1st
Head of AI Sustainability @ SalesforceHead of AI Sustainability @ Salesforce
32m • Edited •  32 minutes ago • Edited • Visible to anyone on or off LinkedIn

The gas-powered data center craze has come to Europe.

Yesterday, a 110MW off-grid AI data center outside of Dublin was switched on - and it's powered entirely by fossil fuels.

Developers went with natural gas engines (specifically RICE) to bypass the grid connection queue. They claim the engines "could" be switched to HVO, and that the project will attempt to connect to the grid "when possible".

What does this mean for Ireland's climate goals? According to my estimates, this single project will increase the entire country's annual GHG emissions by ~1%.

Assumptions:
- The project seems to be using Rolls Royce (mtu) 4000 Series RICE which have an electrical efficiency of 44% https://lnkd.in/eRX4PRuf
- Modifying the NREL life cycle gas emissions factor with this efficiency yields 656.75 gCO2e/kWh https://lnkd.in/gfgs2X6P
- Assuming a 90% capacity factor because AI hyperscale data centers run near 24/7 to recoup massive GPU costs
- Ireland’s 2024 GHG emissions = 53.8 million tCO2e https://lnkd.in/ejjRgRpE

hashtag#DataCenters hashtag#Sustainability hashtag#ArtificialIntelligenceRoyce (mtu) 4000 Series RICE (natural gas)
Al Data Center
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Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Globally, mycorrhizal fungal communities move roughly a billion tons of carbon per year into Earth's soils, above all in old-growth forests. Wild, natural ecosystems are the bedrock of a healthy planet. It's time we started recognising and acting on that. share.google/afcBcyPH7lVc...
share.google
How an underground fungal map of the world's oldest, slowest-growing rainforest trees can boost Earth's resilience
The temperate rainforests of the Chilean Coast Range are home to a spectacular array of life: iridescent blue lizards, tiny wild cats called kodkods, and curly vines of waxy red bellflowers. Towering ...
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Sinéad Mercier @sineadmercier.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Feeling like King Canute
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Saoirse McHugh @saoirsemc.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Did you know that homes pay twice as much for electricity as data centers do? It's good that that government are helping out the poor scrappy start ups like Amazon and Google 🥹 m.independent.ie/business/per...
m.independent.ie
‘It’s a slap in the face’ – Irish households are paying twice as much for electricity as data centres
Households in Ireland are paying almost twice as much for their electricity as data centres.
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Donncha O’Connell @donnchalaw.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Very good piece by Dr Cian Ó Concubhair on the new Garda powers bill - interestingly, when the Commission on the Future of Policing recommended codification of these powers it did so thinking the preparatory work would be done by the Law Reform Commission www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...
irishexaminer.com
New Garda powers bill could conceal abuses
Gardaí can consistently deny racial profiling because there is no data on who is stopped and searched — but the new powers bill doesn't allow this data to be collected. Why, asks Cian Ó Concubhair
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Saoirse McHugh @saoirsemc.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
The issue remains though. There should be no corporations given seaweed harvesting rights in Ireland my.uplift.ie/petitions/st...
my.uplift.ie
Stop a Canadian corporation harvesting huge forests of seaweed from the west coast
There should be a public consultation on this plan opening soon but lets gather signatures to demonstrate the fact that up and down the west coast, thousands of people don't want our seaweed rights gi...
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Sinéad Mercier @sineadmercier.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
overjoyed to see that government has decided to publish a massive amount of its new energy legislation in the final month of my energy law phd. words cannot describe.
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Sinéad Mercier @sineadmercier.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Post a pic of the venue where you saw your first concert and the band or artist.
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Sabrina Fernandes @sabrinafernandes.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
We will either end fossil fuel dependency and the predatory extractivist basis of global production, or they will end us through wars and ecological collapse - all at the same time.
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Aidan Fitzmaurice @fancyvegaspro.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
Do the people who are keen to point out Maduro is a bad guy think Trump wouldn't do this to a good guy?
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Property(In)Justice @property-injustice.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
📣Book Review Forum: Landscape, Law and Justice - 20 Years (eds. Jones, Strecker, Setten & Mitchell) by Michael Jones, @amandabyer.bsky.social, Benedetta Castiglioni, @sonyacotton.bsky.social, Luca Muscarà, Amy Stecker, Gunhild Setten & Don Mitchell www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
Book Review Forum: Landscape, Law and Justice - 20 Years
Published in Landscape Research (Ahead of Print, 2025)
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Sinéad Mercier @sineadmercier.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
Congratulations to the brilliant and lovely Dr. Raphael Ng'etich - watch this space he's already making waves! 🌳🍃🌊 His research is fascinating.
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Seán Patrick Donlan @spdonlan.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
'What we too rarely notice is how our legal education shapes the very categories through which we think. The result is not only that we produce different answers to similar questions, but that we often do not ask the same questions at all.' british-association-comparative-law.org/2025/11/28/r...
british-association-comparative-law.org
Reading Lists and Legal Traditions: Mapping How Legal Scholars Think Across Jurisdictions
A striking feature of legal education lies in the way it comes to feel natural to us. We easily forget that our training is rooted in a particular time and place. We know that law differs across th…
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Joe Noonan @joenoonan.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
"I never imagined a human being created by God would do this." www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Record settler attacks in West Bank opening up rifts within Israel
More than 260 settler attacks in October resulted in Palestinians being injured or having property damaged, according to the UN.
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Sinéad Mercier @sineadmercier.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Looking forward to facilitating this discussion on the launch of Patrick Bresnihan and Pat Brodie's fascinating new book 'From the Bog to the Cloud'. This evening at TU Dublin, 6:30-8pm. See you there!
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Sinéad Mercier @sineadmercier.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
A beautiful heartfelt essay by my mom Anne Gately Mercier aired on RTE's Sunday Miscellany last weekend. Outing the family as turf-cutters - but change is afoot where we once footed turf. www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...
rte.ie
One Step from the Bog by Anne Gately Mercier
A turf lorry, a father’s roots and becoming the proud owners of a Connemara bog
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Alan Kinsella @electionlit.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
From the 1990 Presidential Election
Is the Left Right for the Park? Do you want radical socialists to run the Presidency?
If Not vote no. 1 Brian lenihan
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Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 12/10/2025
This is an exact encapsulation of why I moved to Bluesky. No amount of handwringing in the Atlantic about how I owe some eternal Promethean suffering to the discourse is going to make me stay on a site I hate, that stopped doing anything for me professionally years ago.
Well – no. Bluesky may or may not be, as one centre-right friend who felt unwelcome put it, “self-righteous island”. But the idea that’s why we went is nonsense. That I’ve largely stopped posting on a site that’s done more to shape my career and social circle than the rest of the internet combined is less about avoiding rival opinions (I love arguing with people who are wrong!) than with the fact the site simply became unusable. It stopped generating the things (good jokes, interesting debate, clicks) I wanted; it became extremely good at generating the things (racists, pornbots, racist pornbots) I did not.
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Irish Examiner @irishexaminer.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
dlvr.it
Sarah Clancy: Flotillas show that ordinary people must be the antidote to toxic world powers
After arrest, imprisonment, and deportation from Israel, Sarah Clancy, an Irish Gaza flotilla participant, reflects on solidarity, conscience, and the power of ordinary people
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Property(In)Justice @property-injustice.bsky.social · 28/09/2025
We're hosting our final project event on 29 Sept. Land, Property and Spatial [In]Justice: Towards a Legal Geography of International Law W/ project team & stellar guest speakers who influenced us @amandabyer.bsky.social @sonyacotton.bsky.social @sineadmercier.bsky.social @elaj-ucd.bsky.social
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Property(In)Justice @property-injustice.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
Our first project PhD has officially graduated! Congratulations @sonyacotton.bsky.social for her research on the meaning of 'community' in international law, and its effects on legal standing + spatial justice in post-apartheid southern Africa! @amandabyer.bsky.social @sineadmercier.bsky.social
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Joe Noonan @joenoonan.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
This is a small but significant win for Ireland. bsky.app/profile/were...
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Democracy Challenged @democracychall.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
We’re thrilled that the @businesspost.bsky.social has published a major investigation based on findings from our @erc.europa.eu-funded project at @ucddublin.bsky.social. It shines a spotlight on how multinationals shift profits through Ireland. A thread👇 democracychallenged.com/2025/05/06/o...
democracychallenged.com
Our ERC Research Featured in The Business Post
We’re thrilled to share that The Business Post has published a detailed investigative report drawing on findings from our European Research Council-funded project at University College Dublin. The …
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JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
Thinking about historical parallels. People talk about coups and autogolpes, the fascist seizure of power in the 1930s, and there are resemblances. But there are other models we could think about.
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Sinéad Mercier @sineadmercier.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
Some amazing maslaigh here for feminist reclamation. www3.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gaeilge/focl...
www3.smo.uhi.ac.uk
Is Iomaí Duine ag Dia - lorg
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Emma Mitchell @silverpebble2.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
The colour pink has been shown to shift our brains away from fight or flight & into rest & digest. Here are some botanical pinks to let your eyes pause on for a while in case your Monday has stress in it:
A collection of pink garden flowers with hand written labels on a white fabric background
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Ali Sheridan @alisheridan.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
“Failure of a State to take appropriate action… including through fossil fuel production, fossil fuel consumption, the granting of fossil fuel exploration licences or the provision of fossil fuel subsidies — may constitute an internationally wrongful act which is attributable to that State.”
icj-cij.org
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Sinéad Mercier @sineadmercier.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
Time and politics are cyclical on this island.... www.bbc.com/news/uk-nort...
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Septima P. Snark @drsubini.blacksky.app · 15/11/2024
Re-learning from Auntie Audre and working to focus my rage with precision.
left side has a pic of audre lorde-black black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet, with hands by her face. right side white text on black background that says, "Women of Color in America have grown up within a symphony of anger at being silenced at being unchosen, at knowing that when we survive, it is in spite of a world that takes for granted our lack of humanness, and which hates our very existence outside of its service. And I say symphony rather than cacophony because we have had to learn to orchestrate those furies so that they do not tear us apart. We have had to learn to move through them and use them for strength and force and insight within our daily lives. Those of us who did not learn this difficult lesson did not survive. And part of my anger is always libation for my fallen sisters."left side: white text on black background, "Every woman has a well-stocked arsenal of anger potentially useful against those oppressions, personal and institutional, which brought that anger into being. Focused with precision it can become a powerful source of energy serving progress and change. And when I speak of change, I do not mean a simple switch of positions or a temporary lessening of tensions, nor the ability to smile or feel good. I am speaking of a basic and radical alteration in those assumptions underlining our lives. "
right side, pic of audre lorde-black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet, with hands in her pockets
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Sinéad Mercier @sineadmercier.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
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Financial Justice Ireland @financialjustice.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
This day next week! We'll host a panel discussing the Central Bank's trading of Israel’s 'war bonds' Featuring: Senator @aliceeire.bsky.social , Helen Mahony @ipsc.bsky.social, Faten Sourani (Trócaire), John Reynolds (Maynooth Law) 📣Spread the word! www.financialjustice.ie/get-involved...
financialjustice.ie
Webinar: Israeli bonds and the Central Bank | Financial Justice Ireland
Join Financial Justice Ireland for this webinar, where we will host a panel discussion on the Central Bank of Ireland’s continued trading of Israel’s government bonds. Israeli ‘war bonds’ …
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Sinéad Mercier @sineadmercier.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
The most immediate way to revitalise the Irish language and stem the flow of young people from rural Ireland would be to ban Airbnb.
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Joe Noonan @joenoonan.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
"The EU supplies at least a third of Israel’s arms imports and has its most comprehensive association agreement with the country. Conditional on respect for international law. If the political will exists, the EU has the means to act." - Josep Borrell, past EU Foreign Policy High Representative.
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Sinéad Mercier @sineadmercier.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
Does the popularity of Scandi girl style & hygge home decor reveal the people's desire for Folkhemmet? When democratic socialism is shut out from our everyday life - the workplace, politics, media - the longing for bread & roses finds expression in sheepskin throws & a classy mule/barrel jean combo.
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Sonya Cotton @sonyacotton.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
It was wonderful to have the Property[in]Justice gals (including @sineadmercier.bsky.social and @amandabyer.bsky.social) together again. Thank you so much @owenmcintyre.bsky.social for this brilliant conference, very impressed that you even managed to make the weather amazing for the event.
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Alan Greene @alangreene.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Call for Papers: The Irish Political Constitution. Symposium date: Friday 28th November 2025, NUI Merrion Square. Deadline for Abstracts: 30 May 2025 We have an agreement in principle to publish a special issue of the Irish Jurist containing papers presented at the symposium
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Joe Noonan @joenoonan.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
Choices in government.
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Sinéad Mercier @sineadmercier.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
A beautiful quote from Justine McCarthy in a beautiful paragraph in Diarmaid Ferriter's new book: "It is criticising that has brought about some of the most attractive features of modern Ireland" - bringing a little heart leap of hope for the future in these dark times ☀️
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