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Orla

@somebogwitch.bsky.social
3.1K followers 536 following 613 posts

Irish environmentalist with a day job in make believe, fantasy fiction and speculative stories. Lesbian on main talking ecology, mental health, queer politics, audiobooks, ttrpgs and Gaeilge sí/iad she/they orlanidhuill.com

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Orla @somebogwitch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
This is actually penance I've decided 💀🕯️😷
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Orla @somebogwitch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Its basically a hate crime
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Philip Boucher-Hayes @philipb-h.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Ireland imports 80% of its wheat. Not great food security. Concentration on livestock farming elbowed Irish wheat out. Imported wheat and flour add considerably to the cost of living crisis. But new crop science opens the door to Irish grown wheat. Listen: 👉 www.rte.ie/listen/clip/...
rte.ie
Food Security: Bread
Only the tiniest fraction of the flour needed to bake the 50kg of bread we eat a year is grown and milled in Ireland, and the cost of what we import is sky rocketing. We take a look at what needs to b...
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Darach Ó Séaghdha @darach.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
This week for my #calling353 series in @thejournal.ie I look at Seán Ó Cuirínn’s translation of Dracula into Irish. (I’m doing all spooky topics for October!) The tale behind the Irish translation of Dracula is something to really get your teeth into jrnl.ie/7180942
jrnl.ie
The tale behind the Irish translation of Dracula is something to really get your teeth into
The scholar who carried out the translation was so respected that he was approached by the government and asked to take his pick of novels.
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Carol Ballantine @cballantine.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
This is written to fly under the radar, from today’s Sunday Independent (Ireland). The press council upheld a complaint about an offensive and transphobic opinion column by Brenda Power. Sindo was required to publish the decision. @mams4transrights.bsky.social @jesalady.bsky.social
A half page article from the Sunday independent with the headline OMB2590 A woman and the Sunday independent.
The article outlines the complaint, the appeal and the decision. 
The complaint relates to an opinion column deploring the fact that an unnamed td provided a character reference for a man convicted of sexual violence against children. A sentence in the column argued that this case threw light on the possibility that a man would “identify as a woman” in order to commit sexual violence.
The press council concluded that “a reference to a protected group [trans people] in this context should have been extremely carefully scrutinised”. It found that the Sunday independent was in violation of principle 8 of the press council code of practice.
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Orla @somebogwitch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
There are many things to resent weaselly AI bros for but today's is making me side with the Pope again. I'm a traumatised Irish person, I shouldn't have to sit here saying "well he is making one of the stronger intellectual public contributions" or "actually he is technically elected" FREE ME
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David Smyth 🦇🌳 @david-smyth-eco.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
There's something resetting about woodlands you can get lost in
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Orla @somebogwitch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Or screenshots of tiktok comment sections
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Orla @somebogwitch.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The last of the honeysuckle flowers on @wildacres.bsky.social nature reserve #wildflowerhour
Honeysuckle flowers and berries on the vine
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Orla @somebogwitch.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
So he's still at it 🫡
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Orla @somebogwitch.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
This debate is only just getting started nationally
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John Doyle @johndoyle.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Just a week until Before the Vote is available. It's heartening to be hearing positive feedback already from the advance copies. Looking forward to discussing the research further with people at the launches in Dublin on Sep 30th, Belfast Oct 1st, Derry and Cork later that month. Event links below
Stacked copies of the new upcoming book Before the Vote by John DoyleA graphic of reviews of the new upcoming book Before the Vote by John Doyle by Brendan O'Leary, Séamus McGuinness and Cathy Gormley-Heenan
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Irish Environmental Network @irishenvnet.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
PEACEPLUS CORE project launched to strengthen cross-border environmental cooperation www.ien.ie/peaceplus-co...
ien.ie
PEACEPLUS CORE project launched to strengthen cross-border environmental cooperation - Irish Environmental Network
Left to right in the photo are: Karen Ciesielski, CEO of Irish Environmental Network; Liam Caffrey, Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht; Gina McIntyre, CEO of SEUPB; John ...
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Dr. SkySkull @drskyskull.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This is just a spectacular unintentional self-own
Dude on Threads: If you hate on ai, you better be pretty damn good at whatever you're doing
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Louise @selkies.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Sorry something must have been lost in translation, they're saying you don't need to speak Irish to be Minister for the Gaeltacht (representing the native Irish speakers of Ireland and their very specific interests), but you DO need to speak Irish if you just want to live in Ireland and are foreign
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Siobhán McElduff @siobhanmcelduff.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Eoin O'Malley lecturing about other people getting positions and being promoted widely on what they represent, rather than their own ability and achievements, is really something to see.
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Jack Kennedy @jackkennedy.ie · 31/08/2026
I noticed last week that O'Malley signed the open letter supporting Nathan Cofnas because of course he did
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Claire Mullaly @clairemullaly.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Andy Burnham ruling out a border poll promised in the Good Friday Agreement while UK Home Office deploy racist packs of Border Force to Grand Central Station in Belfast tells you everything you need to know about an immoral, dangerous, UK Gov pushing hate, division & borders in a tinderbox. [1/n]
Border Force at Belfast Grand Central Station.
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Emma Patterson @humnutter.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
"The infinite scroll is little more than a well you can drink from forever but never be quenched, like something from an Irish myth that ends in much the same way: children suffering cruel fates at the hands of cruel gods." Oof.
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Orla @somebogwitch.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
The gutting of professional journalism can be seen all over. No copy editing, copy pasting press releases in place of articles, wholesale (and ironic) plagiarism, but also a fundamental lack of ethics. It goes beyond "look out a window" if its a outspoken eugenist telling you it's raining.
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John Doyle @johndoyle.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
This is clearly personal for Micheál Martin, but his position is unpopular with the party membership. The grassroots do not expect him to demand that the UK call a referendum, but Fianna Fáil are now the only party in the Dáil who actively oppose planning. www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...
irishtimes.com
Micheál Martin says talk of Border poll makes him go ‘bananas’
Taoiseach said party colleagues should concentrate on the benefits of the Shared Island initiative
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John Doyle @johndoyle.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
I had a few mesages in response to this. My take is that if someone who was involved at a senior level in loyalist groups during the conflict can see themselves, their community and their identity welcomed in a traditional Irish music event, then we can together design a new inclusive Ireland
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Karl McDonald @karlusss.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Hate to admit this person from Non-Dublin has some points here. Nowhere is the Dead Dublin Theory better illustrated than the proliferation of new pubs done up to look like old pubs imo. Toxic to native fauna but serving the customer base it seeks. www.westernpeople.ie/opinion/dubl...
westernpeople.ie
Dublin is now a shell of its once former self - opinion - Western People
Dublin is now a shell of its once former self - opinion - Western People
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Pádraic Fogarty @whittledaway.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
I spoke to @newstalkfm.bsky.social yesterday about fires, land use and the urgent need for native forests on our hills www.newstalk.com/podcasts/hig...
newstalk.com
What needs to be done to prevent future wildfires? | Newstalk
A wildfire on Slievenamon in Co Tipperary has "reduced significantly", according to Tipperary Cou...
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Nate O @nateo.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
British public wrong about nearly everything, survey shows

Research shows public opinion often deviates from facts on key social issues including crime, benefit fraud and immigration


Jonathan Paige
Tuesday 09 July 2013 15:16 BST
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Orla @somebogwitch.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
👀
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Orla @somebogwitch.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
There's this undercurrent of grief in a lot of the local folklore that feels like the shadow of the famine but is hard to pinpoint
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Orla @somebogwitch.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Only one generation ever lived in that house, I'm on one side and the other side is still standing but the haunted one has been abandoned for 60 years. The stories are often about fairies, the sound of music, but also ghosts. Like how its both when fairies take sick children or carry drowned sailors
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Orla @somebogwitch.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
My mam's planning a PhD (possibly) on the subject next year, buts there's a lot of strangely disjointed folk memory here even though it was less severely affected by the famine than say Connemara.
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Orla @somebogwitch.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
She could speak to it better than me. But specifically the folklore about coffin rests just doesn't match what we see on the ground. I've been removing gunnera from what I think is part of the route and we live next to a "haunted" ruined house that the land commission built on a coffin rest.
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Neil Jackman @neiljackman.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Barry Heneghan is just pulling the same old stunt that Mattie McGrath and the Healy Raes always do. 1. Say something stupid. Ideally in the summer when the papers are hungry. 2. Everyone talks about you non-stop=🙌attention🙌 @ciaraioch.bsky.social had a perfect diagramme of this for the Healy Raes
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Orla @somebogwitch.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
static.klipy.com
Fairly Odd Parents: Congratulations Cheer
ALT: Fairly Odd Parents: Congratulations Cheer
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Nikki M @powderedsugarbear.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Rebecca Black was right, it’s Friday.
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Orla @somebogwitch.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
No riots for Natasha. None for my two friends who separately had male family members abuse them and both got less than 3 years custodial. One judge said he didn't want to ruin the abusers life as he began the abuse while he was also underage. He was also a cadet.
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John Doyle @johndoyle.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
It was encouraging to see Irish political leadership from Simon Harris, Mary-Lou McDonald, and @cianocallaghantd.bsky.social. It was gratifying to hear all three cite my work on the subvention as well as the work of my colleagues in Ulster University, the ARINS project and ESRI's Seamus McGuinness.
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Orla @somebogwitch.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
There's an interesting example of this phenomenon out in Achill that my mother has been studying, with a coffin path that was possibly actual a pilgrimage not a coffin path (or not exclusively) and there's that blurring of fairy lore with ghosts that happens sometimes
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Orla @somebogwitch.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
What influence do you think the famine had on that changing understanding?
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Orla @somebogwitch.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Orchids in the heat wave
Wild orchids in a grassland under a blue sky
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John Doyle @johndoyle.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
The Dáil is currently giving statements on the fiscal implications of a United Ireland, Táinste Simon Harris opened with a positive message that well received by Mary-Lou McDonald who spoke after. Both referenced research by myself and others from DCU and Ulster University on the all island economy
oireachtas.ie
Oireachtas TV live
The Oireachtas TV channel relays the business of our national parliament to over 1.1 million homes across Ireland
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the Mountain Goats @themountaingoats.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
the excommunication of the convert JD Vance
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Orla @somebogwitch.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
I've gotten so used to video formats, I don't feel like I'm funny in writing anymore
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Orla @somebogwitch.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Catholic. Consider: - typified by shame and suffering that should be hidden - made evil from creation but can be redeemed in certain circumstances - the symbolism of transfiguration
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Shamim Malekmian @shamimmalekmian.eurosky.social · 24/06/2026
Even as Ireland gets harsher with people seeking asylum, anti-immigrant groups rail against new asylum law Academics and politicians say that’s because, for a small cohort, there’s an existential risk in admitting to their audience that the rules have hardened. www.dublininquirer.com/even-as-irel...
dublininquirer.com
Even as Ireland gets harsher with people seeking asylum, anti-immigrant groups rail against new asylum law
Academics and politicians say that’s because, for a small cohort, there’s an existential risk in admitting to their audience that the rules have hardened.
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Daithi @daithig.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
How many would support the idea of handing over your passport or your child's passport, or other ID, to a tech company. That's the real question and not one likely to be asked in polls like this
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Jack Kennedy @jackkennedy.ie · 18/06/2026
"lobbyist says that doing what their clients want is the most important thing in the universe" is not news. It would be news if they said anything else
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Rob @robosullivan.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
You could address the environmental impact of AI and I still wouldn't use it because of the plagiarism. You could pay those whose work was stolen and I still wouldn't use it because it's unreliable. You could make it reliable and I still wouldn't use it because I value my cognitive abilities.
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Orla @somebogwitch.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
The temptation to be Captain when I was buying filler cannot be overstated
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ah lads @popeurbanfox.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
screwfix dot ie you have ideas above your station
selection menu for your style when creating an account with screwfix (which they make you do to buy anything online, i just want a doorstop ffs). alongside mr, mrs, dr etc they have sir, captain, lord, lady, dame
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Orla @somebogwitch.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Tragic to hear that all the journals in the world spontaneously disappeared and British parents are being forced to work out their homophobia towards their own adult children in the national press
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Orla @somebogwitch.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
At its best and worst it was earnest.
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