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Turlough Downes

@tdownes.bsky.social
378 followers 242 following 812 posts

Full Prof of Astro & Maths, DCU. Star formation, plasmas, mathematical & computational modeling. Head of School of Mathematical Sciences. Views my own.

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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Fabulous straw man set-up here from Pat Leahy of the Irish Times 🙂 Who on earth is calling for a border poll to be held right now?! Otoh, we do need to get on with all the conversations for a united Ireland now. #spéirghorm www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
irishtimes.com
Pat Leahy: Any Celtic crusade against the imperialists in London would be very unwise
Remember, flags and anthems and all that is the easy stuff
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Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
European gas is above €82/MWh - the highest since late 2022. Hormuz remains largely shut and gas storage is at 68% going into winter. None of this started in Europe but we pay for it. The only exit is using less gas. Heat pumps, electrified industry, insulation.
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
A former Taoiseach said (paraphrasing) that when it comes to Ireland the British aren't malign, but rather they are idiots. Whatever you think of that, it's a useful lens through which to view tech companies. Many, including some of the wealthiest, are not as smart as they may seem. 👇
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
"The report found that the Government should consider the feasibility of a new scheme to reduce prices for large energy intensive business users." Logic suggests the opposite: we're having difficulty developing our grid infrastructure so we need to discourage big users. www.rte.ie/news/busines...
rte.ie
Forum recommends tackling energy costs for businesses
Energy has been identified as the principal contributor to rising business costs by an advisory forum established by the Government.
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Ah the UK failing to abide by its own agreements yet again. It is just not a trustworthy state. www.rte.ie/news/
rte.ie
News | Latest Breaking News Stories & Headlines | RTÉ
Get all of the latest breaking local and international news stories as they happen, with up to the minute updates and analysis, from Ireland's National Broadcaster
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Green Collective @greencollective.io · 17/08/2026
Renewable generation and discharging storage equalled 23% of yesterday's electricity demand, with a peak of 41% at 11:45. Fossil fuel generation (mostly gas) equalled 57% of demand. 0% of generation was exported, 20% of demand was met by imports.
A stacked area chart of the electricity generation mix on the island of Ireland with the following fuel types: battery, pumped storage, biomass, waste-to-energy, hydro, solar, wind, oil, and gas. There is also a black line showing electricity demand.

Footnote reads: All-island figures. Excludes rooftop solar. Source: EirGrid, SEMO
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Green Collective @greencollective.io · 12/08/2026
Time for a little round-up of our July reporting... 🧵 First, the basics: how much of electricity demand each source (wind, solar, gas, etc.) meet? 🍃 ☀️ 🌊 🗻 🔋 🏭️ 🔥 bsky.app/profile/gree...
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Well, yes. What other assessment approach makes sense, apart from in-person invigilated exams? We need a serious hiring drive throughout education for this - probably mostly focused on the humanities. AI products can be let pay their way through tax for this. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Danish pupils will have to orally defend essays in attempt to combat AI cheating
Government introduces several measures, including monitoring of computers, for pupils aged 16 to 19
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
But of course they are. If the bans were going to be effective it is likely the social media companies would be fighting them much harder.
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Green Collective @greencollective.io · 27/07/2026
Renewable generation and discharging storage equalled 60% of yesterday's electricity demand, with a peak of 72% at 09:45. Fossil fuel generation (mostly gas) equalled 30% of demand. 1% of generation was exported, 11% of demand was met by imports.
A stacked area chart of the electricity generation mix on the island of Ireland with the following fuel types: battery, pumped storage, biomass, waste-to-energy, hydro, solar, wind, oil, and gas. There is also a black line showing electricity demand.

Footnote reads: All-island figures. Excludes rooftop solar. Source: EirGrid, SEMO
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Maigh Eo abú. An foireann is fearr inniu, gan amhras #KerMay
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Lovely thread. And as for What We Owe The Future ... please. That stuff fails even the most basic tests.
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Well that was hilariously bad 😅
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Well, it's fair to say that (much to my amazement) the Dubs were the better team on the pitch today. I didn't think they had that kind of performance in them yet! Poor officiating, and some poor shooting denied us. Still. Sin mar atá sé. Anois. Up Mayo!! #GAA
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 06/07/2026
as genai proliferates, it has become difficult to avoid it. at @aial.ie, we're compiling a list of genai-free tools, libraries & websites to support research across tasks;grammar/spell check, coding/code review, data analysis (esp large scale text classification) & graphing/data visualisation recs?
static.klipy.com
Freemedou: We'd Love To Hear It
ALT: Freemedou: We'd Love To Hear It
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Green Collective @greencollective.io · 23/06/2026
Ireland enjoyed clear, sunny skies on Sunday for the summer solstice ☀️ On the grid, winds and imports were low. This resulted in relatively little congestion, allowing solar farms handle over 30% of the island's electricity needs for a solid six hours straight -- a first on the Irish grid ☘️ 📊
A stacked area chart of the renewable electricity generation mix on the island of Ireland with the following fuel types: battery, pumped storage, biomass, waste-to-energy, hydro, solar, wind, and gas. The y axis indicates the percentage of demand being met by each source.

Footnote reads: All-island figures. Excludes rooftop solar. Source: EirGrid, SEMOA map of Ireland with markers representing generation and dispatch down at solar farms. Markers are sized in proportion to the total available power at each farm and are divided in three segments: generation, energy lost to curtailment, and energy lost to transmission constraints.

Footnote reads: All-island figures. Excludes solar farms not registered with SEMO. Excludes rooftop solar.
Source: SEMO
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Thomas Duffy @taesaveslives.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
underfunded there was no alternative (Nightjet used to run Paris-Berlin but got cancelled). Without the sleeper the rest of the trip is impossible. I still needed to be in Warsaw for a conference so what were my options? Well at least @eurostarnews.bsky.social consider their passengers, I'll take 2/
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Wow
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Green Collective @greencollective.io · 13/06/2026
Renewable generation and discharging storage equalled 65% of yesterday's electricity demand, with a peak of 81% at 14:45. Fossil fuel generation (mostly gas) equalled 31% of demand. 2% of generation was exported, 4% of demand was met by imports.
A stacked area chart of the electricity generation mix on the island of Ireland with the following fuel types: battery, pumped storage, biomass, waste-to-energy, hydro, solar, wind, and gas. There is also a black line showing electricity demand.

Footnote reads: All-island figures. Excludes rooftop solar. Source: EirGrid, SEMO
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Codfather #FBPE 🇫🇷🇪🇺 @codfather.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
This transition will affect roughly 2.5 million civil servants as part of a 2026 strategy to achieve "digital sovereignty." France already has a successful precedent; the national police force has operated 100,000 computers on Linux since 2008, proving that such a massive shift is feasible.
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
If Cuan did recommend something "similar to the UK" then that's appalling. Ireland is not the UK: we have a very much more educated, and less disadvantaged, population. VPNs will be widely used to circumvent this - regulate the companies, not the people. click.comms.irishtimes.com?qs=ABB7InYiO...
click.comms.irishtimes.com
Ireland could require digital ID to access porn websites
State agency suggests stricter age verification for online porn, similar to a law enacted in the UK in 2025
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Jaysus. I'm not much of a soccer fan, but that was a hell of a 2nd half. Nice one Ireland #COYGIG
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
@researchireland.ie is continuing a path laid down by the old (and old-fashioned) SFI in failing to work to build a national research ecosystem. Their strategy is something one might expect from a sectoral agency, not a national one. And that's been noticed www.irishtimes.com/ireland/educ...
irishtimes.com
University staff say €4.55bn research fund ignores arts and humanities
Letter to Min Higher Ed
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Simon McGarr @tupped.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
“Drawing borders on a map might make a fellow feel powerful and important. But to become a big important Empire fellow, you have to accept borders drawn all around inside your head too.” www.thegist.ie/the-gist-tra...
thegist.ie
The Gist: Trans rights are Data rights
A UK court has made a decision defining genders which has put it at odds with a less noticed, more important, decision from the CJEU. This is the Gist.
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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 29/05/2026
Great piece on the gullibility of the Irish state on AI.
irishexaminer.com
Why is Ireland's Government cheerleading for privately owned AI?
As Eric Schmidt found out recently , ordinary people are not as keen on AI as the industry is. James Lawless should take note, writes Liz Carolan
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
This ... is not true. Not really. Though it does require making a series of decisions that don't fit with most TD's world view.
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Wow. The UK has really gone to a very dark place indeed. Ireland needs to develop a strategy for managing a potentially very hostile neighbour (again).
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Seems like perhaps the "wage-price" spiral is more often a "price-wage" spiral.
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Interesting that the @irishtimes.com have given such top billing to the minutiae of the political shenanigans going on in the UK. They don't seem to want to give such profile to what's going on in Germany, or France, when the latter two are so important to Ireland's interests.
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
It would be just so good if the Irish State (including, obviously, the politicians) began to *actually* plan for a united Ireland. The Shared Island effort is great, and it has little to do with a united (or otherwise) Ireland. www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
irishtimes.com
Matthew O'Toole: Nigel Farage’s success gives Ireland an urgent deadline
At what point are citizens in the North entitled to say they do not want to live in a country run by Farage?
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
This is sort of a necessary response to the price hikes by corporates over the past two years - the price-wage spiral in full flow. www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...
irishtimes.com
Unions set to seek hefty increases in looming pay talks as spending pressures mount
€1bn ‘contingency reserve’ provided in budget for unforeseen spending requirements already used up
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anteangaeile.bsky.social @anteangaeile.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
Are you a speaker of Irish English? If so, would you share your thoughts on “only” with me for academic research? umfragen.tu-dortmund.de/index.php/42... Thank you very much!!!!🙏🙏🙏
umfragen.tu-dortmund.de
How do you feel about "only"?
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Ah yes - let's steal some impetus from actually doing something ambitious with renewables by drawing focus onto unproven technology (SMRs) which also requires around a decade in regulatory development before anyone can even put out a tender. Brilliant. www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...
irishtimes.com
Ireland should ‘examine seriously’ nuclear power option, says Taoiseach
Micheál Martin cites advances in technology and over-reliance on imported fossil fuels as factors for looking at nuclear power
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
Time to get an EV, if you can: #spéirgorm Further fuel protests expected before the autumn Budget, spokesmen say www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026...
irishtimes.com
Further fuel protests expected before the autumn Budget, spokesmen say
One, James Geoghegan, says Government package of supports will be running out by July
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
For so long Ireland has forgotten that the main reason for boosting GDP is to tax it and use the money to build quality of life. We forgot because, in the eighties and early nineties, things got *so* bad. By the 2000s we should haved moved on from that www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
irishtimes.com
The performance of Irishness for outside approval is finished
Kneecap, Sally Rooney and the comedian Vittorio Angelone ask a question the State has avoided for years: what is all of this for, if not for us?
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
My own home's solar story for this week: I imported 2.4 kWh of electricity, consumed 65.8 kWh (including car charging) and exported 16.4 kWh. It's not just utility scale solar that makes sense, and March - Sept are amazing months for solar in Ireland.
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Green Collective @greencollective.io · 25/04/2026
🚨 For the second day in a row, we have a new record in Irish solar! Output reached 1207MW shortly after 2pm, iching past yesterdays' 1179MW. With demand lower on the weekend this was equal to 29.5% of the island's electricity demand; *significantly* higher than yesterday's peak of 25.7%. ☀️ 📊
A stacked area chart of the electricity generation mix on the island of Ireland with the following fuel types: battery, pumped storage, biomass, waste-to-energy, hydro, solar, wind, and gas. There is also a black line showing electricity demand.

Footnote reads: All-island figures. Excludes rooftop solar. Source: EirGrid, SEMOA stacked area chart of the renewable electricity generation mix on the island of Ireland with the following fuel types: battery, pumped storage, biomass, waste-to-energy, hydro, solar, wind, and gas. The y axis indicates the percentage of demand being met by each source.

Footnote reads: All-island figures. Excludes rooftop solar. Source: EirGrid, SEMO
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
This 👇 Perhaps paradoxically, AI developers are not the ones best placed to know either what AI can do, or what its impact will be.
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Green Collective @greencollective.io · 25/04/2026
If we had to sum up our little account here, it would exactly mirror long-time supporter @tdownes.bsky.social: "more renewables, and faster!" 🙏
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
This is great! I always enjoy seeing these posts - look at all that gas we didn't have to import. More renewables, and faster, please!
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
It's a red flag when an article refers to returning immigrants as "ex-pats". And quite ironic that it then suggests a US driver's license meets the requirements to get an Irish one 🤷‍♂️ Seasoned drivers treated like learners due to licence-exchange issues www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026...
irishtimes.com
‘It doesn’t make sense’: Seasoned drivers treated like learners due to licence-exchange issues
Thousands of returning ex-pats and new arrivals from US face ‘significant financial burden’ over difficulties obtaining a licence
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Thomas Duffy @taesaveslives.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
The Irish version is people who think this bleak dead brown nothing is ruined by a wind turbine #speirgorm
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
I disagree with many things Patrick Honohan says, but this looks really good. It is as if the Irish State has forgotten that its quality of life, prosperity and national security is a thing that it is actually responsible for, and has agency over. www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
irishtimes.com
Patrick Honohan: Band-aid solutions won’t cut it in a world of tariffs, reckless wars and Chinese dominance
We are frittering away the substantial tax resources that have come to us as a side effect of financial engineering of American companies
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Sigh. Such clarity now that the US is a strategic hhreat to the EU , and to Ireland specifically Trump says US will blockade Strait of Hormuz after failure to reach agreement with Iran www.irishtimes.com/world/us/202...
irishtimes.com
Trump says US will blockade Strait of Hormuz after failure to reach agreement with Iran
Each side blames the other for the failure of the 21-hour negotiations to end fighting that has killed thousands
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Green Collective @greencollective.io · 12/04/2026
Renewable generation and discharging storage equalled 60% of yesterday's electricity demand, with a peak of 71% at 21:45. Fossil fuel generation (mostly gas) equalled 25% of demand. 0% of generation was exported, 14% of demand was met by imports.
A stacked area chart of the electricity generation mix on the island of Ireland with the following fuel types: battery, biomass, waste-to-energy, hydro, solar, wind, and gas. There is also a black line showing electricity demand.

Footnote reads: All-island figures. Excludes rooftop solar. Source: EirGrid, SEMO
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
For about 4 years it's been clear this would happen, even without the issues of the unreliability of fossil fuels that we've seen in the last month or 6 weeks. EVs are just better products for almost everyone. www.irishtimes.com/business/202...
irishtimes.com
Switch to electric vehicles is accelerating, new figures suggest
EVs are overtaking petrol and diesel in terms of new car sales, data from CSO and Simi indicates
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
Lads, those bucks wudda blockaded Trump's golf course if they were serious about fuel prices. So they aren't. They screwed the people they've been scaring away from EVs for years. If everyone is using fossil fuel then they can get power. Solar power and EVs. The answer. #spéirgorm
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Turlough Downes @tdownes.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
This is an excellent piece - well worth a read. It has been frustrating to watch the people who complain about climate action complaining about the results of climate inaction. #spéirgorm aislinna.substack.com/p/tractor-ru...
aislinna.substack.com
Tractor Runs
A protest about fuel that reveals a deeper failure of resilience
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