Gary Mc Cartney

There is a region in southeastern Spain called Almería. If you pull it up on satellite imagery, you will assume the screen has glitched. A vast, blinding white scab where a landscape used to be. It's not a glitch. It's 64,000 acres of plastic greenhouses. So much plastic sheeting that it is, genuinely, visible from space. The entire region has been wrapped in industrial farming film to grow tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and lettuce for European supermarkets in January. The plastic has created its own microclimate. The reflective surface is so vast it has measurably lowered local temperatures by bouncing sunlight back into the atmosphere. Scientists have a name for it. The Albedo effect of Almería. The only place on earth where human activity has cooled the local climate, and they did it by accident, while building the world's largest open-air plastic factory. The plastic itself is single-use agricultural film. It sits in UV light for three to five years, degrades into microplastics, blows into the Mediterranean, and ends up in the ocean and the soil. Every year, 45,000 tonnes of plastic waste is generated just from replacing degraded greenhouse covering. Every year. Just the covering. Inside, workers from Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa labour in 45°C heat for €30 a day. No contracts. No rights. Spraying crops with pesticides at concentrations that would be illegal on outdoor fields. Ventilation: minimal. Chemical exposure: constant. The aubergine looks lovely. The groundwater underneath Almería is so contaminated with agricultural runoff that it has been declared unusable. The region now imports water from elsewhere in Spain while sitting on top of a poisoned aquifer it created. The land that was meant to feed Europe more efficiently has become a place that needs water flown in to keep the show running. And this is what supplies your fresh vegetables in January. Grown in plastic factories. By exploited workers. Using groundwater they have already destroyed. Wrapped in more plastic. Shipped across Europe. Refrigerated the whole way. So a person in Manchester can have a tomato in February that tastes of nothing. But sure. Cattle grazing on Scottish hills are the environmental problem. Pull the satellite up. Have a look. Then tell me which system is the one that needs explaining.

Best clip I’ve ever seen in my life 😭 — Tries to send it into the stands… somehow goes backwards — Switches feet and blasts a rocket straight at the bloke in front 😂 — Has another go (he ducks this time) and sends it OUT the stadium

The only NGO that the Irish government shut down was the NGO that was holding them accountable for the billions wasted on other NGOs & Quangos. You couldn’t make this shit up. #Ireland #NGOs

Well blow me down! Senator Martin Conway wants action on "hate speech", whatever that is! That's Martin Conway who has been before a FG disciplinary panel for the past 14 months. And of course, the Martin Conway whose abuse of a young woman who worked for Hildegarde Naughton in 2018, led to an apology and €10,000 restitution. And the Martin Conway who successfully blackmailed Simon Harris into allowing him to stand in the Seanad elections for FG in 2025. Read all about it here! x.com/nwl88444048/st…

RTE investigates looked into Tusla and why it found was shocking. “The Tusla experiment has failed” The state was taking Irish children and placing them in the care of Muslims with forged documents.

We pay roughly €1.2m a year for Simon Harris to have 10 advisers as Minster for Finance. 3 of them are journalists and just one of them has a finance background.

Ah Jaysus, lads FOI says Citywest had 1,012 incident of crime last period assaults, drugs, theft, aggression, the whole shebang. Gardaí from Rathcoole and Clondalkin run ragged. Nationally? Already 61 critical incidents this year, two bodies on site. And the government? "Regular liaison." Sure, that's not a centre, that's a riot with free WiFi. Keep her lit, ye bunch of eejits.

何度観ても感動ですよね🥹 1986年、ジャージー動物園で起きた 本物の奇跡🦍 男の子が落ちた瞬間、巨大ゴリラ・ジャンボが優しく守った本物の映像。 動物の優しさに胸がいっぱいになります…🙏

Ireland 🇮🇪 The Irish government faces a vote of No Confidence this afternoon in Dublin. This is merely theatrics, a charade if you will, by the so-called “opposition”. Ireland has absolutely NO opposition. One party is as bad as the other. They are all puppets and servants to their overlords in Europe. We need real change - change that puts money back on Irish people’s pockets rather than migrants’ pockets, Ukraine’s pocket or climate change nonsense budgets. After this past week in Ireland, that change is on the horizon 🇮🇪💪🏻

GM 🇮🇪

@walsh_olwy49662 In 2025 the Irish government spent; 1. €1.2 billion on IPAS accommodation. 2. €6+ billion on NGO funding. 3. €800 million on foreign aid. 4. RTE €225 million as part of the €750 million multi-year bail out. Take your pick.

The Social Democrats are the latest to side with the Government over the protesters. Soc Dem TD Jennifer Whitmore just slammed the protests as 'wrong' saying protesters are target commuters. You know who doesn't have to worry about fuel tax? Jennifer Whitmore. She's claims a €25,295 Travel and Accommodation Allowance for going from Delgany to Dublin (occassionally). Outside of rush hour, that's a 45 minute drive. Totally unvouched so no receipts needed - and she claims the full amount. Keep in mind - that's on top of the Public Representation Allowance of €20,350 she claims and a basic wage of €113,679. Its very easy to pontificate about socialist principals when you're pulling down a few hundred grand a year and living in Delgany. But look how fast worker solidarity evaporates when faced with having to sit in traffic for an extra hour or two for her €25k travel allowance. The slightest bit of inconvenience and as far as the privileged left are concerned, the people who grow and transport the food we eat are to be thrown to the wolves. Stand with the Farmers. Stand with the Hauliers. Stand with the Workers 🇮🇪

Tommy Gravesen 😆😂😆

@reptracker @GaineBill @MiguelDelaney

@ConnachtYouth are clearly not dealing with the best interest of kids football.Have down the years shown no flexibility or understanding particularly towards clubs in the north of the province.Surely it’s time they showed common sense . Fair play to @FcTubber for calling them out

WRC rejects HAP discrimination complaint over failed apartment rental The Workplace Relations Commission has rejected a discrimination complaint brought by Lesley Mbuyi Kayembe against landlord Ruslan Shashkov after a dispute over the proposed letting of an apartment. The case arose after the respondent advertised an apartment for rent at €2,100 per month. The complainant had been approved for Housing Assistance Payment of €1,875 and claimed that the landlord unlawfully refused to rent the property to her because she depended on HAP. The complaint was brought under section 21 of the Equal Status Act 2000 and was heard by adjudication officer Brian Dalton on 9 February 2026. Ms Kayembe said there could be a short delay in setting up HAP payments to a landlord, but only for a few days. She said the landlord had initially agreed to rent the apartment to her and then changed his mind. She claimed that the refusal was directly connected to her reliance on HAP and said the loss of the accommodation left her facing homelessness. Mr Shashkov said he was renting out the apartment for the first time and had in fact agreed to accept HAP. He told the WRC that several people were interested in the property, that he liked the complainant, and that he offered the apartment to her. He said he had required a deposit at the first meeting and that the complainant said she could pay €1,000. According to his evidence, that amount was never produced. He said a lower amount was later offered, and he was prepared to accept that and allow the balance to be paid over several months, but he was not willing to let the furnished property without any deposit because he wanted protection against possible damage. In his findings, the adjudication officer accepted the landlord’s evidence and found it credible. He said the respondent was willing to accept HAP when the parties met on 15 March 2025. He found that the complainant made several offers to pay a deposit even though she had no funds available to do so, and that each failed offer changed the landlord’s view of the proposed tenancy. The adjudication officer found that the landlord had compromised on several occasions but eventually withdrew the offer because the complainant had repeatedly failed to honour the terms she had agreed to. He held that this was the reason the apartment was not let and that the withdrawal of the offer had nothing to do with HAP. The complaint was therefore found not to be well founded. The WRC held that the respondent had not engaged in prohibited conduct under the Equal Status Acts and that the refusal to proceed with the letting arose from repeated representations about a deposit that did not materialise. Lesley Mbuyi Kayembe v Ruslan Shashkov, ADJ-00060584

Coventry City owner Doug King has confirmed in a recent BBC interview that the club will fully honor the special Premier League package purchased by fans back in 2023. That package locked in frozen ticket prices for five years and included a key promise: if the Sky Blues achieved promotion to the Premier League within those five seasons, buyers would receive a free season ticket for the club's first year in the top flight. With Coventry now on the brink of promotion, the club has officially confirmed that eligible fans from the 2023 package will indeed get their free Premier League season tickets next season. With the price of away tickets capped at £30, that means they’ll technically be able to see every single game next season, home and away, for just £570. 😍 What a brilliant gesture to reward the 5,000 loyal supporters who backed the club early! 👏

Never be afraid to speak your mind!

OH MY WORD🤯🤯🤯 The best Free Kick routine you will ever see🤩🤩🤩

🇮🇹 Lower-league football is fascinating across Europe - but nowhere quite captures the attention like Italy, which is a goldmine for crazy stories. From mafia infiltrations and dolphin designs to foreign entities and refugee islands, here are eight clubs outside Serie A you should know about. THREAD 🧵