Colum McCaffery

The Management Activist team at SDCC has located 1,000 brand new, plus nearly 2,000 pre-loved bollards in store and is seeking suggestions as to where to put them.

@Jrizzle3186961 @stpatsfc Who is he?

@stpatsfc Trialist 1:

Our Saints to face Treaty United in this afternoon’s pre-season friendly at Athlone Town Stadium #StPatsFC 🔴⚪️

Ben Tonra captures the threats facing Europe & Ireland from Washington. Without an adequate defence & security capability Europe including Ireland is acutely vulnerable. The lack of a National Security Strategy is a dereliction of duty. @IrishTimes

It's New Year, so time to look back and forward. These are 10 things I think we need to recognise in 2026. It’s a response to what I think are profoundly damaging mistaken assumptions I’ve heard and read from practitioners, journalists, and analysts in 2025. Warning: very long🧵

@davidmcw It's more simple and general than you realise. Tankies are no different to any one else. When a person's views come to determine their identity, they have too much to lose if they reconsider. It's observable in many walks of life, e,g. cyclists, motorists etc.

What is behind the anti-Americanism on the Irish left? - mailchi.mp/davidmcwilliam…

@RMcGreevy1301 You neglect to mention the great Sydney Parade, martyr and patriot, and all he got to his memory was a Mickey Mouse suburban rail station.😆

As a country we are great at remembering those who died for Ireland. They have streets, train stations, GAA grounds, tower blocks etc named after them. We are utterly lousy at remembering those who lived for Ireland. Of course, Dublin Airport should be named after Seán Lemass. He was the transformational Taoiseach, but, as Minister for Industry and Commerce, he knew air travel would nullify Ireland's geographical disadvantages and he was right. Dublin Airport was opened up under his watch in 1940, he was the driving force behind Shannon Airport too, first with the flying boats at Foynes and then as Rineanna (which became Shannon Airport) later. He had the foresight to buy a fleet of Constellations for an Irish transatlantic service and was furious when the inter-party government sold them off as a folly Ireland couldn't afford. He founded Aer Lingus in 1936 with his trusted side-kick John Leydon who together were responsible for setting up so many semi-states that have served the State well. Duty free, the first in the world, was also introduced on Lemass's watch (1947). These alone would merit the airport named after him, but there isn't even a plaque to commemorate his birthplace at No.2 Capel Street. All who served as Taoiseach should have a plaque at their birthplace or their family home. (Charles Haughey already has in Castlebar). Aside from the Jack Lynch Tunnel, I can't think of anything significant that is named after a former Taoiseach. Like all leaders, they had their strengths and weaknesses, but they all contributed to the peaceful, stable state we have today and they should be remembered. irishtimes.com/politics/2025/…

@DanMulhall @FT ft.com/content/d93c33…

‘Big Read’ in @FT -‘Ireland: the weak link in EU defence’. Some key points highlighted: 3/4 of all undersea cables in N. Hemisphere pass through our waters; we do not have the intelligence systems to receive classified information; we have no radar, no sonar; & lack of a dedicated intelligence agency - that ought to be rectified.

@IrishTimesOpEd Let's call it "spindoctoring". It's a way of emptying discourse of ideas/values. It's presented as professional/impartial but really it's a political perspective and should be challenged/contradicted as such, not allowed waffle on with insiders' political gossip and rumour.

Diarmaid Ferriter: Catherine Connolly makes a strong case against political spindoctors irishtimes.com/opinion/2025/1…

@petermx14 @IrishTimesOpEd I don't. My every word invites contradiction. That's why I take part.

@Colum_McCaffery @IrishTimesOpEd You shouldn't make pronouncements about things you don't understand.

Lara Marlowe: Does anyone believe that Russia would respect Irish neutrality in a major European war? irishtimes.com/opinion/2025/1…

@petermx14 @IrishTimesOpEd Peter, My mistake. I treated you seriously.

@Colum_McCaffery @IrishTimesOpEd What vital services are you worried about?

@petermx14 @IrishTimesOpEd There have been cable cuts off various shores resulting in regional isolation. Should "our" cables be attacked, we would see a gradual reduction of European services.

@Colum_McCaffery @IrishTimesOpEd You don't appear to be able to answer my question. There are undersea cables off the coast of East Africa. What 'cloud' vital services would we lose were they attacked?

@petermx14 @IrishTimesOpEd Peter, Try googling "cloud undersea cables", you'll get lots of material. You'll see the largely metaphorical debate about the "cloud" being under the sea. The point, however, is that the system is hugely dependent on undersea cables which are in Irish waters and vulnerable.

@Colum_McCaffery @IrishTimesOpEd Were there to be an attack on transatlantic cables, what vital services would we lose when we go on the internet?

Now, in a world changed by technology in which defensive software is basic to sovereignty we cannot dismiss our armed forces or look to contractors. Her argument, if she still holds to it, is fundamentally silly.

What she said was "This is not an army. Ireland will never be able to have an army. We do not need an army. We are an independent, neutral, sovereign country .." She was arguing that because Ireland is an independent, neutral, sovereign country, Ireland has no need of an army. .

RESIDENT CONNOLLY AND THE ARMY I was shocked to see the following attributed to Catherine Connolly in the Dáil some years back: "This is not an army. Ireland will never be able to have an army. We do not need an army." That's not what she said. ...

@IrishTimesOpEd Bear in mind too that the cables which support the "cloud" are extremely vulnerable and are off the west coast of Ireland.

The Irish Times view on EU digital security: democracy must be defended irishtimes.com/opinion/editor…