Dr Stuart Woolley

@sonofbelial @citoyennetomate @ismisemichelle_ Depends if you think it's a food supplement or medicine, really, and whether the rules are so open to interpretation that they're meaningless in any case. I blame bureaucracy.

@FractalDoctor @citoyennetomate @ismisemichelle_ Thanks, more than reasonable. Not holding a Doctorate myself, is one more reason why I should stress I'm not dunking, but if you're going to weigh in on a medically adjacent topic, probably best to clarify up front.

why is melatonin a controlled substance in Ireland

Reality is very hard to accept for some. I'm no fossil fuel enthusiast, but I am a realist. Any energy transition has to be slow, gradual, and not fuck up the economy. What we're seeing right now is a direct result of poor planning, "green" disinformation, and renewable hubris.

Lots of words follow. France's wholesale electricity price is consistently lower than Ireland's. Prices are typically higher here due to gas fired generation setting the marginal price. France's consumer price is around €0.18/kWh versus Ireland's ~€0.30+/kWh, at best. Power flows from cheap to expensive, as we know that's the primary point of interconnection. As EirGrid's own interconnection head put it, "Interconnection facilitates the flow of power from where it is abundant to where it is scarce." The only time it would go in the other direction is during period of very high wind output. Ireland will occasionally have surplus renewable generation it can't use domestically, and that can flow to France. But these windows are intermittent and weather-dependent. Ireland remains a net energy importer with expensive gas dependent generation. France is a nuclear powered net exporter with cheap base load. The Celtic Interconnector is primarily an insurance policy and a cheap power import channel for Ireland, with occasional reverse flow only when the wind is howling It's also vulnerable, spanning hundreds of miles under open ocean and I maintain that building our own nuclear reactors is a better, long term option for energy supply and, ultimately, security.

@FractalDoctor @SwellGreatMan Yes, but more often when you need it if you're interconnecting two different climates. The wind is always blowing somewhere.

I love it when a plan comes together....

@RachelD1892 No. Everything's worse. Every single thing.

Labour have been in power for 20 months. Can you feel things starting to get better yet? Something? Anything?

@Muinchille Who exactly comes up with the concept of a toilet?

Who knew that would happen? 😀

@Mark_J_Henry Ireland scores 97/100 on political rights and civil liberties, fair enough you can vote, protest, and criticise the government freely. But "freedom" indices don't measure the housing crisis, 18 month HSE waiting lists, or endless economic mismanagement. Disingenuous at best.

Ireland is the 5th freest nation in the world, with full political rights and near-ideal civil liberties. The country sits alongside Finland, Norway, Sweden & New Zealand. At a time when global freedom is in decline, Ireland is a beacon of positivity. 🇮🇪 freedomhouse.org/report/freedom…

@SkyNews I'd be interested to see the results of a referendum on capital punishment in the UK to be perfectly honest, as the government always seems extremely reluctant to even entertain the possibility of one.

BREAKING: UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has put out a joint statement with France, Germany and Italy opposing the passing of a law in Israel which will make the death penalty the default punishment for Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis. trib.al/6AnUxT6

@thejournal_ie Why not fix the tax system instead?

Finance Minister Simon Harris has said he wants to see the Government's new State-backed investment scheme up and running next year. He said the current tax system for investments "has not worked" in people's favour. jrnl.ie/6998973t

@SwellGreatMan @Muinchille Just not always when you need it. Just a grammatical note, they are intermittent by nature and not "intermittent" as if someone used the word incorrectly.

@FractalDoctor @Muinchille Interconnectors make renewables less "intermittent". The wind doesn't always blow everywhere but it always blows somewhere. And "intermittent" renewables provided nearly 40% of electricity last year, just fyi.

@sonofbelial @citoyennetomate @ismisemichelle_ I am not. I have seen it on sale over the counter and on prescription during some travelling, so I looked it up (but not well enough for the UK, obviously...)

@FractalDoctor @citoyennetomate @ismisemichelle_ I was going to post that URL as well, but quick question... Can I assume you're not a MEDICAL Doctor? Just... that context matters here

I'd say then it's also adding to France's energy insecurity, but they have so much nuclear (unlike Ireland that just buys it but won't build it) that it doesn't matter. Judging by actual use cases, Ireland will be importing far more than exporting to supplement its intermittent renewables as France has way more base load capacity and needs it less.

@FractalDoctor That connector goes both ways.

@citoyennetomate @ismisemichelle_ That I wasn't aware of, and I stand corrected. Let me replace UK with the Netherlands.

@FractalDoctor @ismisemichelle_ Melatonin is RX only in the UK

@PeekeeDev @AlexXplore Ireland can't protect existing undersea cables, and you think that laying one to France is an advancement in energy security? Come on now, and don't be insulting because you can't think through an argument without help.

@FractalDoctor @AlexXplore Explain to me how an EXTRA supply make Ireland MORE vulnerable... An account from a Dr. I'm humbled to read your forthcoming reply 🤣

🇫🇷 🇮🇪 Le projet Celtic Interconnector lance sa première campagne française de pose de câbles sous-marins en Bretagne avec le navire La Calypso. 🔌 Cette interconnexion HVDC de 700 MW et 575 km reliera La Martyre (France) à l’est de Cork (Irlande) pour échanger de l’électricité entre les deux pays. ⚡️ Il s’agit de la première liaison directe entre l’Irlande et l’Europe continentale, faisant de l’Irlande le 7e pays interconnecté avec la France. 📅 Les travaux terrestres sont à 90 % achevés, avec une mise en service prévue en 2028. 💶 Le projet, d’un coût de 1,6 milliard d’euros dont 530 millions subventionnés par l’UE, renforce la solidarité électrique et la sécurité d’approvisionnement européen. rte-france.com/actualites/pre….

@citoyennetomate @ismisemichelle_ Is it something to do with this? oireachtas.ie/en/debates/que… or this? oireachtas.ie/en/debates/que…

@FractalDoctor @ismisemichelle_ I've got news for you

@Mark1975s @AlexXplore Then the first step is to enlighten, or simply overrule, those that oppose much needed progress. I won't live in the Dark Ages because someone's either misinformed, stupid, or think the world owes them a living and everyone else should suffer because of them.

@FractalDoctor @AlexXplore We have too many wokes in Ireland to get Nuclear across the line

This is a great point, and would perhaps force the many vastly unpopular politicians, public servants that they are, to stop restricting or banning comments on their propaganda. Let alone new agencies who commonly restrict debate when they're supposed to present unbiased news!

Such a dreadful idea, for many reasons, not least accelerating the destruction of western manufacturing, known lax safety standards, and the threat of a potentially belligerent power infiltrating vast swathes of electronic devices. Many Chinese companies are already prohibited from having their electronics inside critical infrastructure in the West, and for very good reason.

Affordable driving, it's on everyone's minds. But fuel isn't the largest cost, it's the car itself. I've changed my mind on China because their cars bring affordability we can no longer ignore. David W Higgins: To keep driving affordable, we need to embrace cheap Chinese electric cars independent.ie/opinion/commen…