tom forde

@SamaHoole Grew up on a dairy farm in Ireland in the 70s, the youngest of 4 boys and my grandmothers tonic was 50/50 Guinness and fresh raw milk. All 4 of us over 6 foot and still healthy. No processed food back then, we ate what we grew

In 1946 the British government introduced free school milk for every child in the country. One third of a pint, every school day, from the age of five to the age of fifteen. The milk was whole. Full-fat. From British dairy herds. It was delivered to the school gate in small glass bottles with foil caps and left on the doorstep in metal crates, where it sat in the sun until morning break if the weather was warm and developed a slightly suspect taste that an entire generation of British adults can still describe with uncomfortable precision. The generation that grew up on school milk was, by every anthropometric measure, the healthiest generation of British children ever recorded. Average height increased. Bone density improved. Dental health, despite the sugar in everything else, improved. Iron deficiency rates among school-age children dropped. The growth charts that the Ministry of Health had been keeping since the war showed a consistent, measurable, year-on-year improvement that tracked precisely onto the introduction of the milk programme. In 1971 Margaret Thatcher, then Education Secretary, cut free school milk for children over seven. The tabloids called her Thatcher the Milk Snatcher. She was vilified. She kept the policy. The next generation of British children, the ones who grew up without the daily third of a pint, were measurably less healthy than the one before. The growth charts show it. The dental records show it. The conscription medicals, while they lasted, showed it. The thing the milk had been providing, the calcium, the vitamin D, the vitamin A, the complete amino acid profile, the conjugated linoleic acid, the fat-soluble nutrients that a growing skeleton requires in order to reach its genetic potential, was no longer arriving at morning break in a glass bottle with a foil cap. It was replaced, eventually, by nothing. Or by a carton of fruit juice. Or by a packet of crisps from the vending machine that appeared in the school corridor in the 1990s. The generation that drank the milk is now in its seventies and eighties. They are, on average, taller, stronger-boned, and longer-lived than the generation that came after them. The milk was not magic. The milk was milk. It was the thing the body needed, delivered at the time the body needed it, at a cost the government considered acceptable until it didn't. The cost of not providing it has been rather higher.

@southgrace427 WOW, wish I could go back to the 80s.

Did you guys hear Sydney Sweeny is doing another American Eagle Campaign... She started my Entire White Campaign... This one is focused on Shorts for summer... Short Shorts...Short hair...and call her Syd for Short... Of course I'm gonna figure that one out... LMFAO....Love it! 😂🖕✖️🪻🥃⚾️🧢🌱💙🇺🇸

@BloomsGreensIE If there is a heaven then this what angels sound like. If you do requests,can I ask for Anach Cuain, as it's my home parish

Our songs were here long before the noise… and they’ll still be here after 🇮🇪 Eleanór Na Rún 🎵

@DarraghOBrienTD €1.95 for kerosene today at the pumps, only getting 20 litres at a time, can't afford to get a delivery. Last time I got a delivery it was €298 for 300 litres. Diesel at €2.20. Maybe we should just go cold and not go anywhere

Government is bringing forward further supports to help people and businesses through the energy crisis, including additional excise cuts and targeted support for haulage and coach operators. This €750m package is focused on easing pressure across the economy

@danobrien20 Dan, after the display by the heavy handed government thing arr going to escalate

Ireland is now at great risk of inflicting a catastrophe on itself. Blockades of critical infrastructure nodes must end, or be ended.

@ger_cosgrove @defenceforces Great that the army got a day off from peeling the spuds. Same army couldn't protect their chaplain from a Muslim terrorist

With the arrival of the @defenceforces recovery vehicle, I wonder if the owners of those nice shiny tractors are aware that any damage caused to their vehicles, comes out of their own pocket. And Insurance won't cover it, because they are involved in an illegal action.

CLAAS

@DavQuinn Maybe you'd be happy if the army shot a few of them aswell.

This had to be done, unfortunately.

@Mick_O_Keeffe @gavpepper85 I think the gloves are off, if this is how they treat peaceful protest, the next protest won't be peaceful. Farmers and there ancestors have fought for centuries for their land, there not going to back down now.

@gavpepper85 Every member of that government should resign today. They have transformed Ireland into a country where hard-working men are attacked by state enforcers for protesting a cost of living crisis while 3rd world migrants stroll in and get everything handed to them for free.

🚨🇮🇪 BREAKING! Farmers are being dragged out of their tractors and assaulted by gardaí at the Whitegate oil refinery right now!

@EoinLenihan Have the army been used against the people since the civil war.

A new cohort of Irish people - farmers and hauliers - are finding out what the people of Newtownmountkennedy, Coolock and Clonmel found out two years ago... The days of the country guard are gone. The modern garda is not your friend. They are the enforcement arm of the state and they will do it with fervour. They will do very little when you need them on a Saturday night after an assault outside a chip shop, or when travellers come to strip the gutters off your house or when drug dealers set your vehicles on fire to intimidate you into settling a family member's drug debt. But they will beat the sh*t out of you when you go against the authoritarian actions of the state. Important to internalise.

@declanganley Is this the first time that the army have been used against the Irish people since the civil war. People aren't going to have confidence in either the defence forces or the Gardai, which is a shame. The government should hang their heads in shame

The fools that ordered the Irish Army to be in anyway involved are too stupid to know what they’ve just done. This is a line that should never have been crossed, the Defence Forces should never have been put in this position. #FuelProtest

@TheMandyGall Anyone remember Tom Parlon

Has anyone found out what the point of the IFA and the Irish Road Haulage Association are? How much do the top men receive in salaries...I can't see a point to them when the people they supposedly represent are facing their fourth night out in the cold....

@museumsireland In rural Ireland we have a thing called meithel, when someone is sick or have a death in the family neighbours will come together to do the work. This is 1 reason farmers will not be broken, they know the meaning of community

The spirit of 2026 is the Irish #FuelProtest. #ClimateScam

@Mick_O_Keeffe Grew up on a dairy farm and I never seen a bigger cows arse than this clown, Government getting desperate

Absolutely pathetic. Irish Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan was just interviewed on RTE and he doubled down on his suggestion that Irish farmers are being manipulated by a British man who lives in Spain. The Irish government has lost the PR battle and they're now flailing about like eejits.

@243_cal I grew up on a dairy farm and I never seen bigger cows arse than this clown. Government are really getting desperate, I doubt if 90% of farmers know who Tommy Robinson is

90% of the lads on the fuel protests in Dublin, Cork, and Limerick now have their phones out, googling "Tommy Robinson". This is tinfoil hat stuff from Ireland's Minister of Justice. Our country is an international joke!

@WallStreetMav The farmers have more horsepower than the police and army combined. This a recruitment poster for the Irish army, what is she going to do, start crying if they don't move

The Irish government will deploy the army against its own farmers, but refuses to do anything about the invasion of illegal migrants.

@JoannaDonnellyL Grew up on a farm and I would argue the the EEC,Common Market and the EU have done more to industrialise farming. Back in 70/80s you could farm what you wanted, everyone had dairy cows,sheep and pigs ect. Now you need a certificate to farm,

When the potato blight failed in the mid 19th century the ruling classes saw it as an opportunity to “industrialise” farming by squeezing the small farmers (to death). Farming is under threat again from industrialisation by the new ruling classes. The billionaires. #farmerprotest

@Niall_Boylan Having grown up on a farm, these farmers ain't no push over. It's not like some church in Athlone with a few pensioners, these have been work 12hr days handling cattle etc. Guards are going to find out what farm fit means

It will be a brave Garda force that would try to remove these hard working men and women using force. Up to now the Gardai have been respectful of the protesters and let’s hope it stays like that and remains peaceful. Martin and Harris need to stand down and negotiate with the people. That’s Their Job.

@keira_con Armoured cars and tanks and guns came to take away our tractors, but every man must stand behind the men behind the bull wire. Do you think this army are capable of anything.

It looks the farmers and truckers are standing their ground. The Govenment has announced that they are going to use the army to remove the protesters and their tractors and trucks. Jim O'Callaghan said in a statement. "Large vehicles would be removed, He warned owners to "remove them immediately" on Thursday morning, or face the possibility of them being damaged. Owners "should not complain later about any damage caused to those vehicles during removal", he said. Talking to protestors this morning has reveled a lot feel they have nothing more to loose, Some will be handing back the keys of their plant to the banks and finance companies as operating with current fuel prices will cause further losses. It looks like bigger plant has been deployed to the protest so the question is if there is a situation where this plant is used to defer the army taking plant what instruction has the Army and Guards been given are they allowed to use lethal force if the worst happens ?

#fuelprotest armoured cars and tanks and guns came to take away our tractors