Declan Connolly 🇮🇪🇵🇸

@ciarancannon Thank you for your service Ciaran, and all the best for next chapter.

Good morning all. After much reflection I have decided not to contest the next general election. Thanks to all of you who have been so supportive over the last 20 years. It’s spring time, a time for new beginnings. C

Many fine tributes to @charliebird49 today. I didn't know Charlie, but reached out to him once to share a fundraising post I was doing for Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), an illness with very similar symptoms to MND. Charlie immediately engaged and extended hand of friendship. RIP

It’s a #VoteYesNo from everyone in our house as well!

#VoteYesNo Government have made a complete balls of the Care Referendum, absolving themselves from obligation to care for those less able. I'll be voting #VoteYesNo

@Saoirseandmamma Such a beautiful and inspiring child. RIP Saoirse.

7th March 2024 💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔 rip.ie/death-notice/s…

@U2 When is U2 going to support a Free Palestine and condemn the genoicde that Israel is carrying out on the innocent Palestinian people?

"Tonight’s crowd chant… ALEXEI NAVALNY." #U2UVSPHERE #AlexeiNavalny #Freedom

@DrUmarAlQadri So sorry to read this. Get well soon @DrUmarAlQadri

I was hospitalised last night and underwent a CT scan. Thankfully, there is no brain injury or broken jaw, but the left side of my face is severely swollen and my front teeth are damaged. It appears that this was a planned attack, as I met two Irish individuals who had arranged a meeting in Tallaght. The next thing I remember is feeling disoriented in my car, surrounded by helpful Irish neighbours of the area I was visiting, as the Gardai and ambulance arrived. I was injured and had lost consciousness, but my mobile phone was still with me, allowing me to contact my friends who arrived within 15 minutes. They took me to the hospital where I stayed overnight. Alhamdulillah, I am doing alright, considering the circumstances, and it could have been much worse. Thank You for your prayers and well wishers. Having lived in Ireland for 21 years, this has never happened to me. This incident doesn’t change the fact that I deeply appreciate and cherish Ireland and its people. Is breá liom Éire ☘️

I have experienced a deliberate hate crime attack in Tallaght a few hours ago. I would like to express my gratitude to the kind Irish lady and two Irish gentlemen who assisted me when I collapsed and safely helped me into my car. I am currently receiving medical care at the hospital. Also, thank you my community members who have come immediately to my support.

Powerful words by 102 years old philosopher Edgar Morin, one of France's most revered intellectual figures, as well as a Jewish WW2 resistant who fought as a lieutenant in De Gaulle's France combattante. x.com/bob30031583/st… Here are his words on Gaza: "I am both astonished and outraged by the fact that those who represent the descendants of a people who were persecuted for centuries for religious or racial reasons... That the descendants of this people who are today the decision-makers of the State of Israel, that they could not only colonize an entire people, partly drive them out of their land and seek to expel them for good... But also, after the massacre of October 7, engaged in a real massive slaughter on the populations of Gaza and continue, incessantly, hitting civilians, women, and children. And to see the silence of the world, the silence of the United States, protectors of Israel, the silence of the Arab states, the silence of the European states who claim to be defenders of culture, humanity, human rights. I think we are living through a horrible tragedy because we are also powerless in the face of this thing that is unleashing. At least, I say: bear witness! The only thing that remains if we cannot resist concretely is to testify. Let's resist in our minds, let's not be fooled, let's not forget, let's have the courage to face things head-on."

Eugene Lambe plays a lament for Gaza in Kinvara, Brigid's Day.

So long Debs. We had some great times on the way. rip.ie/death-notice/d…

@TheCormacMoore Bad, Bad Leroy Brown!!

@TheCormacMoore Storm Leroy. Nice ring to it 😀

If Storm Isha was named after your pet, what would it be called? 🦛🦒🦔🐕🐈‍⬛️

@SarahAMcInerney Time to hang up your chess boots Sarah. That's what I did when my 9 year old beat me many years back. You still have 50/50 chance of beating them at Ludo 😀

I want to be the bigger person and be delighted that my 9 year old keeps beating me at chess.

Something needs to also be said about the obvious lie that is Israel's premise' or reason for this genocidal campaign, that is "making sure that October 7th does not happen again". On a simple military level, if Israel wanted to make sure October 7th does not happen again, it could place 10,000, or 20,000, or 30,000 soldiers on its border with the Gaza strip, and make that kind of attack happening again impossible. In that case, Israel could take Hamas leaders to an international court and charge them with war crimes. It could plead with the international community and the Arab world to initiate a deep reform in the way the Gaza strip is governed. Had Israel chosen to do that it would also have to, without question, be willing to discuss Palestinian independence and statehood; but this, too, should have been addressed humanly, and justly, generations ago. And it is inevitable. If Israel would have chosen to use October 7th as a means to push for reform in Palestinians resistance and governance, it would definitely have a case that may not be fully justified in the eyes of devout Palestinian freedom fighters, but it would make enough sense to gain traction with many people in Palestine, in the Middle East and internationally. But Israel chose instead a path of vindictiveness and annihilation; to drown blood in much more blood, misery in a hundredfold misery. Choosing this path, Israel lost the last of the hearts and minds that were still even partially open to hear it. It displays cruelty beyond measure. It makes any discussion on the supposed barbarism of Hamas a joke. If killing innocent people, children especially, an obscene crime, which it is, then it is an obscene crime in all circumstances, and not just when convenient for US allies, who now will never shake off the image of heartless, moral-free colonizers. And if Israel had chosen a more humane, pragmatic, wise, way of making sure October 7th never happens again, by now all of its abductees would have been home with their families, and Israeli society, too, would have started healing, instead of losing more young men and risking an utterly devastating regional war. And it would not be this hated globally, and not charged with genocide, and in no need to use a humongous lobby to censor and silence critics, and destroy its image further. This was never about "making sure October 7th never happens again". This was, and is, about wounded egos and a pathetic and destructive show of dominance - especially despicable where defenseless, occupied civilians are concerned. Where children and babies die in their thousands. Israel's choice does not make it safer or better in any way. It is a stupid, sadistic and infantile approach to life based on perceived grandeur, not on actual care for anyone, Arab or Jew, Palestinian or Israeli. And one last thought: if you love someone, you don't entangle their image in perpetuity in a genocide. This Israeli regime must be hating Jews as well, for doing that.

Looks like perfectly good try to me.

Safety of vaping for smoking cessation during pregnancy 🤰🚭 Latest results from a study I was involved in. Smoking during pregnancy is very harmful to mothers & babies. Pregnant smokers who switch to vaping or NRT will reduce known risks onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…

@ciarancannon Totally agree Ciaran

A deeply cynical attempt to regain some credibility here. They formed part of a hate filled mob, but are now concerned about the welfare of children that were terrorised.

@Majstar7 Get well soon Wael Al-Dahdouh

🚨 BREAKING: Al Jazeera Gaza bureau chief Wael Al-Dahdouh has left #Gaza & arrived in #Egypt for medical treatment. He has almost lost his entire family so that we can know the truth. He paid the ultimate sacrifice. May Allah grant him a fully swift recovery Ameen 🇵🇸🤲🏻

@tvcritics @sinnfeinireland Last sentence "they're making us look racist". Ummm, just maybe it is because ye are being racist??

Absolute shame on these people out in Roscrea again tonight after what happened today. Same with RTE & #TonightVMTV & @sinnfeinireland enabling them too.

Makes me ashamed to be Irish when I see these protesters in Roscrea and other similar protests around the country. I bet each one of these so called protesters has close relatives who had to travel abroad to try and find a better life.