Dominic McGrath

Irish businessman among key figures in Nigel Farage-backed bitcoin company

Because it's nearly St Patrick's Day, wrote about the Irish guy involved in the bitcoin outfit Nigel Farage has invested in www.businesspost.ie/companies/ir...

Montenegro’s president Jakov Milatović says his country helps to conclude EU accession this year - and expresses a wish to “replace the Brits” at the Council table.

Yes, those were his actual words.

This is a beautifully, carefully written piece of journalism

Dublin passengers scanned with controversial tech by UK border force The Home Office scanned more than 7,500 faces were scanned on the Dublin-Holyhead route, leading to one arrest

The Home Office is using facial recognition technology to locate people within their “Population of Interest.”

Thousands of passengers travelling from Dublin to Holyhead will be scanned by controversial technology this week as part of a trial, raising surveillance and discrimination concerns

Revealed: Government accused of ‘conflict of interest’ over journalist smear inquiry Starmer said Cabinet Office will investigate Josh Simons and Labour Together - but its ministers have received more than £150,000 from the think tank and its directors

🚨 Cabinet Office investigating Labour Together and Josh Simons over campaign to smear journalists

But...ministers overseeing inquiry have received £150,000+ from Labour think tank

Experts and MPs demand 'full independent investigation'

New on D4S: democracyforsale.substack.com/p/revealed-g... 🧵

I’m not normally that person but….

It’s really annoying that Democracy for Sale a has hardly been credited anywhere in last 24 hours for breaking story of Labour Together paying to spy on journalists *almost two weeks* ago

Hadn’t expected Tory press office to be the exception!

How much land and power would it take to decarbonise Dublin Airport?

Check out our new RTE Brainstorm article: www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...

It's too on the nose that one of the judges in the Palestine Action decision is called Jonathan Swift

Breaking: on two counts, the High Court has ruled that the Labour government's proscription of the campaign group Palestine Action was unlawful – a win for its co-founder Huda Ammori, who sought a judicial review of the ban

Taoiseach names Freddie Scappaticci in the Dáil as former British agent Stakeknife Martin said identity of spy was ‘clear to everybody here’ and that he should be officially named by the UK government

Taoiseach Martin said Kenova "sheds essential light on the harrowing pain and loss caused to individuals, to their families, and through the systematic exercise of terror, to communities at large by the Provisional IRA...It shows the complicity of British state forces in allowing this to happen.”

The Taoiseach has named former IRA man Freddie Scapaticci as the British informant 'Stakeknife'. Micheál Martin was speaking during Dáil statements on the Report of Operation Kenova, in which he called on UK authorities to formally confirm Scapatticci as the informant. @virginmedianews.bsky.social

Right that the prime minister has resigned. His successor, Keir Starmer, has a very difficult inheritance.

BREAKING: McSweeney’s think tank paid PR firm to investigate journalists Labour Together put private investigators onto journalists writing about its funding. Starmer's right-hand man knew.

🔴 BREAKING: Labour Together paid controversial PR firm £30k to investigate journalists who were digging into how its undeclared funding

Reporters from Sunday Times, Guardian and other outlets targetted

*And* Morgan McSweeney knew about it

Full story:
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/exclusive-...

this is vicious and correct www.economist.com/britain/2026...

Oh well!

To host the last game, the Irish gov spent €4.2m on a licence fee to the NFL, and another €5m on infrastructure and “operational costs”.

DCC spent €350,000.

Imagine if that money was spent on local sporting initiatives? A lot of kids in Dublin City don’t even have a pitch to play on.

Seeing Irish media prominently and in detail covering Andy Burnham and NEC shenanigans is just kind of unreal. Obviously we follow UK politics so much more closely, but it’s kind of like opening the BBC or the Times and expecting a story about Jim O’Callaghan on manoeuvres or something

Dublin City Council CEO Richard Shakespeare says "I have now taken the decision to suspend all posting by the City Council on the X.com platform. This applies to all City Council X accounts and will be actioned with immediate effect."

Three journalists among 11 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza Reporters had been in car on way to new camp, says media group, as two 13-year-old boys killed in separate incidents

Peace in Gaza - Israel killed three journalists there yesterday, plus two children and six other people

Burnham becoming a figure of fear for the bond markets was not on my bingo card for 2026

This closing line gets to the heart of the Trump project – a magnified, everyday evil that is only unique due to its scale.

Banning X would not 'betray free speech', just as breaking up or closing down corporate giants that seriously violate competition or criminal law would not 'betray commerce' (for anyone reading an Irish Times opinion piece today who might be unsure)

But there's more

As I wrote at the time, NESO said net-zero "Holistic Transition" was the "cheapest option", once you take account of the economic damages from CO2 adding to climate change

It said a fossil energy system is only “cheaper” if we “ignore” carbon costs

www.carbonbrief.org/...
9/10

“Government ministers cannot be making policy announcements in a space that hosts AI-generated, near-naked pictures of young girls. Journalists cannot share their work in a place that systematically promotes white supremacy.”

This x 1,000

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said: “I welcome Ofcom's urgency in launching a formal investigation today. It is vital that Ofcom complete this investigation swiftly because the public – and most importantly the victims – will not accept any delay. “The content created and shared using Grok in recent days has been deeply disturbing and I will be updating Parliament later today on the government’s response.”

Statement from the UK Technology Secretary, whose most recent post on Twitter was 9:10am yesterday

🚨 AI Minister Niamh Smyth says it isn't appropriate for the Government to maintain a presence on X and will speak to the Taoiseach on the matter.

Says the European Commission should immediately suspend Grok while investigations are continuing.

More on @virginmedianews.bsky.social

X using Grok to produce CSAM by request through its platform is no different to someone taking indecent photos of children by request through a forum or by email

In the latter, we would never say 'it's the user breaking the law, not the person taking the photos' - why would it be different for X?

the day today tier paragraph

Meanwhile, MEP Billy Kelleher says the powers exist right now to temporarily suspend Grok while the Commission investigates.

"Our political leaders must grasp this issue once and for all. We have the power to act but it seems we don’t have the bravery to act."

Heard someone say recently - before the most recent grimness - that they knew X was terrible, but would miss the craic on it.

No idea what reason you could give now

Let’s be clear: if the Palestine Action hunger strikers die, the government will bear moral responsibility | George Monbiot The three remaining hunger strikers have been convicted of nothing. Yet with astonishing cruelty, ministers refuse to listen to their reasonable demands, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

If the Palestine Action hunger strikers die - which they could do at any moment, as they are now very close to the end - it will be the government that killed them. Today’s column explains why. Please share, and write urgently to your MP.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...