Big Mickey Mackin🇮🇪❤️🇺🇸

Nine-year-old Paudie Murray from Moveen, near the Kilkee Cliffs in west Clare, is running one of the loveliest little businesses in Ireland right now. What started with two hens (he asked for a goldfish) has grown into a flock of nearly 100 birds. Every afternoon at 2pm he restocks his honesty box with farm-fresh eggs… and it sells out, sometimes in as little as 15 minutes. Queues form. People drive from Galway. Tourists from Texas and Pennsylvania have made the pilgrimage. His Instagram (@ubhbypaudie) has more than 15,000 followers. Paudie still checks the hens before breakfast, tops up feed and straw, helps with the calves on the family dairy farm, and reinvests every euro into more hens, feed and bedding. He’s not bothered by the attention. He’s just happy people like his eggs. Pure Irish rural charm. Pure initiative. Pure wholesome. Ubh by Paudie — proving you’re never too young to start something brilliant. 🥚🇮🇪

Micheál Martin, enough excuses. Housing guides in 24 languages. A reported 347,736 non-Irish welfare recipients. Where is your plan for homes, costs and capacity? Publish the facts and defend your record. Taxpayers are owed answers. Your government is owed scrutiny.

Very interesting. Farmers vote for fiscal stability and they like what they see in Independent Ireland and Aontu

Michael O’Leary is not a rapist. Nor are most men. But Micheál Martin wants to lecture men about O’Leary’s words while his government struggles with the far more serious issue of protecting women from sexual violence. That’s the gaslighting. Focus on the actual problem, Micheál.

Theee videos are so funny

This is funny

Watch this. Then ask yourself: Would politicians make the same decisions if they had to live on the wages and costs facing ordinary people? Prepare for your blood to boil. 👇 youtu.be/4bzzMwmofzA?si=qb4q…

A MAN IS CHARGED. RYANAIR ISN’T. So why drag Ryanair into the headline? He’s accused of a serious crime. Ryanair isn’t. Yes, he was a former Ryanair pilot. But unless his employment has anything to do with the alleged offence, why is the airline being dragged into it? Or is it simply that everyone likes to kick Ryanair — even when Ryanair doesn’t deserve it? The allegation is against one man. Not Ryanair. The Journal can do better. thejournal.ie/former-ryanair…

ONE DRONE SIGHTING — MAYBE No confirmed drone. No confirmed size. No confirmed restricted airspace. Yet here comes the drama. Investigate it, absolutely. But why are we turning one unverified sighting into a national security story? One swallow doesn’t make a summer.

Ireland just opened a child-safety probe into X. The real headline: regulators now get to decide what adults may see and say — in the name of the children. Protect kids. Obviously. X is also where adults talk about adult things. If “the children” is the password that unlocks control of adult speech, where does that power stop? Don’t use kids as the excuse to restrict adults.

I for one am looking forward to seeing the loony left in Doonbeg this weekend. POU on standby. Pepper spray at the ready. And maybe get the water cannons warmed up. If they’re determined to make a spectacle of themselves, they might as well get a good wash while they’re at it. 😂

THE GOVERNMENT WANTS WORKING FAMILIES TO SAVE MORE — WHILE MAKING IT MORE EXPENSIVE TO GET TO WORK. Save more. Pay more. Make it make sense. They’re already squeezed by mortgages, childcare, food, electricity, fuel and school costs. Then, in a fuel crisis, driving is made dearer to “deter unnecessary car use.” For most families the car isn’t a luxury. It’s how you get to work and get the kids to school. Then they say: “Save more.” Save what? If you want working families to save, stop raising the cost of the journey that pays the bills. Make it make sense.

FUEL PRICES ARE ALREADY THROUGH THE ROOF. So why is the Government still making fuel more expensive with carbon taxes? What are people supposed to stop doing? Driving to work? Taking the kids to school? Getting to the doctor? Getting to customers? People aren’t using fuel for the fun of it. They’re using it because they have to. When essential journeys can’t be cut, higher fuel prices don’t reduce demand. They just make ordinary people poorer. And the Government collects more tax. So what exactly is the carbon tax achieving? Less fuel use — or simply more money taken from people who have no choice?

Ireland’s coastal bounty is up for licence. Four companies want 51,000 tonnes a year off 14,000 hectares of Irish coast. Eight of those applications belong to a Canadian-owned firm. This isn’t seaweed on the shore. It’s a multimillion-euro industry. Who gets the money — and what does Ireland keep?

Ireland needs more power. Big Tech needs more power. So who pays? Data centres already take 23% of the grid. They want the power. Households get the bill. Want the data centre? Pay for the power.

Fianna Fáil was founded on Irish sovereignty, Irish people, Irish culture, strong families, and rural Ireland. Today the leader of that party said Ireland wants “nothing to do with a backward-looking idea of sovereignty.” Housing is broken. Families are under pressure. Rural Ireland is thinning out. And national identity is treated like an embarrassment. Parties can modernise. They can also forget why they exist Is Fianna Fáil still the Republican Party or just the name on the sign? 🇮🇪

KNEECAP AREN’T EXACTLY EVERYONE’S CUP OF TEA. In fact, plenty of people can’t stand them. But imagine the outrage if an Irish politician made serious allegations about a Canadian artist — and then the artist took them to court. Would we say the politician should be able to walk away because they’re a politician? The High Court has now refused Kneecap’s attempt to serve the Canadian MP over a procedural issue. You can hate Kneecap. You can’t have one rule for people you like and another for people you don’t. Or Can You? thejournal.ie/kneecap-tempor…