Yeah I meant it in a technically possible but not going to happen hypothetical way like Sinn Féin abandoning abstentionism and helping out Jeremy Corbyn, sorry I didn’t make that clear it was a long day. The DUP’s agreement with the Tories is just an additional layer of complication in an already overcomplicated…

I was refreshing every live blog I could find looking for the Cork East announcement and eventually one of them said Cork East was being held back and the counters had been sent home, so I didn’t find out the official numbers until after the final votes for the whole country had been announced. The atmosphere in…

If the DUP weren’t supporting the Tories staying in government the easiest thing would be to have Westminster change the law via direct rule bypassing the assembly completely, it’s less democratic but probably much more representative of what the average Northern Irish person wants. Unfortunately with the DUP’s…

Up until literally today, people assumed Irish people didn’t agree with abortion, the thing is since 1983 when the eighth was inserted into the constitution nobody actually asked. They assumed things must not have changed despite so much changing about the country and the world, I’m not old enough to remember what…

Tá for Mná means roughly yes for women, there’s no actual word for yes in Irish tá literally means is but sometimes is used to say yes and was the yes option in the referendum.

At least some British politicians are mentioning it now but without an assembly not much is going to happen and if same sex marriage and an Irish language bill can’t get through the assembly I sincerely doubt any abortion legislation will. It’s terrible that the people of Northern Ireland are effectively held hostage…

People are already turning their sights onto Northern Ireland, somebody gave Michelle O’ Neill and Mary Lou McDonald a sign saying Northern Ireland next. Unfortunately with Teresa May being propped up by the DUP it’s unlikely there will be much headway soon.

Some priest in Fermoy tried to turn a school graduation ceremony into a prolife campaign speech and some parents challenged him and walked out. And the Bishop of Ossory said abortion can be far worse than rape, so they were definitely campaigning it’s just nobody really pays attention to them anymore.

I’m in Cork East constituency, I voted before half 8 yesterday morning and they didn’t release the official results for us until half 6 this evening. It was a fantastic turnout everywhere I’m so happy that it was such a decisive victory, I was worried there were a lot silent Nos but it seems the people staying quiet…

That’s the numbers in an exit poll. About 3.2 million people were registered to vote for this referendum we’ll get official numbers of how many voted when the count is complete later today Irish time.

I voted early and then spent all day on tenterhooks waiting for an exit poll. I won’t relax until the official count is announced. I think the turnout will be big especially among younger voters, the brexit result taught people not to be too complacent and rely on other people to do the right thing. I moved house last…

The scoring from the countries with inevitable delays, technical issues and a host trying to make small talk with a local celebrity who can’t understand them so just laughs awkwardly are a key piece of the Eurovision experience. Also I learned a lot of countries capitals when I was younger from the Lisbon calling with…

I was looking for mention of Dana International it was amazing to have a trans winner 20 years ago and Diva is one of the few winning songs I can remember the chorus too.

Ireland’s winning streak also inspired the My Lovely Horse episode of Father Ted.

I like Sophie Winkleman in other roles but she’ll always be Big Suze to me, I found it funny she played adult Susan in one of the Narnia films as that’s pretty much a formal way of saying Big Suze.

I remembered that they changed the rules of succession to follow birth order regardless of gender and remove the bit about Catholicism but I forgot about limiting the Queen’s approval to the first 6 in terms of succession, it makes way more sense that people who wouldn’t be anywhere near the crown barring an…

They seem like a really lovely couple and it’s so nice that Harry has been allowed to marry who he wants to. Royals have to ask the Queen’s permission to marry and although Lord Frederick of Windsor married an actress of Jewish descent a few years ago, he’s really minor royalty and his own father lost his place in…

I love Mariah’s distinctive word choice, it’s clear she writes her own songs because literally nobody else would use those word combinations.

In case my power gets taken out by Ophelia and people want context on abuse by Christian Brothers in Irish schools The National Board On Safeguarding Children found 870 reports of abuse against 325 different Christian Brothers and those were just reported cases. There wouldn’t be any Christian Brothers actually…

Pat on the back to whatever teacher came up with this, my bet is it’s a Transition Year project but it’s way better for student engagement than the usual crap they do.