Left in the Lurch

15/09/2025

The Barne Estate ruling will get most of the attention, of course, but it's just one of two bloody noses for John Magnier today: with reporting from me on Parkville Farm!

The businessman has lost a case to buy the coveted 751-acre Barne Estate.

14/08/2025

I wrote about the recent attacks on Indians in Ireland for the Center for the Study of Organized Hate, and the need for the political and media establishment to reckon with their role in creating an increasingly hostile atmosphere for immigrants in this country.

Recent attacks on Indians highlight rising racist violence in Ireland and the complicity of politics and media in fueling hostility toward immigrants.

30/07/2025

I'm back in The Ditch! The personal diplomatic envoy of Azerbaijani dictator Ilham Aliyev was hobnobbing with senior members of government, the IIEA and even Bertie Ahern in Dublin last month, less than two years after threatening genocide on live TV.

Thomas Byrne, John Lahart and Verona Murphy met with Amirbayov for a “working visit” in Dublin.

28/06/2025

It's been a year this week since I chose journalism as my vocation and I've never been surer I found my calling

I don't like to shake the tip jar too often, but if you've enjoyed my work and want to contribute towards my expenses, I appreciate the support.

https://ko-fi.com/leftinthelurch/

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27/06/2025

Zing Technology, a firm co-founded by Fine Gael TD Naoise Ó Muirí, has received public contracts worth almost €5,000,000 over the last ten years.

Zing Technology, a firm co-founded by Fine Gael TD Naoise Ó Muirí in 2007, has received public contracts worth almost €5,000,000 over the last ten years, according to records obtained from various …

16/06/2025

Back in The Ditch today thanks to my years-long fascination with honorary consuls.

An official representative of the Irish state in Egypt plays a crucial role in transporting goods in and out of Israel during its onslaught on Gaza.

He's a partner in the United Arab Emirates-Israel land corridor.

11/06/2025

Pleased to make my debut with The Ditch today.

Naoise Ó Cearúil told me he has no conflict of interest since he declared his shares, which is a very common misunderstanding of what the term "conflict of interest" means, I have noticed.

It was co-founded by a man who “conducted classified intelligence work” for the Israel Defense Forces.

01/06/2025

So far this term, every other Tipp TD has voted almost exclusively with or against the government.

Mattie has voted with the government

- around 52% of the time in total
- on 65% of votes outside private members' time
- 61.5% of the time if you also exclude order of business votes

If he had this voting record in the last Dáil, he'd have been one of the most pro-government independents, just behind Michael Lowry and Noel Grealish.

Whether that makes him a government TD is in the eye of the beholder to some extent, but it's certainly very different from the Mattie who ended the last Dáil term having voted with the government less than 10% of the time.

https://leftinthelurch.net/2024/11/17/michael-lowry-voted-with-government-more-than-75-in-last-dail/

15/05/2025

Further comment from me in the Connacht Tribune on the conspiracist "IRB" organising in Oughterard (and elsewhere, for that matter) and their plans to set up their own courts.

14/05/2025

How much did Mattie McGrath’s plant hire firm receive for clearing snow in January this year?

I've received more requests to investigate this story than any other. It took longer than it should, but I can now say: just a smidge over two grand.

How much did Mattie McGrath’s plant hire firm receive for clearing snow in January this year?

14/05/2025

I was quoted in this Connacht Tribune article on the "Irish Republican Brotherhood", the most active and well-funded of multiple fringe conspiracist groups claiming to be the descendants of the original IRB.

This IRB – currently led by a man called John Declan Flanagan – are attempting to infiltrate communities and set up their own councils and courts, all while telling people they don't have to follow the law as long as they give the IRB money for magic documents first.

19/04/2025

Pleased to make my debut at TheJournal.ie with an update on John Magnier's plans to demolish historic buildings at Parkville Farm in Clonmel – and the campaign to stop him.

Tipperary County Council did not request an architectural survey of the historic farm buildings despite the recommendation of the Department of Housing.