Podcast: Inside Ireland's first Bitcoin Conference
Irish Examiner business reporter Emer Walsh recently attended Ireland's first Bitcoin Conference in Dublin.
Techbros, pensioners, young parents and even a 'financial astrologer' gathered to discuss how to get rich quick on the unregulated online market.
Emer tells Irish Examiner Opinion Editor Deirdre O'Shaughnessy about the paranoia, distrust and far-right conspiracy theories she heard at the conference. She heard what they had to say - but in the end she wasn't orange-pilled.
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Conspiracies, distrust and 'holding on for dear life': Inside Ireland's largest Bitcoin Conference
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Irish Examiner
4 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Thousands take part in Cork's Eucharistic Procession amid 'a very uncertain world'
Thousands of people took part in the annual Eucharistic Procession in Cork City on Sunday, with many saying that the world has become such a dangerous place, more people will turn to God in the uncertain days ahead. This was echoed by the Bishop of Cork and Ross Fintan Gavin before he led the ceremony which got underway at Cathedral of Saint Mary and Saint Anne, also known as the North Cathedral. Bishop Gavin said he'd noticed an increase in those attending the event in recent years. A sea of faithful wound their way through the streets of Cork as the 2025 Eucharistic Procession unfolded, continuing a tradition that has united generations of worshippers. Picture: Chani Anderson He told the Irish Examiner that waking up on Sunday morning to news that US president Trump had ordered the US Air Force to bomb nuclear sites in Iran had no doubt made a lot of people feel uneasy. People from parishes across the city and county took part in the 2025 Cork Eucharistic Procession, which made its way from the North Cathedral through the historic streets of Cork to the Grand Parade, where Mass was celebrated in the open air. Picture: Chani Anderson The bishop said ordinary people are seeking out the higher power of God as they are looking for 'security, purpose, and meaning in a very uncertain world". A large proportion of those who took part in the procession were Catholic immigrants to the country. There was also a notable presence of younger Irish-born people. Faithful Catholics gathered in great numbers along the Grand Parade for the concluding Mass of the Cork Eucharistic Procession 2025. Picture: Chani Anderson For Indian-born Sabidha Matha, her husband, Joseph, and their two children, Anlive and Asmin, it was their first time at the procession. Sabidha, a nurse at CUH, said the family moved to Ireland two years ago. She said: More people are looking to God as the world is such an unsafe place now. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, Israel's brutal suppression of Palestinians in Gaza, and now its attacks on Iran being joined by the US are making people pray harder for global peace, people said. 'Everything is so confusing, everything is going wrong with the world with these wars,' said Patricia Campbell from Carrigaline who was attending the event for the third time. Altar servers and clergy from the Cathedral of St Mary and St Anne — 'the North Cathedral' — led the way as Bishop Fintan Gavin carried the Eucharist through Cork City towards the altar set up on the Grand Parade. Picture: Chani Anderson George Feeney, 19, from Kinsale was leading the 25-strong 1st Cork Scout Troop in the procession. It was also his third time at the religious ceremony. 'I think there is a resurgence in trust of the church amongst younger people,' he said. Dia Enodio, who is originally from the Philippines, came along with her two children Adiel, eight, and Biel, six. People from parishes across city and county took part in the 2025 Cork Eucharistic Procession. Picture: Chani Anderson Her family came to Ireland two years ago and they live in Tower, near Blarney. She pointed out that the Philippines is one of the world's most Catholic countries and so the transition to Ireland is great for her 'because we have so many churches we can go to here". People from all over Cork city and county wending their way through the streets of Cork for the 2025 Eucharistic Procession. Picture: Chani Anderson Terry McCarthy came down from Farranree to attend the parade. He said he'd been for the past two years after a gap of about 10 years. Prior to that he was a regular at it. He said: The world is now a very frightening place and anything could happen. I imagine a lot of people are turning to God because of this. The procession, led by the Butter Exchange Band, left the cathedral at 3pm making its way down Cathedral Street, Roman Street, through Mulgrave Road, onto Pope's Quay and over the Christy Ring Bridge. The faithful gathered along the Grand Parade in Cork City for the concluding Mass of the Cork Eucharistic Procession 2025, marking one of the city's oldest annual religious events. Picture: Chani Anderson From there it progressed along Academy Street, into Patrick Street and onto Grand Parade, where for the first time in its 99-year history it stopped at a specially constructed altar in front of the National Monument. Many more were waiting there and the participants prayed, listened to the liturgy and benediction, which was celebrated by Bishop Gavin. The annual Eucharistic Procession passing through St Patrick's Street, Cork in 1928. Picture: Irish Examiner Archive Crowd estimates varied from 3,500 to around 4,000. Next year crowds are expected to be even bigger as it will mark the 100th anniversary of the first procession. That took place in 1926 and was designed in the main part to heal divisions brought about by the Civil War. That parade was attended by tens of thousands of people.
Irish Examiner
2 days ago
- Irish Examiner
Mick Clifford: The USA is adopting a totalitarian attitude to free speech
Donald Trump's toxic orbit is now reaching directly into Ireland. Most recently, there were two specific areas in which this has come to pass. Last week, it emerged that officials in Coimisiún na Meán, the media regulator, could face potential restrictions on entry to the USA if the American administration deems that they are interfering with 'free speech' by regulating social media. This is an unprecedented move. Ordinarily, such visa restrictions might apply to corrupt officials in a dictatorship or rogue state. Now, in Trump's America, officials in a friendly European country could be banned from entry for simply doing their job. 'Free speech' is a movable feast for Trump and his followers. For instance, soon after assuming office in January, Trump declared that the Gulf of Mexico should heretofore be known as the Gulf of America. The PA news agency refused to do so, referring instead to its long-standing style book that determined it was still the Gulf of Mexico irrespective of what Trump might wish it to be. The king was not pleased. PA reporters were banned from the White House and from accompanying him on Air Force One. There have been similar instances where Trump and the gang he surrounds himself with have had issues with free speech. Elsewhere, Jess Casey reported this week in the Irish Examiner that new US visa screening protocols require international students travelling on a J1 visa to adjust privacy settings on all their social media profiles to public. The US state department announced it would now 'conduct a comprehensive and thorough vetting, including online presence, of all student and exchange visitor applicants' under the new guidance. This will allow immigration officials to check the social media of students in case there is anything incriminating on their devices. And what could be incriminating in Trump's America? Anything that is deemed to conform to the kind of broad policies that the current authoritarian administration is pursuing. So, if, for instance, a young student has something on their phone that might show support for Palestinians who are being massacred, that can be deemed contrary to US interests, and the student told to turn around and go home. Similarly, entry might be denied if the student is displaying anything that is supportive of the rights of minorities, such as the transgender community. As of now it is unclear if a student has, for instance, a screenshot or meme portraying Donald Trump as a buffoon whether this would be incriminating enough to warrant exclusion. One way or the other, the restrictions suggest that the USA is adopting a totalitarian attitude to any kind of speech that might be contrary to Trump's precious, and sometimes, venal, interests. So much for free speech. As with all totalitarian regimes, there is a different attitude to any kind of free speech that might fit neatly into the category of propaganda. Thus, Trump is a believer in social media companies having a free rein over what appears on their platforms. What could be incriminating in Trump's America? Anything that is deemed to conform to the kind of broad policies that the current authoritarian administration is pursuing. Picture: David Dermer/AP In the first instance, it suits him and his politics. He is an expert manipulator of the medium, where he is free to retail lies, distortions, and abuse at will. His current level of power in the USA implies he will brook no attempts to curtail that ability. So it was that Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook announced soon after Trump's inauguration that it was no longer deploying fact-checking on the site. So social media is destined in the USA to remain a fact-free environment. Beyond that, the 'free speech' that Trump believes in extends to far less protection of minors on social media. This leaves boys and girls exposed to material relating to sex and violence with practically no restrictions. The reasoning behind such a free-for-all is that any restrictions depress traffic on the sites, which in turn hits the profits for the social media companies. And right now, all the owners, the tech bros, are happy to play supplicant to Trump in order to ensure they remain in his favour. Now word is being conveyed across the Atlantic that regulators in Europe, and particularly Ireland where so many of these companies have offices, would be well-minded to follow the lead of the Americans or they will, in terms of visa restrictions, be treated like corrupt officials from a foreign rouge state. You could not make it up. This week, it was also reported that 25% of US companies that had previously supported Dublin Pride have now pulled out. The move is directly due to the hostility Trump has towards anything resembling diversity or inclusion. Whether or not that has anything to do with his own opinion is irrelevant. Politically, he views it as a seam to mine, and that's all that matters to him. So to be seen to be supporting minorities is, in the eyes of Trump and his acolytes, a sign of disloyalty to the king. Dublin Pride, and all the Pride festivities are important annual events. They celebrate the LGBT+ communities but also act as a reminder of how these, and other, minorities were treated at a darker time. Three years ago, however, the Pride festival showed a degree of intolerance that was not in keeping with the sentiment it espouses. Following a series of programmes on RTÉ Radio 1's Lifeline on the subject of gender dysphoria, Pride announced that it was dropping the broadcaster as a media partner. The programmes had been balanced, which required including voices from a small group opposed to the philosophical position adopted by most in the LGBT community towards gender dysphoria. Such diversity of opinion was unacceptable to the organisers of Dublin Pride, so RTÉ was dropped. Today, the level of intolerance increasingly displayed in the USA towards minority communities is of a far greater order, and is being accepted by elements of society out of nothing more than fear of reprisals from Trump and his acolytes. That such an atmosphere is now washing up on these shores through US companies running away in fear from Dublin Pride should be an issue of concern for everybody. We have problems in this country, mainly concerned with inequality, particularly in relation to housing. Those are nothing like the issues that have pertained in the USA for decades, and which led to an atmosphere where an individual like Trump could actually be elected to office, not once, but twice. Vigilance is required to ensure we don't succumb to the toxic waves from Trump's America that can wash up on these shores in various forms. Read More Donald Trump delays US TikTok ban again
Irish Examiner
2 days ago
- Irish Examiner
'It's lovely to be able to bring something vibrant to where you live': New café opens its doors in Cork town
A new café has opened its doors on Ballincollig's main street, offering locals and visitors to the town good vibes and even better coffee in a welcoming, bright space. Mark and Fiona O'Brien, salon directors of Mark Vincent Hair and Beauty on the main street, have opened the café in the same unit as their existing business after 14 years in the hair industry in Ballincollig. The original idea was to open a coffee shop, but the idea expanded, and the café now boasts a kitchen with highly qualified chefs who prepare everything on-site using the very best of local produce. A day trade café open six days a week, there are already ideas swirling to create something special at the café to cater for the town's night-time economy. Speaking to the Irish Examiner about the café's success since opening its doors just over three weeks ago, Fiona O'Brien said: 'I've always felt that we had a beautiful space with beautiful window frontage looking onto the main street of Ballincollig. Interior of Blondie 'I had been to other towns and places where I'd seen coffee shops that had that brightness and I always felt that our unit deserved to be something more special so I suppose, for me, a coffee shop has a fantastic vibration and is alive, and I wanted to bring something special to Ballincollig. 'I have a great love for where I live, and our kids were born and raised here and have gone to school here, so that's really important. I just think it's the greatest town, and it's just having something vibrant and special that creates a community space for people to come into, where they get amazing food and coffee. It's proven to be that, so it's great.' Mark O'Brien echoed that sentiment, acknowledging the community that they have built through their 14 years in hairdressing in Ballincollig. Fiona O'Brien 'We have had an established business next to the café for the last 14 years. We've been self-employed now for 20 years, and there is a community that was aware that we were opening Blondie, and they are just delighted to be part of that and to have somewhere nice to eat with some really good food,' he said. Speaking about the chosen name for the café, Fiona O'Brien said: 'The name originates from myself, actually. It's hair-related and food-related. I was a brunette for years, copper, went through every other hair colour, and in recent years have become blonde. "Relating it to food, then, you have your blondie brownies and you have your blonde roast coffee, and there's an energy too about Blondie that's bright and that's what I wanted to draw into the unit, was a brightness and lightness.' Interior of Blondie She acknowledged the opportunity to change up the menus and to run something in the evenings as the café has a wine licence, and envisions hosting various community events in the future. 'It's just starting to bud and we're beginning to see what's possible with it. It's a real creative space. I think it will draw in different people who will probably bring other ideas to me as well, and I'm open to everything,' she said. 'I'm delighted with my business and my staff, and I'm delighted to have brought something to Ballincollig. It's a great town, and it's lovely to be able to bring something vibrant to where you live.' The café is currently open Tuesday to Saturday from 8.30am to 5pm, Sunday from 9am to 5pm and closed on Mondays.
