Patricia Devlin

Heart disease induced in pigs. Rabbits’ eyes surgically removed. Chinchillas’ eardrums deliberately perforated. Just some of the procedures commissioned by Irish universities in overseas labs. Our latest investigation by @trishdevlin.bsky.social www.thejournal.ie/irish-animal...

This is a great piece on how the FOI process actually works

Six years ago, Ireland was promised a dedicated Wildlife Crime Unit. It never materialised, and no one really explained why. I went looking for answers. It took a year-long battle with the NPWS and an Information Commissioner investigation to get them. Here’s what I found ⬇️ jrnl.ie/7135559

On the show today: Ciara Glynn on the Solace Café; Máire Treasa Ní Cheallaigh on naming kids; Henry McKean on the secretive Irish; Declan Buckley & Barbara Scully wearily shake their heads; Rían Gill on the solar-power racing car; Patricia Devlin on skunks in Kildare.

Well, this was an unusual story for me to write. 7 skunks found roaming near protected bog land captured and destroyed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service. How did they get there? No one knows. But, there were 8 for sale some wks prior on an Irish pet trading group, I’m told jrnl.ie/7150402

The FOI Files: Sixteen hares hit by dogs. One greyhound euthanised. A “clerical error” recording 10 dead hares. All revealed in four DAFM inspection reports. www.thejournal.ie/hare-coursin...

When an entire arena boos you for telling the truth, you quickly learn who has courage. Kris Kristofferson walking onto that stage and standing beside Sinéad as the insults rained down remains one of the most powerful acts of human decency I’ve ever seen. Three years resting in peace 🙌🏼🤍🙌🏼

maybe the funniest part of the Mayo curse story is that the curse was supposedly issued by a Catholic priest. like I’m not being funny but I don’t think Catholic priests are supposed to do that

Thanks for this Patricia. As a firefighter, we have definitely noticed an increase/intensification in wildfires north of the border. Unfortunately, after reading the comments under the article, there's a fair amount of education that needs to occur to really spell out the causal human factors.

Clear similarities with the fires in nature reserves and sensitive habitat in the Scottish Highlands and Wales. Note that you can register for free to read this article:

Worked on this wildfire investigation for the last number of months with colleagues across the EU. To publish today is, sadly, very timely. While Ireland doesn’t experience the ‘mega fires’ we see in Spain etc, the damage caused to protected sites here is actually far greater than most of Europe.

Coimisiún na Meán says it is “actively engaging" with providers of a sinister suicide glorifying forum which, despite a UK ban, is freely accessible in Ireland. @trishdevlin.bsky.social reveals how the site is linked to at least two deaths in Ireland.

New investigation: Almost half of all the speeding prosecutions that came before Ireland’s courts did not proceed any further, analysis by @trishdevlin.bsky.social has found. jrnl.ie/7069370t

'A giant symbol of Celtic Tiger excess that will kill swans' Residents say a new bridge which is fastly moving towards construction should not go ahead. Reporter @trishdevlin.bsky.social reveals why Sligo's new landmark has skipped strict environmental checks.

A €50m bridge given life-long planning permission 15 years ago is finally set to go ahead, despite no clear evidence of updated environmental checks. That includes collision risks to the area's large number of swans. @trishdevlin.bsky.social reports...

Stop normalising sexual violence as entertainment. NWC condemns the appalling inclusion of a float depicting the crimes of Epstein in a St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Co. Mayo. The float was offensive and deeply insensitive to victim survivors of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. #EndVAW

Within a two-year period, HSE staff recorded almost 450 suspected suicides of patients who had recent contact with healthcare services, an investigation by @trishdevlin.bsky.social has found. www.thejournal.ie/suicides-aft...

Liam Ramos, a preschooler ICE detained the five-year-old Minnesota boy as he returned home from school and transported him to a detention center in Texas.

Hundreds of Ireland's historic landfills have been left in limbo despite a risk of polluting nearby waterways. Reporter @conorocarroll.bsky.social explains from the site of one of these former landfills how delays are contributing to the problem. Read more: jrnl.ie/6887357

More brilliant news for the TJI team: Conor O'Carroll has made the shortlist for the upcoming 2025 Business Journalist Awards! Conor's nomination in the Business Analyst of the Year category is for his work on Ireland's data centres... www.thejournal.ie/investigates...

A child in Tusla care was reported missing 274 times in a single year, The Journal Investigates can reveal. Records show the Child and Family Agency made almost 7,000 reports to gardaí on children who had gone missing from residential care in the last 5 years. www.thejournal.ie/tusla-missin...

Another big win for The Journal Investigates! Patricia Devlin has scooped an award at the Irish Food Writing Awards in Dublin

Brilliant news - our own Conor O'Carroll has won Young Journalist of the Year at the annual Newsbrands Awards!

'When they finished cutting, they tied my legs together for a week so the stitches wouldn’t open'. A young Somalian woman talks to @trishdevlin.bsky.social about becoming a victim of Female Genital Mutilation at 8-years-old, and later seeking protection in Ireland.

Ireland's sole clinic for treating women and some girls with horrific Female Genital Mutilation injuries has seen a 300% surge in demand for services. Its director tells @trishdevlin.bsky.social the current service is 'neither fair, nor sustainable'. READ: www.thejournal.ie/female-genit...

I see the Daily Mail has taken the news well. #irishpresident #catherineconnoñly

Several Irish stars have joined big names in backing and promoting a concert hosted tonight by Together for Palestine at Wembley Stadium https://www.thejournal.ie/cillian-murphy-together-for-palestine-6819680-Sep2025/

'Racism has got more aggressive, more obvious and more brazen' in Ireland, with anti-race the single most discriminatory motive in hate crimes here. Read our latest investigation: http://www.thejournal.ie/racist-attacks-ireland-6817334-Sep2025/

Around one in three hate incidents reported to gardaí are racially motivated, analysis by @trishdevlin.bsky.social has found. http://www.thejournal.ie/racist-attacks-ireland-6817334-Sep2025/

Part 2 of our series looking at threats to our native seals. This one beggars belief, especially after the outrage in 2022 when a seal pup was killed after being picked up by a tourist for a selfie 😔 ⬇️

The number of dead seals washing up along Irish coasts more than doubled between 2020 and 2023, an investigation by @trishdevlin.bsky.social has found. http://www.thejournal.ie/dead-seals-ireland-6786495-Aug2025/

Our latest investigation by @trishdevlin.bsky.social exposes an important security concern across Ireland:

The Daily Mail now coming for the hipsters for making places look nice.

One female paramedic told The Journal Investigates she was "dry humped” by two different male colleagues, incidents brushed off as jokes. http://www.thejournal.ie/national-ambulance-service-female-paramedics-6748778-Jul2025/

Awful behaviour, well done the female paramedics for talking about it and you for reporting. Sexual harassment is disturbing anywhere but somehow an emergency service is a workplace where to you might think there’s less of it. Wrongly.

Every single workplace. How many of these abusers are responding to sexual violence call outs? Well done @trishdevlin.bsky.social for documenting this. "Separately, a hidden camera was found in one of the women’s bathrooms. An incident, she claimed, “was all kept quiet”.

‘I won’t work alone with certain colleagues’: Female paramedics tell @trishdevlin.bsky.social they feel there is an ‘unsafe culture’ within the National Ambulance Service. Read our latest investigation ⬇️ http://www.thejournal.ie/national-ambulance-service-female-paramedics-6748778-Jul2025/