Important from prominent EPP MEPs Andreas Schwab & Pablo Arias:
"Concerns regarding Ireland's historical enforcement of the GDPR and its economic alignment with large non-EU technology firms raise serious questions about its capacity to neutrally oversee these negotiations".
As they note, the consequences of Ireland's sabotage of the GDPR have hurt children and market competitiveness across Europe.
Contrary to what the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) said last week, Ireland's record of inquiries and sanctions against big tech is dismal. How long will Brussels permit this? Why is it not monitoring?
@johnnyryan Was not familiar with Arias' game... Need to remind myself that having to painfully, begrudgingly give credit for anything to the EPP is Good Actually.
Jul 7, 2026, 5:58 PM@johnnyryan Remember reading a horrific passage from Sarah Wynn-Williams book Horrible People on how everyone inside #meta knew how far the #irish government would go to satisfy the #bigtech companies located in #ireland with regards to such as #privacy.
Not to be trusted, thanks for shining a light on this
Jul 7, 2026, 6:31 PMAlso lol'd as I was reading @pluralistic's latest just now, where he elegantly summed it up as "Ireland – the place where European tech regulation goes to die".
https://pluralistic.net/2026/07/07/going-global/#no-zeppelins-required
@johnnyryan there's a reason why DSA and DMA enforcement is not delegated to member states. The EU does learn, albeit slowly.
@johnnyryan I support this action wholeheartedly, and will be writing later today to Katarina Barley MEP, who I know both personally and politically, to ask what stance she will take in this matter.