A topic that is attracting increasing attention is whether or not the state is equipped enough to defend itself from all manner of attack, on land and on sea. This comes at a time when another aspectof military force is being discussed, that of neutrality. To separate the wheat from the chaff on these matters we are joined today by defence analyst …

Writer Donal Ryan talk to Mick Clifford about his latest book. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s no exaggeration to say the last fortnight in Irish sport has been among the best and most successful we’ve ever seen. We’ve had four Olympic gold medals across four separate sports, and a few bronze to go along with it. And there may yet be more to come. The events in Paris have captured the imagination back home on what has been the country’s…

In the space of just a few weeks, the race for the White House has been turned on its head. It’s now Kamala Harris who will take on Donald Trump in November’s US Presidential election, presenting a very different rival for the presidency than Joe Biden would have. She’s fundraising in huge numbers and gaining on Trump in many polls, while Trump is …

Martin McGuinness assured Rose Hegarty repeatedly that her son Frank would be unharmed if he returned to Derry. Rose believed him and Frank came back. It was a fateful decision and that fate is explored in a new book about spies in the North during the Troubles. Four Shots in the Night examines the Hegarty case and puts it in the context of the int…

A tumultuous week in US politics saw an assassination attempt on Donald Trump and his subsequent victory march through the Republican party’s convention in which the party threw itself at his feet. Meanwhile, Joe Biden candidacy continues to raise doubts. Professor Scott Lucas of the Clinton Institute in UCD looks back at the week and forward towar…

Arthur Matthews is a well-known comedy writer whose work includes Father Ted and the musical I Keano. Now he has taken a very different turn and written about a polarizing figure in Irish history, Kevin O’Higgins, the man many associate with the policy of executions during the Civil War. Arthur talks to the podcast about his book, Walled In By Hate…

The UK elections has delivered a hammer blow to the Tories after fourteen years in power. Kier Starmer is the new British Prime Minister but what needs to change and what will change. Also, what will the result mean for Northern Ireland after the DUP suffer further losses and Sinn Fein marches on? Author and columnist Seamas O’Reilly is this week’s…

Bertie Ahern, Roy Keane, the Saipan controversy and the great Tommie Gorman. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The recent successes of Irish athletes in the European championships have nicely teed up the forthcoming Olympics for most sports fans. Rashida Adeleke and Ciara Mageean among others have done the country proud. But is the success that they and others are enjoying a result of a the kind of well funded, structured system that exists in comparable co…

Some had billed the Euro and local election the most important in a generation. Others said they all say that. One way of the other there were shocks, surprises and a few very interesting takeaways. Irish Examiner Political Editor Elaine Loughlin gives the run down on all that went on all it tells us about what to expect in the coming months. Hoste…

One of the most fascinating personal stories to emerge from the decades of violence in the North is that of Kevin Barry Artt. He was wrongly convicted of murder, on the word of a supergrass. He was part of a huge breakout from the Maze prison even though he wasn’t a member of the IRA. And he eventually became the focus of a concerted effort by the …

With European elections coming over the horizon next week we got political scientist Dr Theresa Reidy to tell us just what exactly we will be voting for. She outlines the job of an MEP, who is the best kind of person to send and what we should know about and expect from what is our parliament. Theresa also runs the rule over the novel mayoral elect…

This week’s guest on the podcast is Irish Examiner editor, Tom Fitzpatrick. Tom talks about the challenges in today’s media world, from attempting to provide a fact based and balanced newspaper, both in print and online, to protecting journalists who are often targeted by those intent of creating divisions and hatred. He gives an insight into the j…

This week’s guest on the podcast is one of Ireland’s leading criminal law solicitors, Frank Buttimer. With over forty years in practice Frank Buttimer has represented clients in some of the most high profile trials over the decades. He also has some interesting insights in the type of crime that is coming before the courts these days, particularly …

The fiftieth anniversary of the Dublin Monaghan bombings falls on 17 May. Thirty four people died in the four bombings in what was the worst tragedy in the state since the Civil War. Families were marked for life by the killings but beyond the human tragedy there was also a state scandal associated with the day. Over the years it has emerged that b…

A new study into how teenage boys are drawn down rabbit holes online to content that is misogynistic and possibly have a traumatic impact on their development was published recently by DCU. The research shows that social media companies are now drawing teenagers towards influencers who are spreading all manner of negative material simply to make mo…

One of the most tragic figures from the revolutionary period was Roger Casement, global humanitarian, Irish rebel, hung as a traitor. A new biography Broken Archangel – The Tempestuous Lives of Roger Casement provides a fascinating account of this complex figure and the times he lived in. It also answers definitively the questions around whether hi…

After forty three years the families of the forty eight young people who died in the Stardust fire in Dublin in February 1981 have finally received a form of justice. The longest running inquest in the history of the state returned a verdict of unlawful killing in all forty eight deaths. How did it get here, what did the inquest here and where can …

Michael Lynn is currently serving a prison sentence for crimes of fraud committed at the height of the Celtic Tiger years in this country. A solicitor by training, he conned banks out of tens of millions of euro, went on the run and ended up in Brazil where his wife gave birth to their first child. He thought that would save him from extradition bu…

We have long since developed in a nation of foodies in this country in terms of the range of foodies that people enjoy and how it is consumed. But what of our food system? How far now is the journey from farm to fork? Why do we no longer, for the greater part, know the precise distance and route taken by the food we buy? And why is this country tha…

The bustling town of Killorglin in Co Kerry is one of the most unlikeliest places imaginable to have a connection with one of the biggest drug cartels on the planet but that is the case. One of the senior figures in the Sinaloa cartel is allegedly Morris O’Shea Salazar who spent a decade of his formative years growing up and into adulthood in Killo…

The death was announced earlier this week of Rose Dugdale, the English aristocrat who became a member of the IRA, served time in prison and was subsequently involved in perfecting bomb technology for the Provos. She also featured in attempts to rid inner city Dublin of drug dealers in the 1980s. Sean O’Driscoll has written a biography of Ms Dugdale…

Leo Varadkar’s announcement that he was stepping down as Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael took the whole country by shock. Why now and who is in line to succeed him? Irish Examiner Political Editor Elaine Loughlin looks back on Varadkar’s career and looks forward to who might replace him and what it will mean for the government, the country and th…

One of the perks of the job of being Taoiseach is apparently the invite to the White House for St Patrick’s Day, a privilege that is afforded few foreign leaders. Leo Varadkar is over this year but he has a lot on his mind. He has to step lightly around hosts whose stance on Israel and Gaza is at odds with that of most of the world, including Irela…