Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning

Causes, as we know, are notoriously bloodthirsty,’ James Baldwin wrote.  What does it do to do somebody when they have crossed the boundary into a world of killing and destruction? How do they enforce their code in a place untethered from the one the rest of us inhabit? On Free State today, Joe and Dion follow on from Tuesday’s episode on Stakeknife by looking at how rules of organisations li...

When the state sanctions it, is it murder? When the state protects its agents from the consequences of their crimes, how long before cynicism corrupts society? On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at the dark and dirty existence of Freddie Scappaticci, MI5 and the British state. They argue about what the report tells us about the IRA and the British government, while Joe tells the extraordinary...

In 1948, Herbert Simms, under increasing pressure from the demands of his job, took his own life. The pressure came from his job as Dublin’s housing architect. Between 1932 and the time of his death, Simms was responsible for building 17,000 homes for the ordinary people of Dublin. On Free State today Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin O Broin talks about his beautiful new book on Simms, produc...

During the heroin epidemic in Dublin in the 1980s, one drug baron infamously remarked as he was jailed, ‘ If you think we’re bad, wait til you see what’s coming after us .’ Australia banned social media for under 16s this week but will the next wave of online consumption be devastating for us all?  If we thought social media was bad, what is coming next in terms of AI and the artificial frien...

When Gianni Infantino created FIFA’s Peace Prize, how could he have imagined that the inaugural winner would be his great friend Donald Trump. But there Trump was on stage in Washington, presenting himself with the peace medal. On Free State , Joe and Dion look at how FIFA cosied up to autocrats, snake oil salesmen and Trump. They examine how money not only drives professional sport but has become...

“I believe to the core of my soul that the response Israel is taking, and with it the American support both for that response and for the status quo of the occupation, will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people.” With these words, in October 2023, Josh Paul quit the US State Department. He was protesting over the Biden administration’s ongoing fundi...

Are there reasons to embrace AI? Are the doomsayers wrong and the apocalyptic warnings overstated? What if an ordinary person can access medical or legal advice for fraction of the cost and difficulty it takes today? But what if there is no room for an ordinary person?  On Free State today Dion and Joe look at the next frontier. In the technological revolution, we have allowed ourselves to be...

Daniel Lambert is many things, football man, band manager and activist. Kneecap’s manager was the driving force behind the motion approved by the FAI last month to ban Israel from international football. On Free State today he talks to Dion and Joe about how the motion was about breaking the rules not the genocide in Gaza.  He speaks too about Kneecap and the extraordinary resilience they sho...

Oisin Murphy has been the Champion Jockey in Britain for the past two years. He will travel the country and beyond in pursuit of a winner. Horse racing is an addiction but it is not his only addiction. On Free State today Oisin Murphy speaks about his alcoholism and how he fooled himself into believing he could drink like a gentleman. He discusses with Dion the ways a drinker will fool himself and...

When Donald Trump’s Education Secretary Linda McMahon called ‘AI’ ‘A-One’ it was treated as a gaffe that said a lot about the intellectual calibre of his cabinet. But it told us something else too. On Free State today we look at how the world has been conned by AI to advance the ambitions of the new colonists, the Tech Bros. Does it matter that many expect the AI bubble to burst or is the relentle...

Sport is what sustains so many of us through the winter. Ireland is a sporting country but what does that mean? On Free State today, we ask if Ireland is really a sports mad country or are we just a nation of bandwagon jumpers, willing fleeced by those charging huge money for tickets? We ask if the communities who get so much from sport deserve more support and wonder how much is too much for a ti...

Colin Davidson is one of Ireland’s great artists. In a raw and powerful conversation, he joins us on Free State today to talk about a childhood that saw him find an escape into art. He speaks of how he approaches his subjects and what he is trying to find when he paints people as diverse as Martin McGuinness and the Queen. And he considers the question, is there anyone he wouldn’t paint? Hosted on...

What are the things that matter in this world? What do we mean by the common good? On Free State today Joe talks about the extraordinary beauty and grace he is witnessing in the Mayo Hospice at the moment. When life and death visit us we understand what is important and we grasp what is valuable.   Joe and Dion also talk more about the extraordinary week of football and the achievements...

Troy Parrott has transformed the mood of the nation.  On Free State today we ask why the player and the Ireland team have had the impact they had? What is it about a game like football, even at a time when it is scarred by money and greed, that brings people together in a profound way? Dion looks at Troy Parrott and wonders about Ireland’s need for a saviour. Parrott was tipped for greatness...

‘Thanks a million, big fella.’ Charlie Haughey’s words to Ben Dunne summed up how Ireland worked for many. But who was Ben Dunne and what were the compulsions that drove him? On Free State today Matt Cooper talks about his gripping new book Dynasty about the Dunnes family. It looks at how Ben Dunne Senior built an empire and how Ben Jr never recovered from the kidnapping. He talks to us about the...

What is the difference between nostalgia and lamenting the loss of something special? Have we become a society that places too much emphasis on propriety at the expense of the unpredictability that makes life worth living. As Joe and Dion reflect on Monday Clubs they’ve belonged from Mayo to Kilburn, they look at the lives of the great hellraisers. They lament too the decline of sports coverage on...

Donald Trump is threatening to sue the BBC for a billion dollars. On Free State today we ask what is driving this campaign against the BBC? Many studies have concluded that there is a pro Israeli bias at the BBC, but the report that led to the resignation of the director general alleged the opposite. Why has that led to such upheaval when so many say the opposite. Is this the real driver for this...

Iain Dale knows he is walking on perilous terrain. Dale is one of Britain’s best known broadcasters and podcasters but his new book is about Ireland, specifically Irish Taoisigh. On Free State today Iain Dale has an animated conversation about what has gone wrong in England and the dangers of nationalism. Yet he argues that he doesn’t believe Nigel Farage is an extremist.  Dale has recruited...

In numbers not seen for half a century, New Yorkers went out and voted for Zohran Mamdani as their new mayor. Mamdani becomes New York’s first Muslim mayor. He came to America at the age of seven and he has created a sense of the possible that was once at the heart of the American condition. On Free State today we ask how did Zohran Mamdani do it? How did he overcome the campaign of demonisation t...

On Halloween night, a fire broke out an IPAS centre in Drogheda. Four children, including a 20-day-old baby, were among those rescued from the top floor of the building.  The next morning the Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan condemned the attack and said that fireworks had been thrown into the building. There were no fireworks, CCTV footage showed a figure setting fire to the staircase. Polic...

On the day of the All Ireland football final in 1978, Anne Marie Allen believed she was beginning the life she dreamed of. She was 15 years old and wanted to be a chef. When two visitors came to her house promising a catering course and a job, it seemed like too good to be true. It was. For the next seven years she entered into the secretive world of Opus Dei.  On Free State today Anne Marie...

DJ Carey’s sentencing hearing was postponed until Friday. In July, Carey had pleaded guilty to defrauding 13 people. On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at the rise and fall of hurling’s first superstar. They examine the drive and determination that took DJ to the top and the restlessness that was always part of his personality as well. Joe talks about his own dealing with DJ and wonders if the...

When the shadow Home Secretary Robert Jenrick visited Handsworth in Birmingham he complained about ‘not seeing another white face’. Many were angered by his comments, but what do they tell us about how the mainstream has absorbed extremist postions? On Free State today we consider how racism has become respectable. What is happening in the U.K. and the US is taking hold here, with the demonisation...

 When Winston Churchill wanted someone to deal with the problems in Ireland, he turned to his old friend Sir Hugh Tudor. Tudor went to Ireland unable to grasp the complexity of the situation. He was described as “a man of no balance, knowledge or judgment and therefore a deplorable selection for his present post”. On Free State today we talk to Linden MacIntyre about his new book on Hugh Tudo...

When Birmingham City Council announced that they would ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending the football match against Aston Villa next month, Keir Starmer was quick to react. Not as quick as Kemi Badenoch or Nigel Farage, but Starmer was soon promising that he would be doing everything in his power to overturn the ban. On Free State today we look at the truth about Maccabi Tel Aviv. What is i...