Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning

Lola is enjoying her first Christmas but Joe breaks away to look back on another Free State highlight. In another crucial history lesson, Dion educates Joe on the origins of Spiced Beef and the boys wonder when is it ok to call it Boxing Day. Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning is a Gold Hat Production in association with SwanMcG. For more on Free State: https://freestatepodcast.com/ Hoste...

On Christmas Eve, Joe and Dion reflect on the meaning of Christmas and if that meaning can include calling someone a c***? Joe remembers a memorable Christmas Eve in Dungiven. They also look back on how they began the podcast and why Dion brings out the worst in Joe. Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning is a Gold Hat Production in association with SwanMcG. For more on Free State: https://fr...

When Eoghan Murphy became minister for housing, he wanted to change everything. He wanted to declare housing an emergency. He wanted a constitutional right to housing. He got neither as the conservative elements won out. Instead he became the face of the housing crisis, the minister for homelessness. On a Free State Weekend Special, Eoghan Murphy talks to Dion about failure and dealing with pressu...

In 2018, the Israeli foreign ministry summoned Ireland’s ambassador in the country to their offices. Ireland was debating the Occupied Territories Bill so the ambassador was ‘reprimanded’ and told the legislation was ‘hypocritical and antisemitic’. This week Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar described Simon Harris as ‘antisemitic’ as Israel closed their embassy in Dublin. On Free State, Dion...

How important is the GAA in Irish life? How important is it to our politicians? Is it something they cherish or does it provide merely a photo opportunity and a chance to act as if they care? On Free State, Joe and Dion look at the Revenue Commissioners’ probes into county boards. Everyone should be tax compliant but what does the treatment of small sums of money tell us about how the GAA is reall...

Luigi Mangione was eating a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania when an employee recognised him and called the police. Mangione was arrested and subsequently charged with the murder of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson. Google had to take down bad reviews of the McDonald’s where he was turned which flooded the internet. Mangione has become a folk hero to many, a social bandit taking up th...

Micheál Martin will be Ireland’s next Taoiseach. He returns to the most important position in Ireland at a critical time in Irish life. But during the election campaign he spoke about how the IRA waged a war ‘on its own people’. What does this tell us about his worldview and how he views the north?  On Free State, Joe and Dion disagree about Micheal Martin’s comments and what they reveal abou...

In the court where he faced Nikita Hand, Conor McGregor had money but he didn’t have power. On the streets where some continue to idolise him, McGregor still has power. On a Free State Weekend Special, Joe and Dion look at the fight for those who are influenced by McGregor and the work being done by many to offer another way. The decision to award costs to Nikita Hand following the verdict in...

Over the past 18 months Free State has wrestled with the big issues in Ireland and across the world. But today they confront the most intractable of them all: how to get a crying baby to sleep. Reluctantly Joe shares some of the old Brolly secrets about how to soothe an infant in distress. What does Joe Biden’s pardon of Hunter Biden tell us about the morality of world leaders? They also...

The General Election was a glorious example of democracy at work. Ireland showed that it is a place where ideas are debated, policies fiercely contested and, at the end of the counting of votes, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael remain in power (and the far right crash). On Free State today Joe and Dion look at what the election results tell us about Ireland. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are on the verge of...

More than a million people tuned into RTE’s final election debate and if he could Simon Harris would have thanked every one of them. Instead he thanked Sarah McInerney and Miriam O’Callaghan for every question as he tried to recover the ground he has lost. Harris’s encounter with the woman in Kanturk Charlotte Fallon has defined the election campaign. But what has really led to Fine Gael’s sl...

Conor McGregor believes he lives in a world without rules, a world where he hears only the laughter of his entourage and answers to nobody.  Like Andrew Tate, he is mainstreaming misogyny and violence to an audience of young men who idolise him. On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at the world McGregor lives in and how he came to believe the law doesn’t apply to him. McGregor has boasted a...

How does RTÉ influence politics in Ireland? During an election campaign dominated by photoshoot which are just government press releases on camera, is power being questioned as it should? On Free State today, Dion and Joe ask what does press freedom mean in Ireland? They argue about Sinn Féin’s independent review into RTE’s coverage of Gaza. Joe also looks at the history of censorship by the estab...

When Paul Mescal said meeting King Charles was ‘not on his list of priorities’, some were appalled. We should be thanking the British not booing them, one commentator said. On Free State today, Dion and Joe argue about what the British have ever done for us. Why is the history of Empire still concealed from so many? And do we all have a reckoning with history? History remains w...

What does the selection of John McGahon as a general election candidate tell us about Fine Gael and their attitude to power? On Free State today, Dion and Joe look at the controversy, what it tells us about Irish politics and how power has been acquired in Ireland through the generations. Will people continue to vote as their forebears vote or has that vanished in Ireland today? Joe also considers...

What are the election candidates’ favourite biscuit? Who is the best runner? Who can pour the best pint? Given the photo ops that have marked the election campaign so far these would seem to be the issues convulsing Ireland. On a Free State Saturday special, Dion and Joe ask if these stage managed stunts are what will decide the election. Or will the issues that matter to people like housing and t...

What is Mary Lou McDonald’s vision for a United Ireland? On the second part of a Free State Special, Mary Lou McDonald talks about the Ireland she believes in and the 32 county country she imagines. With half a million new voters added to the register this year, McDonald outlines how she wants to change Ireland. She explains what led Sinn Fein to alter their policy on immigration and why the...

Mary Lou McDonald is promising change but will Sinn Fein be able to deliver? On the first Free State election special, Mary Lou McDonald joins Dion and Joe for a major podcast interview. She talks to Dion and Joe about the challenges facing her party and why she believes the media is hostile to Sinn Fein. Will Dion indulge in ‘IRAing’ or are these legitimate questions to be asked of the...

When historian Rick Perlstein is asked what awaits America under Donald Trump’s second presidency, he quotes Clubber Lang in Rocky III - Pain. On a Free State Special, Perlstein talks to Dion and Joe about the long rise of the right in the US. Through his books Nixonland and Reaganland, Perlstein has chronicled the Republican Party and their journey to the world beyond truth. He tells Dion and Joe...

How do you destroy democracy and will anyone notice if it happens in America? On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at how Donald Trump became US president again. Was it the economy, stupid, was it the weakness of Kamala Harris or did America embrace the hateful elements Trump has tapped into. Joe Biden’s role in Trump’s return can’t be overlooked. What will Trump do with the power which is comin...

America gets ready to vote but what is really at stake? Kamala Harris doesn’t have a radical plan to tackle the inequality that plagues America. Donald Trump might have a radical plan, but it looks a lot like fascism. On Free State Dion and Joe look at the polarisation of America, Trump’s Project 2025 plan which attacks democracy at its heart and why Trump might not care about the polls. Joe also...

What drives people to behave recklessly? What is it that motivates men to send dick pics without a thought to the consequences? On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at the anatomy of scandals and how they unfold. They move on to disagree about the developments in the Brian Stanley affair. They also consider the new drama Say Nothing and argue about the damage it may or not do to Sinn F...

Are you happy with the Ireland you live in? Are you happy with the Ireland your children are going to grow up in? When the General Election is called, it won’t be a parlour game, but a chance to shape Ireland for the better. On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at the media coverage of the crises that have engulfed Sinn Fein and how it affects the opportunity for change. Will the election be sha...

Roddy Doyle is the great chronicler of Dublin in our time. On the latest Free State special, he talks to Dion about working with Roy Keane, the housing crisis and an encounter in a toilet with Liam Gallagher. Doyle’s new book The Women Behind the Door has been nominated for an A Post Irish Book Award. Doyle talks about his long journey with the main character Paula Spencer from the seminal series...

What is at the heart of the media response to the Sinn Fein ‘omnicrisis’? On Free State today, Joe and Dion debate the coverage of Sinn Fein. Is it just a new form of IRAing, a way of denying Sinn Fein a platform to talk about how they would change Ireland or are these serious issues being covered seriously by the media. Joe argues that the talk of glove puppets and unseen controllers insults thos...