https://tortoiseshack.ie/feed/podcast/

Emma Penney is a working class academic whose work contributes to the exciting and ever-expanding field of ‘Working Class Studies’. She is also an activist and archivist who is committed to celebrating the still woefully under-recognised and ignored arts and praxis of working class communities in Ireland. Now based in Sligo, Emma is a lecturer in the Atlantic Technological University and she’s als...

Rejoining us on the podcast to talk all things Spain and Catalunya is Madrid-based journalist and podcaster, Eoghan Gilmartin. He outlines how the amnesty law that is to pardon Catalan independence advocates, is getting used by a politicised Judiciary to charge several politicians with terrorism. Yes, terrorism. We also talk Spain's climate action challenge as the drought in large parts of the cou...

Just a few highlights from the National March for Palestine that I recorded yesterday. You'll hear from Irish musician, Fieldsy and her performance of The Fields of Palestine, Dunnes Stores Apartheid Striker and legend, Karen Gearon, former Leinster and Ireland rugby player and longtime Palestine Rights activist, Trevor Hogan, Palestinian-Irishman, Dr. Abdallah Al Bayyari and two beautiful songs f...

CW: This podcast contains subject matter that some listeners might find upsetting. In this very important Echo Chamber Podcast, Tony speaks with Irish-Palestinian, Zak Hania, who is in Rafah and young journalist, Mahmoud Mushtaha, who remains in Gaza City. They both talk about the ongoing Israeli military bombardment and what is happening now where they are. Zak talks about how everyone is losing...

In this Reboot Republic podcast,  Rory talks to Professor Kieran McQuinn, Research Professor at the ESRI, about their new report, CONTRASTING HOUSING SUPPLY IN IRELAND, NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE REST OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.  We discuss the issues in the Irish housing market that are constraining supply, the need for the state to  provide social and affordable housing, the role of investor funds, wha...

You can't re-build a National Broadcaster on the bones of the workers you've buried, that might work in the Private Sector, Mr. Bakhurst, but it does not work for a National Broadcaster.  In this pod, Martin looks back at yesterday's revelations in the Media Committee. If you are an RTE worker or anyone who cares about public service broadcasting, then this is for you.

We were delighted to be joined by author and academic Paul Burgess for our inaugural live show. Paul discussed his new book Wild Colonial Boys (Manchester University Press) - a revealing and no holds barred autobiography charting his early life growing up in loyalist north and west Belfast, his passion for class politics and music and his ascent to fame with Ruefrex.

In this Reboot Republic Podcast, Rory talks about the upcoming referendums on the family and care to Orla O Connor, Director of the National Women's Council, Ailbhe Smyth, activist and academic, and Damien Peelo, CEO of Treoir. We discuss why these referendums will make a difference in giving equality to all Ireland’s children that were born outside of marriage, recognising the diversity of famili...

In this episode, Rosie and Gavan Titley consider the politics behind ‘PC gone mad’ or ‘Cancel culture’ type controversies, and what might be distinctive or new about contemporary free speech related anxieties. Gavan explains the concepts of ‘post-racial’ societies and ‘frozen racism’ and how, when linked to dominant ideas about free speech, they are used to close down discussions about racism and...

Rejoining us on the podcast is reporter Hannah McCarthy, who has continued to cover events in Palestine, with a particular focus on what's happening in the West Bank. She explains what's happening in Jenin and Ramallah, how East Jerusalem is under siege and why the latest Israeli military operation in Rafah is going to make access to the already limited food and aid supplies almost impossible. 

If you heard Baraa Albayari's interview from Podcasts for Palestine, then you'd know that after he'd left Gaza and swam from Turkey to Kos in Greece, he'd wound up homeless on the streets of Dublin. You'd also know that we weren't going to let that continue and things have improved a little now for him.  Joining Baraa in the shack for some pizza, some football on the tv and a catchup podcast are m...

Note: Please email Tanaiste Micheal Martin: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie and you can tweet the Irish Embassy in Ramallah, who are handling Zak's cast here: @IrlRepRamallah In this short member-only podcast you'll hear from Irish-Palestinian, Zak Hania, on the latest from Rafah and what the mood is like in the "refugee camp." Please call for his safe return: see above. I also do a solo run on some...

Sinn Féin made headlines when they said that they wanted average homes to be within reach of average salaries. Their figure of €300,000 was scoffed at by the Society of Charted Surveyors, who put the cost of building a house in Dublin at €460,000. So what to think? Joining us on the podcast is UCD Asst Prof of Architecture, Órla Hegarty, and she breaks it down not only with numbers, but with evide...

Hi folks, Just a quick member-only podcast on some of the developments in Gaza over the last couple of days. I've been in touch with Zak, Hana, Mahmoud and Noar and it is very disheartening to feel their resilience fading. But there is some good news, Loay Elbasyouni, who you'll hear from, is hopefully only a few hours away from finally being reunited with his parents, who survived an Israeli atta...

Between 1993 and Jan 2019, all arms of the State freely admitted to the use of 'Test Cases' to decide workers were self-employed. By Dec 2019 the State was vehemently denying their own documented confessions of using 'Test Cases'. What changed? Martin's tenacity, that's what. When Echo Chamber cohost, Martin McMahon gave evidence to an Oireachtas Committee that the use of test cases was happening...

The last time we spoke with Pattern Up and Adam SpiceBag Doyle, they'd caused a lot of pearl clutching with their Crack Zone posters. This time they've done something very different and very much appreciated by the Shack. They've repainted the iconic Free Derry Wall with words from the poem of our friend Dr. Refaat Alareer, who was murdered by the Israeli military last December.  Not content with...

Personal stories move people and hearing them from Gaza matters even more today. PalCast founder Dr. Yousef Aljamal, shares the story of his mom and brother getting out of Gaza and their experiences of the last 120 days with his co-hosts Helena Cobban and Tony Groves.  The PSTD is clear, they lost so much weight and they now have problems eating three meals a day as they'd gotten used to eating mu...

In this episode, Niamh talks to Dr Majella Mulkeen of Atlantic Technological University about her research on the framing of care within the Standards of Proficiency for Social Care Workers (SOPs) in Ireland. As Majella explains, the SOPs are set down by the Social Care Workers Registration Board.  They detail the skills and abilities that individuals must possess in order to enter the register of...

CW: This conversation discusses subject matter that some people may find upsetting. Another highlight from the Podcasts for Palestine was the live Reboot Republic conversation between our very own Dr Rory Hearne and Irish Psychologists for Palestine's Dr Meg Ryan.  Then musician and activist, Martin Leahy, takes to the stage to lift everyone's spirits with a uplifting rendition of his song "Palest...

We've watched with some concern as polling around immigration has continued to make headlines and get used by certain cohorts to advance certain narratives. So naturally we'd go back to our favourite poll-nerd Mr https://irishelectionprojections.com/2024/02/02/january-2024-projections-update/, Harry McEvansoneya to discuss this and the overall state of the electorates current voting intentions.  W...

Israel is waging a war against UNRWA to defund it amidst genocide. The world watches as Palestinians are starved in Gaza, and does nothing enough to help people there, not as fast as some western countries rushed to defund UNRWA. China, Belgium, Ireland and Spain and other countries call for supporting the UN agency in the face of a campaign that aims to eradicate it. Here we stand watching more r...

For the last few years our guest, Audiologist, Frank McGrath, has joined us to discuss a condition that effects over 400k people in Ireland, Tinnitus. And every year someone listens to it and tells us that they or someone close to them took the advice, had a consultation and have seen an improvement in what is literally a pain in the ear. So here again for National Tinnitus Week is our friend, fel...

CW: Contains subjects that listeners may find upsetting - But I'd urge you to listen. Please. Halfway through the Podcasts for Palestine show, Mazen Hania asked me could his friend, Baraa, say a few words. So this podcast wasn't planned or rehearsed, it was simply Baraa wanting to tell his story to a room of people who felt every word.  Please listen, please tell people about Baraa and remember th...

Dr. Yousef Aljamal hosted today's episode from Zurich, Switzerland where he recently spoke with Café Palestine. Café Palestine's Blake Alcott, who also works with One Democratic State, was our guest. These two, and PalCast's Helena Cobban and Tony Groves, discussed Israel's harsh continuing violence in all parts of Gaza and the northern West Bank and the swelling impact this violence has been havi...

Hi folks,  I'm working through the audio from the Podcasts for Palestine, which was an unbelievably emotional and uplifting night. While I'm putting it together I will drop a few highlights out to you guys and this performance is a great place to start.  Plug in your headphones and listen to the world premier of Aziz, Ara and the Accidental Rapper in what is the Palestinian-Irish smashup we didn't...