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

CW: This podcast contains subjects that some listeners might find distressing. Palestinan-Irish man, Zak, lived in Dublin for 17 years. He's in Gaza City now with his family and describes in the most powerful and heartbreaking way what a struggle it is right now in Gaza and how he feels (correctly) betrayed by the international community and Western Leaders. He talks about the impact this is havin...

Jordan Dunbar is a Northern Ireland born and London based BBC journalist, presenter and documentary maker. His recent documentary for BBC Sounds 'Blood On The Dancefloor' looked at the life and murder of gay RUC officer Darren Bradshaw. The lads spoke to Jordan about how he came to tell this story, storytelling and memory with Belfast's queer community and some of his investigations into criminal...

" I ran from death in Gaza City to find it in Rafah" If you've been with us a while you'll have heard from author, academic, researcher with Politics Today and proud Gazan, Dr Yousef M Aljamal, before. Sadly and tragically he rejoins us today to talk about how the Israeli bombing of Gaza has killed nine of his family and what that brutality is doing to his home and any sense of hope for a peaceful...

The Citizens Assembly for Drugs has delivered it's report and the results are.. ..well we aren't to sure. So we got the Irish national treasure, UCC Snr Lecturer, Dr Sharon Lambert to come back on and tall us what her expert opinion is. Her verdict is cautiously heartening, but because she is an expert Sharon talks us through what is said and what was maybe left out.

In this podcast Rory talks to  Niamh Thornton and John Dermody from DePaul who are senior service managers working in homelessness services. Niamh talks about the specific experiences of women in homelessness, with one woman describing it as 'being stripped of her motherhood',  and how De Paul work to support them, and John explains the trauma of homelessness, particularly for children, and what i...

This is a podcast of hope, alternatives and solutions for the housing catastrophe in Ireland, and indeed for housing crises all over the world. In this podcast Rory speaks with Michaela Kauer, Director of the Brussels Liaison Office of the City of Vienna, about the famous Vienna housing model, where half of all housing in the city is public affordable housing. Michaela outlines how the Vienna hous...

Shrapnel presents Fragments - a new series of intermittent one-off episodes where Sam and Gareth answer questions about the past, present and future in Northern Ireland posed by you, our members, listeners and followers. It'll be available in the regular Shrapnel podcast feed on all streaming platforms. Get your questions in for the next episode at shrapnelpodcast@gmail.com

There are no words to describe the awful collective punishment that continues to be dished out by the Netanyahu government on the citizens of Gaza. But we continue to try highlight them with people on the ground whenever possible. Rejoining us now is 21 year English Literature student, Afaf Al Najjar, and she tells us about the last few days, how they feel abandoned by the international community...

(Note: Sam and Gareth are doing a Q&A podcast this weekend. So if you have any questions you can submit them here) Emma Shaw is a loyalist community activist from East Belfast. She is the founder and CEO of the Phoenix Education Centre, a community interest company working to tackle educational underachievement in her community. In this episode of the podcast Emma talks to the lads about the i...

In this Reboot Republic podcast, Rory talks with Grace Blakeley, economist, staff writer at Tribune Magazine and author of 'Stolen: How to save the world from financialisation' and the upcoming book 'Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts and the Death of Freedom'.  We discuss the escalating humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, and then Grace outlines her analysis of the 'cost of gre...

Longtime listeners will be familiar with the Palestinian NASA engineer, Loay Elbasyouni, as the man who designed a helicopter that flew on Mars. But today he rejoins us to talk about the conflict raging in Gaza and how his parents (dual Palestinian and German citizens) have ended up trapped in the city and what, if anything, is happening to help get them out. This is a deeply personal podcast and...

In this podcast Rory talks with artist Alison Byrne about her Glass Art Installation ; Hidden Homelessness: exploring the housing crisis in Ireland.  Through an evocative arrangement of 12 small glass houses, this thought-provoking artwork gives expression to the pressing issue of hidden homelessness in Ireland and its impact on individuals, couples, and families forced to live with relatives. The...

Hi folks, This is a very special episode of our Sunday show. We are joined by Mr Irish Election Projections, Harry McEvansoneya, to discuss the latest polls, the HSE recruitment freeze, RTE back at the PAC, Tommy Bowe as Ireland's top Pol Corr and then... ..we discuss a few things that happened this week that I felt we needed to mention, but will not say on the main feed... (Note: The discussion f...

Yesterday, as reports emerged of plans by the Israeli government to shut off the internet in Gaza, I received a message from Afaf Al Najjar, asking me to open a twitter space so she could talk "before it goes dark." This is that space.   Apologies for my sound as I was in my car at the side of a road!

In this podcast you'll hear from an emotional Mahmoud Mushtaha about the incredible cruelty of the Israeli military's bombardment and orders to evacuate. We discuss in a very broad and (probably) clumsy way some of the events that led to this catastrophic conflagration, the maddening reporting by much of international media, the insular reporting of Irish media and then we update you on the lived...

Lots of talk about what was in Budget 2024. Our guests, economist with Social Justice Ireland, Colette Bennet and economist with NERI, Ciaran Nugent, preferred to focus on what wasn't in it. We discuss the not-a-children's-budget, the unprogressive nature of what is to come and what would have been a better outcome for all. We also ask if Nease Hourigan's "love letter to Fianna Fáil" criticism was...

Joining me for the first time on the podcast from Gaza, Palestine, is 21 year old English Literature Student and volunteer with wearenotnumbers.org, Afaf Al Najjar. She outlines the situation inside Gaza right now, the crumbling infrastucture, the shortagrs of electricity, wifi and now water and the need for the fighting to stop. This is a must listen first person testimony to live under the block...

It has been another bloody and brutal day in Israel and Palestine, with the most heinous of war crimes destroying schools, homes and hospitals and leaving hundreds more people dead and thousands injured.  Joining us to discuss the this, the events that led to Operation Al-Aqsa Storm and the reaction of the international community is journalist Hannah McCarthy who has only recently returned from a...

We've covered drugs, decrim, harm reduction strategies and the need for making drugs a health issue and not a dept of justice one for all six plus years of this podcast. So we've watched the CA with rapt attention.  So to did our guests, Green Party TD (is she still?) Neasa Hourigan, Ast Prof and restorative justice expert, Ian Marder and Ast Prof of Law and criminal justice expert, Cian Ó Concubh...

In this Reboot Republic, Rory and Tony discuss what should the coming Budget do on housing  and what it shouldnt do. We discuss the proposal on landlord tax breaks and why its a bad idea, we also discuss Rory's proposal for reducing rents by 20% and how it would be done, and we break down the actual spending in the housing budget and show that the Government's €4bn headline figure is actually very...

The Hamas - Islamic Jihad 'Operation Al-Aqsa Flood' caught almost everyone by surprise, including Gaza-based journalist Mahmoud Mushtaha, who rejoined us under very trying circumstances to talk about what is an escalation of enormous proportions and has triggered Israeli President Bini Netanyahu to declare that Israel is "at war." Mahmoud gives the latest from on the ground in Gaza, the context of...

Claire Mitchell is a writer and researcher from Belfast. Her recent book The Ghost Limb was published in 2022 to critical acclaim. In this episode Claire chats to the lads about the book, the spirit of 1798 and the United Irishmen, her work with Billy Mitchell and progressive loyalism in the early 00s and the journey of self-discovery she embarked on which led her to discover the ghost limb of alt...

(Apologies for the delay. It turns out that Rory's track was actually shorter than the other 3 and the software corrected what it thought was audio drift. Yes, I know you don't care. But my audio nerd self had to learn something new) In this Reboot Republic Rory and his guests discuss what would a budget that really tackles the cost of living crisis, inequality, the housing crisis and social justi...

A very, very, very patron-only podcast on the last few days, the budget pageantry, the citizens assembly for drugs, US political dismay and a heated debate on liberalism and it's role in Irish society.   If you agree with me please let me know. If you agree with Martin, then you're wrong!

TW: Contains subjects that people may find upsetting. But please listen. It was a great to be rejoined on the podcast by co-founder of secondtree.org Giovanni Fontana, to get an update on the campaign to get justice for Fatmata, who was shot and killed in April by a border police officer. There is, thanks to the work of Giovanni and others, some good news and a trial now looks likely. But the path...