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Paul Murphy was once described as the most dangerous politician in Ireland. But we don't think he's as bad as all that. He joins us to talk about trying to do his job and hold the government to account while forever under the establishments dissatisfaction because of Jobstown. We discuss his political origins and his move from Red/Red to Red/Green and we delve into the key asks he thinks must be i...

Within the text of the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement there is provision for engagement with civic society, intended to foster better understanding between communities and to act as a much-needed mechanism for broadening political engagement through a Civic Forum to promote participative democracy. The Civic Forum was a consultative mechanism on social, economic, and cultural issues first proposed...

The Financial Times recently covered the "extraordinary" steps the Spanish government were taking to tackle their housing crisis. But are they as good as advertised and what, if anything, can Ireland learn from them? Joining us to discuss this and the political polarisation in Spain are Madrid-based journalist, Eoghan Gilmartin and Prof Joe Haslam. 

We talked about the week gone by, the week ahead and the hate speech proposals. This is one of the "forever behind the paywall" pods. 

Did you know that millions of people around the world have a foot fetish of some kind? To explore this, I'm joined by pro dominatrix Domina Clarity who explains the roots of foot fetish, how people deal with shame, and why its so common. Find Clarity at dominaclarity.com or @domina_clairty on IG

On April 19th a 23 year old woman was shot and killed by police in North Macedonia, after having her asylum application rejected in Greece. Fatmata was a warm and lively young woman. Her husband, Abu Bakar, is devestated, but is seeking justice for his wife in the hopes that this scenario won't reoccur. Joining us from North Macedonia is founder of secondtree.org and friend of Fatmata and Abu Baka...

A gendered and inequality analysis of Climate Issues and Policy In this Reboot Republic, Rory talks to Vanessa Conroy, a tutor and researcher in the Department of Applied Social Studies in Maynooth about Climate policies, action and inequality.  Vanessa outlines her research on a gendered analysis of Climate policy and highlights the need to take a gendered view of areas like migration - where 80%...

Women made up just 10 per cent of the negotiation team in the all-party talks leading up to the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, yet they wielded far greater influence than such a position would suggest. In this episode of Lost in Implementation Emma speaks with SDLP MLA Cara Hunter, Aoife Clements, Director at 50:50NI, and founding member of Northern Ireland's Women's Coalition Kate Fearon to discu...

Listeners in Gaza got in touch with us when the news broke this morning of the death of Khader Adnan in an Israeli jail, following an 87 day hunger strike and asked that we cover his passing. So we went back to Dr. Yousef M. Aljamal, the Palestinian writer and activist who helped collate the book A Shared Struggle - Stories of Palestinian and Irish Hunger Strikers.  Yousef, who knew Khader from wo...

Martin has been rather fatalistic lately about the climate crisis. So rather than wallow alone we invited campaigning journalist for climate action, John Gibbons, so they could get all doomsday‘d together. John outlines the very real climate changes that are happening now and the ways they are making life inhospitable in countries that had no part in their creation. This is not a happy podcast. Bu...

Did you know that the IDA have paid almost ten million euro of our money to a company that is pumping billions into fossil fuels? It's true. Citigroup are the second biggest financers of the fossil fuel industry in the world and they are tap, tap, tapping away in Dublin, only the destruction is in the Amazon. Joining us to discuss what is happening, how it works and the ways we can stop it is clim...

We wrapped the week as we started it, with Roman and Eoghan from the Ditch. We talk about their week, the latest on the Niall Collins two letters that don't add up, the dark movement nonsense, the Chay Bowes/Ditch relationship, Ireland shamefully shrugging as we hit 12k homeless people, Leo Varadkar promising tax breaks while we witness elderly queuing at soup kitchens, the ESAT case and Denis O'B...

On Thursday evening journalists with the Ditch, Roman Shortall and Eoghan McNeill, hosted an online chat about on the latest developments in the Niall Collins controversy and Tanaiste Micheal Martin's extraordinary comments about them, their work and their political affiliations. They invited along Martin, Tony of this parish, as well as writer and journalist, Paulie Doyle and politically motivate...

Invest the 20bn surplus in housing & climate-with economist Michael Taft In this Reboot Republic podcast, Rory talks with economist with SIPTU Michael Taft, about what should be done with the budget surpluses of 20bn (and even could be 40bn).  Michael outlines why the 20bn should  not be saved away for pensions (which should be covered by taxation) and used to invest in key areas like housing...

There is too much talk nowadays about culture wars, but what if we told you that the Government are rushing through a piece of cultural legislation, the Historic and Archaeological Heritage Bill 2023, that could make our actual historic and cultural sites more vulnerable to "progress"? Joining us on the podcast is Dr Thomas Muinzer and he outlines what is happening, why it is a step backwards from...

First flushes of love can be super exciting, but can also obscure emotionally abusive behaviour. Mary Hayes from Women’s Aid talks to me about how to spot the signs of emotionally abusive behaviour in relationships and where to seek support.  Find Women’s Aid at @womens_aid or 1800341900 and @toointoyou

Leo Varadkar continually told the Dáil that our "eviction ban" was a winter ban similar to that in other countries. So I decided to test those similarities with our friend and regular contributor in Helsinki, Finland, Dan Nikstrom. Needless to say the facts don't support the Taoiseach's claim. We also discuss the rise of far right culture wars in countries previously bastions of social democracy a...

Human rights run like a thread through the Good Friday Agreement, including a right to Equality of Opportunity, but what does this aspiration mean in practice? And do the people of Northern Ireland really have equality of opportunity? Emma is joined by Women's Sector Lobbyist Elaine Crory, and Shrapnel Podcast Host Sam McElwaine to discuss the challenges and barriers to equality of opportunity and...

Martin, Tony and Sam Mcilwaine sat down to chat about the news of the week both sides of the border and to get Sam's report from his very productive few days at Queens University for the Agreement talks that took place earlier this week. This might be the first time you'll hear about Gerry Adams, Jamie Bryson and Coddle in one conversation. We also talk Fox Views $770m settlement, Calpol as the mo...

Rejoining us on the podcast to discuss the biggest political social media story of the week are Roman Shortall and Eoghan McNeill of https://www.ontheditch.com/   We go through the facts about the property dealings of Fianna Fáil TD Niall Collins and his wife Eimear Collins (nee O'Connor) and what it says about standards in public office. We also discuss the almost complete silence about what are...

Ireland is experiencing an economic boom that would make Jeff Bezos blush, yet we're increasing the working poor at Ebenezer Scrooge percent. What gives? Joining us to talk about the need to move away from a failing wealth redistribution model towards a more equal pre-distribution future is UCD's Associate Professor, Aidan Regan. Enjoy!

It was a pleasure to be rejoined on the podcast for the first time in 2023 by primary school teacher and INTO union activist, Jana Lyons,  (speaking in a personal capacity) to discuss the recent changes and actions within her profession. We discuss that payrise and what message it sends to ordinary members and we delve into the real issues and challenges facing teachers outside of the manufactured...

The Good Friday Agreement pledged "to facilitate and encourage integrated education" as an essential part of creating "a culture of tolerance at every level of society". But most of the north’s schools remain split into two categories - Maintained which have links to the Catholic Church and mainly cater to Catholic pupils, and Controlled which are state-run and mainly cater to Protestant pupils. I...

In this Reboot Republic podcast, Rory sets out the state of the housing crisis, the impact and responses needed to the lifting of the eviction ban, as part of a Town Hall meeting in Galway West organised by Uplift calling for a reinstating of the eviction ban. You will also hear from Saoirse McHugh of Uplift, and a mother who is facing eviction and the devastating mental health impact of this, a d...

At 1:20pm today a man attempted to cut his way into a house in order to carry out an illegal eviction. The tenant, Dr Muhammad Raheel confronted the landlord, who then approached him with an electric saw telling him that he'd split him open. The Doctor then reported this attempted assault to his local Garda station. Nothing happened.  Dr Raheel joined me, alongside several of his colleagues, to ta...