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

A previous guest, solicitor Fred Logue, referred to the new Planning Bill as the 'greatest act of self-harm the Irish state has ever imposed in itself'. Our guest today, Environmental Law expert and advocate, Attract Uí Bhroin thinks it is much worse than that. This is a call to action to listeners. If this Bill passes as currently set, we'll all end up paying for it in terms of Access to Justice,...

Yet another TD has asked a Parliamentary Question to the Minister for Social Protection following our recent podcasts in relation to Bogus Self Employment and the future of work. Yet again the answer is an untrue obfuscation, but the Minister is running out of rope. The only question is will the Government fall before the next question exposes the entire scam for what it is? We have a short chat a...

(Editors note: Don’t miss Michael Taft singing) In this Reboot Republic, Rory dissects Budget 2025 with Michael Taft, economist , and Susanne Rogers of Social Justice Ireland and they find more tokenism than transformation, We discuss how the Budget was actually regressive - those on higher incomes gained more - it failed to take transformative action on housing, health or child poverty. Michael p...

In his latest Gist: https://www.thegist.ie/the-gist-a-free-speech/ solicitor and Digital Rights Expert, Simon McGarr revealed his concerns about the new Online Safety Code and how it has by accident or design, created two seperate legal requirements to introduce age verification by designated platforms, and they don't both meet the tests set down for being compliant with EU law. If that all sounds...

Never has so much money been used to deliver so little medium to long term change. Joining us on the podcast is Economist with NERI, Ciaran Nugent and we go into what was in #Budget25, was it enough to sway undecided voters and what Ciaran thinks should or could have been done with that €10.3bn!

Ayah Arafat has been organizing for Palestine in the Washington DC Metropolitan area for over 7 years. She has been organizing with the Palestinian Youth Movement and Students for Justice in Palestine. She joins PalCast co-hosts to talk about how the organizing landscape works but also changes in the US in light of regional developments in the Middle East, the upcoming election and the disconnect...

With the death toll now over 1,000 is less tan two weeks and with almost 1,000,000 people displaced, people in Lebanon are deeply concerned about the potential Gaza-fication of their country. Rejoining us to talk about the situation is Beirut-based journalist with the Economist and regular tortoise shack contributor, Gareth Browne. Please make sure you listen to the end to hear Gareth's own feelin...

In this Reboot Republic, Rory discusses the new (at least new to Ireland) affordable rental housing model: cost rental housing. He talks with authors of the new report, The Impact of Cost Rental Housing: Security, Affordability and Place, Dr Michael Byrne, Dr Cian O Callaghan and Rosemary Hennigan of Tuath Housing and Aengus Hennessy a resident in new cost rental housing. Cost rental housing is pu...

In this short Echo Chamber podcast, Tony is rejoined by Nabil Hallak, Executive Director of the International Forum for Justice in Palestine who is currently in Beirut, Lebanon, a few hundred meters from the latest Israeli bombing. He describes the situation, the Lebanese official position and the terrifying echoes of 1982.

In this Echo Chamber Podcast, whistleblower Matt McGranaghan rejoins us to discuss some of the Parliamentary Questions submitted to the Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphreys and her wholly inadequate replies. We also talk about MEPC (the company Matt got a ruling against recently) seeking an appeal on the basis that they are standing up for 99% of the music industry. Are they saying th...

Asem Alnabih is an engineer and a PhD candidate from Gaza. He currently serves as a member of the emergency committee, the spokesperson and the Director of Public Relations and Media at Gaza Municipality. He speaks to PalCast about the role the Gaza municipality plays during the genocide, his close relationship and last moments with Dr. Refaat Alareer, and the impact he had on him, finally pushing...

In this Reboot Republic, Rory alongside Adam Boyle, Solicitor with the Mercy Law Centre, factcheck Taoiseach Simon Harris' claims that " homelessness numbers are heavily impacted by the fact we are seeing many people seek protection in our country, seek asylum in our country ".  We highlight how asylum seekers are not included in the homeless numbers the Taoiseach references, how the majority of p...

In this Reboot Republic podcast Rory discusses the crisis in childcare and how a public system of Early Childhood Education and Care  would work, with Orla O Connor and Eilish Balfe of the National Women's Council of Ireland, and Lynette Monk, manager of a Community Childcare and Afterschool Service, who was also involved with SIPTU's Big Start Campaign. The childcare and early years education sec...

Yes, a member-only podcast on the news of the day and yes, it'll live forever behind the paywall. Enjoy or Endure.

Three Polls in a row show the chances of a government without Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael are getting slimmer by the day. What is happening? On this podcast we reunite the team of immigration reporter, Shamim Malekmian and Mr irishelectionprojections.com  Harry McEvansoneya to discuss the latest news, polls and a look into what was and wasn’t covered in the recent RTE Investigates Inside the Protests...

In this podcast Rory discusess the issues of rising deprivation and homelessness amongst Ireland's children, with Tanya Ward, Director of the Children's Rights Alliance. The number in children experiencing enforced deprivation has increased from 200,000 to 257000 between 2021 and 2023, while the number of children homeless with their families has increased by 87% since 2021, yet we have billions i...

Most of our listeners know and love Mr irishelectionprojections.com , Harry McEvansoneya. They know he's as good a poll aggregator as any and has an astute eye for political trends. But this is not one of those podcasts. This is a podcast about Antisemitism, how it exists across the political spectrum, the ways ignorance and (sometimes) malice spreads it and what we can do to counter it. It should...

The only thing “historic” about the European Court of Justice’s Apple Tax ruling was how historically quickly the government and its allies in the media moved away from the illegal tax evasion and on to the “how will we spend it?” question. Not so fast, boys. On this episode we talk with Economist and author of Tax Haven Ireland, Brian O’Boyle about how the deed was done, the steps Ireland has tak...

Rawan Yaghi was a student of our dearly missed friend, Dr. Refaat Alareer. She holds an MA from CUNY in the United States and she is launching a newsletter titled “Refaat Writes Back.” The Initiative aims to nurture young writers from Gaza and to help get their message out to the world, a mission Refaat himself dedicated his life to Rawan speaks to PalCast co-hosts about his own journey as a write...

In this Echo Chamber Podcast, Beirut-based Irish journalist, Hannah McCarthy rejoins us to talk about the extraordinary 'Pager Bomb' attack directed at Hezbollah (but was without doubt indiscriminate) that has left over 2,900 injured, 150 in critical condition and 9 people dead. How did this happen? How do you blow up a pager? What will be the Lebanese response? What will Iran do? We talk about it...

It was a great pleasure to be rejoined on the pod by Dr Musallam Abukhalil, from Dignity for Palestine and activist-artist Adam -SpiceBag- Doyle, to talk about the incredible work the volunteers do on the ground and the importance of art and Irish solidarity to their work. Thank you to everyone who has donated. You have helped others to become heroes.

We always keep an eye on events across the globe and we are lucky to have EL PAÍS journalist in Mexico, Nicholas Dale Leal to help us do so. There’s been a lot of trouble across Latin America and Nicholas helps us navigate it all. We talk: Mexican Judicial Reform riots Cuban water shortages Nicaragua’s extreme censorship Venezuela post election debacle Enjoy

Another member-only podcast about things that we’d never have imagined discussing. Enjoy.

(Audio re-edited, thanks Fergus for the times) Malak Mattar is an artist from Gaza, known for her incredibly colorful paintings. She is now struggling to paint the Gaza that she knew. That Gaza is no more, and for this reason, Malak wants to document what she knew, having left on October 5, 2023. For her, documentation, baring witness and her art is a national duty, an obligation of her heart and...

Most of our listeners know and love Mr irishelectionprojections.com, Harry McEvansoneya. They know he's as good a poll aggregator as any and Most of our listeners know and love Mr irishelectionprojections.com , Harry McEvansoneya. They know he's as good a poll aggregator as any and has an astute eye for political trends. But this is not one of those podcasts. This is a podcast about Antisemitism,...