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

No one should have been shocked to hear that Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, say that he sees care as the responsibility of families and not of the State. He is who he Ayn Rand is. But that's not the Ireland most people want to live in. Joining us on the podcast are three wonderful disabled women, Ann Marie Flanagan, Stephain Lynagh and Dr Margaret Kennedy. They talk about the issues 42.b raise for them...

Fady Joudah is a Palestinian poet and physician who just released a poetry collection on the genocide in Gaza. In this episode, Yousef Aljamal, Helena Cobban, and Tony Groves talk about poetry, memory, Gaza, Refaat Alareer and silence. Fady argues that the world should listen to the Palestinians and practice silence when they do. The title of his poetry collection is something we will leave to the...

In this episode, Niamh chats with Professor Kath Browne , a social and cultural geographer at UCD. We discuss her fascinating ERC-funded project, Beyond Opposition, which seeks to explore the everyday experiences of people who are opposed to, or have concerns about, legislative and cultural changes around same sex marriage, abortion, gender self-identification and other sexual and gender equalitie...

Happy Monday, Folks, This is a belter of a podcast with Colombian, now Mexico-based El Pais journalist, Nicholas Dale Leal, on all things Latin and South America. We talk Argentina and the plunge into poverty that has created a budget surplus; we dig into Bukele as a celebrity of the aspiring autocrat and there's a lot to be said in advance of the Mexican general election. Nicholas, as always, bre...

Is a bad deal better than no deal? Should we settle for fix it as we go? Would a shift further right in the European Parliament (EP) wreck any hope we have for meaningful climate and biodiversity action? Lifelong environmentalist, author and ecologist, Padraic Fogarty and MEP Luke Ming Flanagan, agree on a lot. But not on the Nature Restoration Laws that passed narrowly in the EP. They joined us t...

After witnessing yesterday's horrific massacre by the Israeli Occupation Forces, that left over 112 people dead and almost 800 people injured, I stupidly thought this would be the war crime that would make the International Community (particularly the US and EU) and legacy media call unequivocally on Israel to stop. How wrong I was. Rejoining me on the podcast from Gaza is Zak Hania, he outlines t...

Together for Diversity not Hate: March 2nd Dublin In this Podcast, Rory talks with the organisers of the Solidarity March Together Against Racism, Hate and War and for Homes, Health and Rights for All, including Clare O Connor, Community Activist, Stephanie Hanlon, convenor of Le Cheile, Paul Murphy TD and Lola Gonzalez, who is a long time advocate based in Leitrim standing up for migrants and ref...

Ep 24 - Damien Dempsey In this very special episode of The Fresh Batch, Dean and Sparky chat with their longtime friend; singer-songwriter, Damien Dempsey. Hearts open, vulnerable and full of love. This is a conversation about aborigional wisdom, spiritual healing, the power of singing and friendship and why we're all dancing with our own madness. "If I'm going to find some healing..." Recorded by...

How has the Revenue Commissioners wound up as the biggest driver of bogus self employment? Why aren't those in authority discussing (Schrödinger's) RTE's insolvency? Martin joins Tony in this explosive 20 minutes of answers.

Our friend and tortoise shack member, Dr Rory Hearne, has announced that he's seeking to run for the Soc Dems in the upcoming European Elections. So you know we were going to sit down and ask him all about it. We discuss his reasons for getting into party politics, the type of tradeoffs that might be required of him, the values that he wants to put at the heart of his campaign and the future of Re...

Forcible depopulation of Gaza has been on Israel’s agenda since 1948. Hadeel Assali, a scholar at Colombia, discusses Israel’s plans, both public and secret, to push out and punish Palestinians in Gaza.  In 1969, her uncle was sent on a one way ticket to Latin America as part of a scheme to send 60,000 Palestinian refugees to Uruguay and Latin America. The scheme failed, but Hadeel’s family is sca...

A short update from Rafah with Irish-Palestinian, Zak Hania. He talks about the situation on the ground, the ongoing humanitarian crisis, the famine that is spreading in Gaza and the lack of action with regards to his own case. We also speculate on the ceasefire negotiations and the worrying construction that is happening on the Egyptian side of the wall that encircles them all. 

A member-only paywall forever Martin  and Tony podcast that is as much for us getting it off our chests (Roderic O’Gorman really has some portfolio) as it is for you to hear about what is happening behind the scenes at RTE and some other things..

If you heard Podcasts for Palestine, then you'll have heard Dean and Sparky of the Fresh Batch. So rather than do the odd collaboration we've decided to come together. So ladies and gentlemen, here is a short intro to the newest podcast on the shack, a slice of Ballymun Bred.  Please say hello to Ballymun's finest. Yup! New Episode with Damien Dempsey coming very soon...

It was a pleasure to get the band back together for an evening chat about the week that was and some of the stories that caught our attention. Thanks to the best reporter on the immigration beat, Shamim Malekmian, Mr irishelectionprojections.ie, Harry Mcevansoneya and writer, activist and change advocate, Emma DeSouza, for joining us. We didn't stick to the script, but that is part of the fun. 

In this Reboot Republic Rory, talks to Tanya Ward, CEO of the Children's Rights Alliance about the findings of the Report Card 2024 assessing the Government's progress on its commitments for children made in the Programme for Government. We discuss some positive work on education and food poverty, challenges on creating a public early years and education and childcare system, and the failures in m...

We cover, unavoidably, a lot of bad news. So it was brilliant to be joined for the first time by campaign coordinator with weact.ie, Claire McGowran, to talk about the wonderful initiatives taking place across the country and their excellent "Good News Gazette." "We Act is all about championing the doers. The people who organise, activate, inspire and ignite change around them.​​ They are the glue...

The vote on the two referendums on the Family and Care is not far away and while opinion polls suggest a landslide for Yes Yes, events of recent days (Ministers misrepresenting the amendments and FLAC's criticism of the Care aspect) have made enough noise to at least make people investigate what they're voting on. Joining us on the podcast is Constitutional Law expert and lecturer in the subject,...

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.