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

We have 2 podcasts scheduled for today and another one on Sunday. But I was messing around with our old stuff while looking for a clip I needed and found this podcast from 6 years ago with environmental activist, Sinead Mercier. the sound is not good, we were in a USB mic phase, but Martin still calls this his fav. So I’ve stuck it out again. We were bad. Sinead was and is fantastic.

You always have to read beyond the headline. But you especially have to go further when it comes to the reports that "Ireland had no excess deaths" during the Covid pandemic. Rejoining us to make sense of the data and give an expert opinion is Prof of Public Health, Anthony Staines. We also discuss the need for a serious inquiry into Ireland's handling of Covid so learnings can be made. Couple of...

This is part 2 of our special with Shamim and Harry, where we try to optimistically look at how much worse things could get ;) There's some predictions and please don't hold me to mine. I was tired and emotional during the recording...

The genocide in Gaza is taking longer than planned by the Israeli military. But this is ok for Netanyahu, who wants to prolong the war because the last day of war will most likely be his last day in politics. Israel is withdrawing more battalions and suffering heavier losses than anticipated. Palestinians too have suffered immensely with 30,000 killed including those under the rubble. The fact is...

In this podcast Rory talks to real estate expert Rob Cass (and friend of the pod), Director of Irish Sustainable Homes, about the housing crisis, how Ireland is not full, we have land and vacant buildings but a failure to acknowledge and plan for real levels of housing need, and three ways in which  we can provide housing for everyone here, and the diaspora and future population growth , why the m...

Welcome to our end of 2023 special. In this episode the lads chatted to two former guests: one from series 1 and another from series 2. Eddie Kinner is a former UVF prisoner, who became an important figure in negotiating the Good Friday Agreement on behalf of the PUP. Davy Adams is a former UDA member, who as a contemporary of Kinner's in the 1990s was heavily involved in negotiating the Agreement...

In this Sunday Special we are joined by our good friends, award winning reporter, Shamim Malekmian and Mr Irish Election Projections, Harry McEvansoneya, to rake over the coals of 2023. In a really fascinating piece of analysis, Harry explains how (despite the accepted wisdom) far right transfers and votes did not impact Sinn Féin in the last General Election and we discuss what this means for 202...

As part of wrapping the year we wanted to talk about the huge success we've seen in Ireland in rebranding our failures to make real progress in Climate Action as a huge success. Ireland surely leads the world in saying that we one day hope to lead the world in something we aren't really serious about... Joining Tony and Rory is Mr. Glass Half Empty himself, John Gibbons, and he serves us a few sho...

“Oops, we killed 50 by mistake,” said Refaat Alareer, in one his lectures, speaking of how the Israeli State from time to time justifies the killing of Palestinians in mass numbers.  Unfortunately this reminds us of Israel’s killing of 80 Palestinians in Al-Maghazi refugee camp to the south of Gaza, just two days ago, and saying oops, they used “inappropriate munition” and that they should have us...

It's Christmas, so we decided to have a chat with a big fella with a white beard, Independent TD for Donegal, Thomas Pringle. We looked at the unparliamentary language, the year in politics, his work in both Donegal and on international issues, as well as why he is speaking up on the weaponisation of "culture war" issues.  We discuss immigration as a wedge issue and why it suits the current govern...

In this Reboot Republic Podcast, Rory talks about the rise of the far right in Europe and its roots in the cuts to public services, with Professor Catherine De Vries, Dean of international affairs and Professor of Political Science at Bocconi University in Milan.  Professor De Vries sets out how recent electoral inroads in Europe for the far right reflect public dislike of government cuts in publi...

Claire Mitchell is a writer, researcher, self-described 1798 style dissenter and the author of The Ghost Limb. Stephen Baker is a socialist, trade unionist, ukulele player (it takes a big man to play a small guitar) and part of Left Bloc. They joined us to review 2023 in Northern Irish politics, civic society and to look ahead to 2024 with 7 proper tests for a successful year/years ahead. 

Actor, comedian, satirist and activist, Tadhg Hickey, has had a very big 2023. Whether it was a sold-out tour, viral sketches or appearances in some controversial places, he's still as he says himself, a work in progress. In this podcast Tony and Tadhg talk about everything from Gaza to George Galloway and from recovery to helping others who have their own mental health struggles. I hope you enjoy...

When (now former) founder of Circle CI, Paul Biggar wrote his blog "I can't sleep' about the Israeli "war" on Gaza, and the fear of many in the tech and venture capital industry to speak up, he knew it would have repercussions. But he did it anyway because he believed it was the right thing to do and that silence was a form of complicity. He joins us from New York to explain his reason, the overwh...

PalCast co-hosts Yousef Aljamal, Helena Cobban and Tony had a wonderful and uplifting discussion with Philip Farah, who is a member of the Christian Palestinian community and who lived in Jerusalem until the age of 27. Philip still has family in Gaza, of whom some have been killed of during the current genocide, and his warmth for the land shines through. He recalls celebrating Christmas in Palest...

Tony Novosel is the author of 'Northern Ireland's Lost Opportunity: The Frustrated Promise of Political Loyalism' and has been a frequent visitor to NI since 1974. Over the years he has been recognised for his cross-community peace building work. In this episode he talks to the lads about the challenges facing progressive loyalism.

In this podcast Rory talks with Dr. Meg Ryan about our different emotional responses to the Genocide in Gaza, the psychology of the de-humanisation of the people of Palestine, finding ways to sustain ourselves through conversations, bearing witness, taking collective action, and why Psychologists in Ireland have come together to form Psychologists for Palestine. Dr. Meg Ryan is Assistant Professor...

Note: This is a series of voice notes and you can hear the constant sound of the drones and the people who are displaced in the background. Hi folks, This is a very different podcast. Zak speaks about how he is still hearing nothing from the Irish Dept of Foreign Affairs, the death of his sister and the awful tragedy of what was a preventable death, his fear that death has become the norm and the...

Education has long been a top priority in Palestinian society and Gaza has one of the highest literacy rates in the world. Sadly, and criminally, Israel’s war on Gaza has ruined the education system by targeting educational infrastructure. The three main universities were destroyed, hundreds of schools are reduced to rubble and hundreds of educators were killed, while over one million shelter at t...

The Ditch have had a year. From exposing political corruption to getting smeared by the Tanaiste and that's before we get to the Paddy Cosgrave stuff. But there's no doubt they've shook up people who were complacent and upset some parts of legacy media that needed to be reminded of what they're supposed to be about. Rejoining us for a wrap of the year are the now 3 Snr Hurlers, Roman Shortall, Eog...

A short Martin and Tony podcast that went longer than short and is probably a bit too ranty... We talk Ukraine feeling the cold from the U.S, COP's historic agreement as a historic failure, Gaza getting crumbs from the "aid" table, the far right still getting away with violence and more.

In our recent podcast with researcher on global politics and online subcultures, Josh Molloy, we mentioned that longtime listeners would remember him as the fella who had fought alongside the Kurdish military against ISIS in Iraq. I got loads of messages asking if the original interview was still available. It wasn't. So I dug it out of the archive. So lets go all the way back to Ep.66 and that fi...

Using Palestinians as human shields by the Israeli militarty is not new. It goes back at least to the first Intifada. Israel’s genocide in Gaza has seen the Israeli military using dozens of Palestinians as human shields, including by forcing them to enter tunnels and or staging footage of them throwing away guns to tell the Israeli public that they were Hamas fighters who surrendered to the Israel...

Austerity ripped the hearts out of our communities- the Dublin riots: finding a way forward through community In this Reboot Republic podcast Rory talks about the impact of the stabbing and the riots in Dublin and the political and media response, to Paula Kearney, community worker in Dublins North Inner City, Glen Kearney, youth worker in the inner city, and Dean Scurry, youth worker and activist...

Ed Moloney is one of Ireland's most famous journalists and the author of a number of books about the conflict in Northern Ireland. In this episode he talks to the lads about legacy and reconciliation, oral history, notable characters that he has met over the years, what it was like reporting on subjects such as Kincora and how he avoided assassination by the UDA after a dirty tricks campaign again...