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

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...

It was a pleasure to sit down in the tortoise shack with author and activist, Naomi Klein for what is a great conversation about her new book Doppelganger. We talk about the doppleganger phenomenon in the era of people building personal brands, the wellbeing to far right pipeline, following the white rabbit, liberalism pushback, the nonsense that is horseshoe theory and the need for soft borders,...

Hey folks, a big thank you to you all for being part of this little community you have all helped to build. Without you there is no shack and there are no nights like last night! This is actually part 3 of the show and is a conversation between myself, Aoife Moore and Emmet Kirwan. We talk about accents, class, politics, the far right, online hate, art and why I can't stop trying to be the main ch...

Moore Holmes is a loyalist activist, community advocate and commentator. As a teacher he is passionate about educating the next generation through the think tank and advocacy group, Lets Talk Loyalism about appropriate political steps and articulating a coherent argument for the Union from a loyalist perspective. In this episode we talk to Moore about the Union and community political advocacy at...

Colin Harvey is Professor of Human Rights Law in the School of Law, Director of the Human Rights Centre, a Fellow of the Senator George J Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, and an Associate Fellow of the Institute of Irish Studies. He is also a Commissioner on the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, a campaigner for a new Ireland and member of Ireland's Future. In t...

Listeners would be aware of one of our regular contributors, the young journalist in Gaza, Palestine, Mahmoud Mushtaha and his reports on the events in the area. He rejoined us to bring us up to speed on the latest impacts of the conflict, the growing problem of food insecurity (40% don't know where their next meal is coming from) and the increase in (illegal) settler violence.   We had some probl...

The Liffey was not too long ago a salmon fishing river. But in only a few decades, despite improvements in the water qualit, stocks of fish have fallen from several thousand to around 300. Why and what can be done to fix it? Joining me is Director of Liffey Salmon Project, Mark McAndrew, and he’s a man with not just a plan, but in a fantastic initiative he’s working with about 12 others to bring t...

We have a few things on tomorrow, but rather than leave you without a wrap of the week Sunday Show, we decided to do it on a Saturday.  Joining us is Shrapnel cohost and future leader of lefty Irish twitter, Sam Mcilwaine. We talk libraries unable to buy books, Stormont stalemate moving along the case for reform, the gallows outside the Dáil and the main enablers of the far right, the neoliberal "...