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

Ahmed Al-Najjar is a Palestinian journalist and academic based in Khan Younis, Southern Gaza Strip. He is reporting on the ongoing Israeli genocide and rapidly growing famine. He joins us on the PalCast to discuss the latest developments on the ground, his own heartbreaking personal loss and why those “who slaughtered with their weapons, and those who slaughtered us with their silence” are equally...

In this Sparks Will Fly, Ray sits down with singer, songwriter, community activist and big hearted artist, Sean Miller for a raw, emotional and deeply personal conversation. Sure it's always the way, isn't it.

Colin Sheridan is a writer, journalist and columnist with the Irish Examiner. He is also a former Irish Army Officer and it is perhaps this lived experience that shapes his writing in ways that you don't read too often in our opinion pages. This is the first of what we hope will be more conversations with a person who it turns out has a lot of interesting views on a lot of topics that we care abou...

Huda Skaik is a writer from Gaza, who was displaced 12 times during the ongoing genocide. After being under siege in Gaza City for 9 unrelenting days, the Israeli Military forced her and her family to move to the south. She started writing in a tent and returned to her home a year later to find it in rubble. Despite these conditions, Huda remains hopeful, and she continues to tell Gaza’s story. Tu...

Stano has been a recording artist, musician, painter and activist for decades. He is a storyteller and a collector of stories. In this podcast he and Sparky talk music, stories, solidarity and humanity in what can only be described as a very special conversation. Don't miss it.

In this Reboot Republic, Rory discusses the new apartment standards the Government have brought in with Orla Hegarty of the UCD School of Architecture and Planning. Orla outlines the major flaws in these new guidelines, around creating liveable homes, and analyses the Governments justifications as lacking evidence. These will boost speculative developers profits and create tenements of the 21st ce...

Journalist Ahmed Aldremly joined us from Gaza to discuss the latest massacres at the so-called Humanitarian Zones, Israel’s latest concentration camp plan, the daily search for food and to talk about his own experiences of the last 20+ months.

In this Echo Chamber Pod we’re joined by economist, author and editor of the Irish Marxist Review, Dr. Brian O’Boyle to discuss how even now in the depths of despair during the ongoing genocide in Gaza, that we can see the cracks developing in the settler colonial project. Love talking to Brian. Revelatory: My reading of Marx Revolutionary: Your reading of Marx Reality: Neither of us has read Marx...

In this Echo Chamber podcast Soc Dem Senator, Patricia Stephenson joins us to discuss the EU’s ongoing drive to undo the human rights and environmental protection policies that they signed up to in the last EU parliament term. Read more here: https://eeb.org/omnibus-a-trojan-horse-for-aggressive-deregulation-say-ngos/ And here: https://corporatejustice.org/news/joint-press-release-scrutiny-over-om...

In this Echo Chamber Podcast, the peerless Emeritus Prof Richard Murphy rejoins us to talk about the Labour Party's first year in Government in the UK, the lack of a plan, the dearth of ambition and how the political polarisation means the need for real radical change is becoming more urgent by the day. Another great conversation with one of our listeners favourite guests.

With Orla O Connor of the - National Women's Council of Ireland In this Reboot Republic, Rory talks with Orla O Connor who is Director of the National Women's Council of Ireland. We talk about Orla's 23 years of experience of campaigning for women's equality and social justice in the National Women's Council, the experience and lessons of the Repeal Referendum, intersectionalism and what is a visi...

It was an fantastic to be rejoined by Academy Award nominated filmmaker and fellow troublemaker, Lexi Alexander, to discuss Kneecap, Bob Vylan, cultural capital and the distraction theatre that Govts are using in order to not address the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Lexi is the best of us!

In this PalCast, Yousef and Tony are joined from Gaza by musician, teacher and father, Ahmed Abu Amsha, to discuss his experience of the ongoing genocide and how he and some of his musician friends are using song as therapy for those carrying far too much trauma. A wonderful man who will light up your day. Thank you, Ahmed. His own fundraising details are here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/hello-pea...

Homelessness has been normalised in Ireland and as the monthly figures tick up and up and up we have moved from a national scandal to a national shrug. This is only one of the things that we discuss on this member-only podcast.

In this echo chamber podcast Martin chats with employment rights activist Matt McGranaghan about Martin and Joey’s big day out last Thursday at the WRC. Step behind the curtain and listen to how RTE, the State and Arthur Cox all got their asses handed to them by someone who knows that he has truth on his side.

In this very special podcast Martin sits down with MEP Luke Ming Flanagan, in a destination that now connects them both. This is a conversation about politics, the personal and potentially about the presidency. That's far too much alliteration.

I wanted the day off, but the news keeps coming. So in this member-only podcast Martin explains why even the highly paid broadcaster Sarah McInerney is a victim of RTE’s rogue employment practices and we look at the Leo Varadkar vs Keir Starmer situation as well as some thoughts on the troubling US-Israel attacks on Iran.

Everyone in Ballymun knows Robert Murphy. From the shop in the van to the post office man, he's a local institution. He sits down with Sparky to talk about his life, why he went on the recent Global March to Gaza and what happened when the Egyptian Army stepped in. Yup!

We went back into Leinster House and had some hopeful conversations about workers rights and why asking the right to the right witnesses is important. So here's a short member-only podcast on that and the mess the Irish Red Cross have made for themselves.

A short Martin and Tony podcast on Tuam, Iran, Israel, Tucker Peacenik Carlson and the Irish economic miracle/embarrassment. If you just want the good stuff skip to 22:30. 796

All week we've seen experts and academics try and fail to make sense of the Government's new housing plans. So this is a podcast with housing expert and academic, Prof Lorcan Sirr, that also fails to do what it seems is impossible. Nonetheless, I think it's really good and that Lorcan almost gets there. Apologies to Orla and Mel.

“In 2015, while at home looking after our new baby, my wife received a letter from the Department of Social Protection telling her that she needed to attend a social welfare office to be photographed for a Public Services Card or have her child benefit payment cut off. As she did not want to drag an infant out to a government office she solved this problem the sensible way. She handed me the lette...

It was a great pleasure to be rejoined in the shack by writer, commentator, activist and mammy, Elaine Crory. It’s just a pity that it was to discuss the “protect our women” race-riots that have taken place in Ballymena, Larne and in parts of Belfast. Elaine breaks it down in her brilliant way and explains why this is something that goes beyond flags and into deprivation, inequality, poverty and t...

What are the new rental measures? In this Reboot Republic podcast Rory and Dr Michael Byrne from UCD break down the latest rental measures and explain what they are, what is the likely impact on rents and supply, and who will actually benefits. The verdict? TBD. The Week in Housing newsletter is a weekly one-page analysis of new housing research and policy. Read it here:  https://theweekinhousing....

On June 12th, 2025, people from around the world will participate in the Global March to Gaza, from Cairo to Rafah crossing marchtogaza.net , in an apolitical, peaceful, coordinated, civilian action, demanding immediate humanitarian intervention in Gaza. Joining us on the podcast are two of the remarkable people who are participating from Ireland, Maureen Almai and Geraldine Murphy. Please listen...