In The News

Despite claims fugitive mob boss, Matteo Messino Denaro, was in Amsterdam, Liverpool and Brazil, the 60 year-old had been hiding in plain sight in Sicily. He was arrested last week after 30 years on the run. Italian criminologist, Dr Anna Sergi, says he was caught after being tracked down through plain old-fashioned detective work. Dr Sergi explains to host, Aideen Finnegan, why the Sicilian mafia...

"Elsa" had decades of experience waiting in restaurants before joining the staff at celebrity chef Richard Corrigan's new Dublin restaurant last year. Within a few weeks she had joined over a dozen other staff who left. Many of them spoke to The Irish Times's restaurant critic Corinna Hardgrave about why they did so: Harsh words, a bad atmosphere and rates of pay that were not what was promised. M...

Ireland’s far-right is mobilising. Heated protests outside buildings used to house asylum seekers in Ballymun, East Wall and around the country show how anti-immigration sentiment is being stirred up by groups who are organised, heavily reliant on social media and increasingly adept at exploiting fears, often with baseless stories. Irish Times crime correspondent Conor Gallagher has been tracking...

About 90 per cent of primary schools in Ireland are Catholic in ethos. The figure is increasingly out of line with the religious makeup of the population.   Last week, an Athlone primary school switched from Catholic to multi-denominational, the first such change of school ethos in a state-led pilot programme. But in other areas, like Dublin's Raheny, local opposition to such changes in...

Just when you thought there was nothing new to learn about Britain's Prince Harry's explosive memoir, it manages to generate even more headlines upon its release this week. 'Spare' is now the fastest ever selling non-fiction book in the English language. Even the Irish public is divided on whether the prince is a tragic, deluded character or an earnest rebel with a genuine public interest story to...

Despite fears patients may die as a result of delays in our overcrowded Emergency Departments, we are yet again dealing with another trolley crisis this January. The problems beleaguering our health service are well documented, so what changes would meaningfully address them? Former Consultant in Emergency Medicine, Dr Chris Luke, has a number of proposals and wants "Zelensky-like" leadership to b...

What does China’s exit from its Zero Covid policy mean for Ireland and the rest of the world? The country has fully reopened, ending the requirement for inbound travellers to quarantine. The abrupt exit has resulted in covid ripping through its main cities and struck a defiant tone with the European Union, which has recommended testing for passengers arriving from China. But the reopening will lik...

In this special episode of In The News we are joined by our new co-host, Bernice Harrison, and departing presenter, Conor Pope. If you opted out of scrolling through news stories over Christmas and New Year, here's a round-up of what you may have missed: hospital overcrowding, the deaths of Pelé, Pope Benedict and Vivienne Westwood, misogynist Andrew Tate's arrest, Republican George Santos' car cr...

Looking to feel happier and healthier in life, but don’t know where to start? Clinical Psychologist Dr Trudy Meehan joins Conor Pope to talk about the practical tools we can all start using to bring meaningful change into our lives.   Positive Health: 100+ Research-based Positive Psychology and Lifestyle Medicine Tools to Enhance Your Wellbeing is available now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com...

In his new book Grace: President Obama and Ten Days in the Battle for America, speech writer Cody Keenan gives readers an intimate portrayal of life inside the White House during some of the most critical moments in American history. In this episode, he talks to Sorcha Pollak about those ten years spent working alongside one of the most important and recognised people on earth, the long days and n...

Since the 1970s, Irish soldiers have served as UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon, a region where complex conflicts ebb and flow. Last week, the tragic death of Private Sean Rooney brought the number of Irish peacekeepers killed in the line of duty to 48. This special three-part series revisits the 1982 murders of Corporal Gregory Morrow, Private Peter Burke and Private Thomas Murphy at Tibnin Bridg...

Originating in west Africa the Black Axe gang has quickly become one of the most successful groups in Irish organised crime. In the Republic, the gang has stolen or laundered €64 million, mainly through romance scams and invoice frauds. The Irish cell of Black Axe launders money by using a rapidly growing network of money mules in Ireland. Money mules’ accounts are used to take receipt of, and the...

There are lots of reasons why team sports are a great activity for children to be involved in. They offer kids a chance to improve fitness, make new friends and learn how to be part of a team. But, on many teams across the country, coaches are leaving less able children on the sidelines, because they value winning above everything else. Irish Times parenting columnist Jen Hogan talks to Conor...

In contrast with his son Daniel Kinahan, little has been known about the activities of Christy Kinahan snr, the founder of the Kinahan drug cartel. Irish Times reporters Colm Keena and Conor Lally have now discovered that, along with his partner and three young children, Mr Kinahan snr has been attempting to build a new life for himself in Africa. These efforts involved an attempt to establish him...

The tragic death of Private Sean Rooney in Lebanon last week marks the first Irish peacekeeper death in combat in the region since 1999. The 23 year old was a member of the UN's 10,000-strong mission, Unifil. It's understood the vehicle became surrounded by an angry mob near the coastal down of Al Aqbieh on the night of Wednesday, 14th December. But why would the UN vehicle be the target of such i...

Teacher Enoch Burke could get out of jail today if he chose to. All he needs to do is say he’ll follow a court order to stay away from the school where he worked until being suspended in a row over his refusal to call a trans student by their preferred pronouns. In cases of civil contempt there is no clear mechanism for bringing to an end the situation without Mr Burke backing down. But given his...

This Christmas eve will mark ten months to the day since Russia launched their attack on Ukraine. In sub-zero temperatures, civilians are dealing with blackouts and water shortages, as the Russians target critical infrastructure from the air. As the year draws to a close, what hope, if any, will the new year bring? Dan McLaughlin reports on the situation from Lviv. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/p...

The prestigious Capital Dock and Clancy Barracks apartments in Dublin were developed by Kennedy Wilson. Fulfilling their legal obligations for 10% social housing, they offered Dublin City Council a choice between those homes or the cheaper Herberton apartments in Rialto. Though the council agreed and a deal was struck in 2019, they’ve lain empty for over 3 and a half years. 39 families who were of...

ChatGPT is no ordinary chatbot. It’s a massive advance in AI and machine learning that can handle far more complex requests, and generate answers in human-like form. It doesn’t scour the internet or copy and paste from articles. Rather its algorithms have been fed with a massive dataset that yield unique results to questions you might pose. It’s been created by OpenAI, a San Francisco-based AI res...

The death of a 4 year-old girl in the north east from the invasive form of Strep A, and a five year-old girl in Belfast, has understandably put parents around the country on high alert. With a significant increase in the number of viral infections sweeping through childcare and school settings, the HSE is encouraging parents to keep children at home if they’re showing signs of illness. But Strep A...

The arrest this week of 25 German citizens for allegedly plotting a coup against the German state came as a big surprise. Who are these people, and could they really hope to overthrow the government in Berlin? This is a story about German history, modern conspiracy culture, and an obscure, eccentric wannabe King. Derek Scally tells it to Conor Pope. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more...

Voters in the north and the Republic of Ireland would welcome a referendum on a United Ireland. A straightforward binary question would yield a resounding yes on this side of the border, and an emphatic no from the six counties. That result is clear from a two polls carried out in both jurisdictions by Ipsos for The Irish Times. But the wide-ranging research shows the Republic’s commitment to a Un...

Warning: This episode features discussion of child sexual abuse. Since an RTÉ radio documentary about child sexual abuse at Blackrock College aired last month, charity One In Four has been inundated with calls from survivors of abuse, seeking therapy and help in finding justice, often after decades of suffering in silence. But the research shows that child sexual abuse is far from just a legacy is...

“Sean Quinn knows exactly what he did but chooses not to understand. It’s very easy for him to find others are to blame.” Enniskillen-born filmmaker, Trevor Birney, has spent five years on his documentary, Quinn Country, which aired on RTE this week. The three-part series paints a visceral portrait of a man haunted by feelings of injustice and betrayal; not least in part due to the contributions f...

We get the expert view on solving Ireland’s housing emergency from Dr Lorcan Sirr, Lecturer in Housing at TU Dublin. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.