Newstalk Daily

The idea of a directly-elected mayor for Dublin has been circling Irish politics for decades — recommended by a Citizens’ Assembly, backed by some parties, resisted by others, and still unresolved.  Today on Newstalk Daily, Shane Beatty asks why Dublin remains the odd one out, while cities around the world hand executive power to mayors who shape housing, transport, and climate policy. ...

When Donald Trump first floated the idea of buying Greenland and it was widely treated as a joke. Now it’s being discussed in far more concrete terms, including reports that the White House has explored direct cash payments to Greenlanders themselves. Representatives of Greenland and Denmark are meeting with US vice president JD Vance today. So, what happens when you try to put a price on a p...

Awards season is officially underway, and Ireland had plenty to celebrate after Jessie Buckley’s Golden Globe win for her performance in Hamnet, which has now put her firmly in the Oscar conversation.  But beyond the headlines and highlight clips, today’s podcast asks a bigger question: what do awards ceremonies actually mean in 2026? Do they still shape careers? Or have they become glossy, s...

Hunger striking is one of the most extreme forms of political protest — and one with a long, painful history on this island.  As members of the Palestine Action group continue a hunger strike in British prisons, with serious concerns about their health, Newstalk Daily looks at what refusal to eat is meant to achieve, and the human cost that comes with it.  Shane Beatty is joined on the p...

Micheál Martin has just finished a four day official visit to China.  On Monday he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing and by all accounts the trip has been a glowing success. It’s been an eventful week geopolitically with Donald Trump and Nicolás Maduro making most of the headlines.  But quietly beavering away in the background was Micheál Martin as he pressed the flesh in...

A long-running European trade deal is heading for a crunch moment, and it’s sparked one of the loudest rows in Irish politics in years.  As EU ambassadors prepare to move on the EU–Mercosur agreement, farmers are warning it could flood the market with cheaper meat – especially beef and poultry from Brazil – and undermine rural livelihoods. A major protest is planned in Athlone this weekend, w...

William Shakespeare is back in the cultural spotlight with the release of the film Hamnet, starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley. But while the film renews interest in the playwright’s life and legacy, it also raises an awkward question closer to home: why does Shakespeare still hold such a dominant, compulsory place in Irish schools?  English teacher Conor Murphy joins Shane Beatty on the...

January 6th marks Epiphany, Nollaig na mBan, and the official end of the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year. It closes the door on a remarkable twelve months that included the death of Pope Francis, the election of Pope Leo, and a renewed push to reconnect with young people.  On today’s Newstalk Daily, we look back at what the Jubilee was meant to achieve — and whether it worked. From the million...

On paper, Gaza is in a ceasefire. On the ground, Israeli military operations continue, borders inside the strip are shifting, aid access is tightening, and more than 400 people have been killed since the agreement came into effect last year.  Humanitarian organisations, including Doctors Without Borders, have been suspended from operating in Gaza under new Israeli registration rules, while re...

This year, the United States marks 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. What was meant to be a sweeping national commemoration — exhibitions, reenactments and reflection — has instead become a flashpoint for political and cultural conflict, with funding rows, museum controversies and a White House determined to shape how the story is told.  On today’s podcast, Sean...

During 2025, the Catholic Church celebrated its Jubilee of Youth. At the same time, polling research in Ireland and the UK revealed growth in spirituality and religious practice among young people. In this podcast from the Newstalk Daily archive, Ciara Doherty is joined by Colm Flynn, Vatican correspondent with EWTN.

One of the biggest streaming hits of the year was The House of Guinness on Netflix. In this podcast from the Newstalk Daily archive, Ciara Doherty is joined by journalist and author Emily Hourican, whose The Guinness Girls novels also fictionalise characters from the famous Dublin dynasty. 

Five years ago, the fallout from an Oireachtas Golf Society event at the Station House Hotel in Clifden, county Galway, became one of the most politically explosive stories of the pandemic: Golfgate. In this podcast from the Newstalk Daily archive, Sean Defoe is joined by the journalists who broke the story for the Irish Examiner, Aoife Moore and Paul Hosford. 

The Irish pub has always been about more than drink. In part two of this conversation, Tara Duggan is joined by social historian Donal Fallon to explore the quieter, deeper layers of pub life — from snugs and gendered spaces to music, photography, county associations, and the pubs that shaped communities before disappearing from the map.  They talk about how pubs are responding to shifting dr...

On St Stephen’s Day, many of us gather in a particular social space — the pub. In this special edition of the podcast, Tara Duggan is joined in the snug of Dublin’s Palace Bar by social historian and podcaster Donal Fallon to talk about why the 26th of December has such a powerful connection to the Irish public house.  From Wren Boys and folk traditions to politics, literature and community l...

Christmas Day can be loud, busy, and full of expectations. But for some people — by choice, or by circumstance — it’s quiet. This Christmas Day edition of Newstalk Daily is made for anyone spending the day on their own. It’s not here to fix anything, or to tell you how to feel. It’s simply here to keep you company. Beatty talks first to journalist Jennifer McShane, who has written about time alone...

They were children when the Celtic Tiger collapsed. Teenagers when the IMF arrived. And now, they’re adults in an Ireland that in many ways still hasn’t fully recovered. The “Bailout Babies” are the generation born into the boom and shaped by the bust. They never benefited from the good times, but they’ve lived with the consequences ever since, in housing, work, relationships, politics, and m...

What happens when millions of people online seem to decide, almost overnight, that they don’t like you? A harmless Christmas special. Fifty-six minutes of cooking, crafting, and cosy domestic cheer. And yet, once again, Meghan Markle found herself at the centre of a full-scale online pile-on. The reviews were ferocious. The tone was personal. And the backlash felt wildly disproportionate to the cr...

For decades, Irish food suffered from a reputation it struggled to shake. Overcooked vegetables, low expectations, and the idea that good eating was something you travelled abroad to find. Then something changed.  Irish restaurants grew more confident, more creative, and far more ambitious. Today, Ireland is home to dozens of Michelin-listed restaurants, an internationally respected dining sc...

This weekend marks forty years since the founding of the Progressive Democrats — the small, outspoken party that reshaped Irish politics, then vanished. Born out of revolt against Fianna Fáil’s culture and economics, the PDs injected ideology into a system long defined by civil war loyalties rather than left-right debate. Pro-market, socially liberal, and unapologetic about the limits of the State...

Over the past week, the world has once again watched the horror of mass shootings unfold — from the United States to Australia — and the fear they leave behind, particularly for Jewish communities and students on campuses.  Each time it happens, the same questions return. Why does this violence keep recurring? Is it random? And crucially, does gun control make a difference?  On today’s p...

Trying to buy a home in Ireland can sometimes feel like a bad joke. Prices are still rising, and homes are still selling well above asking. Mortgage rates, at least, are easing. So, a simple question keeps coming up: does it make sense to buy now, if you can — or would you be mad not to wait until the next recession drives down prices?  Today on the podcast, we look past the noise and ask wha...

It’s the political mess Fianna Fáil can’t escape. Months after Jim Gavin’s presidential bid collapsed in spectacular fashion, the party is finally preparing to publish its long-awaited internal review — and nerves are jangling.  Gavin was meant to be a safe choice. A proven winner. A figure above party politics. Instead, a controversy dating back to 2009 detonated his campaign almost overnigh...

Politicians used to fight elections on radio and in TV studios and newspaper columns. Now they’re doing it on YouTube, TikTok, Substack, and podcasts recorded in cupboards.  From Liz Truss launching a baffling YouTube show aimed squarely at the American right, to UK Greens embracing what critics call “cosy left-wing populism,” politics has fully entered its influencer era. Long-form, first-pe...

Netflix wants to swallow-up Warner Bros — home to Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, DC, Barbie and HBO — in a deal so big it would reshape global entertainment. But Paramount has crashed the party with an even bigger hostile bid, dragging in the White House, Hollywood unions, and a swirl of billionaire politics.  Prices, choice, cinemas, wages, competition… everything is suddenly up for grabs. A...