The Agenda

John Sheridan - Fianna Fail Councillor in Ardee and Mid-Louth area Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Eoghan Corry - travel writer & journalist Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Declan Lynch - Sunday Independent Journalist & and author of ‘Tony 10 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kathy Maher - Chair of the Irish Pharmacy Union’s contractors' committee Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aubrey McCarthy - Independent Senator in Seanad Eireann & Founder of Tiglin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was “deeply disappointing” and a “jaw-dropping surprise” to hear Kerry TD Danny Healy-Rae suggest that a lack of vitamins causes autism, an autistic advocate has said. Concern has grown in the community since Mr Healy-Rae made the comments in the Dáil on Wednesday during a discussion on a Sinn Féin motion on special education. Autism activist Aaron Lowry, who is autistic himself and has two aut...

The international aid system is facing an enormous funding crisis, and the closure or reduction in life-saving projects due to budget cuts will result in “more unnecessary suffering”, the Government is to argue. Ministers will say on Friday that Ireland is spending more on international development assistance than ever in the 50-year history of Irish Aid at a time when other large donor countries...

Councillors have been told that Louth County Council has reached a dead end in terms of securing funding to reinstate a road that has been closed since a major flooding event almost two years ago. The road had been used to access Shelling Hill beach but so far funding has been ruled out as there are no residential properties along it. Sinn Féin Councillor Antoin Watters, sought the update at the l...

A Fine Gael councillor carrying out voluntary work last year was accosted by a man who called him a “traitor” and threatened him over his work in support of Ukraine, a District Court has heard. Cllr Alan Tobin, elected in Ashbourne for Meath County Council, said the incident made him think twice about continuing as a public representative. Ciaran Starrs was charged under the Non-Fatal Offences aga...

Passengers at Dublin Airport can keep liquids in their luggage at security from today, thanks to new scanning technology. The old 100ml or less liquid rule requiring clear plastic bags is being relaxed too and departing passengers will be permitted to carry up to two litres in their hand luggage. Around 30 new C3 scanners and body scanners have been rolled out in Dublin Airport’s two terminals. Th...

More than eight in 10 people are now worried about the ongoing cost-of-living crisis as biting cost rises hit harder across the population. It has been revealed in a new survey that some 84% of people are significantly concerned and many blame Government failures to address it. The analysis for the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) revealed that the crisis is now impacting deeper...

There is a call on the Department of Education, teaching unions and child welfare experts to sit down with parents and try and formulate clear and practical guidelines for schools around the issue of ‘pronouns’.   That’s according to Aontú Cllr Emer Tóibín, who says she has been contacted by a number of teachers seeking guidance on how to respond if a student requests to be addressed by&...

A new joint framework to address the legacy of the North’s Troubles due to be unveiled later this morning represents a “sea-change” in the UK government’s approach to Northern Ireland, the Taoiseach has said. Micheál Martin said Labour prime minister Keir Starmer and Northern Secretary Hilary Benn have addressed the core issues of immunity, the restoration of civil cases and the introduction of a...

Louth County Council has invited people who are seeking a nomination for the upcoming Presidential Election to present at a Special Meeting of the Council. They added that the invited candidates must confirm their attendance and submit documentation confirming their eligibility before 12:00 noon on Friday, 19th September. The Special Meeting will take place on Monday 22 September 2025 at 6:30pm, i...

Ratoath-based Councillor Nick Killian has called on local pharmacists and doctors to prescribe alternative medicines to patients instead of those produced by the Israeli- owned pharmaceutical giant Teva. Councillor Killian said his call comes in response to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and what he describes as “the failure of the international community to take meaningful action.” “Ever...

We were joined on The Agenda this mornig by Founder and CEO of AsIAm, Adam Harris, who spoke to us about the AsIAm “Autism Friendly Communities” initiative. Their Mission is to transform towns around Ireland and their environs into Autism Friendly Towns and to create a community where Autistic people and their families can live, work and play without barriers.  Two towns already on their way...

The Dáil will hear calls today for smartphones and gaming devices to be confiscated from repeat offenders of anti-social behaviour. Independent Dublin TD Paul Gogarty is behind the motion, which also suggests imposing curfews and fining parents. He says people feel particularly powerless when anti-social behaviour is committed by young people, and Deputy Gogarty joins us on the programme now to ta...

Serious questions are being raised about access to MRI scans at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital after it emerged that the hospital’s only MRI unit is operated by a private company and does not open at weekends. The MRI centre at Lourdes is run by Alliance Medical, which leases space from the HSE and provides scans Monday to Friday. Patients who require urgent MRI scans outside those hours are left wa...

The discovery of the remains of Dublin boy Daniel Aruebose in a field in Donabate, north Dublin, is expected to lead to at least one arrest, the nature of which will be determined by the results of the postmortem, The Irish Times understands. While people who knew the boy have cooperated with the Garda investigation to date, the discovery of Daniel’s skeletal remains offer grounds for arrest, even...

This week on the programme we have spoken to various residents from the Rathmullen Park estate in Drogheda, about the ongoing, relentless and tortuous anti-social behaviour and abuse going on in the estate.  One resident told us about how he tried to take his own life as a result of things being so bad in rathmullen park, and that his elderly father won’t even leave the house anymore out of f...

Sinn Féin TD for Meath East, Darren O'Rourke, has said that new projections from the Department of Finance suggesting that the state’s population could grow to 7.6 million within four decades, further highlights why migration must be managed.   Deputy O'Rourke said that housing, wages, capacity to integrate and the likely reunification of Ireland must be part of considerations around the...

Drogheda’s Westgate House and the adjoining former Drogheda Youth Development building are set for a major transformation after €7 million in funding was secured under the Government’s THRIVE (Town Centre First Heritage Revival Scheme). The project will deliver extensive refurbishment, conservation, and new extensions at the protected West Street site, bringing it back into active use as a cultura...

An Coimisiún Toghcháin, Ireland's electoral commission, has begun visiting college campuses to encourage students to register and to make a plan to vote in next month’s Presidential Election. It estimates that 60,000 young people have turned 18 since the last general election and are eligible to vote once they have registered. The deadline to register to vote is 7 October. We were joined on The Ag...

There have been no meaningful reductions in the cost of insurance premiums for motorists, small firms and community organisations, TDs and senators will be told today. Motor, public liability and employer liability insurance premiums continue to rise despite a raft of reforms being delivered to the benefit of insurance firms, Brian Hanley of the Alliance for Insurance Reform will tell the Oireacht...

Residents of Julianstown in Meath are one step closer to relief from traffic congestion after the Laytown-Bettystown Municipal District approved a motion for Meath County Council to go to tender on the R132 Traffic Management Scheme. Speaking after the meeting, Fine Gael Councillor Sharon Tolan, who tabled the motion, said: “Residents of Julianstown have waited far too long for meaningful action o...