The Echo Chamber from Tortoise Shack

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Last November, Ireland joined with other countries by publicly calling on UEFA to suspend Israel from international football. So inevitably Ireland has been drawn against Israel in the upcoming Nations League fixtures. Sadly the FAI and Taoiseach Micheal Martin have already said that the games will take place. Joining me to discuss this is one of the fou...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Abdalkhaliq Abugaza is a high school student living in Gaza. He was born in Saudi Arabia to Palestinian parents and moved home to Gaza in 2020. He is passionate about programming, storytelling, using technology to support education and humanitarian work. In this Palcast episode, he shares his experience of displacement, loss, life before the genocide and...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack In this Reboot Republic podcast, Rory chats to producer Tony about the biggest changes to Ireland’s rental market in a generation, the Government’s response (or lack of) to the recent floods and the need for the opposition to make the public believe that it doesn’t have to be this way when it comes to the current politics of mediocrity. The Epstein Files...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack A lot of people are drawing comparisons between events in Minneapolis and the worst days of the Troubles. So I asked Shrapnel cohost and a loyalist voice of great sense, Sam Mcilwaine to come on and have a chat about how sometimes history doesn't rhyme, but it might echo. Editors Note: This was released for members on Jan 29th and we're lifting the paywa...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Hassan Abo Qamar is a journalist and writer from Gaza. He’s also a first-year engineering student at the Islamic University of Gaza. His work has been published in outlets such as The Guardian, Al Jazeera, The Nation, The Electronic Intifada, and The New Arab, among others, with a focus on documenting the humanitarian reality in Gaza beyond traditional p...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Associate Professor and contributing member of the Neutrality Roadshow, Patrick Bresnihan rejoins us on the Shack to talk about the impending erasure of the Triple Lock, the ongoing erasure of our neutrality, the fallacies at the heart of the militarisation agenda and why there is so much hope in Irish peoples pride in our peacekeeping neutrality. The Ep...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack In this Tortoise Shack Podcast, Tony is rejoined by Mr irishelectionprojections.com Harry McEvansoneya, to discuss the latest opinion polls, the Soc Dem rise, the upcoming by-elections and why we have a government who will do absolutely anything to avoid having to do something. The Triple Lock Podcast is out now here:https://www.patreon.com/posts/patron-...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack In this Reboot Republic, Rory talks with activist, campaigner and commentator Jenny Maguire about her recent column that laid out the need for the broad left to focus on building a coalition that is based on a more hopeful vision and less prone to infighting around identity politics. This is a great conversation with a great voice and The Flash even make...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Bernard Mulvany is a Disability Rights Activist, founder of Access for All Ireland and a carer to his daughter, Sophia. He rejoins me just a few minutes after his latest meeting with the Government representatives where he outlined (again) the stark reality facing both Carers and People with Disabilities. So we got him at a good time. We are (on paper) a...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Theses first few weeks of 2026 have been a hell of a decade. But we did not have technocrat Mark Carney joining the revolution on our bingo cards. To discuss this, the inequality at the heart of the polarisation, wealth taxes on the 1%, Ireland's role in Global Tax Abuse and more is economist with NERI, Ciarán Nugent. The wealth inequality report is here...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Reem Hamadaqa is a Palestinian translator and storyteller from Gaza. She uses her writing to remember and to keep her lost loved ones alive. In this very special PalCast she tells her story of semi-surviving the genocide in Gaza. Please make sure you listen to this remarkable young woman. Comrade Mark Carney, Davos and Inequality podcast is here:https://...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack In this tortoise shack special, Tony is joined by independent journalist and author of the brilliant book Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley. Via the prism of the latest Trump madness, they dig deep into the themes of the book including class, oligarchy, the politics of tech, political corruption, illicit finance, the nihilis...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack In this short PalCast, Yousef updates us on what is happening in Gaza, the ever expanding Yellow Line, the destruction of what little infrastructure remains, the creation of new mass graves and how the Knesset plans to hang Palestinian "prisoners." Semi-Surviving the Genocide with Reem Hamdaqa is out now here:https://www.patreon.com/posts/patron-exclusiv...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack In this tortoise shack special, Tony sits down with immigration lawyer and (sadly) Corkman, Cathal Malone, to talk about Ireland's immigration system, the hardening political rhetoric, the lived reality and lots more. This is a must-listen for anyone who is concerned by statements from our elected officials and even more so for those who think our Govern...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack In this Reboot Republic, Rory is joined by producer Tony Groves to talk the reality of our homelessness crisis, the horror of AI/X Grok's CSAM, Simon Harris joining Jim O'Callaghan on the anti-immigrant bus, Climate Action getting binned by government and why the Left needs to focus on kitchen table issues in 2026. Editors Note: Rory subsequently abandon...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack CW: This podcast contains a personal story that discusses topics that some listeners may find upsetting. Ali Skaik is an English Literature student and writer from Gaza City. In his own words: "Literature should be lived and not just read. Growing up amid the struggles in Gaza, every word I write carries the reality I face daily. Literature became my way...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack In this tortoise shack special, lecturer at ATU Sligo, Editor of the Irish Marxist Review and author of Tax Haven Ireland, Dr Brian O'Boyle, breaks down the so-called Donroe Doctrine and how it differs from the old American imperial expansionist regime. He talks about Venezuela from the Chavez-Bolivarian Revolution to the Maduro Kleptocracy and he gives...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack In this Tortoise Shack special, Manager of Environmental Law Ireland, and human dynamo, Attracta Ui Bhroin, joins me to discuss the proposed changes to access to justice that will tilt the scales of justice away from ordinary members of the public. Attracta breaks down what is at stake, the lack of accountability and oversight, how we got here and how yo...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Madrid-based Journalist Eoghan Gilmartin and Professor at IE University, Madrid, Joe Haslam are back to talk Pedro Sanchez as the reverse Keir Starmer, standing up to Trump, Spain's economic miracle, Catalan independence in 2026, the frightening rise of far right Vox and why you should never ever get into the pub business. Warning: Contains strong langua...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack CW: This podcast contains a personal story that discusses topics that some listeners may find upsetting. Ali Skaik is an English Literature student and writer from Gaza City. In his own words: "Literature should be lived and not just read. Growing up amid the struggles in Gaza, every word I write carries the reality I face daily. Literature became my way...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Very unhelpfully, our Government chose to publish a "Consultation on the regulation of costs" pertaining to settled EU Law (Aarhaus Convention 2005) just before they headed of for Christmas. An act so sneaky that it gives the public only until Jan 15th to have their say. A cynic might think they don't want to hear from us at all. So in this Call to Actio...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Colombian journalist with el Pais, Nicholas Dale Leal, rejoined me to talk Latin America, Trump’s regime change plans for Venezuela, the far right on the rise in Chile and Honduras and the hopeful pushback from Colombia, Brazil and Mexico. 2025 was not a great year for the left in Latin-South America. But at the end Nicholas gives us some insight into ho...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Riwaa Abuquta is a young woman from Rafah city whose life has been shaped by displacement, loss, and the constant search for safety. Alongside with her family, her elderly parents and 5 sisters, one of whom is disabled, she shares the story of life in a tent for a year and a half. Since the beginning of the war, she has been uprooted from her home, carry...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack It's that time of year again where we sit and reflect on the year gone by and talk optimistically about our pessimistic future. And who better* to do that than Mr irishelectionprojections.com Harry McEvansoneya and The Gist's Simon McGarr. *we asked better people, but they had better offers. The Trump-Venezuela podcast with el Pais journalist Nicholas Da...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack From Housing Tzar’s to Children’s Health Ireland and on to Israeli military equipment, The Ditch has had another busy year. Add in their collaborations with other international media outlets and it’s fair to say that they have punched well above their weight. Eoghan McNeill joins me to look back over it all. The Trump-Venezuela Podcast:https://www.patreo...