The Explainer

Is it a "one-in-a-million chance"? Professor Paul Moynagh, Head of the Department of Biology at Maynooth University and Director of the Human Health Research Institute, joins us to discuss how we can start to figure out how common Covid-19 is in Ireland right now, as well as what studies will help us learn the true number of people infected and the most important things to bear in mind during phas...

Our own political correspondent Christina Finn and Professor Gary Murphy from Dublin City University's School of Law and Government join us this week to examine the programme for government. Yesterday, we finally received the news that Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party had made an agreement and drafted a list of what they planned to do together. That document is known as a programme for g...

Vox reporter Matthew Yglesias joins us from Washington on this week's podcast to talk to presenter Sinéad O'Carroll about what the phrase 'defund the police means'. We've heard this phrase used in the US a lot during Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the tragic killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. But why is this phrase being used, and what does it mean? In addition, what can it tell u...

On this week's episode, Glenn Burkins joins us from North Carolina to talk about the impact of the protests in the US following the death of George Floyd. On 25 May, a man named George Floyd went to buy cigarettes in a corner store. After the transaction, he was accused of using a counterfeit €20 bill, and when he denied the accusation the police were called. Part of what happened next was capture...

On this week's podcast, The42's Gavan Casey and TheJournal.ie reporter Garreth McNamee join us to look at why Daniel Kinahan is back in the news again. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gavan Reilly, Virgin Media political correspondent and host of On The Record on Newstalk, and TheJournal.ie's political correspondent Christina Finn join us on this week's episode to discuss we still have no government more than 100 days since the general election. We discuss what the main sticking points have been through the talks between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, and whether we'll definitely s...

Late last month, a national alert was issued in the UK for healthcare professionals, warning them about potential links between a life-threatening syndrome being seen in children, and Covid-19.Over a month earlier, doctors in Italy started to notice cases of the same syndrome. In the intervening time, cases were seen in France, Spain and Portugal. The World Health Organization put out an alert abo...

There's five dates to mark on your calendar: 18 May, 8 June, 29 June, 20 July, 10 August. These are the tentative dates for each phase of the government's roadmap for the lifting of restrictions. The situation is going to be closely monitored. If the virus starts spreading widely again, some elements might be pushed back or suspended. If good progress is made in keeping it at bay, elements could b...

Testing for Covid-19 is an essential part of fighting against the spread of the disease, and the Irish government has pledged to process 100,000 a week. But it isn't easy to get to that number - so are we there yet? Why is testing important? And what about the future? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The coronavirus crisis has seen important figures like Ireland's chief medical officer, Tony Holohan, become household names. At a time of crisis like now, the State has to assess carefully how it will communicate with its citizens. It needs to be clear and in charge, and listen to the people affected by what it's telling them. How is Ireland doing this, and how effective is it? That's what we're...

People living in Ireland do not have to wear masks as part of the effort to curb the spread of Covid-19 - but people in New York and the Czech Republic do. So should we be wearing masks, or not? What does the science say? And are homemade cloth masks any use? On this week's episode of The Explainer, we take a look at the question of mask-wearing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inf...

There are a lot of numbers flying around the place that tell us things about the coronavirus outbreak - but analysing them can be tricky. Is it possible to read too far into some numbers, and too soon? Or is tracking the trajectory of death and diagnosis tolls our best way of getting a handle on how the coronavirus is affecting Ireland? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Skip to 0:58 for Germany, 19:23 for the United States, 41:48 for Sweden, and 1:01:47 for South Korea. The world is united in fighting the spread of the coronavirus, but every country has had its own journey. This week for The Explainer podcast we speak to reporters from four different countries to find out how things are going where they live. When did the restrictions come in? How have their coun...

While every country has had its own individual response to the coronavirus, there has been a fairly consistent approach of acting as soon as the issue became apparent. However, the UK stood out for taking a slightly different approach, and introducing social distancing and a shutdown at a later point than countries like Ireland. Stories in the UK press suggesting the country had initially aimed to...

The country is in the middle of an unprecedented crisis - schools are shut, people are working from home when they can, and the government has been reassuring people that it's doing all it can to stop the spread of Covid-19.But besides the very obvious unusual things about this situation, there has been something else people have had to contend with: the spread of misinformation. On this week's ep...

With the Covid-19 outbreak comes significant challenges, including huge pressure on our health service and disruption to our day-to-day lives. Minister for Health Simon Harris has already flagged that we are likely to see significantly more cases in Ireland, but many would be hoping that we can avoid what's happening in Italy. Italy has the second-highest number of cases in the world, after China,...

Super Tuesday has come and gone, and it's impact is already being felt - we've a comeback kid and already one hopeful has dropped out(that would be billionaire Michael Bloomberg).People in 14 states voted for their preferred Democratic candidate, which means that we get a greater sense of who could face Donald Trump in the 2020 election. But what is Super Tuesday exactly, what states were involved...

You might have many questions about the situation around this coronavirus – is it a pandemic? If it becomes one, what does that mean for Ireland? How can you keep yourself and your family safe? What does ‘self isolation’ mean? In this week’s episode, we cut through the scaremongering to answer your questions with facts and the most up-to-date information from experts. In studio we have Noteworthy...

The general election has come and gone - so why don't we have a government? The Dáil has sat for the first time, but party leaders were unable to gather enough votes to become Taoiseach, leading to Leo Varadkar's resignation. There's talk of a left-wing coalition let by Sinn Féin, but there's also talk of a grand coalition between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Where do we go from here? Nicky Ryan is...

The exit poll indicated we'd be talking about Sinn Féin throughout count day but it didn't point to the absolutely huge first preference votes its candidates would get across the country. The party has topped polls in multiple constituencies, with popular sitting TDs, deputies who had feared for their seats and unknown names who came from seemingly nowhere. Storm Ciara brought turbulence...

For our first live episode, recorded at Crow Street in Dublin's Temple Bar, we're looking at how Ireland ends up with the politicians it has. How much do polls, debates, and social media have to do with it - and how much is people voting for party or country? Sinéad O'Carroll is joined by journalist and broadcaster Lise Hand and Professor Gary Murphy, Associate Professor of Politics at DCU, and Ma...

On this week's episode, we look at the novel coronavirus outbreak and ask - how worried should we be in Ireland about it? What is a coronavirus? How can you stop its spread? And is the Irish health system prepared for a possible outbreak here? Joining Sinéad O'Carroll in studio are Noteworthy investigative journalist Maria Delaney and Nigel Stevenson, associate professor in immunology at Trinity C...

Last year, we brought you the story behind the Drogheda feud. This week, we take another look at the feud, in the wake of the shocking death of teenager Keane Mulready-Woods. The young teen's remains were found in a holdall in Coolock on Monday 13 January. Two days later more remains were found in a burning car in Ballybough. The shocking discovery and subsequent garda investigation showed that th...

Update: Since we recorded this episode, it has been announced that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will no longer be working members of the royal family. This month is a significant one for the British Royal Family. In an almost unprecedented move, Prince Harry and Meghan announced on 8 January that they plan to step back as senior members of the family, removing themselves from frontline royal dut...

It was supposed to be fairly straightforward - a commemoration for those who served in the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP), to be held in Dublin Castle. But due to the varied complications of Irish history over the past centuries, as soon as the event was publicised the criticism and questions began to roll in for the government over the past week. We're joi...