The Hard Shoulder

This week, Ciara and Shane were joined by Off the Ball's Cameron Hill and Freelance journalist, Niamh O'Reilly, to look back on the week that was, but with a few twists... 

With four days to go before the United States midterm elections, Democrats are leading in national polls as both parties make their final push for votes.  Meanwhile, a legal dispute threatens to delay the Senate result in Alaska, and President Donald Trump has cancelled two weekend rallies in favour of campaigning by phone.  Greg Swenson, of The Republicans Overseas joined Shane to discu...

According to new research by iReach, we plan to spend over €60 million on Halloween this year, down by over €11 million from last year. As sweets and chocolate are more expensive than ever, many families are cutting back... Henry McKean has been investigating, and he sent this report. 

From January first of next year, Toll prices are set to rise for commuters using motorways and The Port Tunnel.  M50 users in cars with a tag or video account will see a 10c increase, while car users without a tag will see a 20c increase.  Ger Hyland,  President of the Irish Road Haulage Association and  Jason Cullen, Chairperson of the Dublin Commuter Coalition...

Research published today by the ESRI, shows that more than a quarter of the population in Ireland has experienced sexual violence as an adult. Dr Clíona Saidléar, Executive Director of Rape Crisis Ireland joined Shane Coleman on the show to discuss the findings of the research.

With less than a week to go before the US midterm elections, Democrats have reasons to believe that a Senate takeover may be within reach. Niall Stanage, White House columnist with The Hill joined Ciara on the show to discuss.

Comedian, Bernard Casey joined Shane on the show to discuss his new book ‘Local Gossip’ which explores the very backbone of rural Ireland, GAA obsessions and small-town gossip, depicted by his Kerry characters.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his party have amplified allegations that the country’s Arab-led parties had “stolen” the election, with final results expected to confirm his bloc has lost its majority in parliament.  Bel Trew, Chief International Affairs Correspondent with The Irish Independent and Paul Kearns, Journalist based in Tel Aviv both joined Ciara on the show to discu...

The Social Democrats today launched a Bill to establish a public register of data centres in Ireland, to include information about their locations, carbon emissions, energy requirements and water usage. Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore joined Shane on the show to discuss.

U2 have announced details of the European leg of their Greatest Show on Earth Tour! John Caddell, Deputy Managing Editor of Today FM joined us on The Hard Shoulder this evening with the details.

RTÉ Director General, Kevin Bakhurst joined Shane Coleman on The Hard Shoulder this evening.

The Department of Finance’s 2026 Consumer Sentiment Banking Survey has found that 21% of respondents had used AI to obtain information or advice about financial products and services.   Robert Whelan Managing Director of Rockwell Financial Services and Ciara O'Brien Business and Tech journalist with the Irish Times joined Ciara Kelly on the show to discuss.

The number of new homes completed in Ireland has risen by 10.6 per cent so far this year. James Browne, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage joined Shane on the show to discuss.

Leinster House is a place of routine and repetition. Strict timetables and rules govern life inside and how much airtime deputies and senators get in their chambers. But outside on Kildare St, anyone can have their say at any time. Hundreds of protests take place outside the building's gates every year, with demonstrators airing their opinions on a wide variety of subjects. Bairbre Holmes spent la...

Life can be full of confusing things, but no need to worry! Every Wednesday, Simon Tierney will be showing you ‘How to do Stuff’ - bringing his best tips for those things you might not think about. This week, Simon joins Ciara and Shane to discuss how to properly go trick or treating!

The Government has today approved the drafting of legislation to increase An Post’s Statutory Borrowing Limit, from its current level of just under €75m to €620m. This is the first such increase since it was established in 1984.   Joining Shane to discuss why is Charlie McConalogue, Minister of State at the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media with special responsi...

For this week’s Tech Takeover, Jess Kelly, Newstalk’s Technology Correspondent, joins Ciara who exactly Anthropic are as a company as they prepare to go public...

Off The Ball’s John Duggan joined Ciara and Shane on The Hard Shoulder to review the week in sport and look ahead to the weekend’s action…

Benjamin Netanyahu won the support of an unexpectedly clear majority of Israeli Jews in an election billed as a major turning point in his ‌nation’s history, apparently ensuring he will survive as Prime Minister at least in a caretaker role. Joining Ciara to discuss this Dr Eitan Tzelgov, author and Associate Professor in Politics at the University of East Anglia.

Sinn Féin has proposed increasing standard residency to eight years and the implementation of basic language competency, as an alternative to the Government’s proposals on citizenship. Joining me now is Matt Carthy, Sinn Fein's Spokesperson on Justice, Home Affairs, and Migration.

The local government in Spain have confirmed at least 64 people have been killed and dozens seriously injured in a high-speed train crash south of the Spanish capital, Madrid. This comes after another train crash on the same line killed 46 people in January of this year. Exact details of what happened this morning are still unknown, although it's believed that a controller in Madrid may have given...

Dr Marie Cassidy, former State Pathologist, is part of ‘Dr Marie Cassidy Investigates Ireland’s Last Witch Trial’, a new documentary exploring the 1711 trial of eight women accused of witchcraft, which premieres on RTÉ One tomorrow. She joins Shane to discuss… Image: RTÉ

Rolling Stone has named this century’s 200 greatest rock songs with two Irish bands making the cut: U2's Beautiful Day comes in at number 22, while Fontaines D.C.’s Starburster takes 61st place. However, there is still plenty to fuel an argument over the playlist. Joining Shane to weigh in is Claire Beck, DJ and Today FM Presenter.

New figures from the Central Statistics Office reveal that eight in ten households are located within two kilometres of a bus stop while almost seven in ten are near a high frequency bus service. Joining Ciara to discuss this is Adrian Kavanagh, Geography Lecturer at Maynooth University and Brian Caulfield, Professor in the School of Engineering at Trinity College Dublin.

When it comes to our diet, we seem to be constantly bombarded with evolving nutritional advice, from new fads and trends to ultra-processed foods and superfoods. How do we cut through the noise and know who or what to believe? Professor Christopher Gardner of St Stanford University has been researching nutrition for over 30 years and has written a new book ‘Food Sense’ which he says gives “straigh...