The Hard Shoulder

Dublin City Council has set aside more than €10 million to refurbish its Wood Quay office building, despite planning to move to a new location in 2029… Mannix Flynn, Independent Councillor and Candidate in the upcoming by-election for Dublin Centre joins Shane to discuss.

Mobile phone operators in the UK have warned the government that they may be forced to ration phone signal and data speeds to combat higher energy prices caused by the conflict in Iran. Should we be worried? Shane Coleman was joined on the show by Elaine Burke, Host of the For Tech’s Sake Podcast to discuss.

Should we remove tolling booths from all tolled roads? My next guests things so and says it is "archaic" that trucks, buses, and cars are still being forced to stop, queue, and pay at toll booths. That’s according to Fianna Fail MEP for Ireland South, Cynthia Ní Mhurchú. The EU Transport Committee MEP said Ireland is behind its EU counterparts who...

 Why do we find other people's habits annoying, from queue jumping, chewing loudly, playing videos without headphones, being late & putting feet on seats on public transport? Brendan Kelly, Professor of Psychiatry, Trinity College Dublin joined us on the show to discuss.

Voters in the constituencies of Galway West and Dublin Central will go to the polls on Friday the 22nd May in two by elections to elect a new representative to Dáil Éireann. The seat in Galway West comes from the election of Catherine Connolly as President, while the Dublin Central seat has been vacated by Paschal Donohoe following his move to the World Bank.  Profess...

The threat of Islamist terrorism and actions taken by 'lone wolves' is of significant concern, Ireland's security watchdog has warned. The new report also highlights the dangers of extreme right and extreme left-wing terrorism.   The legislation designed to give Ireland’s investigative and security agencies the powers to minimise tho...

Becoming a father for the first time can be quite the daunting experience and while there is a lot of joy that comes with it, it also comes with a lot of change to your life too. So how can that change be best managed, and just how significant can it be? Shane Coleman was joined by our own correspondent dads: political correspondent Sean Defoe and courts correspondent Frank Greaney.&nbsp...

Some parts around the country are set to hit up to 20C this weekend, with warm weather and sunny spells forecast. Matthew Martin, Meteorologist with Met Eireann gave us an update on the weather forecast.

The redevelopment of St Stephens Green Shopping Centre has been approved by Dublin City Council. The plans will see the façade of the Dublin shopping centre removed as it currently is with its Mississippi Steamboat design in favour of a glass and red brick façade. But are we erasing an important part of the architecture of our capital city or just something that didn’...

Ireland’s new rail traffic management system is facing serious criticism, after costs rose from an expected €19.5 million to more than €31 million with no part of the system delivered yet. Concerns have been raised at the Dáil Public Accounts Committee, where the project has been described as a “slowly developing shambles.”  Grace Boland, Fine Gael TD for Dublin Fingal West joined Shane Colem...

Heart disease affects thousands of people in Ireland every year, but what are the early warning signs to look out for that you are having a cardiac trouble? Joining Shane to discuss is Paul Stoneman, Cardiology Advanced Nurse Practitioner and Honorary Clinical Lecturer at the RCSI and Irish Heart Foundation patient representative and heart-attack survivor, Sharon Butler.

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 Shane to discuss how to wear tattoos and facial hair in work!

Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that he went “too far” and “overstated” his case in comments he made about rural Ireland. Joining Shane to discuss is Dennis Drennan, President of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association and Michael Fitzmaurice, Independent Ireland TD.

A cuckoo has landed in Kerry for the third year in a row after flying over 9,000 kilometres from Ghana. The bird has been named by the National Parks and Wildlife Service as Cuach Cores. Cuach is the Irish for cuckoo and Cores is a mountain in Killarney National Park. But, how rare is it for this bird to end up here? Joining Shane to discuss this is Sam Bailey, Conservation Ranger & Lead of th...

For this week’s Tech Takeover, Jess Kelly, Newstalk’s Technology Correspondent joins Shane to discuss why Meta is using tracking technology on its workers, including mouse clicks and keystrokes, to train AI models…

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

There are many effects and consequences to drug use and drug dealing, but something we’re hearing more about is drug-related intimidation, and its impact on families… Newstalk Reporter Josh Crosbie has been investigating, and joins Shane to discuss.

Following last night’s unilateral extension of the ceasefire with Iran by Donald Trump, three cargo ships have been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Two of those ships have since been seized by their navy. What happens from here remains unclear as U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance did not travel for peace talks yesterday, and it is unknown as to when any f...

On a recent walk, Vogue Williams described going the cliff walk at Howth and, despite her saying hi to fellow walkers, none said hi back! We are the country of ‘céad míle fáilte’, but have we lost this unique quality? Niamh O’Reilly, Freelance Journalist and Saoirse Hanley, Features Writer with the Irish Independent join Shane to discuss.

There has been a lot of talk today about the prices for The Ryder Cup at Adare Manor next year. Some tickets going on sale have general admission priced at €499… Is this simply too much? Gary Murphy, Golf Professional at the K Club joins Shane to discuss.

A lifelong smoking ban in the UK has been agreed to - but only for people born after 2008. This means that anyone born on January 1st 2009 onwards will legally not be allowed to purchase tobacco… Is this something we should replicate here? Would it be possible? Joining Shane to discuss is Dr Frank Haughton, Principal Investigator at the HEALR Research Group in Technological University of the Shann...

Today is Earth Day, and to mark it, the Green Party is bringing a motion to the Dáil on the climate and biodiversity emergency. Leader of The Green Party, Roderic O’Gorman, joins Shane to discuss.

Cavan is one of four counties without a non-religious school option. Mother of two, Gabrielle Haughton, has highlighted the difficulty to get a non-denominational school in her locality, with the closest Educate Together school being over 30 minutes away… She joins Ciara to discuss.

The EU will urge members to cut their dependence on Middle Eastern jet fuel and look into increasing imports from the US in guidelines expected this week. For more on this, Shane is joined by Anita Mendiratta, Aviation and Tourism Leadership Adviser.

The past number of weeks have brought to the fore just how reliant we are here on imports for our food security, so is it time that we expand our food growing as a country and as individuals, be it in our gardens or allotments? Mick Kelly, Founder of GIY joins Shane to discuss.