The Hard Shoulder

Is Rugby Ireland’s favourite sport? A survey released yesterday by a sponsor of the IRFU Energia found "the country's number one sport", with 31% of respondents claiming it is their "favourite sport".       Soccer came in at 27 percent, Gaelic Football at 23 percent and Hurling and Camogie at 19%.       Off the Ball’s Colm Boohig, Today FM’s Cathal Mino...

Yesterday, in Stradbally, The Wolfe Tones performed for the biggest crowd in Electric Picnic’s Electric Arena since the festival started.     Although many of the songs by the rebel music group were written before many attendees were born, the crowd had a wide range of ages – many of whom sang 'Oh, ah, up the Ra' to the band's song 'Celtic Symphony'.    We wondered what it...

Now lots of you will remember my next guest as being one of the key figures in murder investigations – Dr Marie Cassidy served as the State Pathologist from 2004 to 2018.    Tonight she returns to our screens on RTÉ with episode one of her new series Dr. Cassidy’s Casebook – The Femicide Cases.    Dr. Marie Cassidy joined Kieran Cuddihy on the show...

Our political correspondent Sean Defoe joins us for the Political Diary and breaking news Sean – the government has collapsed and we are going to the polls! Ok we aren’t but a new opinion poll over the weekend has shown that Sinn Féin continues to lead in the polls.    So we set Sean a bit of homework – if we went to the polls today what would the next Dáil look like and who could b...

Broadcaster and keen shopper Jonathan Healy was having a bit of a cleanout this weekend and found something with value! He’s been on a mission to validate it and joined us to give us an update. Consumer Affairs Correspondent for The Irish Times Connor Pope also joined Kieran Cuddihy on the show this evening.

Yesterday, in Stradbally, Portlaoise, The Wolfe Tones performed for the biggest crowd in Electric Picnic’s Electric Arena since the festival started.     Although many of the songs by the rebel music group were written before many attendees were born, the crowd had a wide range of ages – many of whom sang 'Oh, ah, up the Ra' to the band's song 'Celtic Symphony'.    Are our...

You would have no doubt seen all the beautiful sunny pictures coming out from Electric Picnic over the weekend.  And the positive news is that this weather is set to continue as we are experiencing a little Indian summer whilst other parts of Europe such as Spain are experiencing rain.   Joanna Donnelly, Meteorologist, Met Eireann joined Kieran on the show with a weather u...

A warning was sounded this weekend by the Gardai about the possibility of higher quantities of the deadly drug Fentanyl arriving in Ireland. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid used as an anesthetic in controlled circumstances. But it has proved popular with criminal organisations as well as it is much stronger than heroin by weight.     There is concern that fentanyl may enter glob...

Newstalk Breakfast’s Shane Coleman this morning on saying young people singing rebel songs run the risk of romanticising the "horrible and ugly" Troubles. The Wolfe Tones surprised many by performing for the biggest crowd in Electric Picnic’s Electric Arena in the festival’s nearly 20-year history. But are we being over-sensitive to their song Celtic Symphony with the lyrics ‘Ooh Ah up the Ra.’ An...

For out weekly sport slot Kieran was joined as always by Ger Gilroy from off the Ball to look back at the biggest sporting stories of the week.

Joining Kieran to chat about American politics was Terry Prone, Chair of the Communications Clinic, Renee Chenault-Fattah, Former NBC News Anchor and Pat Gatling, New York human rights lawyer 

Now we are kicking off this week's Final Furlong, where we look back at some of the stories that have caught our eye over the past week!     Joining Kieran for this edition of The Furlong this evening are:     Irish architect Hugh Wallace, and former model and influencer Holly Carpenter 

This week's you are what you eat sees Aisling Larkin, TV Chef and Mindful Eating Coach take Kieran on a journey through the many layers of pasta.

We’ve heard today that one of the leading Energy suppliers Energia has announced a cut in its home energy prices. Those on the company's Smart meter plans will see unit rates cut by 20%. Dual fuel electricity and gas rates will also fall by 20%.  Is this the start of a trends across the board?  Well one man who will be happy to see this is Eamon Ryan, Minister for the Environment, Climat...

Garda have been urging more caution on the roads, following a series of fatal accidents this summer.    But one suggestion that has been mentioned is speed limiters - the idea that car can limit your speed to the speed limit required.    Should this sort of thing be mandatory on our vehicles?    Michael Pidgeon is Dublin City Councillor for the Green Party … and Micha...

Our reporter Josh Crosbie joined the show from Stradbally to give us the latest at day one of Electric Picnic.

New Data from Census 2022 suggests that 21 percent of Irish property owners have 2 or more spare bedrooms in their homes.     Should we be urging homeowners to be open the doors to renters who may need them or should we be encouraging some to downsize their homes?     Pat Davitt, CEO of the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Seamus Boland, CEO of Irish Rural Li...

As you’ll likely know at this stage, Vera Pauw’s contract as Republic of Ireland manager will not be renewed, and there has been quite the fallout.     Among other things, she felt her position was undermined, particularly during the World Cup.   To get us up to speed, Kieran joined by Mark Tighe, senior news reporter for the Sunday Independent and former football manager Roddy...

Kieran Cuddihy was joined on The Hard Shoulder by Keith Rolls, Partner at Coleman Legal Solicitors to discuss the latest CAMHS report...

Jim Bergin is leading one of Ireland’s biggest companies with over 2,000 employees and sales revenue of a staggering 3 billion euro. All this while attempting to keep the farmers of Ireland happy.   Kieran was joined by Jim Bergin, CEO at Tirlán and he is also one of the speakers at this year’s Kennedy Summer School in New Ross…

While broadcasting LIVE from the Dundrody Visitor Centre as part of the Kennedy Summer School, Kieran Cuddihy took a tour of the Dunbrody Famine Ship...

Kieran was joined on The Hard Shoulder by one of the speakers at the Kennedy Summer School, award winning journalist Dermot Murnaghan. Dermot is known for his impressive career in the industry, working for companies such as the BBC, Channel 4 and Sky News, across many memorable breaking stories, like the deaths of both Diana Princess of Wales and Queen Elizabeth II...

Kieran was joined on The Hard Shoulder by Vice Admiral Mark Mellett, who has had a long distinguished career in Ireland’s Defence Forces culminating in serving as the Chief of Staff from 2015 to 2021...

The Mental Health Commission has published individual reports on the child and adolescent mental health services in the nine community healthcare organisation areas of the HSE.    These individual reports outline issues within particular regions - with an overall 4450 patients on waiting lists for servies.    Verona Murphy, Independent TD for Wexford joined Kieran to discuss...

Kieran was joined by Dr Kathryn Cramer Brownell, Associate Professor of History at Purdue University. She’s one of the guest speakers at the Kennedy Summer School, and she focuses on the area of celebrities and showbiz in politics...