The Hard Shoulder

As Andrew Ridgeley of Wham! turns 60, what better time to give some love to ‘the other guy’ from your favourite pop acts and duos. To help us separate the The Halls from the Oates, your Simons from your Garfunkels, Kieran was joined by Ed Smith, Presenter of Today FM Rocks...

Enoch Burke is now likely to be hit with a €700 fine for failing to purge his contempt of court before today’s 2pm deadline. And for every day that passes without him purging his contempt, he will continue to be hit with a 700e daily fine. That’s €4,900 per week. Newstalk reporter Aoife Kearns and Newstalk’s Courts Correspondent Frank Greaney joined Kieran on the show to discuss…

All this week, we’ve seen coverage of this controversy around Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe’s expenses. Has all the reaction has been slightly hysterical, and to the detriment of politics in general? Kieran was joined by Stephen Collins, Political Columnist with The Irish Times...

World Rugby are looking to lower the legal tackle height over the next few years. It is part of a response to head injuries being commonplace in the game, as the RFU have moved to ban tackling above the waist in the community game. Kieran was joined by Matt Williams rugby coach and pundit and Matt Campbell, Professor in Genetics in Trinity College, and co-founder of the Concussion Research Interes...

87 consultants at University Hospital Limerick have written to management to say their ability to provide care to their patients is ‘stretched beyond it’s current capacity’ For more on this Kieran was joined by Maurice Quinlivan, Sinn Fein’s TD for Limerick...

Paris Hilton yesterday announced her and her husband have welcomed their first baby together, a son, via surrogate. The socialite and her husband are both first time parents in their forties, which is an increasingly common trend in modern society.  Tanya Sweeny, journalist with the Irish Independent and Medical Journalist, June Shannon joined Kieran on The Hard Shoulder to discuss...

87 consultants at University Hospital Limerick have written to management to say their ability to provide care to their patients is ‘stretched beyond it’s current capacity.’ Kieran was joined by Professor Declan Lyons, a consultant physician and geriatrician in University Hospital Limerick to discuss…

VHI is to increase premiums by an average of 4.8% across its health insurance plans from March 1. This will be their first price increase in two years and follows a price reduction last year. Kieran was joined by Dermot Goode of totalhealthcover.ie to discuss…

Unpublished research by the Housing Commission says Ireland may need up to 62,000 homes built per year until 2050 to meet demand – almost double the annual target in the Government’s master plan for this decade. Meanwhile, a new study has revealed apartment construction costs rose by as much as 25k last year.  The report by leading consultants Mitchell McDermott found that the hard costs of buildi...

Andrew Chambers was been diagnosed with motor neuron disease in October, and his condition is rapidly deteriorating. Since then he has also been battling to get his partner, Sian, a visa so that he can move from Laos, to care for him here. Andrew joined Kieran on the show to discuss..

Sarina Bellissimo, host of The Bellissimo Files Podcast joined Kieran on The Hard Shoulder to take a look at some of the best Hollywood comeback stories...

It is 5 years since the Dáil lifted a ban on selling alcohol on Good Friday. For more on this and to discuss the future of licensing laws, Kieran was joined by Sheila Gilheany, CEO of Alcohol Action Ireland and Ian Redmond, Owner of Tramline on d’Olier Street...

Newstalk's own, Simon Tierney joined Kieran again for the series 'The Shopping Trolley Hotline'. The series will give listeners pause when they’re filling their trolleys, to consider their options. This week Simon and Kieran took a look a the different options of tortilla chips on the shelves...

Several international protection applicants had to sleep on the streets of Dublin last night because the Government were not in a position to provide any state owned accommodation. Newstalk’s Chief Reporter Barry Whyte spoke to some of these people who had to sleep rough…

It’s the first payday of the year today and John Lowe, The Money Doctor joined Kieran to advise us how to not blow our paychecks this year…

Justin Bieber has followed the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Justin Timberlake by has sold his back catalogue for $200 million. For more on this, Kieran was joined by Dave Hanratty, music journalist and presenter of the ‘No Encores’ podcast…

Fianna Fáil Senator Malcolm Byrne is calling for the reintroduction of town councils across Ireland. "If we believe in local democracy and local government we have to move away from a system of local administration, which we effectively have," he said. To discuss the possibility of the reintroduction of town councils, Kieran was joined by Noel McCarthy, Fine Gael Councillor for Fermoy and Ken O’Fl...

New statistics released today by Circle K show that 83% of retail workers in Ireland have experienced harassment from customers. How bad is it for retail workers out there on the front line. Newstalk's Henry McKean went to find out...

Every week, Tuesday Travel on The Hard Shoulder with thanks to Emirates, will take a closer look at some of the fantastic destinations Emirates fly to around the world. This week, Kieran was joined by Fionn Davenport, travel writer and broadcaster to look at the Italian Riviera…

Paschal Donohoe has spoken to the Dail after further revelations relating to postering expenses. Finian McGrath, the former Minister for Disability joined Kieran on the show to discuss...

Kieran was joined in studio by Fine Gael Senator, Regina Doherty, and Socialist Party TD for Cork North Central, Mick Barry. Continuing the series, ‘Common Ground’, they will debate some of the biggest, most divisive topics around. The series continued with a discussion around 'Is there a place for single sex schools in society?'

'An Cailín Ciúin' has been nominated for Best International Picture at this year's Academy Awards. Cleona Ní Chrualaoí, producer of 'An Cailín Ciúin' joined Kieran on The Hard Shoulder. She was joined alongside Irish director, Lenny Abrahamson to discuss the success of Irish film in this year's nominations...

Broadcaster Emer O’Neill says we should never be shocked when we hear racism, because it is all around us. She says she continues to be subjected to racial abuse following her issues with Tommy Tiernan recently. But do the problems with race in this country go much further than that? Emer joined Kieran on The Hard Shoulder to discuss…

Sean Defoe, Newstalk’s Political Correspondent joined Kieran on The Hard Shoulder to bring the latest from Paschal Donohoe's Dáíl statement surrounding the ongoing poster controversy...

Long voice notes, and kissing in public have been listed as bad manners. Do you think people are picking up more bad habits or do younger generations have good etiquette? Newstalk reporter Josh Crosbie has been finding out what habits annoy the public the most.