The Hard Shoulder

The headline in the UCD paper, The University Observer reads: ‘UCD Fails to Safeguard Against Image-Based Sexual Assault’ after image of student who had been raped sent to staff and students”. The article outlined the incident of a medical student in UCD who had a “nude, bruised and unconscious image of herself shared and circulated to a significant number of UCD staff email addresses and then som...

Lisa Canny, the creator of the all-female trad group Biird joins Ciara for this week’s Thursday Interview!

The Minister for Transport has rejected calls from the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to remove the barriers that are preventing Uber and Bolt from fully entering the Irish taxi market and allowing drivers to use their own cars to provide taxi rides without a special license. The CCPS said that the current regulation is holding the industry back and means a lack of choice for consu...

“UCD Fails to Safeguard Against ‘Image-Based Sexual Assault’ after image of student who had been raped sent to staff and students”. This is the headline on the article written by Adam Schmitz and Orla Mahon for the UCD University Paper, the University Observer. It details the incident of a medical student in UCD who had a “nude, bruised and unconscious” image of herself shared and circulated to a...

‘Leg danglers are the swimming pool equivalent of people who stand at the end of an escalator’ so says Ceire Sadlier, Irish Times contributor who suggests that we all need a lesson in pool etiquette. It is an opinion shared by Dr Clare Moriarty, a Research Fellow at the TCD Long Room Hub, so is it time we all got a lesson in how to behave in the pool? Céire and Clare join Ciara to discuss the etiq...

US tech giant Apple have announced an expansion to their Irish operations with a new Dublin office set to open later this year. Newstalk’s Technology Correspondent Jess Kelly has been speaking to Apple’s VP of Places Kristina Raspe to find out more, and joins Ciara to discuss.

With the multiple weeks of heavy rain and general poor weather, how is this impacting farmers and their ability to work? Newstalk Reporter Josh Crosbie has been investigating, and joins Shane to discuss…

Today, former Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has been arrested for suspicion of misconduct in public office. Joining Shane with the latest information and commentary is Iain Dale, LBC News & Radio Presenter, Royal Commentator and author and Victoria Howard, Royal Commentator and Editor and Founder of The Crown Chronicles.

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 kiss someone! As in, how much tongue is too much tongue?

The cost of buying a home in Dublin has now reached €500,000. That’s according to the latest figures from The Central Statistics office. But, how is this pushing out our young people that are trying to get onto the property ladder? Joining Ciara to discuss is Newstalk's own Kathleen Keane and James Kavanagh, Podcaster and Presenter.

The Government is being urged to expedite its publishing of an updated national Climate Action Plan which is meant to be updated annually and include updated targets and initiatives to keep our long-term emission targets in sight. A group of five academics have written to the Taoiseach and Minister for the Environment urging them to expedite its updating as the budget for this year has not yet bee...

For this week’s Tech Takeover, Jess Kelly, Newstalk’s Technology Correspondent joins Ciara to discuss a proposal for digital infrastructure to make the internet safer for young people, and what that would look like.

Dublin City Council is looking into the possibility of turning vacant retail premises around the city into staffed “concierge-type” public toilets. Claire Byrne, Green Party Councillor for Dublin South East Inner City joins Shane to discuss.

A major review of the North Kerry Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service has found there was a risk of moderate or major harm in respect of more than half of the cases on the service’s books in 2022. For more on this, Ciara is joined by Dr Kieran Moore, Medical Paediatric Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist and an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at UCD & Davin Godfrey, Leading Campaigner for...

Why men telling women to “smile” and “look happy” has nothing to do with happiness, and everything to do with control, so says Newstalk's own Simon Tierney  in a recently published article. But, is this something that is starting to die out, or is it as blatant as ever? Joining Shane to discuss is Saoirse Hanley, Features writer with The Irish Independent.

Directly-elected Mayor for Limerick, John Moran, has said some local councillors are being “hostile” towards him and have been acting on a strategy to make his role “unbearable”. His time as mayor so far has been described as divisive, and it all came to a head after a seven-hour meeting regarding the council’s corporate plan, which John Moran took ill and had to leave. Mayor for Limerick, John Mo...

As cash continues to die, we wanted to see if it was possible to spend a day just paying in cash and a day just paying with a card or contactless? Henry McKean was put to the task, and joins Shane to discuss how he got on…

Every week for The Ultimate Guide on The Hard Shoulder, Fionn Davenport takes a closer look at some of the fantastic destinations to visit around the world. This week, as part of his 12 best cities in the world, Fionn joined Ciara and Shane to give the ultimate guide to Bangkok in Thailand!

AI has infiltrated many industries, and the music industry is no exception but how easy is it to identify an AI generated song? Joining Ciara to discuss is Dr. Martin Clancy, IRC Research Fellow at the Center for Digital Humanities, Trinity College Dublin.

Jesse Jackson, one of America’s most influential civil rights figures after the death of Martin Luther King Jr, has died at the age of eighty four. Mr Jackson was present on the day King was assassinated and also fought for the Democratic nomination for president twice, in 1984 and 1988. Larry Donnelly, Law Lecturer, University of Galway and Columnist with the Journal joins Ciara to look back on h...

A protest began on George’s Street in Dublin this evening outside The Hoxton Hotel as campaigners seek to voice their opposition to legal action taken against the neighbouring Yamamori Izakaya, which was spoken about on the programme yesterday. At the protest is Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, musician, protest organiser and People Before Profit member. He joins Shane to discuss.

Family Psychotherapist, Columnist and co-host of the Go Loud podcast ‘They Mess You Up’ Richard Hogan joined Ciara to place his favourite book on The Hard Shoulder Bookshelf!

Mayor of Limerick John Moran has alleged that local councillors are deploying tactics to make sure his term is not successful… Joining Ciara to discuss this is Nick Rabbitts, Reporter with the Limerick Leader.

Last week Ireland was drawn to play Israel in this year’s Nations League with a home leg at the Aviva Stadium on 4th October and an away leg before that on 27th September. Much debate has ensued since about whether we should partake in the fixtures in the backdrop of the Israel/Gaza war. Bernard O’Byrne is the former FAI CEO, former Basketball Ireland CEO and a former board member of FIBA, the Eur...

This year marks 7 years of All Together Now, and today they announced 60 acts that you can expect to see at the weekend festival. The list includes Pulp, Kneecap, Disclosure, The Mary Wallopers, Christy Moore and more. Joining Ciara to discuss all is Will Rolfe, Creative Director of POD Festivals, and the man behind All Together Now…