The Hard Shoulder

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, Fionn joined Jonathan Healy to give the ultimate guide on Cape Town in South Africa!

A new campaign by the Data Protection Commission is warn­ing people against the dangers of ‘shar­ent­ing’, sharing images or videos of your child online. It has gained a mil­lion likes and has hit global headlines, and fea­tures a young girl being recog­nised by strangers in a shop­ping centre after she fea­tured in her par­ents’ social media posts. Joining Jonathan Healy to discuss is former Miss...

Dr Peter Boylan, former Master of National Maternity Hospital and Chairman of Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and author of ‘In the Shadow of the Eighth’ joins Jonathan Healy to place his favourite book on The Hard Shoulder Bookshelf!

A new plan to improve the assessment of needs process was discussed today in Cabinet. It comes as autism campaigner Cara Darmody starts another 50-hour campout outside Leinster House. Waiting lists for assessments of needs have long surpassed times set out in the guidelines, which state the assessment must be carried out within six months… Joining Jonathan Healy to discuss is Minister of State for...

Each year, millions of online orders get lost due to incorrect delivery information. After customers receive a refund, undelivered packages were previously destroyed. During Covid, some Frenchmen came up with an idea to save the parcels, and sell them as mystery blind boxes! Henry McKean has been looking into this phenomenon, and joins Jonathan Healy to discuss…

It’s that time of year now where people start treating themselves to a Christmas sandwich, and one has caught attention at a Harrod’s in London, that’s costing £29! Seeing as there are many different ways to make this particular sandwich, what are the ingredients for a perfect one? To discuss, Jonathan Healy is joined by 98fm Producer and Sunday Times Restaurant Critic, Russell Alford. Image: Tesc...

Comedian Al Murray is coming to Vicar Street next year for his ‘All You Need is Guv’ tour! He joins Jonathan Healy to chat ahead of the gigs…

The Oireachtas Committee on Remote Working will be meeting tomorrow to discuss the future of the Right to Request Remote Working Legislation. This follows the public consultation held by the Government to get views on how the legislation is working. To discuss all this, Jonathan Healy is joined by Co-Founder of Grow Remote, Tracy Keogh and Sinn Féin TD and Spokesperson for Enterprise, Tourism &amp...

With just over two weeks until Christmas, many people around the country are preparing to host. But is it ever okay to ask your guests to chip in, and if so, where is the unspoken line? Joining Jonathan Healy to discuss is Mary McCarty, Columnist with the Irish Independent and Michelle Harding, Etiquette Coach and Founder of School of Life Ireland.

For this week’s Kids Health Check, Jonathan Healy is joined by Sleep Expert Lucy Woolfe to discuss how to handle the amount of sleep your children might be getting with all the excitement around Christmas.

It was revealed on Friday that Netflix, already the world's biggest streaming service by market share, had agreed to buy Warner Bros Discovery's TV, film studios and HBO Max streaming division. But, why has there been some push back in Hollywood to the move? And why has US President Donald Trump said that there could be a problem over the deal? Joining Jonathan Healy to discuss is US-based Enterta...

A fire at a house in Co Offaly in which two people died was “designed to kill inhabitants” - this is according to the Justice Minister, Jim O’Callaghan. A murder investigation has been launched after the deaths of a woman and a child at a house on Castleview Park in Edenderry at around 7:45pm on Saturday. Joining Jonathan Healy to give the latest updates is Dublin Reporter from the Press Associati...

The nominees for the Golden Globes have been announced, with the event taking place on January 11th in Los Angeles. How did Ireland fare, and what kind of winners should we expect? Joining Jonathan Healy to discuss is Entertainment Journalist Brian Lloyd.

Trevor Deely was last seen 25 years ago today, walking home from a Christmas party in Dublin city centre. Answers are still being sought by his family, who believe there is more information about that night still out there… To discuss, Jonathan Healy is joined by Trevor’s brother, Mark Deely.

Women should be offered smaller portions than men at restaurants, that’s according to the head of the Government’s obesity programme in the UK… On Lunchtime Live, Professor Naveed Sattar said that menus should be adapted to include smaller versions of meals that contain fewer calories as a way of tackling obesity rates. Is that a sensible approach? Joining Jonathan Healy to discuss is Ballymaloe C...

An emergency meeting of the Oireachtas National Security Committee will be held this week to examine the sighting of drones near the flight path of Ukrainian President Voldomyr Zelenskyy when he visited Dublin last week. Gardaí are investigating reports that an Irish navy ship spotted up to five drones operating near the flight path of the Ukrainian President's plane last Monday… Independent Senat...

This week, Jonathan Healy was joined by Eimear Hallihan from Red FM and Joe O’Shea, Editor of CorkBeo.ie to look back on the week that was, but with a few twists…

Comedian Russell Howard joins Jonathan Healy to talk about his upcoming tour: ‘Don’t Tell The Algorithm’!

Quiet quitting, or in other words - doing the bare minimum required of a job or task and putting in no more time, effort or enthusiasm than absolutely necessary, is all the rage in 2025. But, should we quietly quit at Christmas time? Should we just take a massive step back and enjoy the festivities for what they are? Joining Jonathan Healy to discuss this is Irish Times Columnist and Host of the C...

The deadline for the Children’s Hospital has now been broken for a 16th time… Will it ever be finished? Paul Davis is a Lecturer in Public Procurement in DCU, and joins Jonathan Healy to discuss.

Off The Ball's Eoin Sheahan joined Jonathan Healy on The Hard Shoulder to review the week in sport and look ahead to the weekend action. Image: Sky Sports

Taxi Drivers Ireland have announced a suspension of their 6-day national shutdown protest “pending the outcome of a meeting at Government Buildings scheduled for next week”. The protest comes at one of the busiest times of the year for drivers and users as we approach the Christmas period. Joining Jonathan Healy to discuss this is Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Sean Canney, as w...

The Grinch has stolen Christmas on tonight's Late Late Toy Show. But what are the big toys this Christmas? Henry McKean went backstage and met Patrick Kielty and visited the toy shop Nimble Fingers where it all started 50 years ago today…

Ireland has signed a formal agreement with Australia social media regulators to study its social media ban for under 16s. This comes after a recent study by the RCSI found that body dissatisfaction and sexting are strongly associated with poorer mental health and increased risk of self-harm among Irish teenagers. Joining Jonathan Healy to discuss is Irish Independent’s Tech Editor, Adrian Weckler.

Chef Louise Lennox and Mairead Carty are both parents in Greystones whose children are still awaiting school places, despite repeated calls for a change to the system, which they say is simply not working...   They join Jonathan Healy to discuss their situation.