Afleveringen
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In the early hours of Monday morning, a drone carrying a pipe bomb, a viable explosive device, crashed beside a family's home in North County Dublin.
But who was controlling the drone and who or what was the intended target? Irish Times security and crime editor Conor Lally reports.
Presented by Sorcha Pollak, produced by Suzanne Brennan.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Chad now hosts 1.3 million forcibly displaced people, according to the UNHCR, despite itself being one of the world’s poorest countries. More than half of these refugees are Sudanese, mostly women and children, who have fled the fighting between rival militaries which erupted in April 2023.
It has been called “the forgotten war” because of the lack of media coverage and global attention particularly on the plight of the refugees who live in sprawling refugee camps.
The reasons why so few journalists have gone to the African country to report on the war and the massive displacement of Sundanese people include the difficulty in getting there and safety issues.
Two Irish Times journalists, writer Patrick Freyne and videographer Chris Maddaloni, travelled to East Chad in April to report from the refugee camps there.
Their trip was supported by the Simon Cumbers Media Fund.
They tell In the News about what they saw and heard and explore why the world has turned its back on this war.
Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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Note: This episode was originally published in August 2023.
In July 2023, four relatives attended a family lunch at the home of Erin Patterson, a mother of two from Leongatha in Australia. Within days of the lunch, three of the guests were dead, with a fourth left fighting for his life in hospital. A beef wellington that was served for lunch on the day is suspected to have contained poisonous death cap mushrooms. But why were they in there?
A court in Australia must now decipher whether it was simply a tragic accident or if there was something more sinister at play. Patterson's trial opened last week in Victoria, Australia and is expected to last six weeks. She is facing three murder charges and one of attempted murder.
In 2023, following Patterson’s arrest, Bernice Harrison spoke to John Ferguson, a journalist with The Australian who outlined the details of the case; while retired homicide investigator Charlie Bezzina, who has worked on some of Australia’s most high-profile cases explained the challenges for police in a case such as this.
Produced by Suzanne Brennan. Presented by Bernice Harrison.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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On Monday, the unthinkable happened: Spain and Portugal experienced an electricity blackout.
Just after midday the lights went out, wifi went down, trains stopped, airports closed, ATMs froze and everyday life for millions of citizens ground to a halt.
Both countries quickly ruled out the possibility that the outage was caused by a cyberattack. Human error was also discounted. Critics of Spain’s ambitious green energy policy were quick to lay the blame on renewables.
Nuclear power proponents suggested the outage was the inevitable result of moving away from nuclear.
Power started to be restored on Monday evening, and by Tuesday morning the Spanish government reported that more than 90 per cent of supply had returned, with a similar percentage restored in Portugal.
The costs are now being counted; the CEOE employers’ association estimating the economic cost at about €1.6 billion. Self-employed workers may have lost as much as €1.3 billion, according to the ATA workers’ association.
But what caused the blackout? And how is it possible that days later the authorities still don’t know for sure?
Contributor to The Irish Times Guy Hedgecoe was on a train in Madrid when the blackout began. He tells In the News what happened next and explores the reasons and reactions to the unprecedented outage that has shaken confidence in the energy supply.
Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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For Kneecap’s growing fan base, the band’s support of Palestine as they performed at the Coachella music festival in California last month didn’t raise a ripple of surprise.
The Belfast-based rappers who sing mostly in Irish have been consistent in their vocal opposition to Israel’s response to the October 7th Hamas attack.
But an American backlash coincided with UK police investigations into comments made by members of the group during concerts.
One appeared to be shouting “up Hamas, up Hizbullah”.
Footage from another concert appeared to show one of the group shouting “the only good Tory is a dead Tory” and “Kill your local MP”.
Kneecap have since apologised to the families of two murdered British MPs. But they also insist the controversy has been manufactured in retaliation against their pro-Palestine stance and to distract from the real story of what's happening in Gaza.
Media columnist Hugh Linehan looks at the controversies surrounding Kneecap, how they have responded and whether they are right to argue this is not a story worth covering.
Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon.
This episode was edited on May 1, 2025 to remove a reference to Kneecap concerts being cancelled. None of the group's US concerts has been cancelled.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Since taking over the Department of Justice, Jim O'Callaghan has embarked on a firmer, more hardline approach to immigration in this country.
New legislation brought forward by the Minister this week and approved by Government, will speed up the time it takes to process an application for asylum, reducing the entire process from years to just a matter of months.
However, the number of people seeking asylum in Ireland have already dropped considerably when compared with this time last year.
A total of 3,021 asylum applications were made between January and March 2025, compared to 5,162 during the first three months of 2024, a drop of more than 40 per cent.
Why have the numbers seeking international protection in this countries fallen and is this decrease reflected across Europe?
And how much do the Government’s immigration policies, such increased deportation orders and the expansion of its ‘safe list’ of countries, actually impact whether or not people come to Ireland seeking safety?
Immigration lawyer Cathal Malone discusses the drop in numbers and whether Government policies are responsible for this change.
Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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On Monday, a jury of seven women and five men was sworn in for the trial of Richard Satchwell at Dublin’s Central Criminal Court.
The 58-year-old is accused of murdering his wife Tina Satchwell, at their home in Youghal Co. Cork in March 2017. The trial is expected to take six weeks.
Gardaí initially treated Ms Satchwell’s disappearance as a Missing Person’s Case, but it was upgraded to a murder inquiry when gardaí found human remains buried under the floor in the couple’s home on Grattan Street in October 2023. Mr Satchwell has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his wife.
Who is Richard Satchwell, how did he meet his wife and what happened when Tina went missing in 2017?
Irish Times southern correspondent Barry Roche discusses the story of the Satchwell couple and the search that followed Tina Satchwell’s disappearance.
Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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When Nuria Zyden travelled from her home in Dublin to a conference in Sarajevo she became aware that two Chinese men were following her. They were on her plane and they travelled to the hotel where she was staying. The conference was the World Uyghur Congress and she was there to represent the Irish Uyghur Cultural Association which she had founded in 2024 as a way to bring Irish Uyghurs together.
She was not entirely surprised.
Zyden is a Uyghur, a Turkic Muslim from Xinjiang – a minority that has been subjected to massive surveillance and repression by the Chinese government over the past decade.
The mother of three who has lived in Ireland since 2009 and is an Irish citizen, gets calls from the security services in China complaining about her political activities and suggesting she work with them.
Her contact with her elderly mother in China is, she says, severely curtailed and monitored by the authorities.
Moving away to live and work in Dublin has not protected her from the reach of the Chinese Communist Party.
She explains how this impacts on her life and her determination to give a voice to the millions of Uyghurs in China who cannot defend themselves.
Irish Times journalist Colm Keena with his colleagues at the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has been investigating how the Chinese government monitors its citizens abroad for a major new report called China Targets.
He explains how Irish citizen Naria Zyden became the victim of transnational repression.
Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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On April 16th, the Supreme Court in London ruled unanimously that “the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex”.
The ruling came in response to a legal dispute between the activist group For Women Scotland and the Scottish government over whether trans people with gender recognition certificates (GRC) identifying their gender as female were considered as having the sex of a woman.
For Women Scotland had argued that the sex-based protections in the Act should only apply to people born female and that sex is “immutable biological state”.
The judgment, which ran to more than 80 pages, found that “the concept of sex is binary” – there is a female and a male.
It went on to say that the legislation gives transgender people “protection, not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in substance in their acquired gender”.
The judgment has come as a blow to the transgender community, particularly to trans women who fear it will marginalise them further.
Irish Times London correspondent Mark Paul explains the ruling and its implications.
Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Aideen Finnegan and John Casey.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Have you ever wondered what your recourse would be if you were hit by someone riding an e-bike? 48 year-old Karl Leonard assumed Gardaí would prosecute the man who left him with a catastrophic leg injury, after he was knocked down in Swords last year. But after officers failed to pursue the case, Leonard took the rider to the criminal courts as a private citizen - and won. This episode contains graphic details of injury and surgery which some listeners may find distressing.
Karl's story originally featured in this Irish Times article by legal affairs correspondent Mary Carolan.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Irish Times contributor and former religious affairs correspondent Patsy McGarry discusses the contenders for the job and how the Vatican conclave’s decision-making process will work.
Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Last Tuesday in Conor McGregor’s Black Forge Inn, the Irish Far Right were out in force. It was a celebration after a day showing US broadcaster Tucker Carlson around. He had arrived in Ireland to interview McGregor.
But all is not what it seemed: the Irish far right are divided with splits and divisions multiplying since last year’s local and general elections.
But why? What has happened to their common goals and political ambitions? McGregor has pledged to contest the upcoming presidential elections on an anti-immigration platform so is he, with his fortune and global recognition, a unifying force or a divisive one?
Conor Gallagher, Irish Times crime and security correspondent explains.
Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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While walking through Dublin city, journalist Quentin Fottrell was scammed.
A pleasant sounding, nicely dressed man stopped him and started chatting. Didn’t Quentin remember him? After all, the man said, he had worked on his house some years ago. Not wanting to be rude and a little embarrassed at forgetting a face, Quentin continued the chat which slowly turned to the fact that the man had forgotten his wallet and needed some help to get home. It was only when he had walked away, €40 lighter, that Quentin realised he had been scammed.
He wrote about the experience in The Irish Times and his article elicited multiple replies from men who had also been scammed by the same man in Dublin city centre.
Donal Cronin was one such reader. Although he is a communications expert and deeply knowledgable in the psychology behind persuasion, he too fell victim to the smooth-talking scammer. He took a photograph of the man while they were chatting and Quentin was able to confirm it was the same confidence trickster.
This episode was first published in January 2025
Quentin and Donal came into studio to explain how the scam worked and how they feel now having being duped.
Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Most of China’s roughly 10 million Catholics attend officially sanctioned churches but a substantial minority belong to the so-called “underground church”, attending masses in unapproved venues and private homes.
Under Pope Francis, the Vatican entered into an agreement with China in 2018 aimed at ending the division between the two Catholic communities by regularising the appointment of bishops.
But the agreement, which was renewed last October for four years, has drawn criticism from some Catholics who fear it cedes too much influence to the Communist Party.
Irish Times Beijing correspondent Denis Staunton explains the controversy and why Catholicism is growing in China.
Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon and John Casey.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Your 2007 Facebook posts, videos of your children or maybe your voice on Instagram stories. Everything you have ever publicly posted on Facebook and Instagram will now be used to train Meta's artificial intelligence model, Llama. Notifications will start appearing in your social media feed asking whether you want to opt out of the practice which was paused last year on foot of a request from the Data Protection Commissioner. Meta says its AI will improve the service it provides its EU users but campaigners have concerns around privacy and bias. Meanwhile, a group of Irish authors have launched legal action against the company over allegations that pirated versions of their work were used to train Llama. Irish Times business and technology journalist Ciara O'Brien explain it means for your historical uploads and how you can choose to opt out.
Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Aideen Finnegan.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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While ADHD diagnoses among Irish children have risen significantly in recent years, growing numbers of adults are now opting for an assessment for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
ADHD Ireland, a charity supporting those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, says there had been a “tsunami” of demand in recent years that is “overwhelming” services. And in the last budget, the Government announced funding for four new adult ADHD teams.
But what does an adult diagnosis of ADHD – a common neuro-developmental disorder which makes it harder to concentrate and manage time – mean for a person’s life?
Why are more adults choosing to be assessed for the disorder? And does a diagnosis have a positive impact on a person’s life?
For Mairéad Deevy, a Waterford-based barrister, her ADHD diagnosis seven years ago brought a “sense of relief”.
“There was probably a sense of hopefulness that things would improve,” Ms Deevy told the In The News podcast. “For me, and I think for a lot of people, when they get the ADHD diagnosis, other symptoms of anxiety and depression very much go into the background. It’s an important piece of an overall diagnostic picture.
Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Unsuspecting Irish shoppers are being duped by scammers who have figured out a fiendish way to win your trust. Consumer Affairs correspondent Conor Pope explains what the scam is, how it works and how to avoid it.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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David Joyce, 38, was killed with a single shot by British police officers at Milton Keynes railway station on April 1st.
But who was he and what do we know about his life in the lead up to that tragic day?
Irish Times London correspondent Mark Paul visited Milton Keynes to explore what happened at the train station and how Joyce lived and died.
Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Gardaí have made a renewed appeal on the 20th anniversary of the murder of art student Emer O’Loughlin in Co Clare.
Detectives believe that a man they want to speak to in connection with the killing in Ballybornagh, Tubber, is still alive.
But where is John Griffin, and why were so many mistakes made when the charred remains of the young woman were found in a burnt out caravan in 2005?
While Griffin, who left his clothes on a cliff edge in a failed attempt to make gardaí believe he had killed himself, will have changed greatly in 20 years, it is likely that he still has his very distinctive tattoo – an Eye of Horus symbol on the front of his neck.
Crime and security correspondent Conor Lally traces back the details of the death of this vibrant young woman and why so many mistakes were made in finding her killer.
Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Aideen Finnegan and John Casey.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Rory McIlroy will tee off on Thursday at 6.12pm Irish time on the first day of the Masters in Georgia.
It is the first major tournament of the golf season and this year the news focus will be firmly on the man from Northern Ireland. It’s his 17th Masters and he’s known not so much for how he plays in Georgia but for the way he keeps falling short.
While he is a consistent winner of other tournaments, building a golfing fortune estimated to be north of €250 million, and is only second to Tiger Woods in earning power off the course, one prize eludes him – the Masters in Augusta.
He has finished in the top 10 seven times but has never won it. Commentators say he chokes, that the fault is not physical but mental. He has, in his interviews, been very open about his inability to seal the deal, to get so close to winning.
The stakes are high; if he does finally win, he will complete the career grand slam, something only five other golfers have ever done.
Irish Times sportswriter Malachy Clerkin has watched McIlroy’s career from the start and he says that he is in the best form of his life, playing like a man who could win the Masters.
Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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