In The News

This episode was first published in May 2025. From the moment he reported her missing in 2017, Richard Satchwell stuck to his story that his wife Tina had run off.His many media appeals begged her to come home. But as the jury heard during his five-week trial in the Central Criminal Court for her murder, she was indeed home and she had been all along.Richard had killed her in 2017, dug a hole under the stairs of their terraced Youghal home and buried her.The Garda did look for her – as a missing person – but “red flags” emerged soon after her disappearance were “simply ignored” by gardaí, the court was told.What were they? And why did it take until six years after her disappearance for a thorough search of the Satchwell house to take place?Irish Times legal affairs correspondent Mary Carolan tells In the News how the court case unfolded and what happens next.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon and John Casey. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode was first published in August 2025. For years the Irish Republican Brotherhood – the IRB – was remembered annually in a curious ceremony at Dublin’s Mansion House when its self-styled president Billy McGuire conducted a ritual that involved turning a golden harp to reaffirm the sovereignty of Ireland.The existence of an IRB will come as a surprise to historians who consider that the secret-oath-bound society of the same name was disbanded more than 100 years ago.But in recent years, a new cohort has taken over the IRB name, turning it into a growing organisation steeped in the pseudo-legal language of the sovereign citizen movement, which believes citizens are not subject to State laws.This has caused officials in Dublin and nationally to become increasingly nervous about the group’s intentions.The leaders of the modern IRB are in large part veterans of the Covid-19 anti-mask and anti-lockdown campaigns, along with property owners who turned to conspiracy theories after losing vast sums during the crash. Its leaders include a prominent Clare businessman, a teacher, a healthcare worker and a life coach.This version of the IRB has a shadow government, a nascent court system and a network of local government bodies. It has also adopted a new time zone, Irish Rising Time, which is 25 minutes slower and based on the time zone used in Dublin until the 1916 rising. It even claims control over Óglaigh na hÉireann.So is this fringe group like those harmless re-enactors who cosplay historical events or does it have the potential to go the way of some sovereign citizen groups in the US and Germany who have escalated their actions to include violence?Irish Times Crime and Security Correspondent Conor Gallagher explains.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s Christmas Eve and so much about this time of year is about the things we do and eat – not because we particularly want to do them or even enjoy eating them – but it’s traditional.So what are the traditions we’ve clung to and what are the new ones that have crept up on us?Who sends Christmas cards anymore? And why have Poinsettias, once such an exotic seasonal plant, fallen out of favour?Irish Times feature writer Laura Slattery has been teasing out the traditions that make an Irish Christmas.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At a time when there are media think pieces galore about how atomised entertainment is, how people don’t talk about TV like they used to; how the music industry is fractured beyond repair; and how young people are too stuck to their screens to engage in real-life politics, 2025 proved all that wrong.RTÉ’s smash hit reality TV show Traitors Ireland was a ratings juggernaut that dished up endless water-cooler moments. Oasis played two triumphant Croke Park gigs, with all talk about eye-watering ticket prices forgotten in the blazing sunshine and general euphoria. And Kneecap’s frontman Liam Óg hAnnaidh aka Mo Chara’s London court appearances became mini-festivals with music mixing with politics.And then where was Lily Allen’s tell-all album, West End Girl and presidential hopeful Maria Steen and her handbag.These and other much-talked about highlights are picked over by Aideen Finnegan from the Irish Times podcast team and journalist Niamh Browne.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

British far-right activist Tommy Robinson is the UK’s most notorious anti-Muslim activist.At 43, he is the street leader of the radical right-wing nationalist upsurge gripping Britain.An estimated 150,000 like-minded protesters turned out in London in September for his “Unite the Kingdom” march and for months Irish Times London correspondent Mark Paul has tried to get an interview with him.And then the call came out of the blue on a cold December evening.Robinson was planning a stunt in an hour’s time – to announce the date of his next protest – and would the Irish Times like to come?In the end the stunt failed for technical reasons but Paul got to see how the avowed right-wing radical works and got to shadow him the following day.At a choral service – to “bring the Christ back into Christmas” he got to see how Robinson is mixing his newfound conversion to evangelical Christianity with his anti-immigrant message.Paul tells In the News how Robinson’s new style of campaigning echoes the Maga movement that got Donald Trump elected.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon and Suzanne Brennan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.