In The News

Last month, Fifa's President Gianni Infantino shocked football fans around the world when he announced plans to sell a slice of the World Cup’s business to private investors. Unsurprisingly, the proposal went down like a lead balloon, with critics pointing out how Infantino had orchestrated the deal in secret.

But one man - who not only knew about the plan but spent months working on it behind the scenes - was FIFA’s chief of staff, an Irish Man called Daniel O’Toole.

The Dublin man was handpicked by the Fifa president to work alongside him on the potential sale before it was eventually shelved - but who is he? And how did he ascend to the inner sanctum of power at the organisation?

Irish Times sports correspondent Gavin Cooney has the details on today's episode. Presented by Aideen Finnegan.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ten years after the Regency Hotel attack, and four years after the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the leaders of the Kinahan cartel, Daniel Kinahan is back on Irish soil following his extradition from the United Arab Emirates.

A major security operation was put in place to transport the 49-year-old from Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnell, County Dublin, to the Special Criminal Court, where he was charged with one count of directing the activities of a criminal organisation between October 18, 2015, and April 6, 2017.

Irish Times crime and security editor Conor Lally was in court as Kinahan was charged.

Presented by Aideen Finnegan, produced by Suzanne Brennan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode was originally published in June 2026.

For the past 18 months, Dublin City Council has been keeping track of a worrying trend: an increase in the number of vacant council houses being targeted in racist attacks.

The criminal damage, which happens just before the council moves a new tenant in, ranges from racist graffiti to making the house uninhabitable.

So where is this happening? And what can be done to stop it?

Irish Times crime and security editor Conor Lally explains what’s behind the recent surge in these attacks, and the reaction from local communities.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode was originally published in May 2026.

Michael, the biopic tracking the early years of Michael Jackson, opened to dire reviews and criticism over its silence on the child sex abuse allegations levelled at the music superstar.

The fans, though, don’t care; they made Michael a box office smash. Its first weekend broke records, with the film scoring the biggest opening of all time for any musical biopic.

It stars Jaafar Jackson, who does a good job channelling his late uncle Michael, and the music is wall-to-wall with brief detours into some aspects of Jackson’s odd life, including his obsession with Peter Pan, his first nose job and his acquisition of Bubbles the chimpanzee. Originally the script included the case of one of the boys who alleged sex abuse, but that was cut.

So without the truth of Jackson’s life, what is the point of this biopic? And why is Hollywood so fixated on musical biopics?

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode was originally published in June 2026.

When Isak Andic, who created the Mango clothes brand, died from a fall while our hiking with his only son, Jonathan, in the mountains outside Barcelona, it was treated as a tragic accident.

But for the Spanish police, something about events on that hiking trail in December 2024 just didn’t add up.

First there were inconsistencies in Jonathan’s police statements. Then forensics found evidence that suggested something more sinister may have happened to the 71-year-old billionaire.

In May, in a move that created shock and headlines in Spain, Jonathan was arrested in connection with his 71-year-old father’s death.

He has been released from custody having posted €1 million in bail. But what happens now? Will the case go to trial to decide if the fashion mogul’s death was an accident or murder?

Madrid-based reporter Guy Hedgecoe has been following the story.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.