In The News

Daniel Siad’s thousands of emails and messages found in the Epstein Files show in grim detail both the depravity of the US fraudster and paedophile and how his sex-trafficking ring operated.

Jeffrey Epstein would tell the Paris based “model scout” the type of girl he wanted and Siad would go hunting. Spying a “suitable” victim he would promise the young woman a modelling career in New York.

Once there, Epstein would introduce himself and the grooming and sexual exploitation would begin.

By examining the Epstein Files, Irish Times Europe correspondent Naomi O’Leary built up a profile of Siad and was able to contact one of his victims to hear how Siad’s operation worked.

Siad, who was 69, died from undetermined causes at his home in Paris on July 20th. At the time of his death he was under investigation for a rape charge.

How was this related to the Epstein Files? Why were French officials so slow to act against him despite mounting evidence? And will his death, like that of Epstein and another French model scout Jean-Luc Brunel - both by suicide - mean that thousands of victims will never see justice.

Paris-based Europe correspondent Naomi O’Leary explores the details.

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

Dates for the arrival of Dublin’s MetroLink have changed wildly since the project was first suggested in 1975. So has the budget.

The latest figure to emerge – from an unattributed Government source – is €19bn. That’s quite a jump from the estimate released four years ago, calculated at €9.5bn as the midpoint of a “credible” cost range of between €7.16bn and €12.25bn.

Why such a significant increase? And with plans already approved and with property already purchased for the project by Transport Infrastructure Ireland how much has already been spent on the transport solution that promises to transform commuting in the capital. Also when will building actually begin?

Dublin Editor Olivia Kelly dives into the details and controversies of the MetroLink project.

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

Glen Hansard died in the early hours of Wednesday morning in a motorcycle crash in the Strawberry Beds area of Dublin. He was 56. He was one of Ireland’s most well-known musicians who leaves behind an incredible musical legacy from a career that took him from being a teenage busker on Grafton Street to winning an Oscar for the song Falling Slowly. A lifelong activist, he was also a husband to Finnish poet Maire Saaritsa and a father to three-year-old Christy.

Irish Times writer Patrick Freyne once played in a band and they supported Hansard’s first band The Frames in the early 1990s.
Freyne traces Hansard’s career; talks about his ability to bring musicians together, his deep well of charisma and why he thinks the Dublin man had become the unofficial national bard.

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

Lorcan Tadgh Murphy, who was earlier this month jailed for murdering US nurse Mackenzie Michalski in 2024 in Hungary, had obsessively tried to pick up women across various European cities. Police in Budapest discovered that he had used a “spy pen” to covertly record his attempts, just as he had done previously in Dublin, where 16 women were recorded without their knowledge.

The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre has been concerned for some time at the increasing use of hidden cameras, smart glasses, pen cameras and other covert recording devices to secretly film women and girls without their knowledge or consent.

And as smart glasses are becoming more mainstream – Meta has already sold an estimated 10 million pairs of their its stylish Ray-Ban camera-enabled glasses – concerns are growing.

So if Murphy had been caught in Dublin in 2020 secretly filming women, would he have broken any law? Why do advocacy groups say these type of secret recordings are “often minimised as harmless”, but could in fact be “part of a path to future crime”? And what role do the makers of these devices, that could easily be used to secretly record, have in ensuring the public is protected?

News reporter Ellen O’Riordan explores this fast-evolving debate.

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

In 2019, Maura Higgins first arrived on our screens as a contestant on the reality show Love Island. She was a fan favourite from the get-go, with her longford accent, quick wit and love of bad language. Not everyone who leaves the Love Island villa can turn their five minutes of fame into a successful career, let alone, break America - but that’s exactly what Higgins has done in the years since her Love Island debut. Through high profile appearances on American TV, the 35-year-old is almost a bigger star there than she is here at home and she’s just been added to Time Magazine’s top 100 creators list.

So how has she done it? What is it about the Longford woman that continues to win over audiences? And could a recent move into acting signal where her career might go next?

In today's episode, journalist Kate Demolder takes a look back through Higgins' career and how she has reinvented herself along the way.

Presented by Bernice Harrison, produced by Suzanne Brennan and Andrew McNair.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.