In The News

The 24-year sentence handed down to Sean McGovern in the Special Criminal Court prompted gasps in the packed courtroom.

It will also have sent shock waves through organised crime in Ireland and all the way to the Dubai prison where Daniel Kinahan is awaiting extradition back to Ireland and an appointment in the same court.
McGovern was a senior Kinahan cartel figure, formerly based in Dubai before his extradition in 2024, and his jail term is among the longest gangland prison terms.

He was convicted of directing the murder of Noel Kirwan and the attempted murder of James “Mago” Gately. The evidence against him – including incriminating conversations with other gang members on phones they believed to be deeply encrypted – prompted his guilty plea.

So how did the judge explain the 24-year sentence? And what does this mean for the Kinahan cartel? Irish Times crime and security editor Conor Lally explains.
Also last month, Lally came into the In the News studio and, in the episode “Nobody is Stopping Until They Are All Dead”, explained the background to this case and how the Garda built their evidence through a mixture of sophisticated data mining and old-style policing.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan, with research by Ellen Clusker.
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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.
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Naomi James (38) was pregnant with her fourth child when, disillusioned with Ireland's maternity services, she chose to give birth at home without medical assistance.

Shortly after her baby was born at home in Drogheda in June 2024, she became ill and was taken to hospital, where she died.

Naomi was just one of an unknown but growing number of women in Ireland who opt for a free birth, – to have their babies without a midwife or doctor present.

Such is the concern over free births that the State’s directors of midwifery have warned the HSE that such births are linked with “perinatal and maternal mortality and severe morbidity”.

So what is driving this choice? How are home births different from free births? What role do online free birth influencers play in this dangerous movement? And how has Naomi’s family coped since her tragic death?

Irish Times reporter Ellen Coyne investigated free births in Ireland, and the people advocating them.

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

A summit in Portugal last weekend laid bare the growth in a pan-European remigration movement, with speakers who ranged from an MEP to Greg Bovino, a former US border patrol official who, before retiring, became the public face of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in US cities.

The term means deporting not just illegal immigrants but all people judged to be unassimilated in western society, including citizens and the children of non-white immigrants.

In Ireland, the push for remigration is being led primarily by the National Party and its members Keith O’Brien (who goes by the name Keith Woods) and James Reynolds attended the event which took place behind tall gates and amid tight security.

The Irish Times gained access to the summit to see activists and elected representatives from across Europe, many of whom have close links to neo-Nazi groups, being cheered by delegates.

Critics say remigration is essentially a sanitised way of describing state-sanctioned ethnic cleansing. So does this represent a new phase in far-right activity in Ireland?

Irish Times investigative reporter Conor Gallagher, who has been tracking far-right groups in Ireland, reports.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey.
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An assessment of need (AON) helps put children with a disability on a service pathway. But the waiting list is long and growing every year. It currently stands at 21,782 which means some children will wait years for diagnosis.

To speed up the process and deal with the stubbornly long waiting list, the government has announced details of a new “autism assessment and intervention pathway protocol”.

How will the new protocol work? Who will conduct the assessments?

Several stakeholders say no, but who are they and what are their issues with a plan intended to shorten waiting lists?

Social affairs correspondent Kitty Holland explains the new protocol, and the growing backlash against it.

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