In The News

If anyone thinks that the rioters who caused mayhem and destruction on the streets of Dublin in November 23rd, 2023 were a well-organised group motivated by strongly-held ideology, think again.

Of the 99 people arrested in connection with the Dublin riots, 82 have been charged with offences which range from attacking a garda and setting fire to a bus to stealing cigarettes and trainers.

The unprecedented scenes of mayhem, damage and looting in and around O’Connell Street, was sparked by an attack earlier in the day of three young children and a care worker by Riad Bouchaker, an Algerian who has lived in Ireland for many years.

At the time, the riots were characterised as being anti-immigrant in motivation. But as Irish Times crime and security correspondent Conor Gallagher explains, the picture that emerges from court reports reveals that the majority of the guilty rioters had very different reasons to be there.

He also examines the sentencing of the rioters, and what it says about the attitude of the courts to the crimes committed on that night.

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

US President Donald Trump is not giving up on Greenland.

On Saturday he announced tariffs on France, Germany, the UK and others, after those nations sent ⁠military personnel to the island at Denmark’s request.
On Monday UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer responded to the threat, describing it as “completely wrong”.

And how is the EU responding? Potentially, with tariffs of its own - and that could endanger the US-EU trade deal that was agreed last August.

But some countries are calling for caution. Like Ireland, which has a lot to lose from a trade war between Europe and the United States.

On today’s In the News, host John Casey speaks to Cliff Taylor of the Irish Times about the implications for Ireland if there is a tariff escalation and the US-EU trade deal is abandoned.

Produced by Declan Conlon.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As we head into the New Year, The Irish Times wants to hear listener feedback on our two news podcasts; In The News and our more recently released sister podcast Early Edition.

This survey is open to anyone who has listened to either In The News or Early Edition- whether you listen regularly, occasionally, or have listened in the past.

This survey should take around 3-5 minutes to complete. All responses are anonymous. Thank you!

The amount of cannabis being smuggled into Ireland has risen significantly in recent years, with most the product for sale now coming from the United States.

So why have drug gangs here turned to overseas product aand why from the US?

In today’s episode by Irish Times Crime and Security correspondent Conor Lally explains how drug gangs attempt to get cannabis into the country - and how they are caught.

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

Eddie Hobbs, once a fixture on RTÉ, says, “The mainstream media is the North Korea of Europe”.

He was speaking on Steve Bannon’s popular War Room podcast and it was a meeting of minds between one of the architects of Maga and the financial adviser-turned podcaster and campaigner.

Bannon recently said he has been helping to form an Irish “national party”, working “behind the scenes” on “the Irish situation”.

But has he? Where is the evidence for that? And how receptive would an Irish audience be to the former White House strategist’s vision for the country?

Meanwhile Hobbs told a conference in Athlone this month that those who want to see a new government in Ireland that would cut immigration and break ties with globalist elites need to “reach across the Atlantic” and seek help from the Irish diaspora in the US Maga movement.

So could Hobbs be an Irish Trump? What are the other likely candidates?

And why is Bannon so out of touch with the political system in Ireland.

Irish Times crime and security correspondent Conor Gallagher, an expert in the Irish far-right, explains.

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

The devastating cruelty endured by four-year-old Mason O’Connell-Conway, who was murdered at his home in Limerick in 2021, was laid bare during the trial of his father’s girlfriend, Tegan McGhee (32).

Doctors reported that the child’s injuries were similar to those suffered by car crash victims.

McGhee and the child’s father, John Paul O’Connell, had told paramedics that the little boy had fallen from a bunk bed in their Limerick home. He died three days later in hospital in his mother’s arms.

McGhee pleaded guilty to his murder at the trial in November and on Wednesday she was jailed for life.

The boy’s father has already been jailed for seven years after pleading guilty to neglect and impeding the prosecution of McGhee, knowing or believing she had murdered his son.

Mason’s mother Elizabeth Conway gave a powerful and heartbreaking victim impact statement in the Central Criminal Court which court reporter Eoin Reynolds describes here.

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