On Free State today, Norek tells the story of Simo Hayha, the sniper known as the White Death, who fought for Finland during the Winter War when the Soviet Union invaded the country.

He tells the story of how Finland, abandoned by the world to fight alone, stood against the Red Army, fighting for their communities.

Norek researches his books the way he would investigate a crime and in preparation for the Winter Warriors, he spent a winter in Finland, experiencing the subzero temperatures in which Finns fought to defend their country.

He tells us what the Winter War meant to Finland and how it shaped the world we live in today.

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The plaintiff was awarded $6 million damages. Meta’s revenue in three months last year was 60 billion dollars. Their share price was unaffected.

On Free State today we ask what will it take to make a difference? 

If the social media companies are relaxed about the finding, is it because they know that there is no appetite to make real change?

We look at the power of the addiction and the power Big Tech utilises to enforce its position.

These powers rule the world now and one ruling may not make much difference.

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On Free State today Joe and Dion wonder why Ireland lose. 

The country will not be at the World Cup this summer. How much was this down to the Irish players’ inability to keep their heads and be led by the emotion that was all around them?

Are teams more susceptible to this in an age when information and anxiety are all around them? 

What is the cure for the headlong rush to emotion and will Ireland ever experience it?

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Fifteen minutes before Donald Trump posted that there had been ‘productive conversations’ with Iran, $580 million in oil bets were made in a period of 60 seconds.

Who knew to place those bets? Did anyone have insider information? 

“The only focus of President Trump and Trump administration officials is doing what’s best for the American people,” a White House spokesperson said.

On Free State today we look at the con that was Trump’s war on Iran, a war that he is trying to end and which Iran prolongs any way it can knowing his desperation.

Thousands have lost their lives in this latest example of American aggression and Trump now talks about peace.

But does he know how to control the forces that are unleashed in a war? Or, as with Vietnam, has he set America on a course that will lead to greater human misery?

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For 34 years Lyster was the presenter who shaped our summer days. He was the accompaniment to the drama and the tension, the celebration and the argument. It is no wonder that when his death was announced, the country felt as one,

On Free State today Joe remembers his friend Michael Lyster. He recalls his calm and poise and ability to relax a studio so that the audience was entertained. He remembers Lyster’s ability in a rally car and his love of life. Above all, he remembers a friend from the time when they were kings.

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He is an artist of significance and he is also doing significant work.

On Free State today he tells us about the project he is involved where his merchandise has funded a centre for children in Gaza The Ionad Hind Rajab is an Irish–Palestinian solidarity initiative based in Al-Mawasi, Khan Yunis, Gaza.

Adam tells us the story of Hind Rajab and why art is always political.

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He had stood up for Europe, for Keir Starmer and, in part, for Winston Churchill but that didn’t matter. He had survived.

On Free State today we ask does any of it matter. As oil and gas fields in Iran, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are attacked, oil prices rise and governments insist they will protect their people. But what can they do?

On Free State, we look at how commodity traders control the movement of the world’s resources. We examine the astonishing claims in the book The World for Sale. We ask in this world, what good can politicians do? Let us know what you think - info@freestatepodcast.com

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On Free State we look at what those rights mean in a country where Trump must get what he wants.

We go back to what happened in Iraq when the country was broken apart, its resources plundered and its people scattered. Is Donald Trump following in that tradition or is what he is doing in Iran potentially worse? Contact us at info@freestatepodcast.com

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It was a “beautiful life” her grandparents said before occupation came.

After the Nakba, they lived in a camp one square kilometre, crowded with nowhere for children to play.

Riham was born in the Dheisheh camp near Bethlehem. Today Riham Jafari works for Action Aid and when she came to Dublin last week she spoke about the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank.

On Free State today she talks to us about life under occupation, why the Occupied Territories Bill has to pass and why a two-state solution with an independent Palestine could be a reality if the world was determined to see it.

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Once there was a dream about a shining stadium on a hill, a stadium which would benefit everyone in the north when it hosted matches at the European Championships in 2028.

Two years ago, that dream ended when the British government said they would not fund the cost of the stadium which had ‘risen dramatically’ during years of obstruction and resistance. 

The benefit to all communities of Euro 2028 was gone but for some it mattered more that a GAA stadium would not be built. 

On Free State we look at what the ongoing battle to build Casement tells us about Northern Ireland. Gordon Lyons, the minister responsible, says there is a ‘funding gap’. But is the real chasm something more fundamental?

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That is what Trump does but in the attack on Iran he has also tapped into the American fantasy about their righteousness that can only be fully displayed through military force. 

When Stanley Kubrick made Dr Strangelove, he was fascinated by what he saw as ‘the delicate balance of terror’ that was part of the Cold War. To give his satire power he realised it needed ‘inspired lunacy’. 

That inspired lunacy now drives Trump’s military strikes where satire is meaningless and death is what happens to other people.

On Free State, we look at how far America will go in Iran. What happens when Trump loses interest? What happens when Netanyahu wants something else?

Let us know what you think - info@freestatepodcast.com

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On Free State today Charles Knowles explains why we drink and why we drink too much.

He talks to Dion about his own struggles and why there is a genetic reason for many people drinking.

They discuss the line of Kurt Vonnegut that ‘Alcoholics Anonymous is America’s greatest contribution to the 20th century’ and Charles explains why modern science agrees with Vonnegut.

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More than a thousand civilians have been killed since the US and Israel launched their offensive. This is a campaign they are advancing ‘without mercy’ Hegseth said.

On Free State today we look at what the US, Israel and Donald Trump want. 

Are their aims of total control in the Middle East achievable? Or will the ambitions of the US and their allies spiral out of control as they have before but not before there is endless human misery?

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The response to this protest may have far reaching implications for the GAA.

On Free State we look at how the GAA has failed to deal with the understandable anger about the Allianz sponsorship deal.

Dion and Joe argue about how they should be addressing it and Jarlath Burns’s comments on Saturday. 

Is this a turning point for how volunteers view the GAA, certainly the GAA as represented by Croke Park?

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On Free State today, Peter Geoghegan talks to us about the extraordinary and chilling practices of Labour Together. He tells the story about the decision to hire a PR firm to investigate the motivations of journalists who were reporting on their funding. As Keir Starmer faces threats from all sides, will this be the scandal that upend him. Is this the scandal that is grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented?

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This is undoubtedly true but is Andrew the exception or the norm?

On Free State we look how the establishment has protected the monarchy at all costs.

We recall the horrific abuse in Kincora and the work done by Chris Moore to uncover Louis Mountbatten’s part in that scandal.

When the future of the monarchy is discussed, is what has been revealed in the Epstein files an aberration or simply another chapter in a long history of self enriching hustle and worse?

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Both men have made the news as U2’s new EP was released and Blair addressed the world as part of Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.

But what is the fervour that drives them?

On Free State today we look at Blair and Bono and what happens when a man believes he can change the world.

What is Blair’s goal on the Board of Peace and why is he there? Some people ask the same about U2 and their music…

Let us know what you think - info@freestatepodcast.com

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‘You can take it anyway you like,’ he replied.

On Free State today we look at the life of Rory O’Connor who was prepared to go to any lengths for the Republic of his ideals. 

We talk to the author of a new biography of O’Connor Gerard Shannon about the fanaticism that drove him.

O’Connor became the public face of opposition to the Treaty but he also became the most human face when he was executed in December 1922, following a decision by the Free State cabinet including his great friend Kevin O’Higgins.

O’Connor had been best man at O’Higgins’s wedding a year before and now O’Higgins was part of the brutal decision to have him executed. 

Shannon explains too why O’Connor faded from memory after his death and the extraordinary coincidence behind the killing of O’Higgins as he walked home from Mass in 1927.

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It was Scottish, Welsh and Irish in huge numbers who shaped the city and made it their home.

Over the next hundred years, immigrants from across the world turned Manchester into the city it was. It was this vibrant and complex city that Matt Busby loved and which saw him shape the great Manchester United sides in its image. 

As a lifelong supporter of Manchester United, Jim Ratcliffe might have known that. 

Last week the Manchester United minority owner said the U.K. had been ‘colonised by immigrants’. 

On Free State today we explore what drives the billionaire class to demonise the most vulnerable in society. 

Ratcliffe apologised if ‘my choice of language has offended some people’ but in doing so he revealed more about what drives him.

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Instead as the days have passed, the game seems more likely not less. 

On Free State today we look at what has stopped Israel being banned from sport while Russia have been. 

Dion wonders what a boycott would achieve and explains how Uefa and Fifa have failed to act.

Joe disagrees and calls on the Ireland team to represent the Irish people and take a stand.

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McCloskey is now a spy novelist. His first book took readers inside the CIA, now he is exploring Mossad, Israel and Iran in his new novel The Persian.

On Free State, he talks about the shadow war between Israel and Iran.

He explains what has happened to agencies like the CIA under Trump and why as more true Trump believers are appointed, the demand is not for truthful intelligence. They do not just believe what they see, they only see what they believe.

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Last week the paper of Woodward and Bernstein, of Ben Bradlee and publisher Katharine Graham, laid off a third of its staff. The paper that stood up to the White House and took down a president now has an owner in Jeff Bezos who can’t do enough to be a supplicant.

On Free State today we look at how democracy dies in the darkness. We explore how history has a lesson for what happens when oligarchs and authoritarians come together and why it isn’t only democracy that ultimately dies.

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Was he trying to make a good faith case for Protestant and unionist people in Derry or was he just throwing some red meat to his base?

On Free State today Dion and Joe look at the life and times of Gregory Campbell.

Dion and Joe argue about the merits of his argument and whether who is saying it matters.

Joe explains how progressive unionism has been denied oxygen while Dion offers Gregory Campbell an invitation to come dance with him in Ireland - or at least south Dublin.

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RTE’s new comedy drama These Sacred Vows is a series which challenges what we believe about class, identity and religion in Ireland in 2026.

On Free State today, the show’s creator John Butler talks about what he wanted to say in the series about the middle class, the priesthood and homosexuality.

He explains how he was only now able to write comfortably as a gay man about Ireland and he talks with Dion about their own school days and the oppressive culture of the time. 

They also consider the new conformity. They wonder what has really changed and ask what it tells us about the country when the religion of old has now been replaced with saunas.

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But what was that betrayal and who was actually complicit?

On Free State today we look at the rise and fall of Peter Mandelson. We explain why the election of a football mascot monkey as mayor in Hartlepool was an early sign of who Mandelson was. 

We explain how Mandelson worked to undermine Jeremy Corbyn and advance a corporate agenda where New Labour would be ‘intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich’.

We also examine the link between Starmer’s right hand man Cork’s Morgan McSweeney and Mandelson. 

In the House of Commons Starmer said ‘if I knew then what I know now, Mandelson would never have been anywhere near government.’

We show how it was impossible not to know who Peter Mandelson was. Only more details have been revealed.

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As Melania, the documentary about the US First Lady, opened at the weekend, this line seemed to capture the feelings of critics.

But, like so many things in Trumpland, even this line of criticism may not be all that it appears.

On Free State today Dion and Joe look at what the Melania documentary tells us about the court of Donald Trump.

Amazon has invested $75 million in the documentary, money they will never get back, at least not through the box office.

But what is really at play here? A movie that is panned by the critics is not the story. A movie that flatters the sun king Trump and enriches his family has other advantages. This is how America works. The question is how will anyone stop it?

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On Free State today Peter Oborne joins us to talk about how we reached this point in the Middle East.

Peter’s new book Complicit looks at Britain’s role in sustaining the genocide in Gaza and why there might be consequences.

He explains why the U.K. is moving from democracy to oligarchy. He also tells Dion about a book he has just finished on cricket.

You can order his book here - COMPLICIT: Britain's Role in the Destruction of Gaza | Peter Oborne | OR Books.

Email us your thoughts on the episode info@freestatepodcast.com

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He was speaking as Donald Trump’s administration advanced a lie, undeterred by what people had seen in the video which dismantled the story spun by ICE and their protectors.

On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at the rise of authoritarianism in America and what comes next.

As ICE rampage as the Black and Tans once did in Ireland, they also look at the money that is going to ICE and who has benefited. 

As people in Minnesota protest, what is the end goal for Trump and his goons? When people take to the streets will Trump step back or is this a deliberate step towards an American dictatorship.

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On Free State today money expert Eoin McGee talks about how we can achieve financial freedom and faces one of his greatest challenges: Dion’s attitude to money.

In doing so, he talks about things far more profound than money. What do we really want from life and Dion explains why your wedding day is not the best day of your life.

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But what caused him to cave? Western leaders have tried to placate Trump and continued this approach at Davos until Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney laid out the truth about the world today.

‘The strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must,’ he said quoting Thucydides.

This is the reality of the world and somebody naming it shook Trump.

On Free State today we look at where he goes next and how Tony Blair remains part of the Gaza Peace Board.

We look at Blair’s journey to the heart of power and wealth. Dion and Joe disagree on what drove him to this. Joe outlines how Blair moved closer to Israel during his time in power and why he has always sided with the strong while the weak suffer what they must.

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Was this a stand against the technology which is destroying sport or a stroke?

On Free State today we ask if injustice has to be part of sport? 

Joe makes his case for video evidence in Gaelic football.

Joe and Dion also look at Trump’s determination to land the biggest real estate deal in American history as he pursues Greenland. Is this a negotiation or the actions of a narcissist?

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On Free State today Eimear Ni Bhraonain, author of The Dodger, the bestselling book about DJ Carey looks at what drove one of Ireland’s greatest sportsmen.

She considers the childhood of excellence and isolation and what removed DJ Carey from the world around him and sent him into the field of deception and fraud. 

She looks at how DJ might redeem himself and considers the question that even asking makes some people angry: Is it ok to feel sorry for DJ Carey?

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But be warned. All this music and culture is not what it appears. A DUP councillor has warned that a spin off event in Bangor has potential to cause ‘ill feeling’ because it takes place on the same day as the Ulster Championships for Pipe Bands.

On Free State today Joe and Dion look at how a strand of unionism sees everything as a zero sum game. But it’s a game they are losing.

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In the U.K. Nigel Farage is promising to build bigger prisons and send prisoners to Estonia and El Salvador. There are more people in prison in the US than in any country in the world.

On Free State today we look at how society gave up on prisoners. We examine why populism and media scares matter more than any idea of rehabilitation. 

And there is news on the GAA quiz which was postponed as Joe questioned Dion’s right to even answer the questions. Send your questions to info@freestatepodcast.com

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The statement by the schools spoke of the “great harm done” to pupils over an extended period.

It added that “Philip Feddis, Corry McMahon, Louis Hoffman and John Coulter, all of whom left school at the end of the 1970s, showed extraordinary courage in bringing the scale of the problem to attention. Over the last number of years the determination these four men and indeed many others have displayed, warrants our collective gratitude.”

On Free State today, two of those extraordinarily courageous men Corry McMahon and John Coulter talk to us about their years in Blackrock College and the junior school Willow Park. They talk about the darkness and the light of their schooldays and the joy of friendship which has helped them deal with the horrors.

They speak about the restorative justice programme they have worked on for the past four years and what needs to happen next.

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The world is not a safe place for many these days but in this time of danger, the residents of Fivemiletown are particularly at risk.

On Free State today we look at why Fivemiletown appeared on a Russian strike list. What does it tell us about the drumbeats for war that the residents of the village are being told to prepare for nuclear annihilation?

Meanwhile Dion prepares for a purity test as Joe decides to set a GAA quiz for him. Send your questions to info@freestatepodcast.com

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Maduro was labouring under a misapprehension, not just about his own country but about how things now work.

On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at the new age of empire as Donald Trump’s gangsterism spreads across the world.

America now has Venezuela’s oil but it also has exercised muscle and for a bully like Trump that is its own reward.

They explain why international law matters except when it doesn’t and they wonder what this means for the FIFA peace prize.

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On Free State today Omar El Akkad joins Joe and Dionto talk about how the world looked away. His magisterial new book One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This details the complicity of the west. 

Gaza is enduring a famine and Israel maintains a blockade where children’s hunger is a weapon of war and an instrument of monumental cruelty. Omar’s voice is a compelling and necessary counterpoint.

This episode originally aired on May 6th 2025

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On Free State today, journalist and author of the Empire of AI Karen Hao explains why AI is an imperialist project and how the colonising is already taking place. 

She says why she believes the doomer vs boomer debate is a distraction and how Ireland is on the frontline of this imperialist project. Water and energy resources will be drained as empires are built while humans will be expendable.

Karen also tells us why the term Artificial Intelligence was a marketing term in the first place which set the technology on a destructive path.

This episode first aired on June 28th 2025

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He reflects on the year when he turned 70, why there is too many men watching rugby on television and why it’s important to take the 99 out of Irish politics forever.

He talks too about the death of his father when he was 12 and how the great Irish psychiatrist Ivor Browne tried to open him up to the trauma in the most extraordinary way.

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Music offered the first exit. Then came drink.

Keith Donald was abused as a child by his headmistress. He found that jazz had the power to transform his existence.

As a teenager he began to play music wherever he could. He played for a band on the Twelfth and toured the country with showbands.

On Free State today Keith Donald talks about the music and the mayhem and how he found peace. He speaks about founding Moving Hearts and why even now music has the power to transform.

This show was originally broadcast on August 23rd, 2025

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And why do so many find it a tough time of year?

On Free State today, Joe and Dion reflect on the power of Christmas and what it tells us about us as a people.

Joe looks forward to a child’s wonder at Christmas while Dion is looking forward to the Ashes over Christmas.

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But his identity was something he wrestled with in many ways.

In a remarkable interview on Free State, Leon Diop talks about the Ireland he grew up in and being mixed race in that world.

He talks about the confusion and shame he felt about his father, a Muslim from Senegal, and how he internalised that shame for many years.

He explains how education changed him as he realised the difference between standing up for yourself and fighting for yourself. 

At a time when Ireland is experiencing more racism, he says he might be frightened but he refuses to despair.

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What does it do to do somebody when they have crossed the boundary into a world of killing and destruction? How do they enforce their code in a place untethered from the one the rest of us inhabit?

On Free State today, Joe and Dion follow on from Tuesday’s episode on Stakeknife by looking at how rules of organisations like the IRA were enforced. 

Joe talks about what made his father lose faith in the republican movement. 

He also accuses Dion of deference to the British Empire which leads Dion to launch a verbal attack on Joe.

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On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at the dark and dirty existence of Freddie Scappaticci, MI5 and the British state.

They argue about what the report tells us about the IRA and the British government, while Joe tells the extraordinary story of Danny Morrison and Sandy Lynch.

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The pressure came from his job as Dublin’s housing architect. Between 1932 and the time of his death, Simms was responsible for building 17,000 homes for the ordinary people of Dublin.

On Free State today Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin O Broin talks about his beautiful new book on Simms, produced in conjunction with the photographer Mal McCann.

He looks at how Simms transformed the city and suburbs with a vision and an ideology that placed communities first. He explains too why the same could happen today and why the question shouldn’t be could it happen but why isn’t it happening?

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Australia banned social media for under 16s this week but will the next wave of online consumption be devastating for us all? 

If we thought social media was bad, what is coming next in terms of AI and the artificial friendships it promises?

On Free State, Joe and Dion look at the next wave of AI and what it means for future generations. Are you afraid of AI? Info@freestatepodcast.com

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But there Trump was on stage in Washington, presenting himself with the peace medal.

On Free State, Joe and Dion look at how FIFA cosied up to autocrats, snake oil salesmen and Trump.

They examine how money not only drives professional sport but has become the distorting lens. These days Trump may be a fan of the FIFA World Cup but he has always been a fan of money

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With these words, in October 2023, Josh Paul quit the US State Department. He was protesting over the Biden administration’s ongoing funding of Israel’s onslaught in Gaza.

On Free State today Josh Paul explains what led him to take the action he did. He speaks about his time in Iraq. He insists that Ireland must be strong on the Occupied Territories Bill, why the ceasefire will not bring a just and lasting peace and what his new organisation A New Policy is hoping to achieve in Washington.

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But what if there is no room for an ordinary person? 

On Free State today Dion and Joe look at the next frontier. In the technological revolution, we have allowed ourselves to become the product of the social media companies. AI promise us expertise at our fingertips but will the price be our own obsolescence

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Kneecap’s manager was the driving force behind the motion approved by the FAI last month to ban Israel from international football.

On Free State today he talks to Dion and Joe about how the motion was about breaking the rules not the genocide in Gaza. 

He speaks too about Kneecap and the extraordinary resilience they showed when so many in the establishment were out to bring them down.

While Dion thinks he has a fellow soccer man to outnumber Joe, Daniel explains what it is he admires about the GAA.

Who do you want to be a guest on the show? Email at info@freestatepodcast.com

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On Free State today Oisin Murphy speaks about his alcoholism and how he fooled himself into believing he could drink like a gentleman.

He discusses with Dion the ways a drinker will fool himself and how he ended up drunk and asleep at the wheel of a car in April. A moment which scared him and changed him.

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But it told us something else too.

On Free State today we look at how the world has been conned by AI to advance the ambitions of the new colonists, the Tech Bros.

Does it matter that many expect the AI bubble to burst or is the relentlessness of artificial intelligence pushing us towards extinction?

Linda McMahon may not know the difference between AI and A-One but this is the role of politicians in the project: to be overwhelmed by the scale of what is on offer and to say nothing but nonsense. 

Do you think AI will destroy us all? Let us know at info@freestatepodcast.com

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On Free State today, we ask if Ireland is really a sports mad country or are we just a nation of bandwagon jumpers, willing fleeced by those charging huge money for tickets?

We ask if the communities who get so much from sport deserve more support and wonder how much is too much for a ticket for a rugby match. 

Let us know what you think at info@freestatepodcast.com

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In a raw and powerful conversation, he joins us on Free State today to talk about a childhood that saw him find an escape into art.

He speaks of how he approaches his subjects and what he is trying to find when he paints people as diverse as Martin McGuinness and the Queen.

And he considers the question, is there anyone he wouldn’t paint?

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On Free State today Joe talks about the extraordinary beauty and grace he is witnessing in the Mayo Hospice at the moment.

When life and death visit us we understand what is important and we grasp what is valuable. 

 Joe and Dion also talk more about the extraordinary week of football and the achievements of Ireland and Scotland.

Joe also finally gives his views on Troy Parrott and provides some lessons in finishing.

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On Free State today we ask why the player and the Ireland team have had the impact they had?

What is it about a game like football, even at a time when it is scarred by money and greed, that brings people together in a profound way?

Dion looks at Troy Parrott and wonders about Ireland’s need for a saviour. Parrott was tipped for greatness from a young age but has taken a different route. Yet, he has captured the heart of the country because of more than just his talent.

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But who was Ben Dunne and what were the compulsions that drove him?

On Free State today Matt Cooper talks about his gripping new book Dynasty about the Dunnes family.

It looks at how Ben Dunne Senior built an empire and how Ben Jr never recovered from the kidnapping.

He talks to us about the scene in Florida where, after taking a mountain of cocaine in a hotel with parrots roaming the lobby, Ben Dunne had a breakdown. He was hog tied and taken out of the hotel and it became an event which would eventually provide a glimpse into how Ireland works.

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Have we become a society that places too much emphasis on propriety at the expense of the unpredictability that makes life worth living.

As Joe and Dion reflect on Monday Clubs they’ve belonged from Mayo to Kilburn, they look at the lives of the great hellraisers.

They lament too the decline of sports coverage on RTE. Joe shares a story about a day with Pat Gilroy when he knew the writing was on the wall at RTE.

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On Free State today we ask what is driving this campaign against the BBC?

Many studies have concluded that there is a pro Israeli bias at the BBC, but the report that led to the resignation of the director general alleged the opposite. Why has that led to such upheaval when so many say the opposite.

Is this the real driver for this coup against members of the establishment and is there ever any point in giving in to the forces that include Trump, the Israeli government and, er, Kemi Badenoch.

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Dale is one of Britain’s best known broadcasters and podcasters but his new book is about Ireland, specifically Irish Taoisigh.

On Free State today Iain Dale has an animated conversation about what has gone wrong in England and the dangers of nationalism. Yet he argues that he doesn’t believe Nigel Farage is an extremist. 

Dale has recruited some of Ireland’s foremost writers to write about the holders of the Taoiseach’s office. But he talks about how his own fascination with Ireland began and why he believes it is part of history that Britain needs to reckon with.

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Mamdani becomes New York’s first Muslim mayor. He came to America at the age of seven and he has created a sense of the possible that was once at the heart of the American condition.

On Free State today we ask how did Zohran Mamdani do it? How did he overcome the campaign of demonisation that branded him a dangerous antisemite? He was called a ‘communist lunatic’ by Donald Trump, who threatened to revoke his citizenship.

But Mamdani delivered a message of change but one of substance. Joe and Dion also look at the constant emails discussing Joe’s compassionate stance on DJ Carey

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The next morning the Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan condemned the attack and said that fireworks had been thrown into the building. There were no fireworks, CCTV footage showed a figure setting fire to the staircase. Police believe it was arson and the nature of the attack may justify attempted murder charges.

On Free State today, we ask if this will be a turning point in the demonisation of asylum seekers or is Ireland heading down the same road as other countries?

Dion and Joe disagree about the direction the country is going. They look at Simon Harris’s comments about immigration and ask what responsibility politicians have in a febrile atmosphere to lead rather than to stoke fears?

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She was 15 years old and wanted to be a chef. When two visitors came to her house promising a catering course and a job, it seemed like too good to be true.

It was. For the next seven years she entered into the secretive world of Opus Dei. 

On Free State today Anne Marie Allen tells her extraordinary story. She talks about how she entered into a world of servitude and domestic slavery.

From the age of 16, she had to do mortifications which meant wearing a barbed wire chain around her leg for two hours every day. 

She explains how the mental anguish of what she endured stayed with her for a long time and she talks about the courage of her father in standing up to Opus Dei.

But it is her own courage that is the most astonishing thing of all.

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On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at the rise and fall of hurling’s first superstar.

They examine the drive and determination that took DJ to the top and the restlessness that was always part of his personality as well.

Joe talks about his own dealing with DJ and wonders if there is room in the world today for compassion and mercy.

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Many were angered by his comments, but what do they tell us about how the mainstream has absorbed extremist postions?

On Free State today we consider how racism has become respectable.

What is happening in the U.K. and the US is taking hold here, with the demonisation of the other, a story as old as time, but given fresh energy through social media. 

Dion looks at the career of Robert Jenrick and what his own journey in politics tells us about the move to the right.

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Tudor went to Ireland unable to grasp the complexity of the situation. He was described as “a man of no balance, knowledge or judgment and therefore a deplorable selection for his present post”.

On Free State today we talk to Linden MacIntyre about his new book on Hugh Tudor. Tudor was sent to Ireland as a “police adviser” and ended up controlling the RIC and the Black and Tans.

We look at how this man of no balance, knowledge or judgment allowed violence and murder to become a central part of his policing and how his time in Ireland altered the course of history.

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Not as quick as Kemi Badenoch or Nigel Farage, but Starmer was soon promising that he would be doing everything in his power to overturn the ban.

On Free State today we look at the truth about Maccabi Tel Aviv. What is it about this club that seems to attract a certain type of football fan? What it it about Maccabi Tel Aviv that has led Tommy Robinson to say he will be supporting them in Birmingham next month?

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On an October morning at the end of a long book tour, he asked us to talk about anything at all, not just his latest book. 

In this timeless piece he talks about life, love, loss, and the pain of losing his daughter Dixie in a car crash.

(Originally aired in two parts - October 31st/November 2nd 2023)

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On Free State today, Julia Kelly talks about her extraordinary memoir Still which is a conversation to her mother, built around the cold and austere language of the post mortem.

She talks about her troubled relationship with her father the Fine Gael politician John Kelly who died when she was 21 and how to repair relationships after death.

Julia explains too how, during the book’s most difficult stage, she used microdosing to sharpen her focus.

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On Free State today, Donald Trump’s role as the last American emperor is examined.

Is his Gaza peace deal an example of how his ego and self interest drive people to achieve things normal politicians couldn’t? 

Is this his great legacy or will it fall apart because like so many things in Trump world, it isn’t built to last?

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On Free State today, we ask what does this tell us about the worthy concept of reconciliation and is it now effectively a unionist veto on a United Ireland?

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Maria Steen who failed to get on the ballot has called for the presidential election to be cancelled and run again following Jim Gavin’s withdrawal.

On Free State today, we ask why Maria thinks democracy has failed? 

Joe and Dion disagree on her chances of getting elected if she’d been a candidate. But she isn’t, so does it matter?

Dion explains using a football analogy he’s pretty sure neither Joe nor Maria Steen will understand

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On Free State today Joe talks about the conversations he has had with Jim Gavin and why he was a good man, going for the wrong role with the wrong people. 

Joe and Dion look at what brought Gavin down and why the campaign was doomed even before the weekend revelations. 

And Dion reveals the secret of Catherine Connolly’s success at keepy uppies.

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The story of how Mamdani has defied not only the odds but the establishment is a story of how many are rejecting the media narratives.

Mamdani spoke out against the genocide in Gaza, people said he could not win in a city like New York. He was demonised by the Murdoch media and the people of the city were told to be afraid.

Instead they have embraced his message, including saying he would order the NYPD to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if he arrived in the city.

On Free State today, Ted Hamm, author of a new book on Mamdani, explains how it has been done and the lengths the establishment went to stop him. In the weeks before the election he looks at what could derail his candidacy and what it means for politics around the world.

Ted’s book can be ordered here - https://orbooks.com/catalog/run-zohran-run/

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On a Free State special, Catherine Connolly talks to Dion and Joe about the truth about her presidential bid.

She explains why her comments about Hamas only reflected the reality of life for people in Gaza and why the media search for sensationalism is undermining the democratic process.

She talks about her belief in a different more substantial role for Ireland in the world and what she really felt as she applauded Volodymyr Zelensky in the Dáil.

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On Free State today, Joe and Dion talk to Caoimhe Butterly, one of those on one of the ships in the flotilla. 

She explains the serenity that those on board the boats experience even with the uncertainty of what is coming next. And she talks about the extraordinary people from around the world who are part of this mission.

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But on this day he did. He was seeking people out and telling them it was a “wonderful day”. The day was the Monday after Bloody Sunday and McAleese believed she knew why. “It wasn’t actually a reference to the day at all but a reference to the day before.”

On Free State today, the real David Trimble is revealed by Stephen Walker, who has just published a biography of the man.

How did Trimble move from the figure who was “nakedly sectarian” and celebrating Bloody Sunday to the man who did so much to deliver peace? What happened to him in, as McAleese told Walker, “the hot-red forge of life” to change how he viewed the world? And what lessons can be learned from him today?

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He had been away for only a week but a week is a long time in an authoritarian state. 

While he had been gone, JD Vance had declared an article about Charlie Kirk’s death in The Nation, the magazine Dave works for, to be ‘soulless and evil’. 

Dave wondered again what kind of country he was coming back to.

On Free State today, Dave Zirin explains why Ireland has been conned by the NFL game taking part in Croke Park this weekend. He laments that a venue so historic as allowed itself to be hijacked for a sportswashing exercise. He details why the NFL has no place in Ireland but why Kneecap give him hope.

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On Free State today, Dion and Joe look at what Sinn Féin’s backing of Catherine Connolly means for the presidential campaign. 

They also wonder if Jim Gavin can redeem himself after farmgate and Joe reflects on Gavin’s words about Gaza.

They also ask what does the Charlie Kirk memorial service tells us about America.

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What does he learn about himself and Ireland’s relationship with its fabled national game.

On Free State today, Second Captains co-host Ciaran Murphy tells us what he learned about Ireland when he joined his father’s old club in West Waterford.

Are the obstacles to more people playing hurling all to do with the skills demanded or are there other reasons we need to examine? Do we pay lip service to this game and is hurling another cultural jewel that Ireland treats poorly?

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In an extraordinarily frank interview on Free State today, Leo Varadkar talks about how finding peace in his personal life dulled his political ambition.

He speaks about his failings as a politician and a man. He explains why he believes in a united Ireland but isn’t a nationalist.

He criticises Keir Starmer’s embrace of nationalism in Britain and denies he was conned by Boris Johnson during their summit at the Wirral in 2019.

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On a heated episode of Free State, Dion and Joe argue about how to respond to the murder of Charlie Kirk. Is it right simply to commiserate or do the ideas he advanced need to be challenged? 

They look at the rise of Kirk and how the MAGA movement has reacted to his killing.

Do people who disagree with everything he stood for need to observe a respectful silence or should they make their case now when it matters most?

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But it wasn’t his dream.

On Free State today he talks about how there has to be another way. How there has to be a version of ourselves outside the consumer western narrative that occupies so much of our lives.

He explains what he is hoping to achieve with Wild Irish Retreats. And why the answers are all around us.

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How should the media engage with the presidency in a time of crisis?

On Free State today, Niall Stanage talks to Joe and Dion about his time in America speaking truth to power. He recalls his encounters with the Biden official John Kirby over Gaza. 

Has the deferential nature of the media in America led too many to take a step backwards?

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In Britain Reform had their party conference with the BBC’s political editor gushing about the ‘insurgency vibe’.

On Free State, Joe and Dion ask if the media knows how to handle the rise of figures who peddle nothing but misinformation.

Joe and Dion disagree on why this is. As the Irish presidential election comes closer they wonder about the questions some candidates like Catherine Connolly face.

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But as the climate emergency reaches a point of no return, how damaging have these foundational myths about Ireland been?

On Free State today John Gibbons talks about Ireland’s failure in tackling climate change.

He explains why farming today is not what it was when we shaped our romantic view of it and why agribusiness has used national myths to advance one side of a culture war.

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In Britain the worst of Farage’s impulses are now indulged.

On Free State today, Dion and Joe look at what the writer Tanjil Rashid has called ‘the age of deportation’.

How have countries slipped closer to the authoritarian way of life and why is it being allowed to happen?

They look at how Nigel Farage dominates the media and how the Labour Party led by Keir Starmer follows Farage agenda.

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What does a man in the prime of his life with a record of success and achievement gain from going to the Aras?

On Free State today Joe explains what makes his friend Jim Gavin tick. He explains his gift of leadership and how he serves his ego by giving power to others.

Dion offers a reason that a Jim Gavin presidency would be important.

They also look at the campaign to discredit Catherine Connolly and wonder what the grown ups have ever done for us.

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One club is owned by Saudi Arabia, the other belongs to an American multisports holding conglomerate.It was played at St James’ Park in front of 50,000 frothing Newcastle supporters who were enraged that their best player had gone on strike because he wants to play for Liverpool.

This was a show staged in one of the great cities of industrial England for the benefit of television and with the supporters simply as extras.

On Free State today, the great football historian David Goldblatt talks about how football explains so much of where England is today in society.

He looks at how the kitsch of poppy commemorations became an opportunity to demonstrate militaristic credentials with Millwall playing a game in a camouflage kit.

It has led to the demonisation of someone like James McClean. This Goldblatt says shows that these people, who are also raising flags across England today, are living in “fantasy land” when it comes to England’s history.

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On Free State today, Dion and Joe look at the gangsterism that is taking over Britain and America and how the media fail to challenge it.

Trump is intimidating and seizing power in America while Nigel Farage is being elevated by a media that knows what it’s doing.

The consequences of this are obvious but still so many deny what is happening. Why?

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But what if Britain is as Northern Irish as Ballymena? 

On Free State today we look at what unites the right wing Tories and the unionist parties. Is it the racism? Is it the punching down on minorities? And what is it about the genocide in Gaza that they admire so much? 

In Britain Operation Raise the Colours is distracting people with arguments about flags. Where have we heard this before?

But what does the Ulsterisation of Britain mean? Why are we being sucked into these wars that have no meaning when the really dangers are all around us?

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Music offered the first exit. Then came drink.

Keith Donald was abused as a child by his headmistress. He found that jazz had the power to transform his existence.

As a teenager he began to play music wherever he could. He played for a band on the Twelfth and toured the country with showbands.

On Free State today Keith Donald talks about the music and the mayhem and how he found peace. He speaks about founding Moving Hearts and why even now music has the power to transform.

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On Free State today, Joe and Dion reluctantly engaged with the Irish presidential debate.

They look at Michael Flatley and Heather Humphreys as candidates and ask if the country can do better than this.

Is Joe in listening mode? What are his own intentions? Dion tries to put Joe on the spot

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Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov turned up wearing a CCCP sweatshirt, an obvious challenge to Trump. A challenge he failed. Easy to bully Zelensky. Not Russia.

This time Zelensky didn’t take any chances. But is there another way of handling Donald Trump’s malignant narcissism?

On Free State today Joe and Dion look at the attacks on Trump by California governor Gavin Newsom and why they offer a template for opposition.

While the media has tried to report on Trump as if he is a serious person who just could do with the occasional fact check, Newsom is mocking him. 

This may the only way to defeat a narcissist. And it may be a lesson for all those like Keir Starmer, Micheal Martin and Ursula von der Leyen who have bent the knee.

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Thomas R Weaver’s dystopian fiction Artificial Wisdom: A Novel imagines a world where by 2050 people are choosing between a human and an AI politician?

On Free State we talk to him about the reality of AI and what science fiction can tell us about the world in 25 years’ time. 

People would never vote for AI to rule them we believe, but is that realistic? Is it any more preposterous than the idea of Donald Trump as president was ten years ago?

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On Free State today, Joe and Dion are afraid and have recorded from their panic rooms. Maybe they have been watching too much Fox News.

Last week the channel asked ‘What Happened to Dublin?’ and rolled out questionable statistics about rising crime in the city.

We look at why these stories resonate. Why are so many people determined, not just to believe the worse, but to believe things that aren’t happening at all?

But in this climate of fear, opportunists prowl. Men like Conor McGregor are hoping that if people feel lost, they will look for salvation where they have never looked before. On Free State today, Dion and Joe tell us why, actually everything is going to be ok.

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The headlines said that ‘global outrage’ was mounting over the killing of Sharif and six others, but what does that mean?

How is that outrage has become so pointless, lacking as it does nothing but the weasel words of support from western governments?

On Free State today, Dion and Joe ask if words can help at this point? They look at the post on X from Mo Salah and the impact it had and they consider the statements from Bono and U2.

Why does one have the power to make a difference and the other does nothing except salve the conscience of a rock star activist who has stayed silent for too long?

Why do the words of Anas Al-Sharif haunt us and the words from Bono remind us of how the west has failed?

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On Free State today, Tim MacGabhann talks about the shit and the salvation.

His book is a story of addiction and recovery, a life trying to find something and then finding it in the place he didn’t think it would be.

It’s a story of replacing the s*** with something better.

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Nobody believed the greatest sportsman the world has ever seen would fight in Dublin except the men who made it possible.

On Free State today Dave Hannigan tells talks about his book The Big Fight - When Ali Conquered Ireland. It is a tale of men with dreams from Kerry and Brooklyn who made it happen. It is also a story of how Ali responded to the unconditional love he encountered and how it changed him.

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They consider how dark it can get for those on the other side and what helps people become free.

Joe reflects on those he has seen struggle with alcohol and those he has seen create a new and rewarding life for themselves.

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In Ireland and Britain, it was a summer of a heatwave. But were there cultural and political changes brought about by the long hot summer of 1976? 

On Free State today John Williams, author of a new book Heatwave - the Summer of 1976, Britain at Boiling Point, is our guest. John tells us how that summer changed a country and how the heatwave brought people to the brink in ways nobody could have imagined.

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Is there anything to fear or are the warnings designed to create opportunities for the defence industry? 

Their companies have names designed to disguise their true intentions. Are we being asked to surrender to them if not the Russians?

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Producer Cormac O'Malley drops into the hot seat while Dion is away on today's episode.

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Greenwood was there during the 2012 conflict and now she has written a novel, Vulture, which is described as a satire, but might as easily be described as the truth.

On Free State today she talks about how journalism has failed in Gaza, a failure brought about the desire for false balance.

She recalls her own time in Gaza and how the place she knew has gone, destroyed utterly in a genocide where once again much of the media have failed.

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David Clifford is the greatest Gaelic football who has ever lived but will that be enough on its own to bring Kerry an All-Ireland?

On Free State today, Joe explains the different type of genius that is Jimmy McGuinness. McGuinness has taken advantage of the new rules, the way he took hold of the old but can the spirit of Clifford be contained in Croke Park?

Joe and Dion also look at the princes who have taken the stage at Croke Park before. Dion looks at old Kerry lore and remembers the players he was told about by his Kerry father. He also reveals a family split that will become apparent on final day.

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On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at what a sporting humiliation does to a team and if they can ever recover.

Joe identifies failings in the Cork management that led to the defeat on Sunday but it doesn’t end there. He looks at the strike action when Cork were marshalled by Donal Óg Cusack, the consequences of which are still being felt today. Only that can explain what happened in the second half.

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O’Neill’s novels Netherland and Godwin have reflected the centrality of sport in people’s lives. He talks about why sport matters so much and why in Ireland it matters even more than that. He reflects on his own upbringing and how he was raised in Holland before becoming a barrister and practising law in London. He has lived in New York for a generation and he reflect on how the media and the Democrats have enabled the rise of a dictator. And on All Ireland hurling final weekend, he shares the story of the time his father played hurling for Cork.

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But when integration came to Missouri, rather than allow all races to swim, the Fairground Park pool closed. 

This phenomenon was explored by writer Heather McGhee and on Free State today, Joe and Dion examine the drained pool politics of unionism and the Orange order in Northern Ireland. 

When the North Down Cricket Club cross-community sports camp sports was blocked following an online backlash it was a perfect example of how narrow mindedness hurts everyone.

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On Free State, Joe and Dion look at the clash between genius and control. 

Through the history of sport, geniuses have always made their own way and systems have been devised to stop them. Will this be the case when David Clifford’s Kerry play McGuinness’s Donegal?

We look at how McGuinness saw the opportunity in the new rules before anyone else and what that tells us about his managerial genius. 

Dion has been at the England-India game at Lord’s and he talks about the instinctive uncoachable genius that can often undo any system. But will genius be enough to undo Jim McGuinness’s?

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What stayed in people’s minds was his reading from his novel Monaghan.

With the publication of that novel this summer, Tim returns to Free State to talk about what he has learned about war and killing through years talking to people involved in the Troubles. He explains how it shaped his novel and he talks about the work he’s doing with his friend Stephen Rea on the actor’s memoirs.

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Politicians condemned it and called for action but others insisted it was in fact an act or ‘artistic protest’.

On Free State, Joe and Dion look at the celebrations around the Twelfth of July, not as the desperate acts of a lost people, but as an artistic installation.

Have we failed to understand the subversive power and artistic merit of Loyalism for generations? Or should we look at this artistic protest as a brutal sign of a community punching down as they search for people to blame?

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Most people when asked will have one view but on Free State today, Joe explains a surprising truth. 

Joe was in Portugal last week when Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva died so tragically. As Joe watched the funeral he noticed things about the community of Gondomar where Jota and his brother were from.

Joe and Dion talk about the times when community matters and when we lose sight of it. Dion also offers a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist: how to fix hurling

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Sahar Delijani wrote about those experiences in her bestselling novel, Children of Jacaranda Tree.

On June 23 Israel bombed Evin Prison during their attacks on Iran and 71 people including jailed dissidents were killed. 

On Free State today Sahar Delijani recounts her own experiences in Iran and why those experiences have made her more fearful of the west and Israel's demonisation of Iran. She talks about how the dangerous talk of regime change threatens ordinary Iranians. She explains why people have lost faith in the west and why Israel’s attempts to look for change would be laughable if it wasn't so dangerous.

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“We are not for the death of Jews, Arabs or any other race or group of people,” their statement said. “We are for the dismantling of a violent military machine … a machine that has destroyed much of Gaza.” 

On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at why Bob Vylan are not a distraction, it is more dangerous than that. Instead they explain why they, like Kneecap, are being turned into a futile sacrifice, not to distract from the genocide but to brainwash the gullible into believing they aren’t seeing what they know they’re seeing.

In the week that Palestine Action were banned alongside two neo Nazi groups, they ask what has happened to a society that foams with outrage over comments on a stage but remains quiet about a genocide.

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On Free State today Joe and Dion look at how Kerry beat Armagh and David Clifford‘s role in the All-Ireland champions’ downfall.

Joe accuses Dion of failing to read beyond the headline of his column which was referenced in the aftermath by Kerry manager Jack O’Connor. 

Dion confesses to his own doubts about Clifford. But does Joe have anything to apologise for or should the world be apologising to him for misunderstanding what he does?

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On Free State today, journalist and author of the Empire of AI Karen Hao explains why AI is an imperialist project and how the colonising is already taking place. 

She says why she believes the doomer vs boomer debate is a distraction and how Ireland is on the frontline of this imperialist project. Water and energy resources will be drained as empires are built while humans will be expendable.

Karen also tells us why the term Artificial Intelligence was a marketing term in the first place which set the technology on a destructive path.

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Tech companies ensure the algorithms keep us enraged and fearful, but is there a resistance movement? 

On Free State today Dion tries to persuade Joe that Test match cricket is part of a broader cultural phenomenon but will Joe buy it?

Joe looks at how Kilkenny was transformed from a cricket county to the cradle of hurling.

They also consider the All Ireland quarter finals and Dion’s credentials as a Kerry supporter are challenged by Joe, who definitely isn’t buying it.

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On Free State, Joe and Dion look at how war is sold and why the language of war is hard to distinguish from erotica. 

The Old Testament was cited by many in America as why they stood with Israel. But did the contributions of AIPAC have more to do with than the bible?

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He returned to his journalistic roots and the tragedy in Gaza compelled him to speak out. His new book Catastrophe is the story of Nakba II. 

On Free State today, he explains why he had to go to the West Bank to find out the truth and why Netanyahu is running rings around the US when it comes to war with Iran. He explains why the establishment desperately wants to take his side. He talks too about why Joe Biden, not just Netanyahu, should be facing charges at the International Criminal Court.

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Kneecap were in court for the first hearing in the case against Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, whose stage name is Mo Chara.

On Free State today Joe explains why he isn’t part of the legal team and what will happen next.

They look at the politically motivated charges and why taking a stand against genocide and Israel’s warmongering matters more than ever.

Emotions are tested in the podcast when Joe accuses Dion of both-sidesing what is happening in Iran. The argument gets heated and ends in an unexpected fashion...

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On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at how Israel’s attack on Iran is a case of history repeating itself. 

Iran is the bogey man that allows warmongering to prosper and no matter how many times this has happened before, the noises are still the same and as bloodthirsty.

Joe also explains why Mayo footballers aren’t serious people after their defeat to Donegal.

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Between 1845 and 1851, one million people on the island of Ireland died of famine-related causes. Another 1.5 million people emigrated. 

On Free State today, historian Padraic X Scanlan, author of the outstanding history of the Famine, Rot, joins us to discuss what caused Ireland to suffer as it did.

He considers the main characters like Charles Treveleyan and the failure of an ideology that believed in the pure virtue of the market. “The blight was a consequence of a novel pathogen spreading among fields of vulnerable plants,” Scanlan writes. “But the famine—a complex ecological, economic, logistical, and political disaster—was a consequence of colonialism.”

Scanlan looks at how Ireland has dealt with the famine and how the potato itself became a symbol for those who blamed the Irish people themselves for the great hunger.

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In the random and brutal rioting that saw the homes and businesses of foreigners attacked and terrorised this was they did to protect themselves and their families. 

On Free State today, Joe and Dion ask what is the root cause of this savagery which the police described as feral. Is it hatred or fear, supremacy or inferiority? 

Joe looks at how hate has been transferred from nationalists to other minorities - with plenty held back for nationalists too and projects like Casement Park.

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This was how a resident in an IPAS centre in West Dublin described the scenes when families were deported last week and sent back to Nigeria.

“This is not a pleasant part of my job,” Jim O’Callaghan said on RTE. On X he said, “Another deportation flight left Dublin last night and landed safely this morning in Lagos, Nigeria. There were 35 people on board who had received but had not complied with Deportation Orders.”

On Free State today, Dion and Joe asked who these messages are aimed at? What is Ireland doing to combat the fantasies being spun by people like Conor McGregor about a lost Ireland that never existed?

Is appealing to those with concerns about immigration necessary to head off the far right or is this world without compassion and empathy Ireland’s dystopian future?

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On Free State today, we look at the story of Liverpool and Ireland and the tensions that travelled from Ireland to the city. While it returned a nationalist MP, it also had 50 Orange Order lodge by the start of the 20th century and a 12th of July parade still takes place in the city today. 

Writer David Swift discusses his book Scouse Republic. We ask if the city’s Irish heritage contributed to its sense of separateness and its determination to fight the establishment when attacked by Thatcher and the media that demonised the city after Hillsborough.

They also ask if Jurgen Klopp’s Christianity contributed to his status in the city and tell the extraordinary story of the time capsule Jim Larkin buried in Liverpool.

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On Free State today, Joe and Dion disagree about the importance of the verdict in the libel trial. Joe explains why the jury reached that verdict and why the BBC’s evidence was flawed.

They look at how the BBC was a propaganda tool in the north for too long and why this verdict might be a long awaited turning point.

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On Free State today, trauma surgeon Morgan McMonagle provides a harrowing insight into his time working in the Nasser Hospital in Gaza.

Morgan went to Gaza for the first time in 2024 and returned in 2025. He talks about how Israel’s onslaught over the past 20 months has destroyed a land and a people.

He talks about the playgrounds that are no longer playgrounds but graveyards for the children who used to play there. They have no other use in a land where genocide is taking place and more than 50,000 children have been killed by the IDF.

Morgan speaks about the four pillars of humanitarian work and why he has been compelled to speak out since he returned. It is not about taking sides, he says, it is about advocating for the truth.

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How do we make peace with the past when it’s still a mystery?

On Free State today, writer Oona Frawley talked about her new memoir This Interim Time. A book about the loss of her parents and the gratitude that comes from her children.She talks about her own father’s struggle with alcoholism and Dion reflects on how drink and its consequences can be handed down through generations.

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How has it come to this? Even as the dissatisfaction with Brexit grows, Farage who drove so much of the vote by playing on the most irrational fears, is England's most popular politician. 

On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at the rise of English nationalism and what it means for the rest of Britain, as well as Ireland.

They look at the frenzy within minutes of the Liverpool Parade crash to find the identity of the suspect, but only if it fitted with their existing prejudices.

They identify how nationalism always ends in an assertion of supremacy.

While Joe has some good things to say about Fintan O’Toole and Dion offers a solution to the Celtic Soul Brothers.

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Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh is better known as Mo Chara of Kneecap and he is alleged to have committed the act at a gig in Kentish Town in London 18 months ago. He denies the charge.

On Free State today, Joe provides a legal insight into the charge and what it is intended to do. They look too at the story of Hezbollah and why they are a more complex organisation than some allow.

They also consider the chilling effect when artists worldwide are silenced and why it is happening now.

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On Free State, Joe and Dion look at how Lineker had a target on his back for years but when he spoke out about Gaza, the clock was ticking. 

As Israel’s actions in Gaza become more atrocious and babies starve, more and more people are becoming tarred. 

How has the western world allowed this to happen? How have so many people been silenced when it comes to speaking out on genocide?

Joe recalls a situation in his own life when he had to defend himself from accusations of antisemitism.

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When Gary Lineker left the BBC, was it because he unwittingly shared an antisemitic post - which he subsequently apologised for - or because he had been outspoken on the genocide in Gaza?

On Free State today Dion and Joe look at how the world is ordered and what needs to change. 

They examine how inequality is now hardwired into systems and ask what can be done about it.

Joe also has a story of inequality of his own and naturally it involves the Mayo footballers.

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Trigg served his tour of duty in 1993 and moved on, but, unusually he returned, not as a soldier but as a writer.

In an extraordinary conversation today, Jon Trigg talks to Joe and Dion about his new book on the IRA in Derry. Joe and Jon speak frankly, and sometimes with tension, about the conflict, but also recall the figures from the IRA they both knew.

He tells of his difficulty in getting former IRA men to trust him and where they found common ground. 

Jon recalls too the decisions that led to the Paratroopers moving into Derry on Bloody Sunday and the massacre that followed.

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On Free State today look at how a story spreads online as it did over the weekend when Emmanuel Macron, Keir Starmer and Friedrich Merz were filmed on a train going to Kyiv. Soon the idea that drug paraphernalia was in the carriage took hold online.  

The story was dismissed as fantasy and Russian propaganda but does it demonstrate something more profound: a severe distrust in what people have been asked to believe in the west?

Dion doesn’t think so and he rants at Joe about the story. But is he just a gullible centrist or is Joe in danger of falling for the craziest online fantasies?

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On Free State today, Lisa talks to us about her own time at Trinity in the 90s, when students would be rated on their looks. She talks to Dion about the male gaze and their shared experiences of drink and how when she became an actress she turned to tequila to take the edge off her anxiety.

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On Free State, Joe and Dion wonder why this issue which should be so simply resolved in favour of women in sport became so complicated and laced with bullshit. There are working groups and committees working to resolve the issue going forward to the satisfaction of all stakeholders.

More importantly, what does it tell us about the world today and its obsession with triviality that the skort takes up so much airtime?

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On Free State today Omar El Akkad joins Joe and Dionto talk about how the world looked away. His magisterial new book One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This details the complicity of the west. 

Gaza is enduring a famine and Israel maintains a blockade where children’s hunger is a weapon of war and an instrument of monumental cruelty. Omar’s voice is a compelling and necessary counterpoint.

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Rosita Sweetman wanted to change the world. Like many of her generation, she was inspired by the civil rights movement in the US. She became a founder of the women’s liberation movement in Ireland. She was fearless and it was fun.

But her life wasn’t. On Free State today Rosita Sweetman talks about her new memoir Girl With A Fork In A World of Soup. She tells us about having to divorce her family and the extraordinary scene when at a family meeting, her sisters were asked by a psychiatrist if any of them had slept with her ex husband.

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When it has come to the pursuit of Kneecap, the ridiculousness has extended far beyond the British public to its media and politicians too. It has reached the Irish political class and media as well.

Kneecap have apologised to the families of murdered MPs but still they are pursued by those lost in what Philip Roth called the “ecstasy of sanctimony”.

On Free State, Joe and Dion ask what does it tell us about the ability to comment freely in the modern world? At a time when n it seems critical to be able to speak out, it is under constant threat.

Dion also recalls a GAA road trip while Joe explains why he considers Jesus Christ a role model.

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On Free State today Joe and Dion look at the hysteria surrounding Kneecap since their Coachella appearance and their statements in support of Palestine.

While some might believe they are just experiencing the usual backlash from the establishment to any anarchic act, the attempt to silence them is in fact part of something more insidious. The response to the Louis Theroux documentary is part of the same motivation. But is the truth about Gaza, the West Bank and Israel no longer something that can be silenced?

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On Free State today Peadar Thompson is the guest and talks about his extraordinary book. It details, not just the horrific nature of how these GAA people lost their lives, but also their lives within the community and, most profoundly, within the GAA.

“To be a GAA member in the north back then was to put your head above the parapet,” Peadar says. He provides the profiles in courage of those who wanted nothing more than to lead ordinary lives but who became targets often because of nothing more than a love of the GAA.

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From Kings to Prime Ministers to Presidents, everyone reached for the most appropriate tribute. Even Donald Trump was looking forward to the funeral.

But what does the reaction from unionist parties in the north tell us about the loyalist mindset?

On Free State, Dion and Joe look at what the pope, the Irish language, Casement Park and a border poll tell us about the supremacist mindset.

They argue about Micheál Martin’s talk about reconciliation before a united Ireland and wonder what does it actually mean?

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He was a sportswriter enjoying the traditional rhythm of the GAA summer as he arrived at Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney.

Suddenly he was hit by a bomb and couldn’t put one foot in front of the other.

It was the beginning of a descent into isolation and fear.

On Free State today, Eamonn Sweeney talks about the terror of those days when travelling became a nightmare and he retreated into a cocoon.

He speaks about his new book and how writing it helped to restore him as he found purpose again. It is a story about the community and the power of the GAA

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On today’s Free State, historian Padraig Óg Ó Ruairc talks about his new book on the far right and how he entered into the world of conspiracy to learn more about the movement.

He talks about the Blueshirts and how close Ireland came to a coup and why even when the far right seem absurd they can’t be underestimated.

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Her career would be a rebuttal to the cynics and the priests, but her life had its share of trauma and despair. In the 1970s she began an affair with a renowned and married British politician whose identity has never been revealed. She was consumed by the relationship, unable to work or think of anything else. A new documentary Blue Road tells the remarkable story of Edna O’Brien. On Free State today, Blue Road’s director Sinead O’Shea talks about the Edna O’Brien she got to know at the end of her life and why she remained so fiercely independent. She looks at O’Brien’s life ridiculed and castigated by the establishment, firstly for writing about sex and then for writing about Gerry Adams.

Sinead also tells the story of the acid trip that altered Edna O’Brien’s life forever when she had to be rescued by James Bond.

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Miss Part 1 of our conversation with Trevor Birney? Listen here https://shows.acast.com/641338125bde790011089c5b/67c231a315abd9ea5faeac4b

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In The Heights Bar in Loughinisland Co Down, the small community had gathered on a Saturday evening with the added excitement of the game. In Belfast and other places there were fears of sectarian killings, but not in Loughinisland. In Loughinisland, the Troubles were something that happened somewhere else. 

On this night it happened here. With eyes on the game, nobody noticed the UVF killers walking in to The Heights Bars. Six men were murdered that night, the oldest of them 87 years old.

On Free State today, Joe and Dion are joined by Trevor Birney to talk about the state collusion that was part of that massacre and his documentary No Stone Unturned, which led to a dawn raid on his house from the PSNI one summer morning.

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On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at the truth behind these videos, the erasure of the people of Gaza. Joe talks about Omar El Akkad’s stunning new book 'One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This' which details the complicity and silence of the west. In that context, knowing what we know, what are we doing when we laugh at Trump's video?

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The death of Paddy Cullen was, for so many people, one of those moments. It transported them back to the days of Heffo’s Army and the rivalry with Kerry which were the foundation for a million sporting dreams.

On a Free State Special, Joe remembers the Paddy Cullen he knew, a member of that Dublin team who weren’t just extraordinary players, but exceptional men.

He recalls his encounters with Paddy Cullen and the thread of community that runs from that Dublin team to the great Jim Gavin team. Dion meanwhile reveals his role as a Gaelic football missionary in south Dublin.

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What does this even mean? On Free State, Joe and Dion look at how the world is changing and how Bono will change with it. 

Few serious people would claim that freedom was universally valued by everyone at the last presidential election but does this tell us something about how Bono has operated in the US and around the world? In Ireland, in Derry, there are families of those who lost loved ones in Bloody Sunday who are angry with Bono for U2’s song and who were angry again when he received the medal of freedom. But does it just prove that when it came to ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’, Alan Partridge was right?

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His career has been about making the billionaire class comfortable with their wealth rather than upending the system. Has this worked out well for the causes he has championed or has it worked out even better for Bono and those who follow his version of entrepreneurial capitalism?

The boys also consider the latest developments in the case of Enoch Burke and why even a snow day couldn’t stop him.

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Joe looks at the tax breaks given to other sportspeople and the money that has come the way of horseracing and greyhounds over the last 20 years. The GAA is a cultural colossus whose importance is immeasurable. Those who provide the glory enrich the nation in a way those who fumble in the greasy till never could. It is time for Gombeen Ireland to recognise what goes on in the real Ireland.

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What does the response to the killing tell us about a society fractured like America’s? In a world where Benjamin Netanyahu is on the shortlist for Time’s Person of the Year, is it any wonder if people’s moral compass directs them to cheer a murder? Dion and Joe look at the staging posts on the way to the murder of a CEO. Have the last twenty years created the conditions where people feel that justice does not serve them, only the elites? There is also another update from the Dungiven GAA Whatsapp and their love-hate relationship with Dion.

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But during the election campaign he spoke about how the IRA waged a war ‘on its own people’. What does this tell us about his worldview and how he views the north? 

On Free State, Joe and Dion disagree about Micheal Martin’s comments and what they reveal about the man. Joe looks at why the origins of the Troubles dispute Martin’s statement. Dion reveals a family connection to Liam Mellows which only leaves Joe more disappointed in him but still extends an invitation to the Kevin Lynch’s GAA club. Joe also reveals why he never considered joining the IRA

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Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning is a Gold Hat Production in association with SwanMcG.

For more on Free State: https://freestatepodcast.com/

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

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning is a Gold Hat Production in association with SwanMcG.

For more on Free State: https://freestatepodcast.com/

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

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning is a Gold Hat Production in association with SwanMcG.

For more on Free State: https://freestatepodcast.com/

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

Joe reveals the contents of The Monk’s election manifesto, including his plan to abolish extradition. When Eoghan Murphy tells us that when he was Fine Gael Housing minister he didn’t solve the housing crisis because Fine Gael did not want to, do we believe him? Will it make a difference to voters once they learn about a candidate’s love of custard creams?

Dion and Joe also tell the truth about small talk while extending an invitation to the Taoiseach Simon Harris.

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning is a Gold Hat Production in association with SwanMcG.

For more on Free State: https://freestatepodcast.com/

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

With half a million new voters added to the register this year, McDonald outlines how she wants to change Ireland. She explains what led Sinn Fein to alter their policy on immigration and why the far right protestors were not disenchanted Sinn Fein voters. Mary Lou also talks about her difficult relationship with her father and what she said to him before he died earlier this year.

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning is a Gold Hat Production in association with SwanMcG.

For more on Free State: https://freestatepodcast.com/

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

She talks to Dion and Joe about the challenges facing her party and why she believes the media is hostile to Sinn Fein. Will Dion indulge in ‘IRAing’ or are these legitimate questions to be asked of the leader of Sinn Fein? When does IRAing come to an end and normal politics begins? When it does will Sinn Fein bring the same radical change as Bernie Sander and Jeremy Corbyn promised? Or will they be destroyed by the system before addressing Ireland’s fundamental problems. Will this be the first podcast where one of the interviewers storms out? And will any hamsters be harmed in the making of the podcast?

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning is a Gold Hat Production in association with SwanMcG.

For more on Free State: https://freestatepodcast.com/

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

On a Free State Special, Perlstein talks to Dion and Joe about the long rise of the right in the US. Through his books Nixonland and Reaganland, Perlstein has chronicled the Republican Party and their journey to the world beyond truth.

He tells Dion and Joe how Trump is now ready to take full control of American democracy and what will happen to that democracy.

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning is a Gold Hat Production in association with SwanMcG.

For more on Free State: https://freestatepodcast.com/

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

Joe Biden’s role in Trump’s return can’t be overlooked. What will Trump do with the power which is coming his way and which he is ready for this time. Are there any warning for Ireland in what has happened in America? Democracy might be under threat but do the 70 million Americans who voted for Trump care?

Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning is a Gold Hat Production in association with SwanMcG.

For more on Free State: https://freestatepodcast.com/

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