Raw tales from Blackrock College are as disturbing as anything from the Magdalene laundriesRadio: Liveline and Documentary on One’s cataloguing of sexual abuse is public-service broadcasting in the truest senseFri Nov 11 2022 - 06:03
Gut-wrenching, essential radio: Blackrock College sexual abuse accounts are tough to listen to Radio review: Documentary on One recounts the horrific experiences of Dublin brothers Mark and David Ryan at the hands of a trusted priestTue Nov 08 2022 - 13:05
Ian Dempsey is in his usual irrepressibly good cheer. Then he drops the H-bomb Radio: It’s a shock to hear the habitually buoyant Today FM presenter express hatred on Wednesday morning’s breakfast showFri Nov 04 2022 - 05:00
‘This is the grimmest item we’ve ever done, but we’re laughing. It’s Irish people’s idea of entertainment’Radio: Brendan O’Connor ranges across social, political and deeply personal matters with John Banville, Tara Flynn and Rory O’NeillFri Oct 28 2022 - 05:45
Flippant filler and hot-button issues: Joe Duffy brings us the upmarket tabloid of Irish radioRadio: On Liveline, the midweek downpours bring out Duffy’s inner stand-up, as he showers listeners with permachuckling bonhomieFri Oct 21 2022 - 05:00
‘In the 1980s, almost everyone in the National Front came from an Irish family’Author and activist Matthew Collins was once a self-described ‘bootboy’ who grew disenchanted with his erstwhile comradesMon Oct 17 2022 - 05:20
Ooh ah... Ireland’s World Cup party seems well and truly poopedRadio review: The celebrations of the Republic of Ireland women’s soccer team reverberated across Newstalk’s programmes this weekFri Oct 14 2022 - 05:00
George Hook, bumptious and off-colour, returns to NewstalkRadio: The retired presenter divides opinion, as always, but he brings a palpable lift to Newstalk BreakfastFri Oct 07 2022 - 05:00
Jennifer Zamparelli doesn’t normally censor herself. Then she reaches a line she won’t crossThe RTÉ 2FM host’s personal taboo might seem curiously genteel for a broadcaster with such an irreverently lippy personaFri Sept 30 2022 - 05:30
‘It’s like a different planet,’ says an awestruck Ray D’Arcy. ‘You have to experience it for yourself’Radio: The National Ploughing Championships is a fixture on the airwaves for the first time since 2019Fri Sept 23 2022 - 05:00
We Are an Archipelago review: Island lives collide in an entrancing performance piece Dublin Fringe Festival 2022: Blending poetry with music, Erin Fornoff weaves a beguiling tale of an unlikely friendshipWed Sept 21 2022 - 10:06
Drivetime encounters are often bruising. This week they turn particularly fractiousRadio review: A tetchy tone runs through Cormac Ó hEadhra’s discussion with Neale Richmond and Richard Boyd Barrett of rising energy costsFri Sept 16 2022 - 05:00
Hotel Happiness: Big ideas get lost in an anticlimactic productionDublin Fringe Festival 2022: Despite its intriguing premise, Chaos Factory’s two-handed drama is disappointingly prosaicTue Sept 13 2022 - 09:25
Oops, This Is Toxic review: Candid revelations and cultural observations make for a riotous comic show Dublin Fringe Festival 2022: Comedian Julie Jay uses a conventional stand-up format to deliver uncomfortable truths and irresistible laughsMon Sept 12 2022 - 13:03
Pig Brain review: Dystopian farce takes aim at online paranoia and digital moresDublin Fringe Festival 2022: Ambitious drama promises more than it delivers but is powered by Emma Finegan’s kinetic performanceMon Sept 12 2022 - 11:13
In the face of horror, Claire Byrne is calm, Ryan Tubridy uncharacteristically emotionalRadio review: Byrne manages to find some light relief in a week of unimaginable darknessFri Sept 09 2022 - 05:00
Sean Spicer on Newstalk: An intriguing interview with Trump’s disarmingly gormless press guyRadio review: Kieran Cuddihy's interview with the ex-White House press secretary lacked his usual peppery zealFri Sept 02 2022 - 05:00
There’s a frisson of one-upmanship between Ryan Tubridy and Joe DuffyRadio review: Tubridy favours portentousness, Duffy a more personal angle. One works better than the other for their Michael Collins commemorationsFri Aug 26 2022 - 05:00
With his jaundiced eye and sarky humour, it’s business as usual for Brendan O’Connor. Then his poise deserts himRadio review: The Radio 1 presenter keeps his head when all about him are losing theirs. But awkwardness can creep inFri Jul 29 2022 - 05:00
‘Witch with a capital B’: Edwina Currie takes aim at Liz Truss on NewstalkRadio review: The former Conservative MP was one of Pat Kenny’s guests this weekFri Jul 22 2022 - 01:10
Ryan Tubridy, always ready to laugh at himself, confesses he’s a big fan of the Trumps Radio review: RTÉ presenter laughs at nerdy pastimes but wears his values on his sleeve, while Matt Cooper gets mad as hellFri Jul 15 2022 - 05:00
‘I’m going to call it a day’: Boris Johnson’s father Stanley gets a grilling on Newstalk Radio review: Jonathan Healy interrogates Johnson about his son, in a striking piece of radioFri Jul 08 2022 - 06:24
Claire Byrne, now free of TV, delivers deft radio Radio review: When a prime time RTÉ slot becomes vacant, Katie Hannon is ready for itFri Jul 01 2022 - 06:00
Ray D’Arcy dives into a particularly piddling subject, even by his standardsRadio review: The RTÉ host needn’t sweat the wee stuff given visits by the A-listers Jessie Buckley and Marian KeyesFri Jun 24 2022 - 06:00
Joe Duffy sounds wounded after Liveline’s transgender discussion. Selflessness or a self-inflicted injury?Radio review: Joe Duffy courts controversy but sounds wounded as contentious discussion draws fireFri Jun 17 2022 - 06:15
The Jackie Healy-Rae way to liven up a three-hour radio showRadio review: Newstalk presenter sometimes hits the wall in his lengthy show, while Pat Kenny can still go the distanceFri Jun 10 2022 - 05:00
Dublin Airport delays: ‘Major catastrophe’ or ‘first-world problem’? Cormac Ó hEadhra grilled guests and Joe Duffy calmed listeners on radio this weekFri Jun 03 2022 - 05:00
With Joe Duffy frequently absent, Katie Hannon sounds increasingly at home on LivelineRadio: Liveline’s guest host dissects the aftermath of the Texas school shootingFri May 27 2022 - 05:00
Pat Kenny’s bad news diet: ‘There’s only so much you can take’Radio Review: Newstalk host tackles tricky topics in characteristic fashionFri May 20 2022 - 05:00
Today with Claire Byrne can sound more like a Dáil committee than a flagship radio showRadio: She’s an assured interrogator of current affairs, but a certain stolidity creeps inFri May 13 2022 - 05:00
Stephen Donnelly and Simon Harris get a breakfast grilling on Morning IrelandRadio: The Ministers are unconvincing despite – or because of – their detailed explanationsFri May 06 2022 - 05:00
Lucy Kennedy and Colm Hayes don’t sound like they miss RTÉ at allRadio: The hard-working Classic Hits duo are just different enough to create on-air chemistryFri Apr 29 2022 - 00:00
Anton Savage always sounded incongruous on Today FM. He’s found his voice on NewstalkRadio: The Saturday morning host provides an agreeable start to the weekendFri Apr 22 2022 - 05:00
Katie Hannon, alert and empathetic, knows what makes Irish life tickRadio Review: As Joe Duffy’s default Liveline stand-in, she never gets bogged downFri Apr 15 2022 - 05:00
Ryan Tubridy drops the politeness and gets blunt: ‘This is a horrible thing to have to share’Radio: The host is unabashed in his repugnance for Putin and admiration of ZelenskiyFri Apr 08 2022 - 05:00
Ciara ‘don’t call me Ciara’ Kelly and Shane ‘call me Shane’ Coleman hone their double actRadio review: The Newstalk Breakfast duo provide diversion as well as informationFri Apr 01 2022 - 05:00
Matt Cooper doesn’t like good news, but he cheers up when it turns badRadio review: The Today FM host refuses to get carried away by bad news or goodFri Mar 25 2022 - 05:00
Pierre Zakrzewski, my old classmate, was charismatic, selfless and loyalRadio review: Tributes to the late Irish journalist had a personal resonance for Mick HeaneyFri Mar 18 2022 - 05:00
The 2 Johnnies resume business as if nothing ever happenedRadio review: Back on 2FM after a short ban, the pair seem unchanged by the recent controversyMon Mar 14 2022 - 19:20
Newstalk’s petrol price debate loses perspective – there is a war going onRadio: Rising fuel costs receive extensive coverage on Kieran Cuddihy’s showFri Mar 11 2022 - 05:00
Joe Duffy, ever passionate, achieves maximum emotional impactRadio: From Liveline to Drivetime, war eyewitnesses convey moral clarity and mortal dangerFri Mar 04 2022 - 05:00
The 2 Johnnies lived up to their ‘cocky boyo’ image, but failed the ‘copped-on sound lads’ testRadio comment: RTÉ took the Tipperary duo off air after an outcry over a social media videoFri Feb 25 2022 - 14:00
Ray D’Arcy’s show is the lucky bag of Irish radioRadio: You never know what you’ll get, but it’s seldom of premium qualityFri Feb 18 2022 - 05:00
Seán Fleming drops the petrol can. Sarah McInerney hands him a matchRadio review: Minister’s tone-deaf interview on cost of living gains instant notorietyFri Feb 11 2022 - 05:00
Do not adjust your Telifís: A very Irish musical duoCathal Coughlan and Garret “Jacknife” Lee draw on formative memories of Irish TVSat Feb 05 2022 - 05:00
‘Going into the Leaving Cert, half-naked’ . . . Joe Duffy shares his recurring nightmareRadio: Duffy talks about the exams in detail so vivid it warrants a trigger warningFri Feb 04 2022 - 06:00
Claire Byrne gives Leo Varadkar the upper handRadio review: Things get tetchy when she raises his alleged leak of documentsFri Jan 28 2022 - 05:00
Bad blood between Ciara Kelly and Shane Coleman on NewstalkRadio: The presenters argue over restriction. It is a welcome diversionFri Jan 21 2022 - 05:00
Newstalk’s guests all agree (irony alert) that cancel culture has killed free speechReview: Andrea Gilligan’s discussion of free speech includes no dissenting voicesFri Jan 14 2022 - 05:00
Baz Ashmawy, the manic student teacher covering for sensible history master Ryan TubridyThe stand-in presenter wings it with breathless enthusiasm and cheeky charmFri Jan 07 2022 - 05:00