Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning

In 1948, Herbert Simms, under increasing pressure from the demands of his job, took his own life.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?

During the heroin epidemic in Dublin in the 1980s, one drug baron infamously remarked as he was jailed, ‘If you think we’re bad, wait til you see what’s coming after us.’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

When Gianni Infantino created FIFA’s Peace Prize, how could he have imagined that the inaugural winner would be his great friend Donald Trump.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

“I believe to the core of my soul that the response Israel is taking, and with it the American support both for that response and for the status quo of the occupation, will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people.”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.

Are there reasons to embrace AI? Are the doomsayers wrong and the apocalyptic warnings overstated? What if an ordinary person can access medical or legal advice for fraction of the cost and difficulty it takes today?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

Daniel Lambert is many things, football man, band manager and activist.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

Oisin Murphy has been the Champion Jockey in Britain for the past two years. He will travel the country and beyond in pursuit of a winner. Horse racing is an addiction but it is not his only addiction.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.

When Donald Trump’s Education Secretary Linda McMahon called ‘AI’ ‘A-One’ it was treated as a gaffe that said a lot about the intellectual calibre of his cabinet.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

Sport is what sustains so many of us through the winter. Ireland is a sporting country but what does that mean?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