In The News

In hard hats and high-vis jackets, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Simon Harris and Minister for Housing James Browne looked the part at Thursday’s launch of “Delivering Homes, Building Communities, 2025-2030″, the Government’s latest grand plan to tackle the housing crisis.By 2030, it is committed to delivering 300,000 new homes. It’s an ambitious target.But who is going to build these new homes and how can that target be met given successive governments’ failure to meet far more modest goals?Will private developers be tempted to ramp up the delivery of apartment schemes? And given the acute skills shortage in the construction industry, where will the builders – the real hard-hat wearers – come from? And what about Ireland’s creaking infrastructure - the water and electricity needed to make building possible?The shame of record-breaking homelessness figures means a move to solve this aspect of the housing crisis is a key plank of the new plan.Irish Times Political Correspondent Ellen Coyne was at the plan’s launch. She joins In The News to discuss these issues.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey and Andrew McNair. 

Few conflicts have caused as much horror and devastation to people’s lives as Sudan’s civil war. And yet, the country’s ongoing death and destruction remains largely unnoticed, and often ignored, by the rest of the world.An estimated 150,000 people have been killed, and 14 million people displaced, since the country was plunged into civil war in April 2023 after a power struggle broke out between the country’s army and a powerful paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).Last month, the RSF captured the city of El Fasher, the last major urban centre in Darfur held by the army and its allies. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were left trapped in desperate famine-like conditions with no access to food, medicine or relief supplies.The city’s civilians have also been subjected to mass killings, and ethnic and sexual violence, while pregnant women are giving birth on the streets after the last remaining maternity hospital was looted and destroyed.Why do so many in the world continue to the turn a blind eye to the world’s largest humanitarian crisis?And is a ceasefire even possible in a region plagued by decades of instability, mass displacement and destruction?Today, on In The News, how Sudan became a killing zone.New York Times chief Africa correspondent Declan Walsh discusses the devastating effects of Sudan’s civil war, the foreign powers funding the crisis and the measures needed to end this conflict.Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Andrew McNair. 

Last Friday, two men appeared before Portlaoise District Court as part of a Garda investigation into an alleged terrorist plot by an extreme right wing group to attack Galway Mosque.The two men were arrested on Co Laois on Tuesday during a cross-Border antiterrorism operation and were charged with possession of explosives.A video found by gardaí on one of the men’s phones revealed a ‘practice’ recording of what the extreme right wing group intended to release after its planned attack on Galway mosque.A major inquiry is now under way to determine how long the alleged plot was in the planning, what role others may have played and to identify all four men who appear in the video. Irish Times crime and security editor Conor Lally has the latest details. Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

On Monday, the COP30 climate summit officially opened in the Brazilian city of Belém at the gateway to the Amazon rainforest.Brazilian organisers have insisted this will be the “COP of implementation” where measures needed to combat the climate crisis will take precedence over more promises and never-ending negotiations.This year’s global summit marks a decade since the highly lauded Paris Agreement – the landmark agreement signed by almost 200 countries and designed to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. Its main goal was to limit future global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius above ‘pre-industrial’ levels. And while some progress has been made, ten years on from this legally binding agreement, emissions are still rising and UN secretary general António Guterres has acknowledged it is now “inevitable” that humanity will overshoot this 1.5 cap.What exactly do world leaders hope to achieve over the coming fortnight?How will the absence of a US-led delegation impact plans for cutting global emissions? And in a world deeply distracted by war, defence and ideological divisions, can China and the EU take the lead in pushing climate measures back up the list of international priorities?Irish Times Climate and Science correspondent Caroline O’Doherty joins the podcast from Belém to discuss whether this year’s climate negotiations will move beyond plans and into concrete action.Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Suzanne Brennan. 

For most people, the process of buying a house can be quite disheartening. The lack of housing supply across the country means houses often sell for way above asking price and usually after an excruciating bidding war. While the Government promises to address the supply issue, is there anything that needs to change about the way we buy houses? In the UK, a major reform of the house-buying system has been proposed by the Labour Government. The plan aims to cut costs, reduce delays and make the whole process more efficient for buyers and sellers. Under the new plan, sellers would have to provide key information about the house upfront. Binding contracts could also be introduced earlier. It would cut the costs for first time buyers and speed up the process by up to four weeks - so should Ireland follow suit?In today’s episode, Ciarán Mulqueen, who runs the social media account Crazy House Prices, takes a look at how the process works in other countries and whether something similar could be introduced here.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan

Every November, Irish Times restaurant critic Corinna Hardgrave looks back at her year to produce a list of the top 100 restaurants across the country.This year, with the help of the writer Joanna Cronin, readers are treated to a plethora of options for every occasion from new and quirky eateries to heritage restaurants which have stood the test of time.It’s also an exciting period for the Irish dining scene.In February, Dublin will host the Michelin star ceremony for the first time, the convention for unveiling new Michelin stars. And the speculation about awards in the Republic is electric.Front and centre in Corinna and Joanne’s choices this year, they say, is supply. Those menu’s which utilise the best of home grown Irish produce.So where are the top restaurants in Ireland, and what’s on the menu?Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan and Andrew McNair.

On Tuesday New Yorkers elected socialist and Democratic Party candidate Zohran Mamdani as mayor. Mamdani, the city's first Muslim and African-born mayor and the youngest in over a century, was harshly criticised by President Donald Trump throughout the campaign. But his win, along with the election of several other Democrats in races across the country, has forced Trump to start taking seriously the threat of a Democratic resurgence in next year's midterm elections. And Democrats are starting to feel hopeful, even if Mamdani's election poses questions about what the party has become and exactly how it should take on Trump. Keith Duggan reports from Washington.

On Saturday, the story broke that broadcaster and former Fine Gael politician Ivan Yates had provided interview and debate coaching to Fianna Fáil presidential candidate Jim Gavin before he dropped out of the race.This was at a time when he was co-presenting the political podcast Path to Power and doing stand in shifts on Newstalk radio.The story gained momentum in the days that followed as news emerged that senior Fianna Fáil politicians, including Taoiseach Micheál Martin, also received media training from Mr Yates.How has this steady trickle of revelations played out in Leinster House? What does this controversy tell us about the entanglement of Ireland’s media and political elites?And how does the Irish media handle commercial and political conflicts of interest?Today, on In The News, how Ivan Yates’ links to Fianna Fáil have landed him, and the party, in hot water.Irish Times media columnist and host of Inside Politics podcast Hugh Linehan discusses the political fallout from this controversy and how it might impact public trust in the media.Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Andrew McNair and Suzanne Brennan. 

On Monday afternoon, in a packed courtroom at Dublin’s Circuit Criminal Court, former Kilkenny hurler DJ Carey was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for fraud. In July, the disgraced sportsman pleaded guilty to ten counts of deception involving thirteen individuals. It’s a stunning fall from grace for the Kilkenny man, who was once the most celebrated hurler in the country. For years, Carey spun a web of lies, convincing friends, acquaintances, and even strangers that he was battling terminal cancer and needed large sums of money for life-saving treatment. At times, his stories were meticulously crafted, rich in detail. Sometimes they were just spur of the moment pleas for cash.   In today's episode journalist and author of The Dodger, Eimear Ní Bhraonáin maps out Carey’s decade long deception and explains how he got away with his crimes for so long.The Dodger: DJ Carey and the Great Betrayal published by Merrion Press is out now.