In The News

Last week, in the early hours of Tuesday, August 5th, Martha Nolan-O’Slattara was found unconscious on a boat at an exclusive yacht club in the Hamptons. She was later pronounced dead by first responders.The 33-year-old entrepreneur from Co Carlow had been living in the United States for nearly a decade where she had set a series of pop-up clothes boutiques and lived in Manhattan’s upper east side.US police are now trying to piece together the events that led up to the death of this young Irish woman after the result of a preliminary examination were deemed inconclusive. A final postmortem report will reportedly take at least three months to complete.Irish Times reporter Niamh Browne discusses the Irish fashion entrepreneur’s life and untimely death.Presented by Sorcha Pollak.

Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has continued to defend his government’s plan to escalate the war in Gaza, despite widespread international condemnation and outrage.The Israeli leader claims his security cabinet’s decision to capture Gaza City, which could mean months, possibly years, of combat ahead, is “the best way to end the war, and the best way to end it speedily”.The plan has resulted in protests across Israel with calls for a total end to the war and the release of hostages. Israeli military leaders have also opposed the plan.Meanwhile, starvation continues to spread across Gaza, with Israel permitting just a fraction of the aid needed to address the catastrophic levels of hunger into the strip.And this week, five journalists, including a prominent Al Jazeera reporter, were killed in a targeted Israeli air strike. Their deaths bring to 192 the total number of journalists who have died since the war in Gaza nearly two years ago, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.Why, in the face of all this, is Mr Netanyahu pushing ahead to reoccupy Gaza City, despite overwhelming opposition to his plan?Today, on In The News, Netanyahu says the plan to control Gaza city will end the war. But, is that what he really wants?Irish Times contributor Mark Weiss discusses the fallout from the Israeli Government’s decision to take control of Gaza city.Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Aideen Finnegan and Andrew Mc Nair. 

In the heart of Limerick city sits a newly-built six storey landmark, offered as a gift by JP McManus to Limerick City and County Council. The billionaire businessman had a vision for an iconic tourist attraction in the southwest, offering a boost to the area and honouring Ireland's proud rugby tradition. The International Rugby Experience opened to great fanfare in May 2023, but was shuttered just 19 months later amid a bitter row between McManus and the local authority. The city's directly-elected mayor refused to take the gift. Now the red-bricked white elephant has become a metaphor for intractable local politics or a billionaire's vanity project, depending on who you ask. So what happened behind the scenes to collapse the scrum and what efforts are underway now to try and end the impasse? Limerick journalist and Irish Times contributor Brian Carroll tells the story of the ill-fated International Rugby Experience.Presented by Aideen Finnegan. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

Seven years ago, in September 2018, the Government approached a company called Brimwood Ltd asking for help to secure extra accommodation in hotels and B & Bs for asylum seekers.While the number of international protection applicants arriving in Ireland was significantly lower at that time when compared with today – nearly 6,000 in 2018 compared with almost 33,000 in 2025 – the State’s direct provision system had reached full capacity and needed temporary additional beds.Brimwood Ltd, which is now unlimited and so does not have to publish financial accounts where it might show the profits it makes, is run by Séamus ‘Banty’ McEnaney and his two daughters Sarah and Laura. It is just one of a number of companies owned by the wider McEnaney family which provide accommodation for asylum seekers and homeless people.Before 2018, McEnaney’s name was synonymous with Monaghan GAA, but these days, the businessman is more likely to be associated with the State’s asylum system.How did McEnaney build up his property empire and how much have his family’s companies earned through the provision of emergency accommodation?And who is to blame for the lucrative contracts being paid to secure this accommodation – private operators or the Government?Today, on In The News, how one family earned millions from housing refugees and homeless people.Irish Times reporters Colm Keena and Sorcha Pollak discuss their investigation into the McEnaney family’s earnings and how the State has become so reliant on private operators to house refugees and the homeless.Presented by Aideen Finnegan. Produced by Suzanne Brennan, Andrew McNair and John Casey.

British socialite Constance Marten, 38, and her partner convicted rapist Mark Gordon, 51, prompted a 53-day police manhunt when they went on the run with their newborn daughter in the depths of winter two years ago.That hunt ended in tragedy after the decomposed body of their baby, Victoria, was discovered in a shopping bag buried under rubbish in Brighton; the couple were camping nearby.While no definitive cause of the baby’s death could be established, they were found guilty in July of her manslaughter by gross negligence.The scenes in the Old Bailey in London were as chaotic as their lives and the details that emerged of the birth and death of their daughter were harrowing.It is thought they went on the run when Marten was pregnant as their four young children had already been taken into care.Their sentencing is expected in September.In the second of two episodes on their case, BBC news correspondent Helena Wilkinson takes us inside the courtroom and explains why it "was the most extraordinary trial" she has ever reported on. Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

British socialite Constance Marten, 38, and her partner convicted rapist Mark Gordon, 51, prompted a 53-day police manhunt when they went on the run with their newborn daughter in the depths of winter two years ago.That hunt ended in tragedy after the decomposed body of their baby, Victoria, was discovered in a shopping bag buried under rubbish in Brighton; the couple were camping nearby.While no definitive cause of the baby’s death could be established, they were found guilty in July of her manslaughter by gross negligence.The scenes in the Old Bailey in London were as chaotic as their lives and the details that emerged of the birth and death of their daughter were harrowing.It is thought they went on the run when Marten was pregnant as their four young children had already been taken into care.Their sentencing is expected in September.BBC news correspondent Helena Wilkinson takes us inside the courtroom and explains how the tragic case unfolded.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

Kerry farmer Michael Gaine’s disappearance on March 20th was first treated as a missing person’s case.Soon though, it was upgraded to a murder investigation as the Garda searched for his body and explored multiple lines of inquiry.Then the farmer’s body was found – in the most grisly of circumstances. He had been dismembered with his body parts deposited into the silage pit on his farm.One such line of inquiry involved Michael Kelley, an American who lived and worked on Gaine’s 1,000-acre farm for the past three years.Kelley has identified himself to the media as having been arrested and questioned in relation to Gaine’s murder. He was released without charge.So is he and what was he doing in Kerry? How did he come to live and work on the Gaine farm? And why is he giving interviews?Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.This episode was originally broadcast in June 2025.

Sports memorabilia is big business in the United States.  Exceptional athletes can attain God-like status very quickly there, and everybody wants a piece.  The baseball that Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers hit for his 50th home run last season, recently sold for $4.3 million. And if you are into buying sports memorabilia, chances are at some point you logged on to a website called Mister Man Cave, which boasts one of the largest football, baseball and basketball autograph inventories on the web. That’s what it looked like, but all wasn’t as it seemed. During an investigation into fraud and counterfeiting at Mister Man Cave, its owner 45-year-old Brett Lemieux took his own life.  Host Bernice Harrison is joined by Irish Times contributor and America at Large columnist Dave Hannigan, who explains that before his death, in a Facebook post, Lemieux spelled out for investigators and sports fans how he had flooded the market with hundreds of thousands of fraudulent sports-related items over two decades, generating hundreds of millions of dollars for his company. Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey.

Last week, hundreds of Ukrainians took to the streets across the country protesting a government move to slash the independence of two anti-corruption agencies.Volodomyr Zelenskiy faced the first street protests against his presidency since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 after he signed a controversial law that would curb the independence of Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau and Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.Two days later, Mr Zelensky backtracked on the controversial changes after European officials warned the bill threatened to undermine Ukraine’s ongoing bid to join the union. Mr Zelensky also said he had “heard the public opinion”.However, is this U-turn enough to end the controversy? And why did the Ukrainian president introduce the bill in the first place?Today, on In The News, is Zelensky losing the trust of the Ukrainian people?Irish Times eastern Europe correspondent Dan McLaughlin discusses the fallout from Ukraine’s anti-corruption scandal, relations between Zelensky and Donald Trump and the latest on the front line of the war in Ukraine.Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Declan Conlon and Andrew McNair.