IRELAND'S EDGE

On this episode, The People Have The Power. While debates about social change often focus on Government policy, all across Ireland there are citizens and volunteers taking it upon themselves to create the change they want to see in their communities.At Ireland’s Edge, Muireann Kelliher spoke to three such inspiring individuals to hear their stories and ask them how we can better harness the creativity and commitment of citizens in addressing our social problems . Fidaa Marouf came to Ireland from Syria five years ago and is now studying dentistry as a Quercus Active Citizen Scholar,at University College Cork; Kevin Baker was the Chairperson of the Dublin Cycling Campaign and Dinny Galvin who joined us earlier in this series is a local farmer from here in Kerry. 

Ireland is enjoying an unprecedented boom in corporate tax receipts, with tens of millions from multinationals and the tech and pharmaceutical sectors helping to create a huge government budget surplus. While the government predicts that its annual surplus will rise to an incredible 20 billion euros in the next few years, some of that boom will certainly be temporary as corporate giants shift their profits around the globe. So, what happens after the gold rush? Leo Clancy is the CEO of Enterprise Ireland, the government agency tasked with helping indigenous Irish businesses grow and export, with the goal of creating a more sustainable domestic economy. He previously worked on the management team at Ireland’s Industrial Development authority, which has spent decades attracting foreign direct investment into the country.  In front of a live audience at Ireland’s Edge Leo spoke to Muireann Kelliher about his own career and the prospects for Irish business in the economy.

Trans people continue to face discrimination and demonisation with their real lives and experiences too often ignored by a public debate fuelled by toxic myths and hatred. The writer and journalist Shon Faye’s bestselling book The Transgender Issue argues that we have been having the wrong conversation by making trans people seen but not heard, and that trans justice is justice for all. At Ireland’s Edge in Dingle, Shon spoke to Ireland’s Edge host Christopher Kissane about her book and her work, telling him about her childhood holidays in Ireland, her dating advice column for Vogue, and her queer history podcast, Call Me Mother.  Today’s episode features a short excerpt from that discussion where Shon and Chris talk about the need for social solidarity against hate and intolerance. Chris asks Shon to tell us about her work revealing the shocking scale of social problems like unemployment, homelessness and self-harm that far too many trans people still have to deal with.

Our rural and coastal communities are facing great environmental and economic challenges. The dominance of industrial agriculture and the threat of climate change have forced many to reflect on how we can both preserve and create sustainable ways of life. On today’s episode we meet some of the inspiring people working on fascinating local projects on the Dingle Peninsula, Co Kerry asking, "what future is in our fields?’ In front of a live audience at Ireland’s Edge in Dingle, Ella McSweeney, presenter of RTE’s Ear To The Ground, was joined by artist and activist Lisa Fingleton and local farmers Tommy Reidy and Dinny Galvin. 

Brexit, the housing crisis and the covid pandemic have all presented challenges to Ireland’s economy and public finances in recent years. Overseeing the Government's financial response has been Fine Gael TD Paschal Donohoe who served as Minister for Finance from 2017 until late last year, and is now Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. Donohoe has also taken a leading role in the European Union’s financial response to Brexit and the pandemic as President of the Eurogroup as which he has just begun as second term. In front of a live audience at Ireland's Edge, the Minister spoke to Other Voices founder Philip King.

Earlier this month at least 86 men, women and children drowned off the coast of Calabria trying to seek refuge in Italy. In the last decade tens of thousands of refugees and migrants have died in the Mediterranean, creating what Pope Francis has called Europe's largest graveyard. Attempts by European’s governments to turn the continent into ‘fortress Europe’ have created a humanitarian catastrophe for those fleeing drought, famine, war and depression. Much of the reporting of this ongoing tragedy has been done by Irish journalist Sally Hayden whose recent book The Fourth Time We Drowned won the Orwell Prize, and was named the An Post Irish Book of the Year. Sally’s courageous work has revealed the human stories of those who have faced violence, abuse and even death in Libyan detention camps funded by European governments and the lengths to which international institutions have gone to cover up such crimes. In 2008, Sally received a Facebook message that began, ‘ Hi sister Sally, we need your help’. In the conversations that followed she discovered how people were being detained in Libya in the most horrendous conditions. In front of a live audience at Ireland's Edge in Dingle, she spoke to Ireland's Edge host Chris Kissane about Europe's moral responsibilities in a time of refugee crises and mass migration.

With environmental and economic pressures squeezing those who grow, process and cook our food, how can we think creatively about building a fairer and more sustainable future for food and farming in Ireland, and how do the traditional arts and folk customs play a role in this?Cúán Greene is a chef who has worked in some of the world’s finest fine dining restaurants and now edits the Omós digest, a newsletter exploring food, culture and community. Ella McSweeney presents RTE’s Ear To The Ground, and her reporting for the Guardian and other newspapers has exposed major scandals on meat processing and fishing here in Ireland.  Edwina Guckian is an award winning sean-nós dancer and rural activist from co Leitrim where she has been active in reviving and promoting cultural traditions. In conversation with Ireland's Edge host Christopher Kissane in front of a live audience in Dingle they discuss the impact of the covid on the farming community. Featuring a special performance from Edwina and acclaimed concertina player, Cormac Begley.

How do we make sense of geopolitical upheaval?  The ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine has highlighted radical changes in international affairs but the nature of a new global political order is far from clear; with complex crises of energy and food security bubbling under shifts of strategic power alliances.John Kampfner has covered international  politics for more than 35 years. He reported on the fall of the Berlin wall and the dissolution of the soviet union for the Daily Telegraph before working as chief political correspondent for the Financial Times. At the BBC he covered politics for  The Today programme and Newsnight and later edited the New Statesman. His books on Russia, Germany, capitalism and democracy have become bestsellers and he currently serves as Executive Director of the U.K in the World Project at Chatham House, Britain’s leading  foreign policy Think Tank. In front of a live audience at Ireland’s Edge in Dingle, John spoke to Murieann Kelliehr about a world in flux.

"Russia’s invasion of Ukraine today is a neo-colonial war, it’s an attempt to restore their imperial geopolitical blueprint" - Olesya Zdorovetska On this episode, the Home Font of the Russian invasion of Ukrainians in Ireland. Just over a year ago, Russia launched an imperialist invasion of Ukraine. The brutal effects of Russian aggression have forced millions of Ukrainian refugees to flee their home country and there are now tens of thousands of Ukrainians here in Ireland. Singer and composer Olesya Zdorovetska has lived here for over a decade, while academic Larysa Samosonok arrived in the early weeks of the war.  In front of a live audience at Irelands’ Edge in Dingle, Olesya and Larysa spoke to Muireann Kelliher about experiencing the invasion of their homeland from Ireland, and what we all need to understand about Ukraines fight  for survival.