The Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast

The €300m universal Hot School Meals Programme has been running nationally for a full year and a review of the scheme brought to Cabinet this week highlights serious issues with nutritional value and food waste.Critics have been highlighting these problems along with issues like trucks of pre-cooked food being sent across the country and the use of 100 million disposable packaging items per year.The Government has responded to the review by committing to provide a cold lunch option each day and by expanding the range of portion sizes – however, experts say the scheme needs to be re-examined from the ground up.On today's episode of The Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast, Irish Examiner food writer and food policy expert Dr Michelle Darmody and children's cookbook author Jolene Cox discuss the scheme's teething problems and look at best practice in other countries.The scheme was originally implemented in order to provide a hot meal with no stigma for children living in poverty, but according to Cox, it often does not reach those children."Just because a child is hungry doesn't mean they're going to eat just anything," says Jolene Cox, "and it's very condescending of us to say that it's those children that are eating the meals, you know, that they're so hungry."Like, what is such a disservice to the hungry child is that they're actually refusing it and they're going home. There's a meal put down there - the standard is that bad that they're actually not eating it."Dr Michelle Darmody has conducted extensive research into how other countries operate school meal schemes – she has visited schools where food is sourced locally and cooked onsite."In the report yesterday, when you kind of take a deeper dive into it, only 7% of the meals meet the five basic nutrition standards that they have set themselves," she explains."14% of the meals meet the standard of serving of two veg or fruit, while 50% of the meals contain no vegetables at all. And 15% of the meals were still said to contain high salt, fat and sugar, even though the minister had announced in April 2025 these were banned," she adds.Community initiatives like the Duhallow Community Food Hub provide a working model that other areas of the country could emulate, says Darmody.Listen to The Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.Revamp of free school meals programme to include cold lunch option'Our children need to be fed right': This North Cork organisation cooks 3,000 meals every dayOur school meals programme must use community hubs and on-site kitchens cooking local produceJolene Cox: Hot school meals are a great idea — but we can do it better

Across Cork city, homes, businesses and vacant properties have been falsely listed on Google Maps as vape shops. But these aren't genuine retailers. Many direct users to encrypted messaging apps where drugs including THC vapes, ecstasy, LSD and psychoactive mushrooms are openly advertised for sale.Irish Examiner reporter Alex Cunningham spent weeks investigating the issue, speaking to residents whose addresses had been falsely used, contacting those behind the accounts, and uncovering how drug sellers are using online platforms to reach customers.Alex joins the Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast to discuss Cork's fake vape shops problemhttps://www.irishexaminer.com/news/spotlight/arid-41909575.html

25 years after the era-defining day that two hijacked planes hit the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, the impact is still being felt worldwide by countless people.In New York itself, people are still picking up the pieces of their lives, with many of those who helped on that day left to fight for justice.The death toll on the day was 2,996 people, but the death toll in the years since from cancers and other conditions caused by the toxic dust and the cleanup effort is far higher.Irish Examiner Deputy Political Editor Paul Hosford has been in New York meeting firefighters, construction workers, ambulance staff, residents, politicians and journalists who shared their memories of the day and its impact on their lives.

On Monday at the Fianna Fáil think-in the Government announced what they called the “biggest reform of Ireland’s citizenship rules in a generation”.Tomorrow, Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan will bring to Cabinet a new bill setting out onerous new rules for migrants who want to become Irish citizens.The rules, which will affect people who already live and work here, include an eight year waiting time before applying, a block on people who have received certain social welfare payments becoming citizens, an English (or Irish) language proficiency test, and conditions around habitual residency. They will also impact spouses of Irish citizens.Political correspondent Louise Burne joins Deirdre for a rundown of the new rules, a discussion of the political context behind them and the reaction from politics and civil society groups.Citizenship rules to tighten by end of this yearNew citizenship rules would require eight years’ residence, language test and civics examNumber of people immigrating to Ireland fell by 12% this year, new figures showUkrainians being moved out of Citywest: ‘We need a place to survive, that’s it’

The criminal courts have been in turmoil over the past few months as a dispute between Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan and criminal defence solicitors who work for legal aid clients has spilled over into courtrooms. Those accused of a crime are appearing in court with nobody to advise them, cases are being put on the long finger and judges and rights organisations are beginning to speak up about the lack of justice for vulnerable people.Irish Examiner News Reporter Grainne Ni Aodha has been covering this story and is today’s guest on the Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast.  Solicitors' walkout raises fears of 'covid-level backlog' in court cases as legal aid strike continues'Things need to be moved on': Warning of legal challenges over solicitors' pay disputeOngoing legal aid dispute poses 'grave public risk', solicitors warn‘It’s a siege mentality’: Minister accused of downplaying disruption caused by solicitors' strikeWithdrawal of services by solicitors not justified, says TaoiseachSarah Harte: Jim O'Callaghan should look closer to home to solve legal delays 

Growing up a Jehovah’s Witness in rural Co Tipperary was not your typical Irish childhood.Weekends spend proselytising, no Christmas or birthdays and very little interaction with the world beyond the community meant Trish Bourke was a very sheltered teenager when she was groomed by an older man.In her book UnWitnessed, Trish writes movingly about her steps away from the faith that shaped her, the predatory relationship she fell into and a termination she went through as a result, and her eventual discovery of her place in the world.From being called a murderer by her devout family, and a loving but sexless marriage to teaching computer literacy to Martin Sheen, her story is full of twists, turns and contradictions.Trish Bourke is today’s guest on The Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast. Her book, UnWitnessed, is published by Menma Books and available at unwitnessed.net.  

Jung Chang achieved worldwide acclaim for her autobiographical work Wild Swans, published in 1992.The book told the story of her grandmother, a warlord’s concubine whose feet were bound, her mother, a Communist Party official who suffered under Mao, and herself, one of the first students permitted to leave China to study in the West in the 1970s.Since its publication Jung has become a prolific writer and historian of China but her biography of Mao, written with her Irish husband Jon Halliday, put her on the wrong side of the Communist Party’s propaganda.Her new book, Fly Wild Swans, tells the story of her life since Wild Swans’ publication – particularly her increasingly difficult relationship with the Chinese authorities.In this interview with Deirdre O’Shaughnessy recorded in front of a live audience at the West Cork Literary Festival, Jung describes how her life changed when the Party became displeased with her; her difficulty in visiting China since the publication of the Mao book; and, for the first time, she discusses the death of her beloved mother, whose life story inspired millions in Wild Swans.This episode of The Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast was recorded live at the Maritime Hotel Bantry as part of the West Cork Literary Festival 2026. See westcorkmusic.ie.  

The world is awash with parenting advice – every newspaper and TV show has a parenting slot, and once the algorithm notices something up with your menstrual cycle you will be bombarded with it, from pregnancy right through to parenting young adults, with strong opinions on attachment styles, feeding advice, gentle parenting and more.But Irish Examiner columnist Dr Colman Noctor, who is a child and adult psychotherapist and a mental health lecturer, argues in a new series, every child needs to be parented differently – but crucially, this isn’t just up to their own parents.In his new series he looks at important parts of childhood – school, sports and friendships – through a lens of parenting different children according to their needs. And his recommendations might surprise.“If your child is thriving and they're popular and they're bright and they're clever, there's an onus of responsibility on them to be nice about that, to be a little bit gracious about it, because you have that power to include,” he says.He believes that a lot of modern parenting advice is treating challenges as an isolated challenge for one family –when, in fact, community is often what’s missing from modern parenting.The reliance on AI and online advice, meanwhile, means many parents are missing out on real connection.“Parenting is a very lonely journey for many people. And if you don't have the village of people saying, you're doing a good job and you're doing great and this is working and all that sort of stuff, you're going to turn to the advice,” he adds.Supporting children with friendships, promoting inclusion so that parents aren’t fighting problems in isolation, and making sure more capable children include others across school, sports and friendship is key to the advice in his new series.In this episode Colman and Deirdre discuss the importance of community and connection in parenting, inclusion, and how to be consistent when every child needs you to show up as a different parent.You can read Colman’s column in ieParenting every Tuesday.Read Colman’s weekly columns in ieParenting here: Columns - Irish ExaminerThe Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast: School holidays and the motherhood penaltyThe Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast: The year of care campaign, with Aolish Gormley