The Agenda

Frequent breakdowns and delays in the Navan Town Bus service has seen a drop in the number of trips taken over the past year.Some 394,000 trips were taken on buses in Navan over the past twelve months, down by 21,000 on last year, according to figures provided to Cllr Eddie Fennessy by Meath County Council.The fall comes following years of increased numbers using the service, which had been much improved in recent years.Aontu Councillor in Navan, Emer Toibin, joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.

Midlands-North-West MEP Ciaran Mullooly has called on the Minister for Agriculture Martin Hayden to reject the so-called Mercosur “safety clause” proposals, describing them as wholly inadequate and completely unacceptable.The Minister for Agriculture Martin Hayden was asked to travel to Rome on Tuesday for urgent crucial discussions with his Italian counterpart ahead of another attempt by the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to force a vote on the controversial EU Mercosur trade deal.The Independent Ireland MEP said he has spoken in the last 24 hours to farming representative groups in Italy and around Europe and commented that, the new proposals do nothing to address the severe income losses Irish beef farmers and their European counterparts will suffer if the Mercosur trade agreement is signed off by the Irish Minister for Agriculture at EU level on Wednesday.Ciaran joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.

Donald Trump and his team are discussing “a range of options” to acquire Greenland, including using the US military, according to the White House. In a statement, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it’s vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region.It comes after the governments of Greenland and Denmark requested a meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss the US President’s latest threats to annex the autonomous Danish territory. Trump’s military intervention in Venezuela, which involved kidnapping the country’s authoritarian leader and his wife, has reignited fears for Greenland.We were joined on The Agenda this morning by law lecturer at the University of Galway and political columnist with The Journal, Larry Donnelly, who gave us all the latest on this.

Almost one in five Irish holidaymakers experienced issues with foreign holidays between May and August of last year – with some being left thousands of euro out of pocket.New research from the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has found that people spend almost €2,500 on flights and accommodation, meaning it pays to check what their rights would be in the event they run into a problem with their holiday.The consumer watchdog’s warning comes amid an expected surge in people booking a holiday to look forward towards as a boost during the January gloom.Deputy Director of Communications at CCPC, Orla Delargy, joined us on The Agenda this morning to tell us more about this.

US and Ukrainian officials will continue talks over security guarantees for Ukraine, both sides said, after meetings with Western allies yielded breakthroughs including a US-led monitoring mechanism and a European multinational force to be deployed after any ceasefire with Russia.Following the largest meeting yet of the 'Coalition of the Willing' in Paris, both European leaders and US envoys hailed progress that hid tensions in recent days over US foreign policy under President Donald Trump.But the security guarantees for Ukraine would only come into force once a ceasefire is agreed to end the almost four-year war sparked by Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion.We were joined on The Agenda this morning by Minister of State for European Affairs and Defence and Meath-East TD, Thomas Byrne, who spoke to us some more about this.

Irish authorities are being urged to take action against X after reports its AI tool, Grok, is being used to generate and disseminate sexually explicit images of children and women.X users have been able to avail of a new tool called “edit image” on Grok since late last month.Users are allowed to request modifications to images, with some using it to remove clothing from real people in the images. Concern has been raised about use of the tool in the generation of sexual abuse material, particularly relating to children.Sharon Lambert, President elect of the Psychological Society of Ireland & Senior Lecturer in Applied Psychology at UCC, said action should be taken against the tech giant by Irish authorities, given X’s headquarters for Europe, Africa and the Middle East is located in Dublin.Sharon joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about thisWe also spoke to Chairperson of Digital Rights Ireland and Law Lecturer in UCD, TJ McIntyrne, about the calls from the ICCL and DRI on Gardai to investigate X for Grok child sexual abuse material

A Louth councillor says local authority tenants in the county who want to buy their homes should be allowed avail of both a council home loan and the First Home Scheme.The Green Party's Marianne Butler has highlighted how Louth County Council issued over 30 home loans with a value of approximately €5.5 million in 2023, but the local government auditor has highlighted that the following year just 14 new loans were issued. She thinks tenants should be allowed to combine the loan with the First Home Scheme.Councillor Butler joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.

Sinn Féin TD for Meath East, Darren O’Rourke, has today issued an urgent call for the Government and Uisce Éireann to immediately address the crippling water supply shortages affecting homes in Dunboyne.Teachta O'Rourke said:"The situation in Dunboyne is beyond a crisis point. It is a scandal. Families are forced to buy bottled water to maintain basic sanitation. Many have been unable to flush toilets regularly or use washing machines and dishwashers over the entire Christmas period. This is not a minor inconvenience, it is a profound failure that is impacting people’s hygiene, health, and basic dignity. I have been contacted by constituents in Kilbreena and Millfarm and estates on the Summerhill Road. I am sure there are others too. This lack of basic service is simply unacceptable in this day and age”. Deputy O’Rourke joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.

The M50 that wraps around Dublin continues to be the motorway with the highest number of incidents, collisions and traffic levels in Ireland.Indeed, the seriousness of the situation is borne out by data as there were more crashes in the first 10 months of last year than in all of 2024.Everything from crashes and breakdowns to wandering pedestrians and animals has marked the M50 as a motorway of mayhem, often with multiple incidents daily.There were 682 crashes on the motorway from January 1 to October 31 last compared to 676 in all of 2024.Transport expert & CEO of the Board of the Royal Irish Automobile Club, Conor Faughnan, joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.