The Agenda

The housing crisis is trapping women in domestic violence situations between homelessness or staying with their abuser, according to the National Women’s Council.The council has made a submission to the Child and Family Homelessness Action Plan, which aims to reduce the amount of time spent in homeless emergency accommodation by children and their families.The National Women’s Council wants stronger legal protections for women and children in situations of domestic, gender-based, or sexual abuse to be able to remain in the family home.It says that women seeking to escape domestic violence with their children “are faced with stark choices — often having to choose between homelessness or returning to their abuser”.Ivanna Youtchak, Senior Policy Coordinator for violence against women at the NWC (National Women’s Council), joined us on The Agenda to tell us more about this.

EU countries may soon be able to find it easier to send asylum seekers to countries they did not come from, but that Europe deems “safe”.It’s after a majority of MEPs in the European Parliament agreed to the move during a contentious debate today in Strasbourg, where they also sought to further tighten migration policy via the creation of a list of countries prohibiting people from seeking asylum in the EU.The list – comprising Kosovo, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Morocco and Tunisia – was blasted by left-wing and left-of-centre groups as risking human rights breaches and putting people’s lives in danger.The measures will now be forwarded to the European Council and, if brought into effect, would speed up the processing of asylum claims and accelerate returns for some from the listed countries.Of Ireland’s 14 MEPs, three Fine Gael members – Seán Kelly, Regina Doherty and Nina Carberry – voted in favour of the safe countries proposal, and Regina Doherty joined us on Teh Agenda this morning to talk to us in more detail about this.

A Meath councillor has spoken out about misogyny in politics after facing what she described as “targeted, gendered” abuse on social media for raising concerns about coastal erosion along the Laytown–Bettystown coastline.Fine Gael councillor Sharon Tolan said she woke to more than 100 hostile comments after highlighting what she described as a serious public safety issue.Some of the messages included sexist remarks, with one reading: “Get back to the kitchen, you retarded c**t”.Despite the attacks, Councillor Tolan said she would not be deterred from raising issues affecting her community, and Councillor Tolan joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.

A scheme to compensate more than 800 survivors of the 1981 Stardust fire, which will see each person get €20,000, has been described as “absolutely horrendous” and a “fiasco”.Lawyers acting for survivors of the north Dublin nightclub inferno in which 48 young people died, say the survivors have been treated with “contempt” by the Department of Justice as promises made to them have been “reneged on”.In a statement on Tuesday, Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan said he was “very conscious” the 45th anniversary of the tragedy was “imminent” as he announced a scheme of ex gratia recognition payments to survivors injured in the blaze.We were joined on The Agenda this morning by Stardust survivor Antoinette Keegan, who described the compensation being offered as a "huge insult".

We were joined on The Agenda this morning by Independent TD in Meath-East, Gillian Toole, who spoke to us about why the Ashbourne Chamber of Commerce has come to the very difficult decision not to hold a St Patrick’s Day parade in the town of Ashbourne this year. Taking to social media last night, Ashbourne Chamber posted this message:“We regret to confirm that we are unable to organise a St Patrick’s Day Parade in Ashbourne in 2026. With so many of our committee retiring, we simply do not have the resources to organise such a large scale and complex event. If however, there are any organisations that feel they have the resources to take on the organisation of this event, please email us on info@ashbournechamber.ieWe would like to thanks High Street Ashbourne and our many other supporters for their continued support”Deputy Toole told us all about what is going on here.

A 48-year-old man who pleaded guilty to possessing child sexual abuse images has been remanded on bail for sentencing at Trim Circuit Court.The defendant’s property was searched as part of an investigation in 2015 after gardaí in Navan were informed about a video of concern uploaded by an IP address belonging to the accused.The video downloaded at the address in Navan town was flagged to gardaí in October 2014 by German authorities.Louise Hickey from The Irish Independent has been covering this harrowing story and joined us on The Agenda this morning to tell us more about this.

An Aontú Limerick councillor has called for an end to the "illegal and cruel practice" of sulky racing on public roads, following the death of a horse who was found still attached to its sulky cart.Councillor Sarah Beasley said she was "horrified" by a string of "inhumane cases where horses died as result of abject cruelty and serious neglect", and she claimed organisers are using social media to encourage the practice as well as betting on illegal races.Sulky racing has traditionally, but not solely, been an activity by members of the Traveller community. However, Councillor Beasley said: "I'm not calling out any community. I'm calling out an activity that kills horses, endangers the public, and enriches criminals".Councillor Beasly joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this. 

We were joined in-studio on The Agenda this morning by Labour TD for Louth, Ged Nash, who has formally written to Ministers Colm Brophy and Jim O’Callaghan ahead of the expiry of the IPAS contract with the D hotel in Drogheda, this month.Deputy Nash says that for local economic reasons, the government must allow the deal to expire on the agreed date, and that the hotel needs to be restored to full tourism use to help boost Drogheda. Deputy Nash spoke with Minister for Migration Colm Brophy this week, and has been raising the expiration of the contract with the Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan, for weeks now, via Parliamentary Questions.Deputy Nash spoke to us in more detail about all of this.