The Agenda

Residents in Ashbourne are raising serious concerns about a rise in anti-social behaviour, with reports that vulnerable members of the community are being directly targeted. Some pregnant women say they are now afraid to leave their homes due to intimidation and threats from groups of youths. There have also been disturbing accounts of racial abuse directed at local shop workers and the situation has sparked anger and concern among locals, who are calling for stronger action to restore safety and accountability in the area.To tell us more, we were joined on The Agenda this morning by Fine Gael Councillor Alan Tobin, who recently met with the residents of the Killegland apartments, where a lot of the anti-social behaviour is taking place.Councillor Tobin told us all about this.

The annual delegate conference for rank and file gardaí will hear an emergency motion to call for action against threats made to members during the recent fuel protests. The Garda Representative Association (GRA) will meet in Westport, Co Mayo this week to discuss a range of topics. It is understood that representatives from across the country have raised the issue with gardaí in the south east requesting a discussion on the topic. Last week The Journal reported that gardaí had launched investigations into multiple incidents of so-called doxxing, where the personal details of a targeted person, such as their address, are released online.We were joined on The Agenda this morning by Dundalk native Brendan O’Connor from the GRA, who spoke to us in more detail about this.

More than 40 adults living in emergency accommodation in Co Meath are currently in employment.Figures released by Meath County Council show that 44 adults in emergency accommodation have reported being in work.The data was provided in response to a question from Independent councillor Alan Lawes at the April meeting of Meath County Council, where he sought clarity on how many people in emergency housing are employed.The council confirmed that, as of March 30, 2025, a total of 312 adults were living in emergency accommodation across the county.However, it cautioned that the true number of those in employment may be higher, as only the employment status of the lead member of each household is recorded.Councillor Lawes joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.

The Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris has said government responses to the energy crisis must be "fiscally responsible" amid warnings from the IMF about growing global indebtedness and the risk of higher public spending to offset rising fuel costs.Tánaiste Harris was signatory to a joint letter issued in Washington by 11 finance ministers in which they said they were "committed to managing the economic response to and recovery from this crisis in a coordinated, responsible and responsive way".The IMF warned last week that in many parts of the world there had been "no meaningful progress in repairing budgets" in 2025 and that the window for "orderly fiscal adjustment" was narrowing. Tánaiste Simon Harris joined us on The Agenda this morning to discuss this and he told us that Government will provide more supports for people "if and when its needed". We also discussed last week’s motion of no confidence in Government and the pushback against Taoiseach Michaéal Martin… And the Tanaiste is visiting County Louth today, we will be finding out why… and heard about Drogheda and Dundalk recently being officially added to the “Living City Initiative”, a tax relief scheme aimed at regenerating urban centres... and whether the Tánaiste would like to see Drogheda upgraded to city status.

This morning on The Agenda we had our weekly edition of ‘The LMFM Roundtable’, where we will be joined in-studio by 3 contributors to discuss and debate the big stories of the week. This week we discussed the ongoing protests in relation to the fuel crisis, confidence in the Government as they survive another motion of no confidence this week, racism against healthcare workers in Ireland, and… do you know the Irish National Anthem?

Over the past month on The Agenda we have been covering the massive problem parents in Dunshaughlin are having over a lack of school places for their children. The issue of school places in Dunshaughlin remains “unresolved” for a number of families, despite progress in securing additional capacity at one local school, a Meath TD has said.Sinn Féin TD, Darren O'Rourke, said the situation has entered a “critical new phase”, with around 25 children still awaiting places in “Irish-medium education”.Additional places have recently been committed at Dunshaughlin Community National School, but demand for places at Gaelscoil na Ríthe remains high, however, not all parents have received places despite promises from local Government.We were on The Agenda this morning by Aine McKenna, who has been keeping us up to date with all the latest developments on this - Aine still has no school place for her daughter, depsite multiple promises from Government that there would a place secured for her daughter.

Concerns were raised this week over how a motion relating to Ireland’s military neutrality was handled at a meeting of Meath County Council.Aontú councillor Emer Tóibín criticised what she described as a “deliberate attempt to shut down democratic debate” during the April meeting of the local authority.The councillor had brought forward a motion calling on the council to reaffirm its support for the retention of Ireland’s Triple Lock mechanism.However, the motion was defeated by 15 votes to 10, with two abstentions, after a procedural vote was passed to move directly to a decision.Following Councillor Tóibín’s contribution, Fine Gael councillor Gerry O’Connor called for a vote, bypassing any further discussion on the motion.Councillor Toibin and Councillor O’Connor joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.

The rising cost of living and its impact on workers will be discussed at a meeting between unions, business groups and Government leaders.The Taoiseach will chair the Labour Employer Economic Forum (LEEF) which will also be attended by the Tánaiste, Minister for Public Expenditure, Minister for Enterprise, and Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment.They will hold talks with representatives from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) and employer groups including Ibec.ICTU sought the meeting to discuss the impact of rising prices on workers, particularly high fuel costs.General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions Owen Reidy joined us on The Agenda this morning to talk to us some more about this.

Today on The Agenda we heard from an LMFM listener who is urging people to protest at the homes of politicans in order to get them to listen to the people - she says the recent protests didnt work so it is time to go their homes.We also spoke to Fianna Fail TD Malcolm Byrne, who said that going to the homes of politicans is "crossing a line" and "should never happen".Deputy Byrne also told us about legislation he is drafting up in relation to this to make it an offence for people to protest at the homes of politicians.