The Explainer

More than 14,000 hectares of Ireland’s coastline are covered by applications to commercially harvest seaweed, with four companies seeking to take almost 51,000 wet tonnes a year if their licences are approved. At the same time, the maritime regulator is investigating claims of potentially unauthorised harvesting in protected areas, while traditional harvesters and environmental campaigners are raising concerns about the industry’s rapid commercialisation. So who gets access to Ireland’s seaweed, how do historical harvesting rights fit into the licensing system, and can the regulator keep up? The Journal Investigates reporter Conor O’Carroll joins us.

The Journal is releasing a six-part series of The Explainer through Irish, focusing on some of the biggest stories affecting the language and the Gaeltacht areas. This week, commentator Cárthach Bán Breathnach joins us to explore the deep relationship between sport and the Irish language, and how Irish commentary found its place on our screens and airwaves.Ní haon breág é go bhfuil muintir na hÉireann gafa leis an spórt.Cloistear go minic go háirithe faoi TG4 agus an beart atá déanta acu gach cineál spóirt a chur chun cinn, ón rugbaí reigiúnach go hiománaíocht go sport na mban.Ach céard é an caidreamh atá ann idir an spórt agus an Ghaeilge, agus cén fáth go cloistear tráchtaireacht Gaeilge ar na haerthonnta go minic?Chun na ceisteanna seo a phlé, tá an tráchtaire Cárthach Bán Breathnach le The Journal faoin spórt agus an chaoi ina mbíonn an Ghaeilge fite fuaite leis an spórt.

Last autumn, RTÉ’s unscripted hit took the country by storm, drawing over 800,000 viewers, turning retired prison officers into household names, and proving that psychological deceit makes for irresistible television. Now, twenty-four new players are stepping into Slane Castle under the watchful eye of Siobhán McSweeney for season two of The Traitors Ireland. But what happens when a new cast arrives having studied every trick in the book? Assistant News Editor Lauren Boland joins us.

This summer, The Journal is releasing a six-part series of The Explainer podcast through Irish, focusing on some of the biggest stories affecting the language and the Gaeltacht areas. This week, we look at the state of Irish language education in Ireland, including calls to reform the school curriculum to focus on spoken Irish, the lack of government plans for new all-Irish schools, and the rising number of students securing exemptions from the subject.Déantar gearáin go minic faoi chaighdeán an oideachais Ghaeilge in Éirinn.Iarrtar ar an rialtas an Ghaeilge mar ábhar a athrú as éadan sna scoileanna agus níos mó béime a chur ar an labhairt seachas próslitríocht, filíocht agus an gramadach le haidhm go mbeadh níos mó daoine níos cumasaí ó thaobh na labhartha de.Bíonn brúghrúpaí ag iarraidh go mbeadh tuilleadh gaelscoileanna agus gaelcholáistí tógtha thar timpeall na tíre, ach níl plean ag an rialtas aon scoil lán-Ghaeilge a thógáil laistigh de chúig bliana.Chomh maith leis sin, tugadh le fios i mbliana go bhfuil 60,000 dalta in Éirinn díolúine ón nGaeilge ar scoil, agus mura dtagann feabhas ar ráta na ndíolúintí, beidh 20% de dhaltaí in Éirinn díolúine ón nGaeilge faoi 2030.Labhair muid leis an Léachtóir Emeritus Pádraig Ó Duibhir ón ionad taighde SEALBHÚ in Ollscoil Bhaile Átha Cliath faoi stad an ghaeloideachas in Éirinn.

Five teenage boys were killed when the BMW they were travelling in was driven the wrong way on the M9 in Kildare and collided with a car carrying three women and a seven-year-old boy. It came just over a week after a similar wrong-way crash on the M50 injured nine people.Videos have meanwhile spread on social media of teenagers in stolen cars driving at speed. What is behind this behaviour, why are gardaí so limited in how they can respond, and what would it take to stop it? Our own News Correspondent Niall O’Connor joins us.

The US midterm elections are still months away, but attention is already turning to the 2028 presidential race. Speculation about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has grown after the New York congresswoman said she was not ruling out a run and topped an early poll of Democratic voters in New Hampshire. Could AOC win the Democratic nomination, would she stand a chance in a general election, or would a run for the Senate make more sense? University of Galway law lecturer and The Journal political columnist Larry Donnelly joins us.