The Explainer

Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers are expected to strike tomorrow in a dispute over pay. Schools will close, non-urgent hospital services will be cancelled, and courts, council offices and OPW sites will shut their doors. Union leaders rejected the government’s offer of last-minute talks at the Workplace Relations Commission this week, so the strike looks set to go ahead. So how did we get here, who’s likely to be impacted, and will the strike action have the desired outcome in relation to pay?Laura Byrne speaks to our reporter Sophie Finn.

Budget 2027 has something for almost everyone: income tax changes, a welfare increase, a higher fuel allowance, a bigger renter’s credit, an expanded Help to Buy scheme and lower childcare costs. But how much of it will actually make a difference to people’s pockets?Dr Emma Howard, economist at TU Dublin, joins us to examine who gains most from the budget, whether the measures are reaching those under the greatest pressure, and why some of the government’s biggest interventions may do little to tackle the underlying problems in housing, energy and childcare.

For almost 30 years, the violent confrontations that once defined the Drumcree marching dispute had disappeared from the streets of Portadown. But a procedural error by the Parades Commission and a series of court challenges have reopened the dispute, with protesters blocking a heavily restricted Orange Order parade from passing along the Garvaghy Road. So how did Drumcree become one of Northern Ireland’s most contentious flashpoints, why has the dispute returned now, and how might the current standoff end? The Journal's reporter Diarmuid Pepper joins us after spending several days reporting on the ground.

Women can develop serious mental health difficulties at any point in the year after giving birth. But new reporting from The Journal Investigates has found that five of Ireland’s six specialist perinatal mental health hubs have stopped accepting new referrals after six months postpartum, while women outside major cities can face major barriers to accessing care. So why are services tightening access as demand rises, what happens to women who fall through the gaps, and will promised reforms make a difference? The Journal Investigates reporter Conor O’Carroll joins us.This episode was created with support from the News Reporting Scheme.

Music and politics have always shared a stage, but the fallout from Macklemore’s removal from Ed Sheeran’s United States tour has made clear how that can be an uneasy relationship. Zara Hedderman, music and arts journalist and author of the Bad Arts newsletter, joins us to examine who gets to decide what can be said on stage, and what happens when artists stand together and say no.

The far-right Alternative for Germany party won almost 44% of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt on Sunday, more than doubling its support and delivering its strongest ever result in a German state election. The result has shaken Chancellor Friedrich Merz's CDU and brought the AfD closer than ever to taking power at state level. Who is voting for the party, why is it particularly strong in eastern Germany, and what could its rise mean for the country as a whole? Deutsche Welle political correspondent and AfD specialist Matthew Moore joins us.