In 2021, GP Paddy Davern returned to Ireland after eight years working as a doctor in Qatar. Four years on, the Tipperary man is still struggling to come to terms with the time he spent working with the Special Operations Service (SOS), a specialist medical team treating the country’s royals and other VIPs.

In today’s episode, Irish Times health correspondent Shauna Bowers shares Dr Davern's traumatic experience in Qatar and explains why he is now speaking out about the working conditions and ethical dilemmas he faced during his time there.

Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Suzanne Brennan and Andrew McNair. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The prescription of pain medication among Irish patients, including highly addictive opioids, is rapidly rising, according to new research.

The use of opioids has increased by 25 per cent in Ireland, while the prescription of paracetamol rose 50 per cent between 2014-2022, according to a study published last week in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.

The prescription of even stronger medication, like codeine and opioids including tapentadol and oxycodone, is rising even higher.

This sharp increase in pain medication prescriptions by doctors in Ireland contrasts starkly with the approach in England, where the NHS is cracking down on the overuse of these potentially-addictive medicines.

Why are so many doctors prescribing this heavy-dose medication?

And is this growing reliance on opioids at risk of become an addiction crisis for patients seeking pain relief?

Today, on In The News, is Ireland heading towards an opioid addiction crisis?

Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (RCSI) associate professor Frank Moriarty, who co-authored the study into how pain is treated in Ireland, discusses the significant rise in opioid prescriptions.

Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Andrew McNair.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last week, in the early hours of Tuesday, August 5th, Martha Nolan-O’Slattara was found unconscious on a boat at an exclusive yacht club in the Hamptons. She was later pronounced dead by first responders.

The 33-year-old entrepreneur from Co Carlow had been living in the United States for nearly a decade where she had set a series of pop-up clothes boutiques and lived in Manhattan’s upper east side.

US police are now trying to piece together the events that led up to the death of this young Irish woman after the result of a preliminary examination were deemed inconclusive. A final postmortem report will reportedly take at least three months to complete.

Irish Times reporter Niamh Browne discusses the Irish fashion entrepreneur’s life and untimely death.

Presented by Sorcha Pollak.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has continued to defend his government’s plan to escalate the war in Gaza, despite widespread international condemnation and outrage.

The Israeli leader claims his security cabinet’s decision to capture Gaza City, which could mean months, possibly years, of combat ahead, is “the best way to end the war, and the best way to end it speedily”.

The plan has resulted in protests across Israel with calls for a total end to the war and the release of hostages. Israeli military leaders have also opposed the plan.

Meanwhile, starvation continues to spread across Gaza, with Israel permitting just a fraction of the aid needed to address the catastrophic levels of hunger into the strip.

And this week, five journalists, including a prominent Al Jazeera reporter, were killed in a targeted Israeli air strike. Their deaths bring to 192 the total number of journalists who have died since the war in Gaza nearly two years ago, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Why, in the face of all this, is Mr Netanyahu pushing ahead to reoccupy Gaza City, despite overwhelming opposition to his plan?

Today, on In The News, Netanyahu says the plan to control Gaza city will end the war. But, is that what he really wants?

Irish Times contributor Mark Weiss discusses the fallout from the Israeli Government’s decision to take control of Gaza city.

Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Aideen Finnegan and Andrew Mc Nair. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the heart of Limerick city sits a newly-built six storey landmark, offered as a gift by JP McManus to Limerick City and County Council. The billionaire businessman had a vision for an iconic tourist attraction in the southwest, offering a boost to the area and honouring Ireland's proud rugby tradition. The International Rugby Experience opened to great fanfare in May 2023, but was shuttered just 19 months later amid a bitter row between McManus and the local authority. The city's directly-elected mayor refused to take the gift. Now the red-bricked white elephant has become a metaphor for intractable local politics or a billionaire's vanity project, depending on who you ask. So what happened behind the scenes to collapse the scrum and what efforts are underway now to try and end the impasse? Limerick journalist and Irish Times contributor Brian Carroll tells the story of the ill-fated International Rugby Experience.

Presented by Aideen Finnegan. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Seven years ago, in September 2018, the Government approached a company called Brimwood Ltd asking for help to secure extra accommodation in hotels and B & Bs for asylum seekers.

While the number of international protection applicants arriving in Ireland was significantly lower at that time when compared with today – nearly 6,000 in 2018 compared with almost 33,000 in 2025 – the State’s direct provision system had reached full capacity and needed temporary additional beds.

Brimwood Ltd, which is now unlimited and so does not have to publish financial accounts where it might show the profits it makes, is run by Séamus ‘Banty’ McEnaney and his two daughters Sarah and Laura. It is just one of a number of companies owned by the wider McEnaney family which provide accommodation for asylum seekers and homeless people.

Before 2018, McEnaney’s name was synonymous with Monaghan GAA, but these days, the businessman is more likely to be associated with the State’s asylum system.

How did McEnaney build up his property empire and how much have his family’s companies earned through the provision of emergency accommodation?

And who is to blame for the lucrative contracts being paid to secure this accommodation – private operators or the Government?

Today, on In The News, how one family earned millions from housing refugees and homeless people.

Irish Times reporters Colm Keena and Sorcha Pollak discuss their investigation into the McEnaney family’s earnings and how the State has become so reliant on private operators to house refugees and the homeless.

Presented by Aideen Finnegan. Produced by Suzanne Brennan, Andrew McNair and John Casey.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

British socialite Constance Marten, 38, and her partner convicted rapist Mark Gordon, 51, prompted a 53-day police manhunt when they went on the run with their newborn daughter in the depths of winter two years ago.

That hunt ended in tragedy after the decomposed body of their baby, Victoria, was discovered in a shopping bag buried under rubbish in Brighton; the couple were camping nearby.

While no definitive cause of the baby’s death could be established, they were found guilty in July of her manslaughter by gross negligence.

The scenes in the Old Bailey in London were as chaotic as their lives and the details that emerged of the birth and death of their daughter were harrowing.

It is thought they went on the run when Marten was pregnant as their four young children had already been taken into care.

Their sentencing is expected in September.

In the second of two episodes on their case, BBC news correspondent Helena Wilkinson takes us inside the courtroom and explains why it "was the most extraordinary trial" she has ever reported on.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

British socialite Constance Marten, 38, and her partner convicted rapist Mark Gordon, 51, prompted a 53-day police manhunt when they went on the run with their newborn daughter in the depths of winter two years ago.

That hunt ended in tragedy after the decomposed body of their baby, Victoria, was discovered in a shopping bag buried under rubbish in Brighton; the couple were camping nearby.

While no definitive cause of the baby’s death could be established, they were found guilty in July of her manslaughter by gross negligence.

The scenes in the Old Bailey in London were as chaotic as their lives and the details that emerged of the birth and death of their daughter were harrowing.

It is thought they went on the run when Marten was pregnant as their four young children had already been taken into care.

Their sentencing is expected in September.

BBC news correspondent Helena Wilkinson takes us inside the courtroom and explains how the tragic case unfolded.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kerry farmer Michael Gaine’s disappearance on March 20th was first treated as a missing person’s case.

Soon though, it was upgraded to a murder investigation as the Garda searched for his body and explored multiple lines of inquiry.

Then the farmer’s body was found – in the most grisly of circumstances. He had been dismembered with his body parts deposited into the silage pit on his farm.

One such line of inquiry involved Michael Kelley, an American who lived and worked on Gaine’s 1,000-acre farm for the past three years.

Kelley has identified himself to the media as having been arrested and questioned in relation to Gaine’s murder. He was released without charge.

So is he and what was he doing in Kerry? How did he come to live and work on the Gaine farm? And why is he giving interviews?

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

This episode was originally broadcast in June 2025.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sports memorabilia is big business in the United States.  

Exceptional athletes can attain God-like status very quickly there, and everybody wants a piece.  

The baseball that Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers hit for his 50th home run last season, recently sold for $4.3 million. 

And if you are into buying sports memorabilia, chances are at some point you logged on to a website called Mister Man Cave, which boasts one of the largest football, baseball and basketball autograph inventories on the web. 

That’s what it looked like, but all wasn’t as it seemed. 

During an investigation into fraud and counterfeiting at Mister Man Cave, its owner 45-year-old Brett Lemieux took his own life.  

Host Bernice Harrison is joined by Irish Times contributor and America at Large columnist Dave Hannigan, who explains that before his death, in a Facebook post, Lemieux spelled out for investigators and sports fans how he had flooded the market with hundreds of thousands of fraudulent sports-related items over two decades, generating hundreds of millions of dollars for his company. 

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last week, hundreds of Ukrainians took to the streets across the country protesting a government move to slash the independence of two anti-corruption agencies.

Volodomyr Zelenskiy faced the first street protests against his presidency since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 after he signed a controversial law that would curb the independence of Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau and Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.

Two days later, Mr Zelensky backtracked on the controversial changes after European officials warned the bill threatened to undermine Ukraine’s ongoing bid to join the union. Mr Zelensky also said he had “heard the public opinion”.

However, is this U-turn enough to end the controversy? And why did the Ukrainian president introduce the bill in the first place?

Today, on In The News, is Zelensky losing the trust of the Ukrainian people?

Irish Times eastern Europe correspondent Dan McLaughlin discusses the fallout from Ukraine’s anti-corruption scandal, relations between Zelensky and Donald Trump and the latest on the front line of the war in Ukraine.

Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Declan Conlon and Andrew McNair. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Tuesday, after weeks of warnings, and growing reports of young children dying from malnutrition and starvation, a famine alert was issued for Gaza.

UN-backed hunger experts announced that the “worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip”.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative (IPC) said the latest evidence of widespread starvation, malnutrition and disease indicated famine thresholds had been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip.

The UN’s world Food Programme also warned the disaster unfolding in Gaza was reminiscent of the famine seen in Ethiopia in the 20th century. On today’s In the News podcast, Dr Morgan McMonagle, an Irish trauma and vascular surgeon who has travelled to Gaza twice since the war began, describes how life in the strip has become “worse than hell on earth”.

Video footage and pictures “do not do justice to the destruction” playing out in Gaza, he said. Children are undergoing surgery “for the most horrific injuries from the most sophisticated million dollar war machines,” he added.

“What Gazan people need right now, more than a ceasefire, is food. Food and water. They don’t even need medicine, because medicine is no good without food and water.”

Today, on In The News, an Irish surgeon on the reality of violence and starvation in Gaza.

The Irish Times contacted the Israeli government and Israel Defence Forces requesting that they respond to the points raised by Dr McMonagle in this podcast but they did not reply.

Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Andrew McNair and Declan Conlon. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Sunday, shortly after playing a round of golf at his luxury Turnberry resort in Scotland, US president Donald Trump agreed to a trade deal with the EU commission president.

It followed months of tension and shifting deadlines over a threatened 30 per cent tariff and all-out trade war, which would have been devastating for the Irish economy.

And while 15 per cent avoids the worst case scenario, business leaders here like IBEC chief executive Danny McCoy claim “Europe has capitulated” by accepting the deal.

Sow how exactly will these tariffs affect Irish businesses and what are the longer term implications?

Was Ms von der Leyen correct in agreeing to it or should the EU have followed French president Emmanuel Macron’s call to hit back hard against US trade threats with a more aggressive response?

Irish Times acting Europe Correspondent Jack Power and economics and finance writer Cliff Taylor join the podcast to discuss the fallout.

Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Declan Conlon, Aideen Finnegan and Andrew McNair.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The attack on an Indian man on a suburban street in south Dublin two weeks ago by a gang of teenagers was fuelled by racism and online misinformation.

The married father of one, who had left his wife and child in India to take up a job in Dublin just weeks before, was brutally assaulted, robbed and stripped of some of his clothes.

It is understood the group had falsely accused the man of acting inappropriately around children. These claims were later spread online, including by prominent far-right and anti-immigrant accounts.

Garda sources said there is no truth to accusations the man was acting inappropriately.

Local woman Jennifer Murray was driving when she noticed the bloodied and half-dressed man standing at the side of the road, shocked and injured. She tells In the News how events unfolded.

Irish Times crime and security correspondent Conor Gallagher explains that this incident is the not the first of its kind and how the Garda are dealing with the spread of misinformation.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

President Michael D Higgins’s 14-year term is in its final months with an election to decide his predecessor set to take place before November 11th.

After months when a changing list of potential candidates tended towards the fanciful – for a while it seemed that anyone with a public profile was in the frame – now two names have emerged as definite contenders: Independent TD Catherine Connolly and former MEP Mairead McGuinness.

Connolly has secured the backing of the Social Democrats, People Before Profit and several Independent members, while McGuinness is the Fine Gael nominee.

Going by previous presidential elections, it won’t be a two-horse race but when will other candidates declare? And do the two women have early-mover advantage?

Irish Times political correspondent Ellen Coyne explains.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The All-Ireland senior men's football final takes place on Sunday, and following last week's takeover of In the News by Malachy Clerkin to look at the hurling final, this week Malachy is back with two former football greats, Dean Rock and Conor McManus, to look at the clash between Donegal and Kerry. We hope you enjoy. In the News will return with a regular episode tomorrow.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Tuesday, during a meeting at the White House with the president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, US president Donald Trump launched an incendiary attack on one of his predecessors, Barack Obama.

In a fluent speech he accused Obama of “treason” and “sedition”.

No evidence was given and the“papers” he mentioned seemed to refer to last week’s report from Tulsi Gabbard, his national security director, on the 2016 election that claimed to show “a treasonous conspiracy” with Russia to fix the election against Trump.

Trump has frequently attacked his political opponents, regularly mentioning “Sleepy Joe Biden” and “Lying Hillary Clinton”. But is this different? And why now? Might it be another diversionary tactic to take the focus of the so-called Epstein files, as the controversy around their release – or even existence – shows no sign of calming? And what has Obama said?

Scott Lucas, political analyst and professor at UCD’s Clinton Institute, explains.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Earlier this month, a tanker laden with thousands of tonnes of crude oil, which had set off from a Russian port on the Baltic Sea, sailed down the west coast of Ireland. The decision by the Sierra, a 250-metre tanker which was destined for India, to sail around the British Isles and into the North Atlantic, rather than take the more direct route through the English Channel, has caused confusion and concern among maritime and naval experts.

The tanker, which passed by the west coast of Ireland on July 10th, was just one of the rising number of sanctioned Russian ships, known as shadow fleet vessels, to sail through Irish-controlled waters in recent months. The suspicious and bizarre behaviour of these vessels has prompted the Irish Defence Forces and Government to step up maritime monitoring because of environmental and national security concerns.

What is this Russian shadow fleet and why are some of their vessels taking the longer route around the Irish coast and sailing outside recognised shipping lanes? And what are the security and environmental risks posed by these ships?

Irish Times crime and security correspondent Conor Gallagher discusses the dramatic increase in the number of sanctioned Russian ships sailing through Irish-controlled waters. Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Suzanne Brennan and Andrew McNair. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In March of this year, the eyes of the world turned towards the occupied West Bank when the film ‘No Other Land’, which tells the story of Israel’s forced displacement of Palestinians in the region, won the Oscar for best documentary feature.

Two months later, The Settlers, a BBC documentary where broadcaster and journalist Louis Theroux meets the growing community of religious-nationalist Israelis who have settled in the occupied territories, went viral.

Driving around the West Bank, 14 years on from his first visit to the area, Theroux said “much was still the same” in the occupied zone. “The same sense of a two-tier society: Jewish settlers who lived protected under Israeli civil law; Palestinians who were subject to an opaque regime of military rule, with roads closed, life made difficult in ways big and small,” he wrote in a Guardian newspaper in May.

Yet, the situation in the West Bank is not what it was a few years ago. In January 2025, Israel launched its Iron Wall military operation which left tens of thousands of Palestinians without proper shelter or healthcare, while the expansion of Israeli settlements – which are illegal under international law – has rapidly increased since Hamas’s October 7th attack on Israel in 2023.

In May, Israel announced that 22 new Jewish settlements had been approved in the occupied West Bank – the biggest expansion in decades.

Meanwhile, in Ireland, the pre-legislative scrutiny of the Occupied Territories Bill, which would ban trade in goods with the occupied Palestinian territories, is continuing.

But even if it passes, what will this Irish legislation actually achieve?

Irish Times journalist Sally Hayden reports from the West Bank.

Presented by Sorcha Pollak. Produced by Suzanne Brennan and Andrew McNair.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An inquest doesn’t typically hear questions about the consummation of a relationship or the validity of a marriage certificate, and it’s not usual for there to be so many lawyers in a coroner’s court. But when there’s a farm, valued at €5.5 million at stake, and the circumstances around the death are somewhat confused, it’s perhaps to be expected.

The three-day inquest into the death of wealthy farmer Joe Grogan (75) at his home on April 15th, 2023 heard questions that a coroner’s court is not there to answer. Its job is to establish cause of death.

Grogan had been married the previous day, to his long-time friend and sometime carer Lisa Flaherty. A clear cause of death could not be established because he had been embalmed within hours.

His 220-acre farm at Screggan, near Tullamore is well-known having hosted the National Ploughing Championships for two years and is set to do so again this year. As his widow, Flaherty stands to inherit his estate.

Members of Grogan’s family questioned the validity of the marriage – they said they were unaware it had taken place – and there were heated scenes in the court.

Ultimately the coroner Raymond Mahon ruled that the newly-wed farmer probably died of an infection associated with his stage-four cancer, his immune system being compromised because of chemotherapy and significant weight loss.

He said the evidence did not support a finding of unlawful killing as had been suggested and he rejected calls by Grogan’s extended family to refer the circumstances of the death to the Garda.

Irish Times reporter Colm Keena was in court to hear the verdict and explains the background.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.