The Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast focuses on the biggest, best and quirkiest stories from the Irish Examiner's unrivalled team of reporters and contributors.
If you want the latest news, the best insight into what’s happening in Cork and around Munster, and the inside track on our exclusive national stories, look no further.
Dropping twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays, the Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast will help you stay up to date with the Irish Examiner's best content.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast focuses on the biggest, best and quirkiest stories from the Irish Examiner's unrivalled team of reporters and contributors.
If you want the latest news, the best insight into what’s happening in Cork and around Munster, and the inside track on our exclusive national stories, look no further.
Dropping twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays, the Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast will help you stay up to date with the Irish Examiner's best content.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
23 year old Emer O’Loughlin was found dead in a burned-out mobile home in the Burren, Co Clare in April 2005. An inquest into her death last week established – 20 years on - that another person was involved in the young art student’s death.
Her sister Pam O’Loughlin has been campaigning for Gardaí to treat Emer’s death as murder since the family learned in 2010 that she had been buried without a cause of death, her case treated as accidental. A forensic examination at that time established that she had been violently killed.
23 year old Emer’s last known movements were to borrow a phone charger from neighbour John Griffin, a native of Mervue in Galway city.
Griffin is the chief suspect in Emer’s death, but a series of bizarre events culminated in his disappearance off the island of Inis Mór.P am believes he faked his own death, and is hiding somewhere in Europe.
In the years since Emer died, her mother has also passed away. Now her family, including her elderly father Johnny, hope that last week’s inquest may pave the way for a breakthrough in the case.
Pam O'Loughlin is the guest on today’s episode of The Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast.
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Over 42,000 families were affected by the tracker mortgage scandal, put under enormous pressure to pay money they never really owed, but just one person has ever been held responsible.
Caitríona Redmond and her family spent 20 years fighting the bank after their bank illegally withdrew the tracker rate. They were put under immense pressure to pay thousands more than they owed, at a time when her husband had lost his job and they had very young children.
The Redmonds went through seven separate procedures with the bank which involved every penny they spent being scrutinised – they were criticised for spending 70 euro a week on food for five people.
In today’s episode of the Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast, Caitríona describes the impact on the couple’s mental and physical health.
"There'd be some times when [John] would have walked out of the house and I remember ringing one of his brothers saying, I don't know where he is. Can you see where he is? I'm really worried about him. And I wasn't... I wasn't really worried that he'd do something, he was just so out of his mind with stress. You know, he just needed to talk to somebody other than me.”
Caitríona, who now writes a consumer column for the Irish Examiner, began blogging about her recipes and budgeting, and was contracted to write a cookbook – but the family budget didn’t extend to buying ingredients for recipe testing.
“I'd signed a contract to write a cookery book with Mercier and we didn't have enough money for me to pay for the ingredients for the recipe testing. And I rang Mam and I said, you know, I was under pressure, I was under deadlines.
“And Mam was like, right, I'm just gonna see what I have. And she arrived up with two big bags of shopping. Like she literally just like hoofed it all out and into the shopping bag.”
We took the bank's calls in hospital as we watched our new baby struggle to breathe
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A review of security at all IPAS centres nationwide is underway after a Halloween night arson attack on a Drogheda centre housing 28 people .
At the time the fire was set, families including a 20 year old baby were asleep in the building.
CCTV footage widely circulated of the incident shows a masked man pouring a substance onto the building’s only staircase and igniting it before fleeing.
The incident is part of a pattern of more than 30 arson attacks on buildings associated with asylum seekers since 2018, but according to Irish Refugee Council CEO Nick Henderson, an attack on a building that was inhabited at the time represents an escalation. It took place just days after an anti-migrant rally in the town.
One speaker at the protest on Saturday, October 25, previously made online comments about fires at Ipas centres, and reportedly wrote "burn baby burn" online about a hotel being used to house asylum seekers.
At the rally, he claimed that all migrants were provided "four-star accommodation" while some "16,000 Irish people don't know where they're going to sleep tonight".
Irish Examiner reporter Liz Dunphy has been covering this story – she's the guest on today’s episode of the Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast.
Anti-migrant rally held in Drogheda days before near fatal attack on Ipas centre
Fuel was poured on stairs at Ipas centre before it was set alight
'Terrifying ordeal': Children amongst those rescued as gardaí say Ipas centre fire was arson attack
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On Tuesday’s episode of The Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast, court reporter Liam Heylin described the daylight murder of Kieran Quilligan and the extensive Garda investigation that led to his remains being discovered in a bag by teh side of an East Cork road.
On Wednesday, his killers Luke Taylor and Niall Long were sentenced to life in prison – and the court finally heard about Kieran Quilligan the man, rather than Kieran Quilligan the murder victim.
“I miss my best friend every day. I feel lonely and lost without him. Kieran was a good man, a good friend and a good partner. Kieran was adored by his family and he will be missed forever and always,” said Mr Quilligan’s partner Colette O’Driscoll.
Today’s episode features moving testimony from his parents Stephen and Catherine, and his long-term partner Colette O’Driscoll.
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Murdered in daylight on a Cork city street after a small-time drug deal went wrong, the case of Kieran Quilligan is a revealing insight into the darker side of life in Cork city.
Audio recording from on-street cameras of a row over €200 worth of crack cocaine, footage tracking the victim’s evening stroll across the city centre, and a phone call to Gardaí from distressed residents who heard a man being beaten with a hammer were crucial to this case being solved.
Luke Taylor and Niall Long have been convicted of Mr Quilligan’s death – but questions remain about how a small-time drug dealer who lived at home with his parents and used his mother’s car to dispose of the body became a killer, and on whose orders.
Irish Examiner Court Reporter Liam Heylin is the guest on today’s episode of The Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast.
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Catherine Connolly has been elected the tenth president of Ireland by a resounding majority.
She’s the first ever candidate backed by all the left wing parties and this represents a stunning success for the female-led left alliance, but it leaves the mainstream parties Fianna Fiáil and Fine Gael with egg on their faces.
In this special bonus edition of the Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast, Acting Political Editor Paul Hosford and Political Correspondent Louise Burne analyse the fallout from the race for the Áras.
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A week of protests has taken place outside the Citywest accommodation centre in Dublin, including violent rioting which saw four Gardaí injured and multiple arrests.
The protests began after an alleged sexual assault on a ten year old girl in the vicinity of the hotel last weekend. A man has been charged in connection with the assault and remains in custody.
Terrified international protection applicants including many Ukrainian women and children remained indoors at the centre, while residents in the Saggart area were unable use public transport or access local shops on Tuesday and Wednesday nights due to the violence.
What started the disturbances, who’s rioting, and who’s been stoking it up online?
Irish Examiner Security Correspondent Cormac O’Keeffe joined Deirdre O’Shaughnessy for today’s episode of the Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast.
'No incidents' at Citywest gathering after two nights of disorder
Frontline gardaí demand tougher stance on violent Citywest protesters after officers injured
Seventeen people charged after second night of disorder near asylum seeker hotel
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As polling day nears and the Presidential campaign gets nastier by the day, the final debate will take place this evening on RTE Prime Time. But will it be decisive?
Presidential contests are rarely won in debates – but it is possible to lose an almost guaranteed win in that crucial final tussle.
In today’s episode of the Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast, behavioural psychologist Nuala Walsh advises undecided to voters to focus on the “cringe” factor, while Acting Political Editor Paul Hosford says he doesn’t believe this election is all over for Heather Humphries.
Leadership X-ray? Why presidential debates reveal less than you think
Paul Hosford: Fine Gael's US-style attack video may be a new departure in Irish politics
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Irish Examiner Fashion Editor Annmarie O’Connor is well known to readers as a stylist, a writer, and more recently an advocate for people with Parkinson’s disease.
She was the keynote speaker at Thursday’s IEStyleLive2025, and she is the guest editor of this Saturday’s Weekend Magazine. Annmarie sat down with Deirdre O’Shaughnessy for an honest and open chat about her life as it is now and her new book Twitch: My Life with Parkinson’s.
In this special episode of The Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast, Annmarie speaks candidly about learning to live well with Parkinson’s, how her family’s history has shaped her, and her belief in the spirit world.
“You’ll go on, dear, because you have to, and you’ll do it one day at a time,” is what her mother told her upon learning of her diagnosis. “One foot in front of the other” is the family motto, learned in adversity.
The trajectory of Annmarie's family life was altered by the death of her father when she was just four years old, her mother returning from New York to rural Galway with her daughters to open a B&B. She describes her father’s mother, sent to America by ship at just seven years old to work in the household of a distant cousin, and the survival skills of her maternal grandmother, who raised her young family alone after her husband was killed at sea in a freak Galway storm.
In this in-depth interview, Annmarie describes how a long-buried issue with disordered eating resurfaced after her Parkinson’s diagnosis, and how she dealt with it. She talks about her belief in psychics and the spirit world, the joy she has found in friendships and the love of her family, and the challenge of dating with the additional stress of uncontrollable limb movements.
Inspiring, full-hearted and hopeful, Annmarie's is a story of surviving the worst that life can throw at you, and learning to thrive with it.
ieStyle Live: Standing ovation as Annmarie O’Connor speaks about when 'life falls apart'
Book review: O’Connor finds quiet certainty to carry on after Parkinson’s diagnosis
Annmarie O'Connor: Three things I've learned since my Parkinson's diagnosis
'I arrived at CUH before 9am. By 4pm, I had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease'
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Parents at a flagship special school in the Taoiseach’s constituency, opened in a rush due to a shortage of school places, warned recently the school has handed out suspensions “like confetti”.
Opened by Cork Education and Training Board (Cork ETB) in 2021, Carrigaline Community Special School (CCSS) issued 17 official suspensions out of a maximum student body of just 48 in three years.
Parents at the school told the Irish Examiner that they believe their children are being punished for behaviours linked to and consistent with their conditions. They point to a lack of in-school therapies, children being repeatedly sent home from school, and a high level of staff turnover.
In response to queries from the Irish Examiner on the issues raised, Cork Education and Training Board (ETB) said it “is aware of the matters raised and has engaged intensively with parents around their concerns”.
In a statement, Cork ETB said: “The care and welfare of our students and their educational progress is always the number one priority for Cork ETB and for our special schools.”
Irish Examiner Education Correspondent Jess Casey describes the issues on today’s episode of The Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast.
Read the story here: Suspensions ‘crisis’ at flagship special school in Cork
Read Cork ETB’s full statement here: 'It wouldn’t be acceptable in a mainstream school, so why should we have to take it?'
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In January 2017 civil servant Fi Bourke was walking home from work when she was viciously attacked by a woman she didn't know. The attack would change the course of her life.
Her attacker, Laura Kenna, who had a troubled history of childhood abuse and substance misuse, told Gardai that she would “finish her off” when her sentence had been served.
Kenna was found guilty but insane and admitted to the Central Mental Hospital. Now, because of a legal anomaly, Fi Bourke has no right to know when her attacker will be released from custody.
Irish Examiner reporter Ann Murphy joins Deirdre on today’s episode.
Ann's story: Victim of attempted murder seeks to have law changed around 'unique and complex' case
Coverage of the court case: Woman guilty of attempting to murder stranger walking home from work by cutting her throat
Other stories referenced:
Sinead O'Leary: Surviving victim of Rochestown murderer Peter Whelan warns he will kill again
Jury rejects James Kilroy's insanity claim to find him guilty of murdering his wife
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A rise in minimum wage to €14.15, a €10 increase to all core social welfare rate and hikes in cigarettes and fuel – but not alcohol.
What’s in Budget 2026 – and more importantly, how will it impact you?
Budget 2026 is in, and Irish Examiner Political Correspondent Louise Burne joins Deirdre on today’s podcast to dive into the details.
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Presidential hopeful Jim Gavin's sensational dropping out of the Presidential election has shocked the country.
His announcement late late last night followed reports that Mr Gavin had failed to repay more than €3,000 paid to him by a former tenant in error.
Mr Gavin failed to answer questions about that situation during Sunday's second presidential election debate and in a press conference afterwards when pressed by the Irish Examiner.
Acting Political Editor Paul Hosford joins Deirdre today to discuss what led up to Mr Gavin's decision to drop out; the pressure on candidates in the political race; and the repercussions for Fianna Fáil and for the remaining candidates Catherine Connolly and Heather Humphries.
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We’ve all been feeling the squeeze over the past couple of years as Covid and then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine saw a massive rise in the cost of living. Prices of everyday goods have soared, and it doesn’t appear that next week’s Budget will give much relief to hard-pressed consumers.
While you may have learned some cost-saving tricks from a frugal granny, Gen Z learn these things online, so every penny-pinching trick conceivable is now part of a tiktok trend called Frugaltok.
Some of them are pretty mundane, some very extreme. The Irish Examiner’s Jess Casey has given it a go, and tells Deirdre about it on today’s episode.
Read Jess’s article here: Frugaltok is going viral — here's what happened when I tried some money-saving tips
For regular money-saving tips from the Irish Examiner, check out Caitriona Redmond’s weekly articles in Weekend here: Advice - Irish Examiner
The Irish Examiner will be covering Budget 2026 extensively – you can follow that here: Budget 2026 - Irish Examiner
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Tipperary town was left reeling earlier this month when a local man was killed in his own garden.
Teddy Murnane was a husband and father of three who was well known in Tipperary as a bus driver with Kavanaghs Coaches and a big GAA supporter, having driven Tipperary hurling and football teams for many years.
Widespread tributes were paid to Mr Murnane from GAA and political figures, and a community vigil was organised. A man has been charged with assault causing harm to Mr Murnane.
However, in the days after his death it was revealed that Mr Murnane had a conviction dating from 2024 for historic sexual offences – and his victim is unhappy with the widespread tributes to the deceased man.
Reporter Ann Murphy has been covering this story – she is the guest on today’s Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast.
Tipperary man who died after incident in his garden had recently been convicted of sexual offences
Priest questions safety in homes after death of Tipperary grandfather Teddy Murnane
Vigil planned for Tipperary man who died after incident in back garden
Man, 80s, who died in Co Tipperary named locally as former senior hurling team driver
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It’s been six months since Kenmare farmer Michael Gaine went missing, and four since parts of his dismembered body were found in a slurry tank.
There has been considerable criticism of the investigation given that the slurry tank had previously been searched for his body.
A suspect in the investigation – American drifter Michael Kelley, who had been living on the Gaine farm in an old farmhouse – was arrested early on and released without charge. He is subject to a deportation order after a failed asylum bid and is now believed to be living in Tralee.
The family held a funeral for Mr Gaine in June of this year, his ashes carried into Holy Cross Church in a sheepskin-lined basket, a soft resting place for a man who was remembered as “soft and loving, caring and affectionate, kind and considerate”.
Six months after Mr Gaine’s disappearance, Irish Examiner Reporter Neil Michael went to Kenmare to find out whether people there believe the person who killed him will ever be caught
Neil is the guest on today’s episode of The Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast.
LINKS
Kerry murder mystery: Michael Gaine’s killing and the haunted life of suspect Michael Kelley
Vanished without a trace: What happened to Kerry’s missing farmer Michael Gaine?
Watch: The search in Kerry continued over the weekend for missing farmer Mike Gaine
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On Sunday the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Portugal recognised Palestinian statehood, with more countries expected to follow.
Almost two years since the October 7th attacks by Hamas and since Israel began its genocidal campaign in Gaza, the international community is finally reacting.
Over 65,000 Palestinians, among them many children, have been killed in what the United Nations Commission of Enquiry and the International Association of Genocide Scholars say is a genocide.
One such child is seven year old Khaled, who was killed in the bombing of Rafah on 17th October 2023. Khaled’s mother Amal El Khawaja, who works with the Norwegian Refugee Agency and now lives in Oslo, will visit Cork this weekend to tell her son’s story in a series of public events organised by Coffee for Palestine. She is the guest on today’s Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast.
Details of A Coffee and Conversation with Amal can be found on Instagram.com/coffeeforpalestine.
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Earlier this week the Irish Examiner reported that a major investigation is underway into a massive case of fraud with a Cork-based businessman arrested under gangland legislation.
The man was unknown to gardaí before approximately €750,000 in ATM withdrawals caused suspicions. Originally from Nigeria, he has a family and a business in Cork and works in a major Dublin tech company.
It’s suspected the case may be related to an international crime gang such as the Black Axe gang, which is active internationally and throughout Ireland. Last year, gardai arrested 63 people as part of Operation Skein, targeting the gang.
The Irish Examiner’s Security Correspondent Cormac O’Keeffe is the guest on today’s Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast.
Cork-based businessman arrested in major fraud probe
Black Axe: From Cork to Nigeria: Gang of cybercriminals caught out by their own technology
Gardaí arrest 63 as part of global operation targeting West African crime groups
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The name Catherine O’Brien is a familiar one to regular followers of the Irish Examiner – in this first episode of The Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast, reporter Ann Murphy brings listeners up to date on the latest in this complex story of fraud and deception.
The subject of a 2022 podcast series by the Irish Examiner, Catherine the Fake, Catherine O’Brien has been sought by Gardai since 2019 when she failed to show up in court as a witness for the State in a case of demanding money with menaces.
Reporting of that case led to the gradual unravelling of the Buttevant woman’s story, as person after person came forward to the Irish Examiner with stories of being deceived or defrauded by O’Brien.
The 2022 podcast series Catherine the Fake investigated claims that O’Brien had convinced many people to invest in different business ventures over the years, causing losses in the millions of euro. She falsely claimed she had bought a pub in Clare; told acquaintances she worked as an agent for an Arab prince buying large properties in Tipperary; and pretended to be a solicitor who could ‘sort’ speeding fines for a man she met on a dating site.
She was finally arrested in June 2024 and in July, O’Brien was convicted of three charges of deception after meeting Dubliner John Blake on Plenty of Fish and convincing him to invest €22,000 in racehorses.
Listen to episode one of The Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast featuring Ann Murphy now on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
LINKS
Catherine O’Brien found guilty of deception charges
Listen back to the 2022 Catherine the Fake podcast series Catherine the Fake podcast: The story of florist turned fraudster Catherine O’Brien
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Launching on Tuesday 16th September, The Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast will focus on the biggest, best and quirkiest stories from the Irish Examiner's unrivalled team of reporters and contributors.
If you want the latest news, the best insight into what’s happening in Cork and around Munster, and the inside track on our exclusive national stories, look no further.
Dropping twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays, the Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast will help you stay up to date with the Irish Examiner's best content.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.