Episódios

  • On today’s episode, the generational divide over climate action.


    While most of the world agrees with the scientific fact that humans are dangerously altering the earth’s climate, we can’t agree what to do about it. Global powers and corporate giants quarrel over who should do what, while generations argue about the need for urgency. In a global crisis where the blame and the damage are unequally distributed, how do we create the consensus needed to act before it’s too late?


    At Ireland's Edge, in front of a live audience, Chris was joined by three fascinating guests who see climate change from different perspectives:


    Alex White is a Senior Counsel and is Director of the Institute for International & European Affairs. He was previously a TD and Senator, as well as a government minister in multiple departments.


    Martha Farrell is a founding member of the Maharees Conservation Association here in West Kerry, an award-winning volunteer community organisation set up to protect a vital tombolo on the Dingle peninsula. She is also a lecturer at Munster Technological University.


    And Caitlin Faye Maniti is a student at Maynooth University who was previously President of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Association. She contributes to Ireland’s National Youth Assembly, and was a co-author of a recent Unicef Ireland report on the impact of Climate Change on children.


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  • For centuries, Irish universities have been bastions of intellectual life, shaping education, politics, culture, and debate. With over half of young people receiving a third-level education, Ireland boasts one of the world's most university-educated populations. Yet, amidst political, financial, and societal pressures, uncertainty looms - can these institutions maintain their standard of scholarship and retain their value within our rapidly evolving world?


    In this episode, Professor Orla Feely, President of University College Dublin, and Professor John O’Halloran, President of University College Cork, are interviewed by Professor John Naughten, a senior research fellow at Cambridge University and renowned technology columnist for The Observer, giving their assessment of the challenges and opportunities.


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  • It is no exaggeration to say that the history of modern Ireland has been played out on the stage of our national theatre, The Abbey, founded in 1904, and after independence the first publicly-subsidised theatre in the English-speaking world. It was there that Ireland first saw many of the great plays of Gregory, Yeats, Synge, O’Casey and others, often to great public debate and controversy. The Abbey has also brought Irish theatre to stages all around the world through its successful touring productions, alongside promoting new playwrights here at home.


    Recent decades however have seen financial and management difficulties, alongside a long-delayed building redevelopment plan. Caitríona McLaughlin is co-director and artistic director of the Abbey Theatre, where her recent production of Brian Friel’s Translations won a UK Theatre Award after its tour of Ireland, North and South.

    At Ireland’s Edge in Dingle she talked about her work, the Abbey, and theatre more broadly with musician and cultural consultant Dermot McLaughlin.


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  • The Irish were once the biggest newspaper readers in Europe, but in recent years our interest has begun to decline. With news reporting and investigative journalism facing an existential funding crisis, and trust in information itself rapidly declining due to "fake news" and the excesses of social media, what is the future of a world with less news, and what are the consequences? Recorded live at Ireland's Edge in Dingle, Chris speaks to three extraordinary women who edit independent news outlets in Ireland, to discuss the challenges facing their work: Sinéad Carroll, Editor of TheJournal.ie and prominent figure in national media, contributing to news, politics, and sports programs; Siobhán Holliman, deputy editor of the Tuam Herald, member of the Future of Media Commission and the Press Council; and Siobhán Cronin, the first woman editor of The Southern Star in its 135-year history, and a serving member of the Press Council.


    Recorded live at / A South Wind Blows Production

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  • Artificial Intelligence has already begun to change the world around us, at a speed that few of us anticipated. Will the advancement of AI bring positive progress and societal evolution, or have we created something we cannot control? On this fifth episode of Ireland’s Edge - The Podcast, Chris speaks to two fascinating guests about what opportunities and challenges this brave new world may have in store. Featuring️️: Mark Little, Founder of Storyful and now Kinzen, which uses AI to screen dangerous misinformation online, and Mark O’Connell, Writer, Author and Wellcome Prize winner for his book How to be a Machine. Out now, wherever you get your podcasts. A South Wind Blows production.

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  • Artists all around the world are trying to make sense of what the advance of artificial intelligence will mean for their creative work. Will the very human traits of passion and creativity survive in a world where we let ever more intelligent machines do the work for us? In Belfast, the innovative people behind production company Dumbworld have been thinking about this question in radical ways, integrating AI into their mission to bring opera to the masses. Ivor Novello winning composer Brian Irvine and librettist John McIlduff brought a number of their street operas to Other Voices in Dingle, and at Ireland’s Edge they spoke with musician and cultural consultant Dermot McLaughlin about shaking up opera and why they were moved to do so, harnessing technology to open up the art form to whole new audiences, and the implications and applications of AI for opera, music and the wider creative industries.


    For more on Dumbworld and their work: https://dumbworld.co.uk/

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  • Once again this winter, the Irish healthcare system has been overwhelmed, with thousands of appointments cancelled, hundreds lying on hospital trollies waiting for beds, and staff once more having to complain about unsafe and unfair working conditions.


    On this episode, Chris speaks to three women who see the healthcare system from very different angles: Professor Sara Burke is Director of the Centre for Health Policy and Management at Trinity College Dublin School of Medicine. Dr Monica Oikeh is a GP based in Cork, who has amassed huge views on TikTok with her helpful and accessible videos on healthcare, busting taboos around mental, sexual and female health. And Phil Ní Sheaghda is the General Secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation. At Ireland’s Edge in Dingle in front of a live audience, Chris asks them how we can bring people together to improve our healthcare, as well as about implementing reform, the promise of Universal Healthcare in Sláintecare, equal access for all and more.


    *Correction and clarification from panellist Dr Sara Burke:

    When discussing the increase in the number of staff on HSE payroll between 2019 and 2023, Dr Burke cites figures from the Health Sector Employment Report SEP 2023, citing the 'total people/head count figure from 2023' instead of the 'WTE (Whole Time Equivalent)' from 2023, inadvertently overstating the increase. However, the overall point remains that there are much greater staff increases in the hospital system rather than in primary, community care and social care. We thank Dr Burke for this clarification.

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  • "I’ve worked on a lot of conflicts that looked like they were intractable. A solution takes a lot of international effort; you’ve got to look for multiple honest brokers."

    From the horrendous destruction of Gaza, to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, to the return of Donald Trump, geopolitics feels terrifyingly unstable right now. On this week’s episode we hear from one of the world’s leading foreign policy analysts, Dr Fiona Hill, about the state of global politics, and the murky world of international affairs. Originally from the north of England, and now Chancellor of Durham University, Fiona Hill found herself at the centre of the impeachment trial of then President Trump, after her time as Senior Director of European and Russian Affairs on the US National Security Council. She had previously worked at the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, at the Brookings Institution, and as an analyst for Presidents George W Bush, and Barack Obama. In front of a live audience at Ireland’s Edge last December she spoke about a huge range of political and personal issues with seasoned reporter and RTE Europe Editor, Tony Connelly. This is View From the Hill.

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  • Series 4 / Episode 1


    Chris speaks to BBC Ireland correspondent Aoife Moore about the controversial rise of Ireland’s largest political party, Sinn Fein. Hardline militants in the republican movement used to regard their political wing as a place for ‘women and cowards’, but with Sinn Fein already the largest party in Northern Ireland, and leading the polls for the next Dail election, how do we assess the party’s journey from irrelevance to the brink of power?


    Before moving to the BBC, Aoife was named Irish journalist of the year in 2021 for her reporting with the Irish Examiner. Her new book, The Long Game, traces the history of Sinn Fein from the 1970s to the present day, and was nominated for Non-Fiction Book of the Year at the An Post Irish Book Awards. In front of a live audience at Ireland’s Edge in Dingle last December, Chris spoke to Aoife about her book, her life as a journalist, and the future of Irish politics.


    Presented by Christopher Kissane. A South Wind Blows production.

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  • On this episode, The People Have The Power. 


    While debates about social change often focus on Government policy, all across Ireland there are citizens and volunteers taking it upon themselves to create the change they want to see in their communities.


    At Ireland’s Edge, Muireann Kelliher spoke to three such inspiring individuals to hear their stories and ask them how we can better harness the creativity and commitment of citizens in addressing our social problems . Fidaa Marouf came to Ireland from Syria five years ago and is now studying dentistry as a Quercus Active Citizen Scholar,at University College Cork; Kevin Baker was the Chairperson of the Dublin Cycling Campaign and Dinny Galvin who joined us earlier in this series is a local farmer from here in Kerry. 

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  • Ireland is enjoying an unprecedented boom in corporate tax receipts, with tens of millions from multinationals and the tech and pharmaceutical sectors helping to create a huge government budget surplus. While the government predicts that its annual surplus will rise to an incredible 20 billion euros in the next few years, some of that boom will certainly be temporary as corporate giants shift their profits around the globe. So, what happens after the gold rush? 


    Leo Clancy is the CEO of Enterprise Ireland, the government agency tasked with helping indigenous Irish businesses grow and export, with the goal of creating a more sustainable domestic economy. He previously worked on the management team at Ireland’s Industrial Development authority, which has spent decades attracting foreign direct investment into the country.  In front of a live audience at Ireland’s Edge Leo spoke to Muireann Kelliher about his own career and the prospects for Irish business in the economy.


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  • Trans people continue to face discrimination and demonisation with their real lives and experiences too often ignored by a public debate fuelled by toxic myths and hatred. The writer and journalist Shon Faye’s bestselling book The Transgender Issue argues that we have been having the wrong conversation by making trans people seen but not heard, and that trans justice is justice for all. At Ireland’s Edge in Dingle, Shon spoke to Ireland’s Edge host Christopher Kissane about her book and her work, telling him about her childhood holidays in Ireland, her dating advice column for Vogue, and her queer history podcast, Call Me Mother.  Today’s episode features a short excerpt from that discussion where Shon and Chris talk about the need for social solidarity against hate and intolerance. Chris asks Shon to tell us about her work revealing the shocking scale of social problems like unemployment, homelessness and self-harm that far too many trans people still have to deal with.

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  • Our rural and coastal communities are facing great environmental and economic challenges. The dominance of industrial agriculture and the threat of climate change have forced many to reflect on how we can both preserve and create sustainable ways of life. On today’s episode we meet some of the inspiring people working on fascinating local projects on the Dingle Peninsula, Co Kerry asking, "what future is in our fields?’ In front of a live audience at Ireland’s Edge in Dingle, Ella McSweeney, presenter of RTE’s Ear To The Ground, was joined by artist and activist Lisa Fingleton and local farmers Tommy Reidy and Dinny Galvin. 

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  • Brexit, the housing crisis and the covid pandemic have all presented challenges to Ireland’s economy and public finances in recent years. Overseeing the Government's financial response has been Fine Gael TD Paschal Donohoe who served as Minister for Finance from 2017 until late last year, and is now Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. Donohoe has also taken a leading role in the European Union’s financial response to Brexit and the pandemic as President of the Eurogroup as which he has just begun as second term. In front of a live audience at Ireland's Edge, the Minister spoke to Other Voices founder Philip King.

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  • Earlier this month at least 86 men, women and children drowned off the coast of Calabria trying to seek refuge in Italy. In the last decade tens of thousands of refugees and migrants have died in the Mediterranean, creating what Pope Francis has called Europe's largest graveyard. Attempts by European’s governments to turn the continent into ‘fortress Europe’ have created a humanitarian catastrophe for those fleeing drought, famine, war and depression. Much of the reporting of this ongoing tragedy has been done by Irish journalist Sally Hayden whose recent book The Fourth Time We Drowned won the Orwell Prize, and was named the An Post Irish Book of the Year. Sally’s courageous work has revealed the human stories of those who have faced violence, abuse and even death in Libyan detention camps funded by European governments and the lengths to which international institutions have gone to cover up such crimes. In 2008, Sally received a Facebook message that began, ‘ Hi sister Sally, we need your help’. In the conversations that followed she discovered how people were being detained in Libya in the most horrendous conditions. In front of a live audience at Ireland's Edge in Dingle, she spoke to Ireland's Edge host Chris Kissane about Europe's moral responsibilities in a time of refugee crises and mass migration.


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  • With environmental and economic pressures squeezing those who grow, process and cook our food, how can we think creatively about building a fairer and more sustainable future for food and farming in Ireland, and how do the traditional arts and folk customs play a role in this?


    Cúán Greene is a chef who has worked in some of the world’s finest fine dining restaurants and now edits the Omós digest, a newsletter exploring food, culture and community. Ella McSweeney presents RTE’s Ear To The Ground, and her reporting for the Guardian and other newspapers has exposed major scandals on meat processing and fishing here in Ireland.  Edwina Guckian is an award winning sean-nós dancer and rural activist from co Leitrim where she has been active in reviving and promoting cultural traditions. In conversation with Ireland's Edge host Christopher Kissane in front of a live audience in Dingle they discuss the impact of the covid on the farming community. Featuring a special performance from Edwina and acclaimed concertina player, Cormac Begley.

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  • How do we make sense of geopolitical upheaval?  The ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine has highlighted radical changes in international affairs but the nature of a new global political order is far from clear; with complex crises of energy and food security bubbling under shifts of strategic power alliances.


    John Kampfner has covered international  politics for more than 35 years. He reported on the fall of the Berlin wall and the dissolution of the soviet union for the Daily Telegraph before working as chief political correspondent for the Financial Times. At the BBC he covered politics for  The Today programme and Newsnight and later edited the New Statesman. His books on Russia, Germany, capitalism and democracy have become bestsellers and he currently serves as Executive Director of the U.K in the World Project at Chatham House, Britain’s leading  foreign policy Think Tank. 


    In front of a live audience at Ireland’s Edge in Dingle, John spoke to Murieann Kelliehr about a world in flux.

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  • "Russia’s invasion of Ukraine today is a neo-colonial war, it’s an attempt to restore their imperial geopolitical blueprint" - Olesya Zdorovetska 


    On this episode, the Home Font of the Russian invasion of Ukrainians in Ireland. Just over a year ago, Russia launched an imperialist invasion of Ukraine. The brutal effects of Russian aggression have forced millions of Ukrainian refugees to flee their home country and there are now tens of thousands of Ukrainians here in Ireland. Singer and composer Olesya Zdorovetska has lived here for over a decade, while academic Larysa Samosonok arrived in the early weeks of the war.  In front of a live audience at Irelands’ Edge in Dingle, Olesya and Larysa spoke to Muireann Kelliher about experiencing the invasion of their homeland from Ireland, and what we all need to understand about Ukraines fight  for survival.

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  • What is the price of holding power to account?


    Carole Cadwalladr won the Orwell prize for her investigation of the shadowy role of data and donors in the 2016 Brexit Referendum. Her reporting on the damaging influence of big tech and big money in  our democracies has won her admirers and enemies all around the world. Since her last appearance at Ireland’s Edge in 2019 she has fought a landmark libel case against Brexit donor Aaron Banks, and has played a key  role in founding a new public service journalism group, The Citizens. In front of a live audience at Ireland’s Edge she joined Muireann Kelliher to discuss the personal and the political.  


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  • On today’s episode, is there hope in the atom?


    We live in an energy crisis, with environmental catastrophe and war questioning our reliance on fossil fuels. Nuclear power was once the great green hope, but decades of concerns about accidents and radioactive waste have turned much of Europe off.

     

    But were those concerns overblown, and have they blinded us to a vital source of clean energy? In their new film, Atomic Hope, filmmakers Frankie Fenton and Kathryn Kennedy have collaborated with Finnish scientist Iida Ruishalme to explore the environmentalist pro-nuclear movement.


    At Ireland’s Edge in Dingle they spoke with Emmy award-winning filmmaker and Ireland’s Edge founder, Nuala O’Connor.


    Atomic Hope is out in select cinemas now. 

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