Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning
Episodes
Swimming song - Staying afloat against impossible odds
01 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
"One day, when it's safe, when there's no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it's too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone wil...
Best of Free State - How AI colonised the planet. With Karen Hao
30 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There are those who believe Artificial Intelligence will lead to the extinction of mankind. There are those who believe AI will save the world.On ...
Colm Toibin - ‘The problem in life is always middle aged men’
27 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Colm Toibin returns to the Free State studio for what is now the traditional Christmas interview.He reflects on the year when he turned 70, why there ...
Best of Free State - Keith Donald
25 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
First there was the music. Keith Donald was always looking to escape. Music offered the first exit. Then came drink.Keith Donald was abused as a ...
A Free State Family Christmas
23 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why do so many of us still cherish Christmas? And why do so many find it a tough time of year?On Free State today, Joe and Dion reflect on the po...
'If I was in despair I wouldn’t get out of bed in the morning’ - Leon Diop on building a New Ireland
20 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When he was 11, Leon Diop had his first experience of aggressive racism. But his identity was something he wrestled with in many ways.In a remark...
Rule West Britannia
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Causes, as we know, are notoriously bloodthirsty,’ James Baldwin wrote. What does it do to do somebody when they have crossed the boundary into...
Stakeknife, MI5 and the dirtiest war
16 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When the state sanctions it, is it murder? When the state protects its agents from the consequences of their crimes, how long before cynicism corrupts...
Eoin Ó Broin - Why the government doesn’t want to fix the housing crisis
13 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 1948, Herbert Simms, under increasing pressure from the demands of his job, took his own life.The pressure came from his job as Dublin’s housing ...
Role Play with AI Girls and Boys - Harmless fun or the end of the world?
11 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
During the heroin epidemic in Dublin in the 1980s, one drug baron infamously remarked as he was jailed, ‘If you think we’re bad, wait til you see ...
The Peace President - Infantino drags FIFA to a new low
09 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Gianni Infantino created FIFA’s Peace Prize, how could he have imagined that the inaugural winner would be his great friend Donald Trump.But th...
Why I Quit the US Government
06 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“I believe to the core of my soul that the response Israel is taking, and with it the American support both for that response and for the status quo...
2030 A Space Odyssey - Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid
04 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Are there reasons to embrace AI? Are the doomsayers wrong and the apocalyptic warnings overstated? What if an ordinary person can access medical or le...
Bohemian Rhapsody. Dan Lambert, the powerhouse behind Kneecap & Bohemian FC
02 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel Lambert is many things, football man, band manager and activist.Kneecap’s manager was the driving force behind the motion approved by the FAI...
Champion jockey Oisin Murphy on surviving on vodka and chips
29 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Oisin Murphy has been the Champion Jockey in Britain for the past two years. He will travel the country and beyond in pursuit of a winner. Horse racin...
A One - AI and the new colonists
27 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Donald Trump’s Education Secretary Linda McMahon called ‘AI’ ‘A-One’ it was treated as a gaffe that said a lot about the intellectual c...
Arise Knocknagoshel - Why Sport has to be about community
25 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sport is what sustains so many of us through the winter. Ireland is a sporting country but what does that mean?On Free State today, we ask if Ireland ...
Colin Davidson - ‘There were moments of trauma in my childhood'
22 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Colin Davidson is one of Ireland’s great artists.In a raw and powerful conversation, he joins us on Free State today to talk about a childhood that ...
How fortunate it is to be Irish
20 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What are the things that matter in this world? What do we mean by the common good?On Free State today Joe talks about the extraordinary beauty and gra...
Troy Parrott and the joy of living in the now
18 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Troy Parrott has transformed the mood of the nation. On Free State today we ask why the player and the Ireland team have had the impact they had?...
How Ben Dunne bought and sold Ireland
15 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
‘Thanks a million, big fella.’ Charlie Haughey’s words to Ben Dunne summed up how Ireland worked for many.But who was Ben Dunne and what were th...
The Legend of the Monday Club
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What is the difference between nostalgia and lamenting the loss of something special?Have we become a society that places too much emphasis on proprie...
How Trump & Israel made the BBC great again
11 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Trump is threatening to sue the BBC for a billion dollars.On Free State today we ask what is driving this campaign against the BBC?Many studies...
‘I know a lot of people think Nigel Farage is an extremist. I don’t’
08 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Iain Dale knows he is walking on perilous terrain.Dale is one of Britain’s best known broadcasters and podcasters but his new book is about Ireland,...
Zohran Mamdani, Mayor of New York. Why is corporate America so terrified of a 34 year old Muslim?
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In numbers not seen for half a century, New Yorkers went out and voted for Zohran Mamdani as their new mayor.Mamdani becomes New York’s first Muslim...
Simon Harris, Elon Musk & the Stranger Danger Delusion
04 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Halloween night, a fire broke out an IPAS centre in Drogheda. Four children, including a 20-day-old baby, were among those rescued from the top flo...
Learning to cross the road. A life ruined by Opus Dei
01 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On the day of the All Ireland football final in 1978, Anne Marie Allen believed she was beginning the life she dreamed of.She was 15 years old and wan...
DJ Carey - The rise and fall of hurling’s first superstar
30 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
DJ Carey’s sentencing hearing was postponed until Friday. In July, Carey had pleaded guilty to defrauding 13 people.On Free State today, Joe and Dio...
How racism became respectable.
28 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When the shadow Home Secretary Robert Jenrick visited Handsworth in Birmingham he complained about ‘not seeing another white face’.Many were anger...
Accidental Villain or State Sanctioned Murderer? The story of Sir Hugh Tudor
25 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Winston Churchill wanted someone to deal with the problems in Ireland, he turned to his old friend Sir Hugh Tudor.Tudor went to Ireland una...
Maccabi Tel Aviv - the most misunderstood football hooligans in the world
23 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Birmingham City Council announced that they would ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending the football match against Aston Villa next month, Kei...
Michael Lewis & the lion on the pitch
21 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The great Michael Lewis is one of our favourite ever guests on Free State.On an October morning at the end of a long book tour, he asked us to talk ab...
A Time to Mourn and A Time to Dance
18 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 2012, while swimming in the Galapagos Islands, Delphine Kelly suffered an aortic aneurysm and drowned.On Free State today, Julia Kelly talks about ...
Donald Trump, The Last Emperor
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Is Donald Trump right for once? Is this the deal to end all deals? And could anyone else have pulled it off?On Free State today, Donald Trump’s role...
Mise Éire with Ian Óg Paisley (just don’t mention bilingual signs)
14 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ian Paisley Jr says he might be open to persuasive arguments over a United Ireland. The DUP says it is not interested in engaging or being persuaded o...
Let’s call the presidential election off. feat Maria Steen, Lara Trump... but not Jim Gavin
09 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Is there any point to the presidential election anymore? Maria Steen who failed to get on the ballot has called for the presidential election to ...
How Jim Gavin came undone in the Nasty Rose of Tralee
07 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What was Jim Gavin thinking? What was going through his head when he decided he would like to be Fianna Fail’s candidate for president.On Free State...
Run Zohran Run - How Zohran Mamdani will become mayor of New York and why he terrifies the establishment
04 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In January 2025, Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist, running for mayor of New York had an eight per cent chance of winning the race. Today, he h...
Catherine Connolly: ‘Tony Blair has committed war crimes’
02 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Where did Catherine Connolly’s belief in social justice come from? If she is elected president, how will she use the presidency to advance those bel...
The Freedom Flotilla - Sailing serenely on dangerous tides.
30 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Freedom Flotilla is reaching a critical point in its journey to Gaza. In the next 24 hours, those aboard the 50 ships will reach what is believed ...
The Hot-Red Forge of Life: David Trimble from Sectarian to Nobel Peace Prize
27 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“He wasn’t the kind of person who ever greeted you,” Ireland’s former president Mary McAleese says of David Trimble, who was a law student at ...
Sportwashing US Imperialism: The great Dave Zirin on the NFL in Ireland, Charlie Kirk and Kneecap
25 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Dave Zirin flew home to America last week, as a precaution he wrote the telephone numbers of a lawyer and an Irish politician on his arm.He had b...
Heather Humphreys, Jim Gavin’s white trousers and the sash my husband didn’t wear
23 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Mary Lou McDonald announced a ‘game changing’ candidate many eyes looked to Joe Brolly. But was he ever in the running and would Dion have vo...
Never too old - Finding Ireland, and yourself, in hurling
20 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when a man tries to take up hurling at 41?What does he learn about himself and Ireland’s relationship with its fabled national game.On ...
Leo Varadkar, United Irishman.
18 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
At the age of 45, Leo Varadkar decided to resign as Taoiseach. Many people wondered why.In an extraordinarily frank interview on Free State today, Leo...
Charlie Kirk: The Death of an American Hero
16 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Who was Charlie Kirk and what had he got to do with Ireland?On a heated episode of Free State, Dion and Joe argue about how to respond to the mur...
The Ascent of Man: How Diarmuid Lyng made sense of the world
13 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Diarmuid Lyng led the life many believe is the dream.But it wasn’t his dream.On Free State today he talks about how there has to be another way. How...
Our Man in Washington: Niall Stanage on Epstein, Trump and Down football
11 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What is it like to cover the Donald Trump White House?How should the media engage with the presidency in a time of crisis?On Free State today, Niall S...
FBI Informant-The Shocking Truth about Donald J Trump
09 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson declared last week that Donald Trump had been an FBI informant working to take down Jeffrey E...
Four Green Fields: The Climate Crisis, Culture Wars and Myths
06 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ireland is a rural country. We believe that the values that sustain us are values that have been shaped by our struggle for land and our struggles on ...
The Age of Deportation-How England’s political class embraced the hate movement
04 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Nigel Farage arrived in Washington this week, a US congressman Jamie Raskin spoke the truth about this snake oil salesman. In Britain the wo...
Jim Gavin for President
02 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why does Jim Gavin want to be president? What does a man in the prime of his life with a record of success and achievement gain from going to the...
The Fantasy Land of England’s far right - The great David Goldblatt on what football tells us about U.K. society
30 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Last Monday night, Newcastle United played Liverpool in a game which told the story of the Premier League.One club is owned by Saudi Arabia, the other...
Render unto Trump…
28 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
"Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s." In Donald Trump’s America you can render unto Donald Trump what is God’s as ...
Beware the Sons of Ulster, Marching Across the World
26 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
‘Northern Ireland,’ Margaret Thatcher said once, ‘is as British as Finchley’But what if Britain is as Northern Irish as Ballymena? On Fre...
Which came first the music or the mayhem? Musician Keith Donald on Van Morrison, Moving Hearts and drink
23 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
First there was the music. Keith Donald was always looking to escape. Music offered the first exit. Then came drink.Keith Donald was abused as a ...
The Lord of the Áras? Is Michael Flatley about to make an áras of himself?
21 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Why does Michael Flatley want to be president? Why would anyone want him to be president?On Free State today, Joe and Dion reluctantly engaged with th...
Vladimir Putin & the antidote to Donald Trump (TINY HANDS, SO TINY) and terrible hair (NOT HIS OWN).
19 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Volodymyr Zelensky put on suit for his meeting with Donald Trump in the White House. During his row with Trump and JD Vance last February, a reporter ...
Would you vote for an AI politician?
16 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Would you vote for an AI politician or Simon Harris? Or a robot or Donald Trump?Thomas R Weaver’s dystopian fiction Artificial Wisdom: A Novel imagi...
With Batman saving Gotham, only Conor McGregor can save Ireland
14 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When you go out to get a pint of milk, do you bring your essential survival kit in case of attack from rampaging gangs or immediate societal breakdown...
Mo Salah, Bono and how language became the spearhead of a genocide
12 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice.” These words were published on Anas Al-Sharif’s ...
Replacing the shit with something better. Tim McGabhann on his journey from addiction to salvation.
09 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
‘I probably need to start with the s***,’ Tim MacGabhann writes in his memoir.On Free State today, Tim MacGabhann talks about the shit and the sal...
When Ali met Ireland
07 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Muhammad Ali visited Ireland in 1972, the country was a different place.Nobody believed the greatest sportsman the world has ever seen would figh...
Through a Glass Darkly. The sobering of Dion Fanning
05 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As Dion celebrates a personal milestone, on Free State today Joe and Dion look at how to live without drink.They consider how dark it can get for thos...
A summer on the brink
02 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the summer of 1976, the world was a different place.In Ireland and Britain, it was a summer of a heatwave. But were there cultural and political ch...
They’re behind you! How the mass murder industry is trying to spook Ireland into wasting billions on weapons of war.
31 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Have you locked yourself in a panic room? Have you got your tinned foods and toilet rolls in for when the Russians invade? If not, why are you so comp...
Superman unleashed. Can anyone stop David Clifford & another Golden Years?
29 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
After Sunday's All Ireland final proved yet again why David Clifford is Superman in shorts, Joe wonders can any team stop a new Golden Years style rei...
A War Correspondent in Gaza
26 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As a young reporter Phoebe Greenwood worked as a war correspondent in Gaza. She inhabited the world of fixers where journalists stayed at the Al Deira...
Can Donegal beat David Clifford? Or are 15 mortal men enough against the God of football?
24 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How do you stop a genius? How does a genius thrive? David Clifford is the greatest Gaelic football who has ever lived but will that be enough on ...
Cork, a study in failure. Donal Og’s destructive legacy
22 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Did Cork lose the All-Ireland hurling final at half time or was defeat guaranteed long before?On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at what a sportin...
The Trump Dictatorship with writer Joseph O’Neill
19 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
One of Ireland’s great writers Joseph O’Neill is today’s guest on Free State.O’Neill’s novels Netherland and Godwin have reflected the centr...
Blocking a cross-community cricket camp. Unionists are draining the pool so no one can swim
17 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Fairground Park pool in St Louis Missouri was the largest pool in America when it was built in 1919. It had enough room for 10,000 swimmers. All o...
The Sherlock Holmes of Donegal. Jimmy McGuinness and the winning formula.
15 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jim McGuinness isn’t a pragmatist. He is, Joe says, a pragmatic extremist.On Free State, Joe and Dion look at the clash between genius and control.&...
Writer Timothy O’Grady on the trauma of war, imagining the life of a sniper and writing Stephen Rea’s memoir
12 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In January, Timothy O’Grady joined Dion and Joe on the podcast to talk about Say Nothing and what it got wrong.What stayed in people’s minds was h...
Postmodernism and the Twelfth. In Moygashel, they’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats
10 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When the pictures emerged of the loyalist bonfire in Moygashel in Co Tyrone, most people were horrified at the migrant boat effigy at the top. Po...
Diogo Jota and the surprising truth about people
08 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What kind of world do you think you’re living in?Most people when asked will have one view but on Free State today, Joe explains a surprising truth....
Life and Death in Iran: With Children of the Jacaranda Tree author Sahar Delijani
05 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sahar Delijani was born in Evin Prison in Tehran. Her mother, who had been part of the movement that toppled the Shah in Iran, had been jailed as the ...
Death Death to the IVF
03 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the aftermath of having their US visas revoked following their comments at Glastonbury, Bob Vylan issued a statement saying they were “a distract...
David Clifford defeats Armagh to reach All-Ireland semi-final. Can he go all the way?
01 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Sunday at Croke Park the glory belonged to Kerry but who was responsible for this victory and will Joe have to apologise?On Free State today Joe an...
How AI colonised the planet. With Karen Hao
28 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There are those who believe Artificial Intelligence will lead to the extinction of mankind. There are those who believe AI will save the world.On Free...
Kerry’s animals, Armagh’s bonus year & how Kilkenny abandoned cricket for hurling
26 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The world seems to be intent on tapping into humanity’s worst instincts.Tech companies ensure the algorithms keep us enraged and fearful, but is the...
Bombing Iran: It’s what God would have wanted. Another Donald Trump U-turn.
24 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Donald Trump gave the order to bomb Iran, the language of war was mobilised. It is a language where death and misery means peace and love.On Free...
Why Israel bombed Iran (and how they will get the west to back them again) with Fintan Drury
21 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Fintan Drury trained as a journalist before becoming a hugely significant figure in Irish corporate life, something he has talked about previously wit...
Kneecap and the bilingual London Magistrates
19 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Kneecap arrived at Westminster Magistrates Court, the scene was like Beatlemania if the Beatles’ fans were supporting a Free Palestine.Kneecap ...
The True History of Iran (and Mayo footballers)
17 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The world is moving closer to annihilation and still people beat the drumbeats for war.On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at how Israel’s attack...
Famine, plague and slaughters: Ireland and The Great Hunger with historian Padraic X Scanlan
14 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“Political history, not natural history, turned a potato failure into a famine.”Between 1845 and 1851, one million people on the island of Ireland...
Ballymena Blues. Why Ulster loyalists hate everyone (except Israel)
12 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In Ballymena this week, those who have come from abroad to make their lives in the town were putting union jacks in the window in the hope it would pr...
"God save Oireland ! " said the heroes feat. Conor McGregor and Tommy Robinson, be the hokey
10 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“The kids were coming down for breakfast when these five men wearing cargo pants, big jackets arrived. They came into the third floor, stood in fron...
Irish not Scouse? How Liverpool became a global city and remained an Irish one
07 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
TP O’Connor was elected as MP for the Liverpool constituency of Liverpool Scotland in 1885. He represented that constituency from then until his dea...
Why Gerry Adams beat the BBC
05 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When a jury found in Gerry Adams’s favour in his case against the BBC, executives from the British Broadcasting Corporation sounded like they had wo...
Highway to Hell. An Irish surgeon’s journey into Gaza’s heart of darkness. With Morgan McMonagle.
03 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“Our revenge will be the laughter of our children,” Bobby Sands famously said. But what happens in a land where children are being killed in their...
Love, loss and destruction. Writer Oona Frawley on making sense of the past
31 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How do we make sense of a world when it no longer contains the people we love?How do we make peace with the past when it’s still a mystery?On Free S...
The Liverpool Parade and why white nationalism is on the prowl
29 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In a recent survey, supporters of Nigel Farage ranked ‘being English’ ahead of ‘being a parent’ as a signifier of who they are.How has it come...
The Persecution of Kneecap: A legal perspective with Joe Brolly, barrister-at-law
27 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh was charged with terror offences, it made global headlines. The world reported the charge that the man had allegedly display...
How the Northern Bank robbery changed Ireland with Glenn Patterson
24 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On the 20th December, 2004, £26.5 million was stolen in plain sight from the Northern Bank in Belfast. This wasn't a victimless crime, but some saw i...
The Assassination of Gary Lineker by the coward BBC
22 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Gary Lineker will leave the BBC this weekend but why has it come to this?On Free State, Joe and Dion look at how Lineker had a target on his back for ...
Gary Lineker, the Mayo footballers and the mechanics of change
20 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Keir Starmer said Britain risked becoming an ‘island of strangers’, in whose interests was he speaking?When Gary Lineker left the BBC, was it...
Go on home British soldier, go on home - The IRA & me, with Captain Jonathan Trigg of the Royal Anglian Regiment
15 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Jon Trigg was sent to Northern Ireland as a young officer, he was going to war. It wasn’t the Troubles or a conflict but a war.Trigg served his...
Cocaine Nights on the Kyiv Express (feat Emmanuel Macron, Keir Starmer and the German guy)
13 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When is a cocaine spoon not a cocaine spoon? When is a tissue a wrap of an illegal substance?On Free State today look at how a story spreads online as...
Where The Wildelings Are. Writer Lisa Harding on surviving Trinity College, anxiety and the Male Gaze
10 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Lisa Harding’s stunning new book The Wildelings is set in a fictional university in Dublin. On Free State today, Lisa talks to us about her own...