In The News
Episodes
Best of 2021: How South Korea’s social inequality inspired Netflix’s Squid Game
31 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Have you watched Squid Game yet? Since its release, the South Korean drama has become a global sensation, making it Netflix’s biggest series launch ...
Best of 2021: Amazon's dark side: what might it mean for Ireland?
30 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Amazon, the company founded by Jeff Bezos in a Seattle garage more than a quarter of a century ago, is building one of its massive fulfilment centres ...
Best of 2021: Could Graham Dwyer win his appeal?
29 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Could Ireland's most notorious murderer Graham Dwyer win a retrial, or even walk free? Dwyer, who was convicted of the murder of Elaine O'Hara in...
Best of 2021: Who killed Michael Collins?
28 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Nearly 100 years after his death, the truth about who assassinated Michael Collins remains one of the greatest unanswered questions in Irish history. ...
Best of 2021: How the Spelling Bee became a national American sport
27 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a quintessentially American institution, where kids battle it out to correctly spell ten-dollar words like 'querimonious' and 'solidungulate'. ...
Ireland’s rent crisis and its toll on society
22 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ireland is in the midst of a rent crisis. Prices are increasing nationally at a rate of around 8%, housing stock is low and the cost of buying a home ...
From a single TD to the most popular party: Sinn Féin's political journey
20 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How did Sinn Féin adapt, evolve and rise to become the most popular political party in the Republic of Ireland? And if it does win power in a future ...
Omicron is here. How bad could it get, and are we ready?
17 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Omicron variant of Sars CoV 2 is the most transmissible variant yet and the percentage of cases here is growing dramatically. What is the Gov...
Undocumented in Ireland: New hope for thousands living in the shadows
15 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Earlier this month, the government approved a landmark scheme to regularise thousands of undocumented migrants and their families who are living in Ir...
“Change your face over your lunch break”: The rise in unregulated cosmetic procedures in Ireland
13 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Demand for cosmetic procedures is on the rise across Ireland, but what are the risks involved when the industry remains unregulated? Features writer J...
Will "Partygate" do real damage to Boris Johnson?
10 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Denis Staunton on the latest scandal hitting UK prime minister Boris Johnson's government, after a week of denials that an illegal party took place in...
How a Covid cert revolt in Brussels reveals a dark trend in pandemic politics
09 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A group of MEPs, citing civil liberties, are refusing to present a Covid vaccination certificate when entering the European Parliament. Their ringlead...
The Treaty: how it shaped modern Ireland
06 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On the 6th of December 1921, the Anglo-Irish Treaty was agreed, paving the way for the creation of the Irish state. A century later, we explore how it...
The science behind Covid mutation
03 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The emergence of the Omicron variant has us asking questions about the virus and vaccines. What exactly does it look like when Sars-CoV-2 mutates? Cou...
Bracing for a possible Omicron wave
01 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Jack Horgan-Jones on the new measures announced by the Government yesterday in light of the emergence of Omicron, a potentially more transmissible var...
Is it time to scrap the Leaving Cert?
29 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Leaving Cert system is often accused of being one large memory test, placing high levels of stress on students and failing to prepare them for a l...
What Diego Maradona meant to Argentina
26 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Thanks to Argentinian heritage, comedian and TV presenter Stephen Mullan knows how much Diego Maradona meant to the people of Argentina, and how much ...
Is Europe losing patience with Covid?
24 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Last weekend, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of European cities to demonstrate against the introduction of new Covid restrictions. E...
Inside the Mater Hospital: 'There's no optimistic scenario'
22 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Irish Times features writer Jennifer O’Connell recently spent the day in Dublin’s Mater hospital, speaking to frontline staff. With Covid cases co...
Remembering the Sean Quinn saga
18 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Last week Google, following "right to be forgotten" rules, granted a request from a member of a well-known Irish business family to hide unfavourable ...
How Belarus is engineering a migrant crisis
17 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Thousands of migrants, mainly from the Middle East, are stuck on the Belarus border with Poland, having arrived into the country with the promise of a...
"He was the only victim in this" - the killing of John Pat Cunningham
15 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dennis Hutchings was buried on Thursday in Devon with full military honours and applause.The 80 year old died in Belfast after contracting C...
Is rugby doing enough to tackle the concussion epidemic?
12 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, former All Black Carl Hayman revealed a diagnosis of early onset dementia at just 41 years of age. Hayman has also joined a long list of fo...
Can booster doses and anti-viral drugs end the pandemic?
10 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The finishing line of this pandemic has been cruelly pushed back again and again. Vaccines have diminished the threat posed by Covid-19 but we're stil...
A tragedy in Sierra Leone is a story about poverty
09 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Last Friday in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown, a fire in the busy neighbourhood of Wellington killed scores and injured many more. The fire was cause...
Could Graham Dwyer win his appeal?
08 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Could Ireland's most notorious murderer Graham Dwyer win a retrial, or even walk free? Dwyer, who was convicted of the murder of Elaine O'Hara in 2015...
What's in the Climate Action Plan and does it go far enough?
05 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How does a country halve its greenhouse gas emissions in just nine years? The new Climate Action Plan is the Irish government's answer to that questio...
Is Dublin losing its cultural soul?
03 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A squat eviction, protests over plans to redevelop the site at the Cobblestone pub and the announcements of closures of the Science Gallery and a much...
The agency forcing Irish criminals to flee abroad
01 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Just over 25 years ago, the Criminal Assets Bureau was established in the wake of the killings of Detective Jerry McCabe and journalist Veronica Gueri...
Why is the EU fining Poland €1 million every single day?
29 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This week, the European Union’s Court of Justice ordered Poland to pay a one million euro daily fine, believed to be the biggest penalty imposed by ...
Cop26: Our last chance to tackle climate catastrophe
28 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On Wednesday, just days before world leaders and policy makers descended upon Glasgow for the crucial Cop26 climate talks, UN secretary-general Antoni...
Is Facebook damaging our world?
26 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Facebook’s brand is in crisis. The social media giant is rarely out of the headlines, most recently after whistleblowers and leaked documents shed l...
Squid Game: How South Korea’s social inequality inspired Netflix’s biggest ever hit
22 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Have you watched Squid Game yet? Since its release, the South Korean drama has become a global sensation, making it Netflix’s biggest series launch ...
Climate action: "I'm not gonna give up, there's too much to fight for"
20 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We’re told that eating less meat or giving up flying are things that we can do to help fight climate change. But given that a relatively small numbe...
Why is Covid so prevalent in Ireland compared to other European countries?
18 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Health editor Paul Cullen on what we know about the reasons for Ireland's high level of Covid-19 right now, despite our high vaccination rates.Plus: p...
Can the UK and the EU overcome mistrust to do a deal on Northern Ireland?
15 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Earlier this week, Britain's Brexit minister David Frost called for a new "Northern Ireland protocol" to completely replace the agreement he negotiat...
Ireland 2050: 'The big changes will be at the extremes... droughts, floods'
13 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
More flooding, longer spells of hotter weather, heavier rain events and the disappearance of frost: The changes to Ireland's weather if we fail to tac...
The disappearance of Deirdre Jacob: Could new evidence crack the case?
12 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A large search operation has begun in Co Kildare in relation to the disappearance of 18-year-old Deirdre Jacob, who went missing as she...
What Ireland's corporate tax hike means
11 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A global deal means our 12.5% corporate tax rate will be going up for the first time in decades. Cliff Taylor tells Conor the story of the rate: ...
Berlin's rental revolution: could it happen in Ireland?
08 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On September 26th a referendum was held in Berlin. The question? Should landlords be forced to sell nearly a quarter of a million apartments to the ci...
When did the climate crisis begin?
06 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In a few weeks' time, world leaders meet for the COP26 UN Climate Conference in Scotland, where they will try to agree on a plan to reduce emissions a...
The Pandora Papers: Ireland's role in hiding global wealth
05 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ireland is being used as a de facto offshore location by people and businesses in Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and other countries in eastern Europe an...
Why are people turning to an anti-parasite drug to treat Covid-19?
01 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This month the first Irish person was hospitalised after using the anti-parasitic drug Ivermectin to treat the symptoms of Covid-19. In the US, demand...
Allegations of sexual abuse, betrayal and threats: The downfall of a charity and its founder
29 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Before his sudden death Anthony Flynn was accused of sexually assaulting several men in the care of the charity he founded. He leaves behind alleged a...
The unpalatable truth about eating meat
24 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How much do you think about where your food comes from, how the animals used to produce it live and die, or its impact on the environment? Journalist ...
Why did Boris Johnson have to sack some of his closest allies?
20 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson reshuffled his cabinet last week, firing ministers who had been key supporters of his leadership. What prompted the mo...
Covid and unvaccinated school children - what are the risks?
15 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The success of Ireland’s vaccine rollout has exceeded even the most optimistic projections of earlier this year and allowed the country to re-open, ...
After years of decline, can the Ireland men's football team turn things around?
13 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Republic of Ireland senior men's football team has brought joy and heartbreak to fans over the years. But now, after a disappointing run of result...
How the 9/11 attacks tore one Irish family apart
10 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Twenty years ago, on Tuesday, September 11th, 2001, Mark Clifford was in Dublin attending the funeral of a friend, when he caught sight of a TV screen...
Are we ready for the next pandemic?
08 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As Ireland continues towards the full reopening of society with the lifting of pandemic restrictions, experts have warned that the next global outbrea...
What does the future hold for Fianna Fáil?
06 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Fianna Fáil TDs, Senators and MEPs will gather in the town of Ballyconnell, Co Cavan to discuss the future of their political party. The t...
Who are ISIS-K and what threat do they pose?
02 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Less than a fortnight after the Taliban took control in Afghanistan, the country saw its first horrific terror attack. The suicide bombing near Kabul ...
How Ireland’s mountain rescue services are managing an alarming rise in callouts
31 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As more and more people take to the outdoors to explore Ireland’s hiking trails and mountain paths, rescue services are experiencing an alarming ris...
Who killed Michael Collins?
27 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Nearly 100 years after his death, the truth about who assassinated Michael Collins remains one of the greatest unanswered questions in Irish history. ...
Will Delta derail New Zealand's 'Covid Zero' strategy?
25 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Just over a week ago, New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern put the country into lockdown after the first coronavirus case in six months was repor...
Falling birth rates and ageing populations: what will this mean for the world?
23 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As birth rates continue to drop and people live longer, the world’s population is set to change dramatically over the coming decades. What...
The puzzling death of Margaret Bracken
20 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Was the death of a woman in Dundalk in 2019 suspicious and was it investigated properly? And will her family ever find the answers they are searc...
The Taliban takeover and the future of Afghanistan
18 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When US forces began to withdraw from Afghanistan earlier this year, it didn’t take long for the Taliban to begin their takeover. One by one, cities...
How the Spelling Bee became a national American sport
13 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a quintessentially American institution, where kids battle it out to correctly spell ten-dollar words like 'querimonious' and 'solidungulate'. ...
Boycotts, one-star reviews and threats of violence: anti-vaxxers "unleash hell"
09 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When a restaurant complies with the law and asks indoor diners to show a Covid vaccine certificate, are they breaching the diner's human rights, or ev...
Why did Katherine Zappone's UN envoy appointment spark a political crisis?
06 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
At a time when TDs and ministers are usually winding down after the end of the Dáil term, the Government is facing a political crisis. It started las...
Why do Brazilians want to impeach their president Jair Bolsonaro?
04 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For weeks now, thousands of protestors have been taking to the streets of Brazil demanding that their country's far-right president Jair Bolsonaro ste...
Sonia O'Sullivan on Simone Biles's decision to put mental health before sport
30 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Olympic silver medalist Sonia O'Sullivan and sports writer Malachy Clerkin talk to our producer Jennifer Ryan about the decision by US superstar gymna...
Will fear of Delta overcome America's vaccine hesitancy?
28 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Only two months ago America's fast-moving vaccine rollout was the envy of billions across the globe. But with infections now rising across the country...
Can Europe unite to fight climate change?
26 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This month the European Commission launched their new ‘Fit for 55’ package, the latest instalment of the European Green Deal, which sets out a pla...
A notorious people smuggler escapes justice
23 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Last month, an infamous Eritrean human trafficker was sentenced to life in prison without parole in absentia in Ethiopia. Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam,...
Boris Johnson's Covid gamble
21 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
By removing practically all remaining Covid-19 restrictions in England, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has gambled that the resulting wave of infecti...
Ireland's phone scam plague
19 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A lot of us have experienced it at least once by now: a fraudulent call from someone claiming to work for the Gardaí or the Department of Social...
How Poland's right-wing politicians are reshaping society
14 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Earlier this month, former European Council president Donald Tusk was elected head of Poland's Civic Platform, the opposition party he co-founded 20 y...
How Ireland's eating disorder patients have been forgotten by the health service
12 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Rachel, a young student nurse from Dublin, was just twenty years old, when her mother Sam began to notice the first signs of an eating disorder. Six y...
Why are MEPs Mick Wallace and Clare Daly in trouble at the European Parliament?
09 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Irish MEPs Mick Wallace and Clare Daly were recently formally sanctioned by the European Parliament’s Democracy Support and Election Coordination&nb...
What will happen in Afghanistan when the US withdraws its troops?
07 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In April, US president Joe Biden announced all remaining troops in Afghanistan would be withdrawn, ending what he described as “America's longest wa...
Amazon's dark side: what might it mean for Ireland?
02 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Amazon, the company founded by Jeff Bezos in a Seattle garage more than a quarter of a century ago, is building one of its massive fulfilment centres ...
What's happening in the Dublin Bay South byelection?
29 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Next Thursday, on July 8th, voters in Dublin Bay South will cast their votes in a byelection widely seen as the first major electoral test for the coa...
Can the rest of Europe do anything about Hungary's anti-LGBTQ law?
28 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Last week Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban was confronted by other EU leaders about a new law that prohibits the promotion of homosexuality to un...
Can Jeffrey Donaldson fix the DUP?
23 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Who is Jeffrey Donaldson, the new leader of Northern Ireland's troubled Democratic Unionist Party? What are the challenges he faces? How did former le...
Can we win the race against the Delta variant?
21 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Public health officials in Ireland appear optimistic about the progress of the Covid-19 pandemic, with indicators moving in the right direction and th...
Is Donald Trump's relevance fading?
18 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Is Donald Trump's relevance fading? At this week's summit between US president Joe Biden and Russian president Vladimir Putin, his presence was felt a...
Why are people protesting about mica, and what do they want from the Government?
16 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On Tuesday, busloads of people travelled from Donegal and Mayo to protest outside Dublin’s Convention Centre calling for increased financial support...
Has the Black Lives Matter movement changed anything in Ireland?
14 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Last June, thousands of young Irish people took to the streets of Dublin calling for an end to racial injustice following the killing of George Floyd ...
Will "taking the knee" come between teams and their fans at the Euros?
11 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Football writer and broadcaster Ken Early speaks to Sorcha Pollak about why football players are "taking the knee", why some fans are choosing to boo ...
Why is the Democratic Unionist Party tearing itself apart?
09 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In Northern Ireland, Unionism has been in an unhappy place since the turn of the year, when the Northern Ireland protocol, the part of the the Brexit ...
How a sex abuse scandal rocked the scouting movement
08 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In early 2018 things started to unravel for Ireland’s scouting movement. For decades it had stood as a paragon of honour and wholesome positivi...
Will fake news about Covid outlive the pandemic?
04 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A steady stream of false information has been a part of the Covid-19 pandemic, with many conspiracy theories emerging around the existence of the...
Is now the right time for a Covid-19 inquiry?
02 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Last week the former advisor to the UK prime minister, Dominic Cummings, spoke before a parliamentary committee about the early days of UK's response ...
After 40 years, is there an end in sight to the Aids epidemic?
31 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In June 1981, a US medical journal published the first sketchy details of a disease which came to be known as Aids.In the 40 years since then, 33 mill...
Belarus: is there any hope for Roman Protasevich's release?
26 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Belarus's audacious snatching of Roman Protasevich from a Ryanair flight forced to land as it passed through Belarusian airspace has raised fears for ...
Deadline day for the HSE
24 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Will data stolen in the HSE ransomware attack appear online today? And if so, what will it mean for Irish citizens? Conor Lally explains.Plus: Karlin ...
Trailer: In The News
07 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
COMING SOON: In The News, a podcast from The Irish Times that takes a close look at stories that matter, in Ireland and around the world. Hosted by So...