David McWilliams: How the energy crisis could plunge Ireland into recession

In the entire country there are just 26 places for vulnerable children in need of the highest level of specialist care and supervision that Tusla is charged with providing.And only 15 of these beds are currently available.What this means is that when the child and family agency petitions the courts to have a vulnerable and in-danger child taken into its special care, it then has to admit to the judge that it has no beds available.Judges are increasingly expressing their frustration and exasperation at this situation – and at the patchwork of care arrangements facing these children. These typically involve special emergency arrangements (SEAs), often in B&Bs, hotel rooms or private apartments. This is provided by private companies, charging the State nearly €60 million in 2024 alone.Social Affairs Correspondent Kitty Holland explains the background to this ongoing failure and why the increasingly loud comments from the bench just might effect change.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The world is in oil shock. Since the US and Israel launched its war on Iran one month ago, the impact on the rest of the world has been felt in ever-rising energy prices.Iran controls – and has mostly closed – the Strait of Hormuz through which one-fifth of the world’s oil supply usually passes.There is no guarantee in this uncertain war when oil supplies will start flowing again as normal.History shows that oil shocks are followed by recessions says economist, writer and Irish Times columnist David McWilliams. But will that happen this time? And is there enough understanding in Ireland how this war could impact on all our lives in the coming weeks.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Please note, this episode contains discussion of suicide and sexual assault. Listener discretion is advised.Last Thursday, a Spanish woman called Noelia Castillo, died by euthanasia at the age of 25. The case made headlines in Spain and beyond, because the young woman had spent the previous two years fighting a legal battle against her father, over her right to end her life. The case went all the way to the European Court of Human Rights, but last week, the court eventually rejected her father's request for the euthanasia to be put on hold.The day after the ruling, Castillo died under medical supervision in a hospital north of Barcelona, where crowds gathered outside -  some to mourn, others to protest.In today’s episode, Irish Times contributor Guy Hedgecoe unpacks the complexities of the case, why it has divided public opinion in Spain, and the circumstances that led Castillo to make this deeply contested decision.Presented by Suzanne Brennan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dublin City Council is keeping up the pressure on the Government to legislate for a tourist tax administered by local authorities.The level of the tax, also called a bed levy, city tax or accommodation tax, has not been pinned down but €5 per room, per night has been mooted. There could be a sliding scale depending on the standard of accommodation.With 21 out of 27 EU member states having such a tax, why is Ireland stubbornly resistant to what would be a boost to local authority coffers?Dublin editor Olivia Kelly explains the background to the tax.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The scale of the fake medicines in Ireland has been made worryingly clear with the latest figures from the State’s drugs watchdog.The Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) seized more than 750,000 units of illegal and fake medicines over the course of 2025.As has been in the case in previous years, anabolic steroids top the list of fake imported drugs, with erectile dysfunction medication next.But what has alarmed the watchdog is the 180 per cent rise in individual consignments year on year – people going online and ordering these bogus products – with a “significant proportion” being presented as GLP-1 products, also known as weight-loss drugs.So why do people seek out these particular medicines online; are they aware they may be fake despite their apparently authentic packaging and appearance; and is there an understanding of the health risks involved?Irish Times health correspondent Shauna Bowers explains the ever-increasing rise in fake medicines reaching Ireland.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Clifton Collins (55) had a thriving business growing cannabis in rented houses around the country.The Crumlin man and expert beekeeper was known for his award-winning honey but his real earner was the fortune he made from years of dealing drugs.He operated under the radar so when gardaí came across him parked in the Wicklow Mountains one night, they had no idea their search would eventually result in of the most lucrative seizures in the history of the Criminal Assets Bureau.Collins had amassed 6,000 bitcoin around 2010. The problem for the Garda was they didn’t know the code to unlock the wallets; it was, Collins said, lost.His bitcoin stash had by 2026 rocketed in value to €360 million.Seven years after gardaí seized the wallets they have finally been able to open one of them and have released €30 million. There are 11 more wallets to be opened.Irish Times crime and security editor Conor Lally explains the background to this extraordinary case.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stephen McCullagh (36) thought he had created a cast iron alibi for himself when he planned the murder of his pregnant girlfriend Natalie McNally (32) in December 2022.An avid gamer he was, he claimed, at home playing a video game live at the time she was killed. But as the PSNI was able to prove, he had in fact pre-recorded hours of himself playing the game. Police found that when he hit “play”, he set off to his girlfriend's house in Armagh where he savagely murdered her.The case against McCullagh was built on circumstantial evidence, so for Natalie’s devastated family, conviction was not certain.Seanín Graham is Northern Correspondent of The Irish Times and she was in court in Belfast for the trial.She tells In the News she has never before witnessed such emotional scenes in court as when the guilty verdict was handed down on Monday.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon and Suzanne Brennan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A new investigation has shown the supply chain link between Russian missiles – ones used to deadly effect in Ukraine – and a factory in Limerick.Aughinish Alumina was built near the Shannon Estuary in the 1980s to make alumina using raw bauxite from Guinea and Brazil.A major employer in the area, it changed hands in 2006 when it was bought by a company called Rusal which at the time was controlled by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaskaa.It has become one of the Europe’s biggest sources of the vital raw material. Alumina is a key part of the car and aircraft industry. It is also the bedrock of much of the weapons industry.As part of an in-depth investigation, Irish Times crime and security editor Conor Gallagher traced the exports from the Limerick factory and explains why when the EU looked to sanction any industry which might be helpful to the Russian war machine, Aughinish Alumina was given a pass.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon and Andrew McNair.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The newly-formed Women’s Coalition on Immigration is calling on the Government to publish crime statistics broken down by country of origin and ethnicity. It argues – without supporting evidence – that there is a link between the increase in reported incidents of sexual violence against women in Ireland and immigration. The coalition was established in December by The Countess, a campaigning group led by barrister Laoise de Brún. It was initially set up in 2020 to campaign against “gender identity politics”. But why has it pivoted from trans issues to immigration? What data has it put forward to support its claims? And who are the political representatives giving this small anti-immigration group their support? Irish Times political correspondent Ellen Coyne explains.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Aideen Finnegan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Three victims of the IRA’s bombing campaign in Britain have spent the past four years building a legal case in an attempt to prove that Gerry Adams was a leading member of the IRA during the Troubles.The former Sinn Féin leader spent two days in the witness box in London, maintaining he was never a member of the republican paramilitary organisation responsible for the injuries of John Clark in the Old Bailey explosion in 1973, Jonathan Ganesh at Canary Wharf in 1996 and Barry Laycock a few months later in Manchester.The 77-year-old appeared, according to Irish Times Ireland and Britain editor Mark Hennessy, frail but he was robust in his denial of the claims.So what happens next? Why might the judge rule that the case should never have been brought? And why did Adams wear a bulletproof vest on the first day of the hearing?As the court prepares to sit for its final day, Hennessy explains the background to the case and the evidence presented.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon and John Casey. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.