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 saw him find an escape into art.

He speaks of how he approaches his subjects and what he is trying to find when he paints people as diverse as Martin McGuinness and the Queen.

And he considers the question, is there anyone he wouldn’t paint?

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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 grace he is witnessing in the Mayo Hospice at the moment.

When life and death visit us we understand what is important and we grasp what is valuable. 

 Joe and Dion also talk more about the extraordinary week of football and the achievements of Ireland and Scotland.

Joe also finally gives his views on Troy Parrott and provides some lessons in finishing.

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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?

What is it about a game like football, even at a time when it is scarred by money and greed, that brings people together in a profound way?

Dion looks at Troy Parrott and wonders about Ireland’s need for a saviour. Parrott was tipped for greatness from a young age but has taken a different route. Yet, he has captured the heart of the country because of more than just his talent.

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‘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 the compulsions that drove him?

On Free State today Matt Cooper talks about his gripping new book Dynasty about the Dunnes family.

It looks at how Ben Dunne Senior built an empire and how Ben Jr never recovered from the kidnapping.

He talks to us about the scene in Florida where, after taking a mountain of cocaine in a hotel with parrots roaming the lobby, Ben Dunne had a breakdown. He was hog tied and taken out of the hotel and it became an event which would eventually provide a glimpse into how Ireland works.

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What is the difference between nostalgia and lamenting the loss of something special?

Have we become a society that places too much emphasis on propriety at the expense of the unpredictability that makes life worth living.

As Joe and Dion reflect on Monday Clubs they’ve belonged from Mayo to Kilburn, they look at the lives of the great hellraisers.

They lament too the decline of sports coverage on RTE. Joe shares a story about a day with Pat Gilroy when he knew the writing was on the wall at RTE.

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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 have concluded that there is a pro Israeli bias at the BBC, but the report that led to the resignation of the director general alleged the opposite. Why has that led to such upheaval when so many say the opposite.

Is this the real driver for this coup against members of the establishment and is there ever any point in giving in to the forces that include Trump, the Israeli government and, er, Kemi Badenoch.

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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, specifically Irish Taoisigh.

On Free State today Iain Dale has an animated conversation about what has gone wrong in England and the dangers of nationalism. Yet he argues that he doesn’t believe Nigel Farage is an extremist. 

Dale has recruited some of Ireland’s foremost writers to write about the holders of the Taoiseach’s office. But he talks about how his own fascination with Ireland began and why he believes it is part of history that Britain needs to reckon with.

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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 mayor. He came to America at the age of seven and he has created a sense of the possible that was once at the heart of the American condition.

On Free State today we ask how did Zohran Mamdani do it? How did he overcome the campaign of demonisation that branded him a dangerous antisemite? He was called a ‘communist lunatic’ by Donald Trump, who threatened to revoke his citizenship.

But Mamdani delivered a message of change but one of substance. Joe and Dion also look at the constant emails discussing Joe’s compassionate stance on DJ Carey

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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 floor of the building. 

The next morning the Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan condemned the attack and said that fireworks had been thrown into the building. There were no fireworks, CCTV footage showed a figure setting fire to the staircase. Police believe it was arson and the nature of the attack may justify attempted murder charges.

On Free State today, we ask if this will be a turning point in the demonisation of asylum seekers or is Ireland heading down the same road as other countries?

Dion and Joe disagree about the direction the country is going. They look at Simon Harris’s comments about immigration and ask what responsibility politicians have in a febrile atmosphere to lead rather than to stoke fears?

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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 wanted to be a chef. When two visitors came to her house promising a catering course and a job, it seemed like too good to be true.

It was. For the next seven years she entered into the secretive world of Opus Dei. 

On Free State today Anne Marie Allen tells her extraordinary story. She talks about how she entered into a world of servitude and domestic slavery.

From the age of 16, she had to do mortifications which meant wearing a barbed wire chain around her leg for two hours every day. 

She explains how the mental anguish of what she endured stayed with her for a long time and she talks about the courage of her father in standing up to Opus Dei.

But it is her own courage that is the most astonishing thing of all.

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