In this Reboot Republic, Rory talks to organisers of this weekends (Saturday June 10th) Raise the Roof rally taking place in Cork City. 

Joining Rory are Barry Murphy, general secretary of the plasters union, Eva Mitchell, union organiser with SIPTU, and Martin Leahy, musician. 

We talk about the need to challenge the normalisation and powerlessness in the housing crisis but also understanding that those affected are in extremely vulnerable and difficult situations. Eva talks about the injustice faced by her generation locked out of housing, forced to emigrate, and searching for hope, Barry sets out why we need a public construction company and the history of delivering public housing in Ireland, while Martin talks about facing eviction, the anxiety, terror and also expressing the anger through art and music.

Please if you can, join the protest this weekend, or share and support on social media #raisetheroofcork

A very tortoise shack member only podcast:

The latest on the Public Services Card, Fine Gael's EPP duplicitousness, boom time for inequality, no to dryrobes, homelessness, some good news and last call for you before we go public on the live shows...

Tickets:https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/tortoise-shack-live-tickets-632859177837?aff=oddtdtcreator

Enter Promo Code SHACK23Live for your discount. 

Generation Rent living in insecurity: Uplift Town Hall meeting

This Reboot Republic podcast is a recording of the Longford WestMeath Uplift TownHall meeting  with Rory, Saoirse  Mchugh and people's stories from generation rent,  on the impact of the lifting of the eviction ban. We also hear from Peter Burke, Fine Gael TD and ask what is his Government doing about this housing crisis?

(TW: Contains references to suicide)

A couple of weeks ago MEP, Luke Ming Flanagan, posted a few tweets in which he addressed his own mental health struggles and his frustration with the governments lack of resources for people who need support. 

We reached out to Luke to see if he'd be willing to delve into this on the podcast and this is the conversation that followed. We also touch on the Citizens Assembly for Drugs and Luke's work on the European Parliament's Agri Committee. 

It took 3 years, 7 months and 23 days for the Data Protection Commissioner to deliver a finding that listeners to this podcast knew about ages ago, that the Public Services Card was been used to illegally monitor Free Travel users. But that is only one part of the story.

Martin, who invested months into this, breaks down the issues, the many remaining concerns and the questions now that need answering by various government, individual politicians and senior civil servants. This is a great win, but is only one stop on the longer road. 

The narrative that "austerity saved the economy" still floats around in the corridors of Leinster House and occupies much of the mainstream economic commentary. But it's not true. Joining me for a chat about the current economic model, the truth about austerity and the austerity-by-stealth that most people are enduring now is Economist with NERI, Ciaran Nugent. 

A Martin and Tony very patreon-only podcast.

We talk about a few stories that didn't make the news this week and a few that did, but shouldn't have.

Strong language throughout.

The US is having a huge banking crisis, there's a debt ceiling disaster looming and politically the place seems more polarised than ever. So we went back to our Irish-Russian Colorado-based Professor of Economics pal, Constantin Gurdgiev, to look at what is going on and what is likely to happen. Constantin, as always, doesn't disappoint.

Stockholm-based journalist, Philip O'Connor has spent years warning people about the rise of ugly nationalism and the far right and he rejoined us on the tortoise shack to discuss what the events in Sandwith Street and Inch and point out the obvious machinations of the far right playbook.

We look at the role of politics, media and a minority in civil society in sowing the seeds that allowed these dangerous movements to take root. Check out Philip's podcast at:https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/our-man-in-stockholm/id1422798900

It has been called a historic victory for Sinn Féin and a calamity for the SDLP and the small progressive parties. Joining us to dig into it all is Shrapnel co-host, left-leaning Unionist, Sam Mcilwaine and campaigning journalist and writer, Emma DeSouza.

We talk: a big win for Sinn Féin, where now for political Unionism, will Stormont return, and what lessons can the smaller left wing parties learn both North and South