Lunchtime Live

Hopefully you heard some of our Election Special yesterday, where we heard from you about what issues you wanted raised in the upcoming vote, and we put those issues to our politicians.

One person who was there and heard it all was Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal Consultant Ruth Maxwell, and she joins Andrea to discuss her reaction to what the politicians had to say on crime.

The Lidl or Aldi ‘Middle Aisle’ has become a world of its own.

There seems to be so many stories of people getting lost down the middle aisle, spending a fortune and coming home with a kayak when they only went out for cheese!

So, what’s the appeal?

Andrea is joined by Jess Kelly, Newstalk’s Tech Correspondent Laura MullettIN: Fashion Stylist, Journalist and Broadcaster, Damian O'Reilly Lecturer in Retail Management at TU Dublin and more to discuss.

Are you a hoarder, or maybe just find it difficult to part with certain things? Have you ever considered taking a leaf out of Sweden’s book and doing a ‘death clean’?

Kathy Donaghy, Journalist with the Irish Independent is writing about this, and joins Andrea along with listeners to discuss.

From Toy Story to the Kindle, 98fm’s Ciaran O’Connor joins Andrea with plenty to chat about on this week’s throwback Thursday!

Image: Disney

Healthcare stu­dents at Trin­ity Col­lege Dub­lin have staged a protest over what they call ‘years of mis­treat­ment’ related to the high cost of going on place­ment.

The students said they had issues trav­el­ling cross-country with little notice for clin­ical place­ments, and pay­ing out of pocket for accom­mod­a­tion, uni­forms, trans­port and vac­cin­a­tions.

Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union President Jenny Maguire and more join Andrea to discuss.

Lunchtime Live is taking place in the Royal Dublin Convention Centre for its General Election 2024 Town Hall Special, hearing out listeners’ issues and getting answers from candidates face-to-face.

Andrea is joined by a live audience to cover topics such as the cost of living, family, healthcare and crime. Also joining is Newstalk’s Political Correspondent, Seán Defoe.

The election candidates in the audience are:

• Jennifer Whitmore, Social Democrat candidate for Wicklow.

• Emer Tóibín, Aontú candidate for Meath East.

• Ruth Coppinger, People Before Profit candidate for Dublin West.

• Shane Moynihan, Fianna Fáil candidate for Dublin Mid West.

• Ciarán Ahern, Labour candidate for Dublin South West.

• Hazel Chu, Green Party candidate for Dublin Bay South.

• Grace Boland, Fine Gael candidate for Dublin Fingal West.

• Daithi Doolan, Sinn Féin candidate for Ballyfermot-Drimnagh.

• Fergus McDonnell, Independent Ireland candidate for Offaly.

Welcome to The Pod Squad!

We review podcasts every Tuesday so you always have something new to listen to.

This week, Entertainment & Culture Journalist Rory Cashin and Today FM Presenter Shelly Gray join Andrea to review ‘How Did This Get Made?’!

Image: Earwolf

As the cold weather creeps in, apparently we should be keeping the curtains open to make our house cosier?

Jenny Sheahen, Irish Examiner Columnist and former winner of ‘Home of the Year’ joins Andrea to discuss if that is true, and talk about some other cold weather home hacks!

Bilingual food packaging seems to be the only thing government parties can agree on at the moment: including the Irish language on products has been a key promise on most parties’ manifestos.

This is the result of the work of Cian Ward, a 28-year-old Cavan man who thought of the idea when living abroad.

Should introducing bilingual food packaging be a government priority?

Andrea is joined by listeners to discuss, including Ard-Rúnaí of Conradh na Gaeilge, Julian de Spáinn.

Escape rooms, axe throwing, obstacle course… No, they’re not SAS training regimes - these are all examples of the new trend hitting offices across the world: team-building events! 

Cringe-inducing as they might be, these team building events are sworn by to help improve productivity and communication, but could they also be just a load of nonsense?

To discuss, Andrea is joined by Margaret Cox, CEO of ICE Group, Matt Levell, Founder of Axe Club and Damien McCarthy from H.R. Buddy.

Image: Axe Club