Lunchtime Live

Welcome to The Pod Squad! 

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

This week Andrea is joined by Irish Times Business and Technology journalist Ciara O’Brien and Dave Hanratty, audio researcher for the Irish Independent, to review Will Smith’s Class of ‘88!

Image: Wondery

Would you be willing to work out twice a day and drink 4 and a half litres of water every day? All for the perfect body?

Well, a new fitness craze claims to be able to transform you in just 75 days, if you stick to their very strict rules. So, should you try ‘Hard 75’?

Andrea is joined by the owner of No.17 Personal Training, John Belton, to discuss.

Andrea was recently on a trip to Zurich, where she saw many free outdoor events and facilities for residents. It left her thinking: why don’t we have a similar amount of facilities in our cities in Ireland?

She is joined by Diarmuid from Alternative Dublin, Simon Heaslip from the Galway Westend Traders Association, Dr Miriam Haughton and WIllie White, Artistic Director of the Dublin THeatre Festival to discuss.

The amount of students doing J1 visas has more than halved in the last 10 years.

The J1 has previously been thought of as a rite of passage for most young people, so what has changed?

To discuss, Andrea is joined by Liam Schokman, who is on his J1 in Chicago, Kelda McManus, Vice-President for the southern region at the Union of Students in Ireland and more listeners to discuss.

This year Andrea Gilligan is determined to make some changes and become that bit healthier!

Andrea will be joined by a number of different people to find out how they live well.

This week, Helen Lawless, Mountaineering Ireland’s Access and Conservation Officer and Acting CEO, joined the show to talk all things mountaineering! (And how it’s different to hiking).

The number of learner drivers involved in fatal accidents has trebled in the space of just four years. Would stricter restrictions help reduce this number, and what’s the root of this issue?

Andrea is joined by Brenda Bolger from the Bolger School of Motoring in Kilkenny, as well as listeners, to discuss.

Guest host Adrian Kennedy was joined on Lunchtime Live by Dr Siobhan Chidley from Watermills Family Practice to answer your health questions.

Rob O’Donnell, who had an unsuccessful bid with the Green Party in Limerick in the local elections has had more bad news as around 40 out of his 100 election posters have gone missing.

He joins Adrian Kennedy to discuss why this might have happened, and what the cost is behind the ones stolen.

Half of Irish workers would refuse job offers with no option to work from home, new research has found.

Around 47% of Irish jobseekers have revealed they would refuse a job offer if the company did not have hybrid or fully remote working policies in place, according to the study.

So, should working from home be expected these days?

Joining Adrian to discuss are Tracy Keevans, Director with Morgan McKinley Recruitment Agency, John Evoy, Grow Remote General Manager and listeners who like and dislike working from home.

Plus, Newstalk Reporter Lauren Grey asked locals what they think about working from home.

Despite what you might think from the weather, the summer is here, and that means many people will be packing their bags for a trip abroad.

But, there’s nothing worse than other, annoying tourists bringing the tone down and making us all look bad.

So, how can we be better tourists?

Joining Adrian to discuss are Amy Lynch, Destination Editor for the Lonely Planet and Anne de Jong, Co-Founder of the Good Tourism Institute.