Breakfast Briefing Presenter Shane Beatty joins Andrea Gilligan with plenty of stories from around the country this week!

Footpaths across Ireland are posing a serious risk to public safety and placing a growing strain on the national economy. Many people can attest to just how dangerous poorly maintained footpaths can be, with trips and falls now a common occurrence in towns and cities nationwide.

In Dublin alone, unsafe footpaths have resulted in €18 million in injury compensation payouts over the past three years.

What measures need to be taken to improve our paths and reduce preventable injuries?

Joining Andrea were the Independent Councilor for Dublin, Mannix Flynn, as well as listeners who have firsthand experience of poor footpaths.

As we frantically get our last bits of Christmas shopping done, how much of that will be done in a family-owned business? Unfortunately, not many of them have survived the past couple of decades…

One that has is the iconic Kennys Bookshop in Galway which celebrated its 85th birthday last month.

So amid all the changes, especially in how we read, how have they survived?

Tomas Kenny joins Seán to discuss.

Image: @kennysbookshop on Instagram

For this week’s Ask the Expert, Andrea is joined by Travel Journalist Eoghan Corry to talk about last minute travel around this time of year, and the deals you can avail of!

Christmas is a busy enough time for many, so why add extra stress?

Denise O’Donoghue from the Irish Examiner joins Andrea with hacks to make your life easier around this period!

Trains across the country operate later than usual during the Christmas period, with the service being in big demand. Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien has said that he is in talks with Iarnród Éireann about expanding late night rail services beyond the Christmas and New Year festive period…

So, would you like to see trains run later into the night?

Andrea is joined by listeners to discuss.

Why do we eat turkey and ham at Christmas, and what is behind some of the other common goodies we have?

Food Writer Dee Laffan and TV Chef & Lecturer from South East Technological University Edward Hayden join Andrea to discuss the history of Christmas dinner!

How do you dodge the family feuds at Christmas? Sometimes, when you’re all bunched up for that amount of time, it can feel inevitable…

There’s no need to worry! Andrea is joined by Professor of Psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin and author of ‘The Science of Happiness’ Brendan Kelly to discuss how you can survive around this time of year!

Nearly 2 million people are travelling through Dublin Airport over Christmas.

Henry McKean is live from Dublin Airport in Terminal 2, and joins Andrea to share what he’s seeing!

Dr Niall Breen from the Portmarnock GP Clinic joined Andrea Gilligan to tackle your medical queries.