Newstalk Breakfast Weekends

In the wake of this week's events a lot of people have been asking how and why does a 17 year old like Keane Mulready Woods end up living the life he was. 

Just when do drugs, violence and crime become a better option for young people starting out in life. 

Fearghall Connolly is manager at Donore Community Drug and Alcohol team and Pearce Stafford is an outreach worker in the Targeted Responses at Youth Project.

TRY as it's known uses the Intensive Outreach and Bridging Model to try to move young people away from crime and drugs. It involves connecting through relentless outreach with the target group where they gather, developing trust-based relationships, and gradually bridging the gap between them and the services and supports they need to take constructive life paths.

The Lord Mayor of Dublin has said he refuses to turn an incident that left a homeless man with serious injuries in Dublin into a political football.

On Newstalk Breakfast with Susan Keogh this morning, Paul McAuliffe accused the Taoiseach of using the incident for “political purposes.”

It is believed the man was sleeping in a tent at Wilton Place on the Grand Canal when workers attempted to move it with a utility vehicle.

He remains at St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin where his injuries have been described as “life-changing.”

The news that Harry and Meghan are stepping back from royal life is probably going to be the royal story of the decade, despite the fact that we’re just over a week into 2020.

They want to scale back their royal duties, give up their royal income and focus more on their charity work - but it’s far from a simple situation.

To discuss what might happen next, Susan was joined by Jennie Bond, former BBC Royal Correspondent.

A firefighter in Australia has died while trying to tackle wildfires which have been raging across the country for months. He was killed in Victoria, as authorities warn that bushfires are continuing to spread - despite forecasts of cooler weather.

One  young Irish man, Connor Nourse, has travelled from Tralee in Co Kerry to join firefighters in Australia. His mother, Catherine, joined Susan to share the story.

On today's front page panel, Susan was joined by Aoife Barry, Assistant News Editor, TheJournal.ie and Stephen O’Leary, Social Media Analyst with Olytico to discuss front page stories including speculations on a General Election date, a vote of no confidence in Minister Simon Harris, the RIC commemoration and more.

Back in 2002, Sinéad O’Leary survived a knife attack in Cork that killed her best friend, Nichola Sweeney.

Peter Whelan, from Rochestown, pleaded guilty to the savage murder of Nichola and the attempted murder of Sinéad, but he has now been granted parole in Cork.

Sinéad O’Leary joined Susan to talk about how parole changes are so badly needed in Ireland.

On today's front page panel, Susan was joined by Gráinne Ní Aodha, reporter with TheJournal.ie and Eoghan McDermott, Managing Director of The Communications Clinic to discuss front page stories including tributes to Marian Finucane, property tax, Irish UN troops on alert, video of cramped asylum seekers and more.

People have been signing books of condolence at RTE and the offices of Kildare County Council in Naas for the veteran RTE broadcaster Marian Finucane.

The 69 year old – who passed away suddenly at her home on Thursday – had been due back on air this morning, January 4th, after her Christmas break.  

Last night the Late Late show featured a special tribute to her with contributions from a variety of different people - some of Marian’s friends and her colleagues from over the years. 

Former President of Ireland Mary McAleese also took part in the show and joined Susan to talk about Marian's legacy and life.

On the 40th anniversary of the murder of 23 year old Phyllis Murphy from Kildare town, Susan heard from Phyllis' sister Barbara Turner, who shared her story. 

Phyllis Murphy's naked body was discovered 28 days after she went missing while making her way home from a day Christmas shopping. For almost 20 years it looked like the mystery of who murdered Phyllis would never be solved until a development in DNA technology lead to a breakthrough. 

Susan went to visit Phyllis’s sister Barbara at her home in Kildare town to hear the story. 

Barbara and her husband kindly invited Susan to their home, so a big thanks to the Murphy family for sharing some of Phyllis’ story with Newstalk Breakfast.

On today's front page panel, Susan was joined by Ian Power, CEO of SpunOut.ie and Johnny Fallon from Carr Communications to discuss front page stories including the Tesco charity cards packed by China’s prison slaves, Leo Varadkar's comments on racism, the main issues for the governments - like climate change and insurance crisis, rural Ireland's growing drug abuse problem and, of course, Christmas.