The Echo Chamber from Tortoise Shack

This was a brilliant tortoise shack Sunday show! Thanks to Shrapnel co-host, Sam McIlwaine, Legal Eagle, Seana Grant and Irish man in Finland, Dan Nikstrom for joining us to talk election gerrymandering, immigration Stamp System dysfunction, ill-judged chants and sectarian songs, social housing done correctly, data centre bailouts, the Tory govt dysfunction and why we’re all moving to Helsinki.

tickets for Ballymun are available at eventbrite.ie

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The government have launched their long-awaited online service to assist people affected by the Mother and Baby Homes to find out their personal details. Joining me to discuss this is co-founder of the Adoptions Rights Alliance and director of the Clann Project, Claire McGettrick.

We talk about the services now available and whether they are fit for purpose, the Government backtracking on their promises once again and what now for the survivors and their families. It is truly appalling that the "refined" redress scheme fails to take account for the forced separation of families.

Tickets for the live show are at eventbrite.ie (search tortoise shack)

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On this episode we have Derry-based journalist Leona O'Neill, who is a former Belfast Telegraph journalist, a columnist for the Irish News, the course director of journalism at Ulster University and now the co-editor of a new book entitled 'Breaking: Trauma In the Newsroom'.

We chat to Leona about mental health and the once prevalent stiff upper lip attitudes in the newsrooms around the country. We talk to her about how this developed into conversations with fellow journalists that gave Leona and her co-editor Chris Lindsay the impetus to put down their experiences in a book.

We discuss the horrific events of the night Lyra McKee was murdered and the ugly aftermath where Leona was targeted by online trolls.

'Breaking: Trauma in the Newsroom' published by Maverick House is out now and features chapters by Leona and Chris and a number of journalists who have covered some of the worst events in our recent history.

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The Vacant homes tax: will it make any difference?

In this Reboot Republic Rory talks to change makers Jude Sherry & Frank O’Connor of the Anois agency who have been leading campaigns and ideas to tackle vacancy & dereliction. We analyse the Vacant homes Tax , how it results from public pressure and shows the hope In change, but also what needs to be done to really tackle vacancy and dereliction. An uplifting and engaging discussion on social change and ideas to Solve the housing crisis.

Tickets for our live show: search tortoise shack on eventbrite.ie

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see anois.ie for more

The Government announced their plans for a flexible retirement age and for years now we've read or heard about the tick, tick, ticking of a pensions time-bomb. Then we witnessed Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, dismissing the expert Commission on Taxation, let's just say that many eyebrows were raised. A Government preaching for less taxation, while looking to extend the working life? Something doesn't add up.

Joining us to make sense of the convenient narrative is economist with NERI, Ciaran Nugent. He talks about the €8bn gap between Ireland and equivalent countries when it comes to collecting the taxes that should be pouring into the pension pot. We don't have a pension time-bomb. We have a failure to collect the taxes ordinarily payed by certain sectors of the economy.

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Tickets for our live show:https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/tortoise-shack-live-getitdoneballymun-tickets-417062163157

A recent report out of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) Region has shown that inequality and food insecurity is growing at an alarming rate. In fact, we can see that the two richest people in the region have as much wealth as the bottom 50% of the entire population of the LAC!

Joining us to discuss what this means, how it can be tackled and the impacts it is having on politics, society and the economy is Brazilian-based economic justice coordinator with Oxfam, Dr Grazielle David.

We discuss how the IMF and developed world treat the LAC differently and explore the economic colonialism that pushed austerity in the LAC while demands stimulus in the EU. A great listen.

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Tickets for the Live Show:https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/tortoise-shack-live-getitdoneballymun-tickets-417062163157

The world has witnessed protests in Iran against their government for many decades, but the events following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa (Jina) Amini’s death in the custody of Iran’s abusive “morality police” (hopefully) are different. Joining me to explain what has happened and why you can trace the roots of these protests all the way back to 1979, is Iran and Kuwait Researcher (herself a graduate of Sharif University of Technology in Tehran) Tara Sepehri Far.

We discuss the multi-generational aspect of the protests, the changes in how women's rights are perceived in Iran and more.

For more see:https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/10/05/iran-security-forces-fire-kill-protesters

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On this Reboot Republic, Tony jumps into the hot seat and talks to Rory about his new book, Gaffs - Why no one can get a house and what we can do about it.

They discuss what home means, lifting the stigma of housing insecurity, linking housing action to climate action and why Rory wants to see a values shift in our economy and society.

They talk about Rory's journey from a seeing a 7 year old child at a 2015 housing march, to a hotel lobby in 2017 with UN Special Rapporteur for Housing, Leilani Farha and on to this new book.

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This week on the Shrapnel Podcast we are joined by Professor Olwen Purdue, who specialises in the social and economic history of nineteenth and twentieth-century Ireland. Her research focuses on poverty, welfare and public health in the industrial city.

Olwen is the founder and Director of the Centre for Public History at Queen's University Belfast. Olwen was also specialist historical advisor for Titanic Belfast and a member of the advisory group for the Ulster Museum's Irish history exhibition and its Troubles and Beyond gallery.

On this pod we discuss the need to record real lives as part of history, before those stories are lost. We hope to talk with her again.

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Join the girls as they get together for their end of week catch up after a busy week of adulting and managing a 9-5. They discuss the wild reality TV shows we all grew up watching that wouldn’t fly in 2022. From Toddlers and Tiaras to 90 Day Fiancé, they explore serious issues such as sex tourism and the exploitation of vulnerable people for entertainment purposes.

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For more see patreon.com/tortoiseshack