The Explainer

By The JournalNews

The Explainer episodes

May 29, 2025 Why is Ireland still culling badgers to stop TB?
Every year, thousands of badgers are killed under a State programme aimed at eradicating bovine tuberculosis. It’s a disease that can cause major disruption for farmers, but the strategy used to control it has become increasingly controversial. The Journal Investigates has uncovered that more than 80% of the badgers culled over the past five years didn’t have TB. There are also reports of other animals, even pets, being caught in government-issued snares. Reporter Patricia Devlin joins us to explain more.
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17 min
May 21, 2025 How can Ireland stop another bike shed-style controversy?
From the €300,000 bike shed to the still-unfinished National Children’s Hospital, Ireland has a habit of letting public projects, big and small, drift beyond their budgets and original scope. Why does this keep happening? Is it a lack of oversight, political interference, or deeper flaws in how the state manages capital projects? And when things do go wrong, why is it so hard to fix them? We speak to Dr Paul Davis, a lecturer in procurement and public spending at Dublin City University, about the repeated failures and what needs to change to prevent the next scandal.
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26 min
May 14, 2025 What is going on at Castletown House?
A €500,000 vandalism incident, months of protests, and a stately home at the centre of a controversy that drags on and on. Castletown House in Celbridge, Co Kildare has become the focus of a bitter dispute over land ownership and access to public heritage. A key entrance was closed after part of the estate was sold to a private developer, sparking a stand-off between the OPW, the landowners, and local campaigners. Our reporter Andrew Walsh joins us to examine what exactly is happening at the site, what developers are asking for, and what the possible solution might be.
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17 min
May 07, 2025 What is the reality for aid workers in Gaza?
Since the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, the Israeli government's response in Gaza has escalated into a prolonged and deadly campaign. Human rights groups and UN officials have described the actions of the Israeli Defence Forces as potential war crimes and, in some cases, genocide. Gaza has been under siege since early March, with severe shortages of food, water, and medicine pushing parts of the population to the brink of famine. We’re joined from Gaza by Dr Abu Abed, deputy medical coordinator with Doctors Without Borders, who shares his first-hand account of the humanitarian crisis unfolding there.
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13 min
April 30, 2025 Is Ireland vulnerable to power blackouts like Spain and Portugal?
At just after midday last Monday, electricity grids across the Iberian Peninsula failed almost simultaneously, cutting off power to tens of millions. Trains ground to a halt, mobile networks dropped, hospitals switched to backup generators, and entire cities were plunged into darkness. The exact answer isn’t yet clear as to what the cause was, but there appears to have been a chain of events or a single issue that lead to a sudden, massive imbalance in how power was flowing through the grid. As renewables take up a bigger share of electricity generation, and as countries become more interconnected, experts say incidents like this could become more likely. So how exactly does a grid collapse like that happen—and could it happen here? We're joined by Dr Paul Deane, senior lecturer in Clean Energy Futures at the MaREI Research Centre of UCC's Environmental Research Institute.
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28 min
April 24, 2025 Who will be the next pope?
Pope Francis leaves behind a complex legacy. He championed the poor, clashed with conservatives, and opened new conversations about the role of the Church in a world where fewer and fewer people are devout followers of religion. Now, attention turns to the future, and names like Pietro Parolin, Luis Antonio Tagle, and Fridolin Ambongo, one of whom could be the next leader of the Catholic Church. But who leads the Vatican in the interim? How is the next pope chosen, and what does that process tell us about the Church’s priorities today? Our reporter Diarmuid Pepper joins us ahead of travelling to the Vatican for the pontiff's funeral.

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19 min
April 17, 2025 Is porn driving a rise in youth sexual violence?
There has been a lot of talk in recent weeks about the online world and its effects on the minds of young children. A new The Journal Investigates series has found that these concerns are not without merit when it comes to the use of pornography. The investigation came on the back of concern raised by judges in this country over the number of minors appearing before courts on serious sexual offence charges, where pornography use was deemed a factor in offending. Outside the court system, our colleagues also found that the number of children under 17 receiving support under a Tusla-led programme for sexually harmful behaviour had increased by more than 40% in the last year. The Journal Investigates reporter Patricia Devvin joined us to share more about her work.
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19 min
April 08, 2025 How can the world fight back against US tariffs?
Donald Trump has followed through on his threats to impose tariffs on many countries in the world, promising rapid economic prosperity for the US in the process. In the days since, the global markets have threatened to unravel and political leaders around the world are scrambling to coax Donald Trump back to the negotiating table, mostly to no avail. What can global governments do to stand up to Trump here? Should they stand their ground, fight back or is it time for cooler heads to prevail, allowing space and time to restore some calm? We’re joined by Edgar Morgenroth, Professor of Economics in DCU Business School, to examine how Trump's tariffs could be responded to.
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28 min
April 02, 2025 What’s happening with the rollout of free HRT?
Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is a vital treatment for many women navigating perimenopause and menopause. In recent years, public understanding of menopause and its complex symptoms has improved dramatically, as have the treatments available to women — so too has access to that HRT, with more GPs and menopause clinics offering personalised plans to women across the country. Last year, the government announced plans for a free HRT scheme in the Budget, but pharmacists weren’t happy and now both are locked in a battle of wills over how it should all work. This has left thousands of women feeling frustrated and forgotten, as people recently told The Journal in a Your Stories feature. To explore what's happening, we're joined by Dr Caoimhe Hartley, clinical lead of the Complex Menopause Clinic in the Rotunda Hospital.
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19 min
March 28, 2025 What has Adolescence done to highlight the dangers for children online?
New Netflix drama Adolescence has gripped viewers globally with its uncompromising look at the influence of toxic social media on young, teenage boys. It delves into the ‘why’ of this violent crime, asking the uncomfortable questions about how a seemingly ‘normal’ boy from an ‘ordinary’ family could be brought to such hate and violence — under their noses, their child has come to identify with toxic online male influencers. Will this seminal piece of television provide a wake-up call for governments and social media giants when it comes to protecting children online? And what can teachers and parents learn from it? We’re joined by secondary school teacher, assistant principal and SPHE & Wellbeing Coordinator Eoghan Cleary.

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27 min

About The Explainer

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The Explainer is a weekly podcast from The Journal that takes a deeper look at one big news story you need to know about. What's the background? Why is this in the news? Get the facts behind the…