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In November 2024, young Tommy Cahill found himself like many of his generation living the life abroad. He was in Dubai working as a teacher when he was faced with a dilemma. His father had just been elected a TD and would be leaving his council seat in Co Kerry. 

What more could a young man want than to return home from the sun in the dregs of winter to take up an often thankless role in a rural part of the country from which most young people had fled. He talks about his first year, the shock, the awe, the rewards and the rain.

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Political communication was brought to a fine art by Terry Prone, her late husband Tom Savage and their mentor Bunny Carr. Their work was done and felt behind the scenes of successive governments and among numerous politicians. Now Terry is telling all in her memoir from the political years, which includes a whole raft of narratives about how some major figures in Irish politics coped at times of crisis and challenges.   

Her book is entitled “I’m glad you asked me that”, a phrase she insists she has never, nor ever would, tell a client to issue. Terry Prone is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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Tralee-based businessman Nathan McDonnell was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his role in a transglobal drug smuggling operation involving a notorious Mexican drug cartel. 

How did it ever come to this and what exactly is the connection in Kerry that saw the drugs being stored in a premises outside Tralee, en route from South America to Australia?

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The start of the year, as in then, dawned full of hope and vim for a new government after the election in November 2024. Now, at the end of the year, we examine where the hope and plans ended up. The last twelve months hasn’t progressed like that and some might say that in general things have regressed a bit. But what has the political year really been like. 

Joining the podcast to discuss the year that was are Paul Hosford and Louise Burne.

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Dunnes Stores is one of the most famous brands in the country with one in every five shopping euros spent in one of their outlets. But what of the family behind the brand? Many people would have been familiar with the late Ben Dunne, a larger than life character, but what lay behind the character and what of the other big personalities in the family, from Ben Snr down. 

Matt Cooper has written Dynasty: Scandals, Triumph, Turmoil and Succession at the heart of Dunnes Stores. Matt is this week’s guest on the podcast.

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This week, after 14 years in office, Michael D Higgins left Áras an Uachtaran for the last time and Catherine Connolly was sworn in as the 10th President of Ireland. 

In her inauguration speech, she said that the president should be “a unifying presence—a steady hand, but also a catalyst for change”. 

Irish Examiner deputy political editor Paul Hosford joins the podcast to give us the details as Ms Connolly aims to hit the ground running as she takes the reins.  

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