Most of us strive to be as tolerant, open and inclusive as possible. Of course this isn't representative of all of Irish society. All the signs point to instances of racism and other forms of hatred being on the rise in Ireland, and indeed across the globe. But to what extent is the justice system on the side of victims in these cases? Do our current laws act as enough of a deterrent or encourage victims to come forward? We fear not.

This week, we’ve enlisted the help of Aga Wiesek of the European Network Against Racism to tell us exactly what a hate crime is, how the current laws are failing the marginalised and what needs to be done to address all of this. ENAR are part of the Coalition Against Hate Crime that are campaigning to bring Ireland in line with the rest of Europe.

We'll also hear from Eoghan Ryder and Alex Laplas. Their experience of holding hands around Dublin City demonstrate that we didn't simply abolish homophobia overnight by voting in favour of marriage equality in 2015\. Eoghan and Alex's story will leave you in no doubt as to the need to fill this glaring gap in our laws.  

A hate crime is, typically, a violent crime motivated by prejudice, when a perpetrator targets a victim because of their perceived membership of a certain social group.

Hate crime has two important elements:

1\. Criminal act: Hate crimes are acts which are treated as crimes in criminal law, such as assaults, theft, criminal damage, arson or murder.

2\. Bias motive: Hate crimes are motivated, at least in part, by hatred of someone’s real or supposed identity or background.

People targeted by hate-motivated crime in Ireland are usually:

From an ethnic minority background (racist hate crimes)

From a religious minority (religious hate crimes) 

Lesbian, gay or bisexual (homophobic hate crime)

Transgender (anti-transgender hate crimes)

People with disabilities (disablist hate crime)

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On this week’s episode Steph and Glenn chat to Ciara O’Connor-Walsh, Editor of ‘A Lust For Life’; an award-winning Irish wellbeing website, co-host, and producer of a new six-part mental health podcast ‘Where There’s A Will’.

The podcast has brought together some of the best and brightest minds in Ireland’s mental health sector to ask: why is our mental health system so dysfunctional? Who is responsible for fixing it? And what can we, collectively, do to create long-term, systemic change?

We discuss the systemic failings of the Irish mental health system, from policy to infrastructure to the shocking lack of financial resources made available for those in need.

“Through this podcast series we’ve connected a number of key people working in mental health to deconstruct the problems we face today – in 2018 – and what we need to focus on to make things better. We learned a huge amount in making this series, and we hope people listening will learn a lot too. Importantly this work is not just about going over the old ground of everything that’s wrong with the system – it is about articulating the change that is both necessary and possible.” 

We also look at the fall-out from the Cork rape trial last weekend which sparked women around the world to take to the streets with their underwear in protest of a barrister using a 17 year old girl's underwear as evidence against her. As an extention to this, we also ponder the link between pornography and sexual violence.

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This week's episode of The Suss offers an explainer on all things Brexit related. Glenn and Steph draft in two Brexperts to provide an outline of where things are at right now. Amid all the hysteria, it can be difficult to know what is really happening. This isn't helped by the fact that one side doesn't seem to know what it wants to negotiate. We embark on a sense making mission to get you the full picture. How do our guests rate the Government's negotiating record to date? What the hell is a backstop? What, if any kind of a border will be on the island of Ireland in ten years time? How much ground has been given in the negotiations?

Joining us this week is Brian Mahon, one of the hosts of the Paddy Wants to Know About Brexit Podcast (Also available on the Headstuff Podcast Network) and student of journalism in DCU. Also with us is Oisin Dolan. Oisin is from Cavan Town near the border and is an active member of Sinn Fein (speaking in a personal capacity)

This episode delves into some of the lesser explored aspects of the fiasco; What would the political consequences of a second referendum be? Was there a case to be made for a 'Lexit'? Ahead of the EU elections next year, is reform totally beyond the pale and will this play into the hands of those who favour an Irish exit along xenophobic lines?

We don't have a crystal ball and we can't predict how it's all going to go down but we can equip you with the full picture to date. It's a Brexit bonanza brought to you by the letter 'B'.

Exit track - 'Gentle Kind of Lies' by BARQ

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On this weeks episode of The Suss, Steph and Glenn tackle the issues of privilege and prejudice in Irish society.

Glenn sits down with Eileen Flynn, a proud member of the Irish Travelling community, for a chat about the systemic lack of political representation of Travellers in Irish politics plus the multifarious difficulties facing Irish Travellers in 2018. 

We discuss the inflammatory comments made by Presidential candidate Peter Casey against the Travelling community during a televised debate and consider the disproportionate media coverage that ensured following his remarks. 

Historically Irish Travellers have been the target of discrimination and disdain in Ireland and Casey's polarising comments have poured salt in old wounds and unfortunately saw him surge into 2nd place in the presidential polls.   

We also sit down with Dean Van Nguyen a journalist with The Irish Times, The Guardian, and Pitchfork to hear about his relationship with his own half Irish half Vietnamese identity. Much of Deans work has centered around the issues of 'otherness' he has felt in Irish society and questions surrounding the idea of white privilege and how it works in Ireland. 

Exit Track - Gill Scott Heron 'We Almost Lost Detroit'

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It's 30 up for The Suss. The political podcast for Ireland's locked out generation also turns 1 this week. Ever wondered why we do what we do? This week we're in a laid back mood, more akin to having a loose chat in the smoking area of Workman's than being in studio.

First on the agenda, Steph gives us the inside scoop on the Taking Back The Web conference currently taking place. This conference is run by the Centre for Critical Media Literacy at Dublin Institute of Technology. The centre aims to facilitate a range of media research, production, learning and community engagement, with a commitment to equality and diversity. Its mission includes scientifically informed and timely studies of the changing technologies that underlie media.

There's also plenty to say about the ongoing race for the Áras. We've got the suss on this week's TV debates. We even reveal where our votes are going and why. We've plenty to say about the manner in which Dragon #3, Peter Casey's campaign has brought Irish politics to a new low.

Following this, we look back at our highlights of the last 12 months. Before embarking upon another period of sussing things out, we revisit our motivation for wanting to get into the podcasting game. Alternative media should always seek to add something into the broader media sphere that isn't already there. We hope that we have managed to do that somewhat since we arrived on to the Headstuff Podcast network last October. We get real about moments that made our jaw drop and ways that our amazing guests have challenged our own perspectives.

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What if everything you thought you knew about the world of sex work was back to front? Sex work will increasingly feature in conversations about bodily autonomy, workers rights & migrant rights in the years to come. 

In this episode, Glenn and Steph are joined by solicitor, feminist and activist Wendy Lyon to help navigate and understand the often steep challenges faced by those in the industry. 

Wendy talks us through the Swedish/Nordic model which appears to have been championed in Ireland by a combination of groups who do not have the best interests of sex workers at heart and some civil society organisations that may have been well meaning but are misguided by a moral bias; one that believes that it is possible to eradicate the industry altogether.  We cover the alternative New Zealand model which is by no means a panacea but appears to be a far more sensible way of legislating. 

We put the list of anxieties that are often expressed about sex work to Wendy and uncover a need for nuance when discussing problems often associated with the trade, such as human trafficking. 

There has been a 10% increase in violence reported against sex workers since the new law came into effect. We see that we must now brace Irish society for an honest and evidenced-based approach to legislation, perhaps as was seen during at the Oireachtas Committee on the 8th Amendment. It will come as a surprise to nobody that the conditions for exploitation have not been eradicated by changes to the law. There is also a hierarchy of vulnerability which sees migrant workers and the trans community put at an even greater risk.

This episode poses that we must come to consider sex workers as a marginalized group who, because of stigma and an archaic association with criminality, struggle for safety and are yet to find a voice within the #MeToo movement.

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On this week's episode, Steph and Glenn diverge from the normal political rants to bring you a special episode on Mental Health.

They’re joined in studio with Grayce Leonard, journalist with First Fortnight - an Irish mental health charity and Gabriel Paschal Blake, mental health advocate and musician from For Foresters and The Murder Capital.

In this episode, we don’t profess to have all the answers. We do however share intimate and honest stories about our own battles with maintaining our mental health through the years. We speak about the work being done at home by exemplary activists striving to destigmatise the belief that you are a failure for struggling with your mental health - a belief that is, thankfully being diminished from our collective thought these past few years.

Gabriel Paschal Blake speaks of the importance of young Irish men opening up and asking for help in times of need and offers stone clad advice on how to do so while Grayce Leonard shares important facts about the work being done by First Fortnight, especially surrounding new migrants mental health when coming into the country.

Steph and Glenn do a quick recap of the Take Back the City current occupations, touching on Fine Gael’s apparent ‘criminalisation of dissent’ seen when peaceful protestors were met with masked and violent Garda at the North Frederick Street occupation. They also touch on the prevalence of ‘woke-washing’ as demonstrated by Web Summit chief executive Paddy Cosgrave in his attempt to gain social credibility by aligning himself with the movement that many believe he had a hand in propagating.

Exit Track - Shame - ‘One Rizla’

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Few discussions seem to irk the powers that be more than discourse on social class. The band-aid has somewhat been ripped off in recent weeks with Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy and his colleagues in Fine Gael struggling to shake off the 'posh boy' label that has been put on them. 

It begs the question of just how adequately politicians can work on behalf of groups of people whose life experiences are completely alien to them. Should it be of more concern to the rest of us if the same small sections of society fill up a majority of Dáil seats? Or can private educated children of doctors and lawyers actually work on behalf of people from disadvantaged backgrounds? 

Bringing social class to the fore can also challenge the lazy narrative that simply getting up early enough in the morning is all one needs in order to succeed. It doesn't seem to dawn on Varadkar and Co. that if you've been dealt a bad hand in life, hard work alone may not be enough to help you improve matters for yourself and your loved ones. All too often we seem to stop short of discussion the societal structures and barriers that are reproduced over and over again.

So what's the suss with representation and how much does it actually matter? Glenn and Steph sat down with Senator Lynn Ruane to try and tease out some of these questions ahead of the release of her autobiography 'People Like Me' later on this month. 

Lynn's journey through Trinity College and ascendancy through its representative ranks are an inspiration to many. Part of the Civil Engagement Group of Senators, she is tireless in her efforts to speak up for the voices that are not in the room, be they those who have fallen victim to drug addiction or the pitfalls of the Irish prison system.

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This week’s episode of The Suss is honing in on the recent Take Back The City march and subsequent occupation of a site at 35 Summer Hill Parade in Drumcondra, Dublin 1. 

Organised by an array of housing groups in the city, the occupation aims to shed light on the desperate state of affairs surrounding the housing crisis in Dublin. Until recently, this site and the adjoining sites housed up to 120 people in slum-like conditions, a fact the millionaire landlord chose to ignore until Dublin Fire Brigade intervened. Overnight, the residents were kicked out with nowhere to go - a sorry story that is currently being repeated up and down the country. 

Glenn and Steph have exclusive footage from the march and interviews with protesters at the site. We hear how Dublin City Council currently have enough land to build 10,000 homes but are planning on giving away half of this public land to developers who will, without doubt inflate prices and exclude local members of the community. And what of the 35,000 vacant properties populating the capital city? Tune in to hear from housing activists who have decided that direct action is the only way to reclaim the city for ourselves. 

We also check in on the nefarious far right movement in America and the U.K.. Redpill advocate Alex Jones recently got his popular show ‘InfoWars’ banned on Apple, Spotify, Facebook and Youtube while Tommy Robinson fans in the U.K ransacked a popular socialist bookshop ‘Bookmarks’ under the guise of free speech. 

Conservative NUI Senator Ronan Mullen found himself in hot water again this month after making comments about rape on Twitter. We look at Mullens track record and obsession with controlling women's bodies and shed some light on the campaign to get him kicked out of the Senate. 

Plus Dara Quigley’s family are still waiting on contact from An Garda Síochána following a tragic incident that could have led to her death last year. We talk about this wonderful activist and journalist who suffered at the hands of blatant Garda misconduct. 

A general election must be on the cards, as we hear about Fianna Fáil’s proposal to subsidise media to the tune of 30 million and Independent Minister Shane Ross’ heavily criticised ‘Granny Grants’.  

Exit Track ‘Fuck You’ - Vernon Jane

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And we're back! Glenn and Steph sit down with Sinéad Mercier, one of the brightest and most exciting young minds in politics. Sinéad is a researcher in Dail Eireann for the Green Party and self-described 'militant optimist'. We promise you an eye-opening conversation about Ireland's appalling environmental policies.

We ponder the themes of personal responsibility vs corporations in the climate change debate and try assert which plastic straw was the one that broke the planet's back. While we can all do more to play our part for Mother Earth, will it really be enough if we ban straws and maybe all take a keep-cup to work? Or should more attention be drawn to the damage done by a handful of companies, most notably in the oil industry? And what role does the State play in all of this?

We also look at the fallout from David Kitt​'s headline grabbing article about the insanity of the Dublin rental market. What does it mean to have an area that you call home? Is it really as simple as upping roots and moving to the other side of the country? Or should we expect more from those with the power and the will to Make Ireland Affordable Again?

What of this year's race for the Irish Presidency? Is Michael D. Higgins' re-election a mere formality? We discuss some of the possible outcomes and contenders - with a spotlight on anti-immigration candidate Kevin Sharkey.

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