Una and Andrea's United Ireland

If you were the mayor (with decision making power) of your town, what is the one thing you'd implement? As we kick off 2020, we ask some of our faves to answer this very question. Back to county life next week.

Before we look forward to positive pastures new, we have to look back on the in bits past to make sure we don't make the same mistakes in 2020. So whilst we're all pondering who the new us will be in a few days (spoiler, same deadly you) let us reminisce on the key GITS moments of the year gone by.

Just in case you missed our dulcet tones this holiday season, here's a lil injection.

What do we really know about Tyrone? It’s a county that keeps a low profile, but we’re ready to lift the lid. Andrea reveals all in her county facts, and Dominic McGrath from the Journal (and also Tyrone, thankfully) is in studio to tell us about the changing voting trends in the county, what it was like growing up in Omagh, and how the recent election may show a shift to the centre. On the ground, it’s less about Brexit, and more about the day to day as Tyrone struggles like the rest of the North without a functioning Assembly. Meanwhile, Una and Andrea talk about Marriage Story, raving in Paris, and it’s been another good week for our girl J-Lo.

How has an idea for a white water rafting project that’ll cost 22m and cost 50 euro per person to use managed to make its way to the sign off stage when the city is facing daily crises from literal shit spewing into the sea, record levels of homelessness, rents skyrocketing and cultural amenities for the actual people who live in the city being demolished at a rate of knots. We welcome Dublin Inquirer editor Lois Kapila into the studio (who we both j'love) to find out about the journey this project has taken, how it’s managed to get the green light and the direction Dublin City Council are taking the city in.

There's been a recent spate of targeted violent attacks on sex workers across Ireland with the primary aim of theft. Charges have been brought against 3 men in Roscommon as part of Operation Quest. But surely our laws protect all workers from attack? Well, in 2017, legislation was introduced in Ireland to criminalise the purchase of sex. This was seen as a victory in some quarters for women's rights, and as a positive move to try and tackle the issues around women being trafficked. But many sex workers say that criminalising the purchase of sex drives sex work further underground and that the environment they work within becomes more dangerous. Conner Habib is a sex work's rights advocate, the host of the fantastic Against Everyone with Conner Habib, and author, lecturer, a Dubliner for the past year, and the only person (that we know of) who has won awards for writing, teaching, AND porn. With the recent decriminalisation of sex work in the Northern Territory in Australia by NT Attorney-General Natasha F

This week, we’re heading to the micro-county of Dublin 7 to take a deep dive into the housing development saga at O’Devaney Gardens in Stoneybatter. For well over a decade, this development has had so many false starts, and within those pauses, the shenanigans keep coming. What is happening tells us a lot about planning, public land being transferred to a private developer, the de-prioritisation of social housing, the unaffordable nature of “affordable” housing, and the ineptitude of Dublin City Council, the Department of Housing, and indeed, the Minister for Housing, Eoghan Murphy. This week, there were more alarm bells, as Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin published a letter Murphy sent to Dublin’s mayor indicating the project may have hit the skids again. Eoin joins us in studio to give his assessment of what is going wrong and why, as well as interrogating the housing policies Fine Gael is pursuing, and giving a pretty damning appraisal of Eoghan Murphy’s tenure. Also, we weren’t going to let

Come through our fashionistas. This week, we’re looking at the trend of sustainable fashion and wondering if it’s actually possible for the industry of excess and newness to actually be sustainable, and if individual boycotts of unethical brands is enough to bring about change in the industry. We’re joined by Tara Stewart who is a DJ, fashion kween and now host of RTE podcast Dirty Laundry that looks at the subject of sustainability and her journey from fast fashion to a more sustainable approach. On the other side of the industry, we talk to Wexford born, London based designer Richard Malone who approaches his process in the fashion industry as a vocal sustainability advocate and has previously said “It amazes me how young designers aren’t committing to sustainability. You can’t be a modern or contemporary designer if you are not sustainable.” We also talk Lizzo, Le Mans ’66, Dimitri From Paris, Irish Water (again) and BelongTo’s 2019 School Climate Survey.

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink (unless it’s boiled). How do we, a small island with such a rainy disposition, have more issues than Vogue when it comes to water? As we face into another boil water notice, rain continues to bucket it down, and an emergency meeting of Kildare County Council is called about the Leixlip Water Treatment Plant with Irish Water in attendance; we talk to Michael Brennan, the author of recently published book ‘In Deep Water’. Where do the problems stem from, is climate change going to make it worse and why is shit still literally hitting the fan in Dublin Bay? A huge amount of money has been spent on Irish Water and its meters, so why are we not seeing any improvements? We’re also talking Cher, Xtina, Dolly Parton and Joan Collins. Who said you can’t mix politics and glamour?

We're off to Monaghan, home to Ireland's only reverse vending machine. But, does individual consumer behaviour make a difference when it comes to recycling, or are paper straws and reusable bottles just designed to make us feel better? We talk about the psychology of recycling and how moral license impacts behaviour with psychologist Nishat Babu, and the Industrial Designer and bioplastic expert Megan Valanidas joins us from the US to discuss recyclables and plastic disposal. Plus, fashion queen Natalie B. Coleman is our County Rep, Andrea reveals her Patrick Kavanagh fandom, and Una is v disappointed in Fine Gael MEPs.

Every hour brings new twists and turns to Brexit, but it’s important to remember that a very murky referendum got us to this point. In this, ‘Brexit, dark money and the DUP’ episode, we press pause on a frantic news cycle and go back to 2016 and 2017 to ask questions about the dark money that funded the Leave campaign. The Americanisation of British politics now impacts the mysterious bankrolling of political campaigns, partisan think tanks, how the Tory Party is funded, and why the British media is sounding increasingly American. Our special guest to delve into all of this is bossman investigative reporter, Peter Geoghegan from Open Democracy. Also in this episode, Una is excited about a Dublin City Council initiative (shocker!), Andrea is very worried about Ireland’s potato crop, but still found time to outline the clearest breakdown of the Brexit timeline you’ve ever heard.

Trying to figure out the 'what can you do?' section of this week's podcast was interesting given that we were talking to trailblazing astrophysicist; scientist; one of TIME Magazine's 100 most influential people in the world and one of Nature magazines ten most prominent scientists worldwide Guillem Anglada-Escudé, who discovered the Proxima-b exoplanet orbiting Proxima-Centauri, our closest neighbouring star. Suggesting ways to build your own lightsail spacecraft seemed a little excessive for you to have done before settling down to next week's episode. We delve into the the journey further into space and find comfort speculating on the aliens out there watching in on our little simulation here on earth. As new planets are discovered, are we any closer to finding living circumstances similar to our own that can facilitate life? Mulder and Scully, this is the episode for you. There's also an absolute banger of a Tuna Chicken Roll, get in a rage about 6k being spent a day on barriers to pedestrianise an area

We're feeling very witchy this week with the onset of Samhain, and so we are journeying to the heart of Ireland's mythical history, the great county of MEATH. Last year, an incredible discovery was made at Newgrange by Anthony Murphy and Ken Williams who stumbled upon a massive henge at the Brú na Bóinne site. We talk to Anthony about DRONEHENGE, a discovery that shook the world of archeology and has made us rethink what was really going on at Newgrange back in the day (clue: a giant sesh.) Join us in rolling back the clock as we talk druids, pagan Olympics, human sacrifice, and and how an extra-hot Irish summer unearthed more Meath magic. Also, a cohousing cafe, Eoghan Murphy's Stoneybatter interventions, Andrea resurrects the Sex and the City movie, and Una reveals her past as an interpretive dance teacher.

Power, violence, threats, abductions, torture, and jobs. Sean Quinn was Ireland’s richest man a decade ago, but now his company’s name is embroiled in a shocking series of events in Fermanagh and Cavan. We talk to brilliant local reporter Rodney Edwards about the Quinn Industrial Holdings saga and find out WFT is going on in Cavan. Plus John Delaney’s sweetener, the new PJ Harvey documentary, Andrea’s tuna chicken roll and loads more.

We all gasped when pics of the Wetlands in Tallaght were shared, recently covered over by dredged silt from the nearby lake. How could this have happened? Why would someone do this? How could an official body let this happen? Who was responsible? It’s safe to say that orgs and institutions are literally sweating to make sure they tick all the sustainable boxes for PR, photo opps and green flags on their websites, but when it comes to actions, are they following through? The actions from South Dublin County Council would indicate that’s a big fat no, but how could councilors and heritage officers let this happen? Surely there’s a plan that everyone in there is sticking to, to maintain our greenways and biodiversity. Sadly reader, the answer is no. The same week a motion was passed unanimously in Dublin City Council by elected councilors, but was rebuffed by a member of the appointed Executive who said that initiating changes to the development plan was a power held by the council’s executive and the council’

Ireland recently declared a climate emergency. The bogs of Ireland are our equivalent to the rain forest in terms of their role as a carbon sink, but for some bizarre reason, a bypass for Ardee that was initially planned in 2001, but put on hold, was recently put back on the table. It is due to cut right through one of the only easterly raised bogs left in Ireland. The plans were put on hold yesterday, but only due to issues raised by the community about potential division of the town, rather than the environmental issues. An Environmental Impact Assessment has never been carried out, but surely now, the question we should be asking is; if we're in the midst of a climate emergency, why are we building more roads to counter excess traffic, rather than looking for alternative solutions? And why are we looking to build it to the detriment of one of the biggest solutions to our climate problems, the bog? We're joined by activist, artist and friend of the Ardee Bog, Katie Holten and Conservation Policy Officer

In a week that brought us the news that the Shaw was closing to make way for, you guessed it, a hotel, we start to look at what can be done to encourage more value to be placed on art and culture from the those who have the power and money to shape our society. Increasing and improving access to art is one step we think that can be taken to help people understand the weight, importance and benefits that come from having a thriving creative scene in Ireland. But another issue thrown up when you start exploring access to art, is people's perceptions of what constitutes culture. Comments from some councillors showed that what many considered the centre of their cultural universe with the Shaw, was considered nothing more than a nuisance and eyesore. How can we support people pushing the boundaries not just with their art, but those pushing the boundaries of what art is. And who gets to be the gate-keeper of where art and culture starts and ends? We talk to two people whose remit is to improve access t

We're coming live from Electric Picnic this week with our LAOIS episode, asking the question : are festivals the perfect societies? Joining us to discuss utopias and future societies are Mango, Saoirse McHugh, and Bríd Smith TD. In front of a live audience at the Ah Hear podcast stage in Mindfield at Electric Picnic, we discussed what parts of the festival bubble could work in real life, and local legend Mary White and her son Willie White joined us as the Laois county reps. Contains kebab puns, socialism, and all the Picnic buzz.

It's very easy to moan and groan about the influx of hotels and the homogenisation of the landscape in cities and towns around the country, but it's worth remembering that it’s not the job of hotel owners to ​shape the fabric of our society, it’s their job to build hotels and make money​. So, who's job is it? When it comes to being custodians of culture and city planning, we have the Minister for Culture & Heritage, her department, Dublin City Council and many art institutions and councils. When it comes to the night time economy or life after dark, however, it is that so often these pursuits aren't considered culture. But, the fact of the matter is -- clubbing IS culture. This week, we're talking to Global Night Mayor advocate Mirik Milan, who was the first Night Mayor of Amsterdam in 2012, along with Philly McMahon, who has challenged the definition and scope of culture with ThisIsPopBaby. This episode of the podcast is longer than a club night in Dublin and it's time for us all to get behind and champion

If there’s anything we’ve learned since the Cambridge Analytica exposé, it’s that data is both very precious to those who own it and extremely dangerous if it’s accessed by power hungry maniacs. Hell, we learned this from James Bond and The Bourne films, but it’s only when it hits you in the face that the stark reality of what’s at stake IRL truly materialises. Which is why we wanted to fully focus this week’s episode on the fallout from the Data Protection Commissioner’s landmark investigation into the government’s Public Service Card. We’re joined in the studio by the Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon to talk through what happened, why it was found to be illegal and what the ramifications of that are, what they could have been and where we go from here. We’re also talking about Aches’ Horseboy mural; Tarantino being a forever creep; The Berlin Boys Club, a nomadic men’s group exploring healthy masculinity and just how great Aisling Bea is.