The Hard Shoulder

Despite the school year being underway, there are a number of kids still without a school place, and are now being left behind by their peers…Kieran is joined by the parents of two of those kids, Mairead Carty and Sinead O’Reilly, to discuss.

Henry and Heather de Bromhead and their daughters Mia and Georgia, opened The Jack de Bromhead Equine Centre located on the campus of ChildVision in Drumcondra.The new indoor equine therapeutic centre, is named after 13 year old Jack who died at a race meeting in 2022.Henry McKean visited the new equine centre to see how Jack de Bromhead's legacy will help children for generations to come…

Health insurance continues to be an issue for many people, but what are the latest increases set to look like, and what can you do to keep costs down?Kieran is joined by Health Insurance Expert with Health Insurance.ie, Dermot Goode, and Health Economist at UCC, Brian Turner, to discuss.

If you’re one of the three Irish Presidential candidates, what is the best way to make an impact? How do you get the public excited to vote for you?Paul Allen, a PR professional, who has worked on four Presidential campaigns, joins Kieran to discuss.

There’s been a lot of discussion over how accurate the new Netflix show ‘The House of Guinness’ is, or rather how inaccurate it is. So, we’re going to look into how close it is to real history, and whether or not that matters…Joining Kieran to discuss is Historian, Dr Kevin Egan and Presenter of Screentime on Newstalk, John Fardy.

Sarina Bellissimo, Broadcaster and Presenter of the Bellissimo Files Podcast and David O’Callaghan from the Here and Back Again podcast joined Kieran Cuddihy on The Hard Shoulder to review the latest TV and movie releases…

Has our reliance on technology and AI meant we have lost our literacy skills? Is this problem getting worse?Joining Kieran to discuss is Aidan Regan, Professor in the School of Politics and International Relations in UCD and Thomas Kenny, of Kennys Bookstore in Galway, and later Terry Prone, Chairman of the Communications Clinic.

We’re edging closer to budget 2026 but if you’re hoping for a bit of relief in terms of taxes, you should probably lower expectations….it is the first budget of the new Government term after all!Joining Kieran to look into the crystal ball of what we can expect is Dr Tom McDonnell, of the Neven Economic Research Institute and Susanne Rogers, Research and Policy Analyst at Social Justice Ireland.

There’s huge excitement in Dublin as the Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings face each other this Sunday in Croke Park. It’s the first regular season NFL game to take place in this country.Newstalk Reporter David O’Connor has been looking at all aspects of the sport, including merchandising and safety, and joins Kieran to discuss.

Former Rehab CEO Angela Kerins has submitted €2.1 million euro in legal costs as a result of the court action she took against the Houses of the Oireachtas...It’s a saga that, in total, has lasted for more than a decade now.For more on this, Kieran is joined by Martin Wall, Public Policy Correspondent for the Irish Times.