The Hard Shoulder

Following last night's historic win for actress Jessie Buckley who became the Country’s First Best Actress Oscar Winner for her performance in Hamnet, Ireland has joined in the Celebrations with President Catherine Connolly and Taoiseach Micheal Martin, both congratulating her on this achievement.   Jessie’s brother, Killian Buckley joined Shane Coleman on the show to discuss.

Why do we insist on fighting over who splits the bill in Ireland? Do we feel we are doing it to be polite or because we feel obligated to suggest we pay? Esther Mc Carthy, Columnist with The Irish Examiner and Mary Mc Carty, Irish Independent Columnist, joined Ciara Kelly on the show to discuss.

Thousands of people are expected to visit Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day this year, with many of us also on the move across the day, either to attend parades around the country or to visit family on our national holiday.  Despite this, most of our public transport services are running weekend or bank holiday timetables. So, we’re asking should Train, DART, Bus and Tram providers be offering a full operating schedule for what will be one of the busiest public transport days of the year.   Mark Gleeson, of Rail Users Ireland and Social Democrats Spokesperson on Transport and Jennifer Whitmore joined Ciara Kelly on the show to discuss.

Jamie O’Hara, Newstalk reporter travelling with An Taoiseach, joined Shane Coleman on the show with the latest on the St Patrick’s Day events in the US.

This week, Ciara and Shane were joined by the presenter of Weekend Breakfast on Today FM, Alison Curtis and Off the Ball’s Ger Gilroy to look back on the week that was, but with a few twists…

As the conflict in the Middle East goes on, attention continues to be distracted from the war in Ukraine. With fuel prices sky-rocketing around the world the US has temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian oil. Despite Iran being a Russian ally, this sanction lifting is a huge boost for Vladimir Putin.Shane is joined by Professor of Politics at DCU and author of ‘Unfinished Empire: Russian Imperialism in Ukraine and the Near Abroad’ Donnacha Ó Beacháin to discuss what this means for Putin…

Earlier in the week The Hard Shoulder spoke to Rob Cass, who co-designed the website onemillionhomes.ie, looking at housing across the country when it comes to young people being able to buy their first home.He named Drogheda as an area that is leading the way for housing, so why can’t we follow it?Joining to discuss is Tom Phillips, Managing Director of Tom Phillips and Associates and Adjunct Associate Professor of Town Planning in UCD.Image: Discover Boyne Valley

Off The Ball’s David Wilson joined Ciara and Shane on The Hard Shoulder to review the week in sport and look ahead to the weekend action…

Joining Ciara to give the latest updates from the conflict in the Middle East is Chief International Correspondent at The Independent, Bel Trew. Also joining to discuss the actual severity of the fuel crisis is the ESRI’s Muireann Lynch.Image: Reuters

€40 million worth of peat was exported from Ireland last year, despite there being no legal commercial peat extraction.So, how is this possible, and should we make it legal?Joining Shane to discuss is Michael Ring, former Fine Gael Minister of State for Community and Rural Development.