The Hard Shoulder

The Irish Farmers Association have ended their sit-in protest at the Bord Bia offices in Dublin. This is after the board agreed to an independent, expert-led governance review into its operations, where Chair of the board Larry Murrin will not be involved.Francie Gorman, President of the Irish Farmers' Association joins Ciara to discuss.

On Friday it was reported that the University of Galway was proposing to discontinue and replace its general arts course due to an international downward trend in its popularity. However, the college later on Friday emphasized that they were not cutting the course, but just looking at reimagining them.Despite the many quips that may be made about arts courses, do they still have an important place in colleges? Broadcaster Muireann O’Connell joins Ciara to discuss.

For this week’s Kids Clinic, Ciara and Shane are joined by Dr Arthur Cummings, Consultant Eye Surgeon at the Wellington Eye Clinic and Consultant Ophthalmologist at the Beacon Hospital to discuss the common eye conditions that affect kids, and how to know if they might need an eye test.

If you commute into Dublin every morning, it’s impossible to ignore the growing levels of congestion and traffic across the city.Commutes are taking longer and making workers late as they spend hours frustrated on buses moving at a snail's pace, and tomorrow cabinet is set to discuss a variety of plans to address traffic and congestion around the country, including congestion charges in the city.Joining Ciara to discuss this is Green Party Councillor in Dublin City Council, Janet Horner.

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Minister for Defence and Fine Gael TD Meath East Helen McEntee joins Shane to discuss the situation in the Middle East, and what Irish people stranded and living there should do.

New research from Flyefit has found women are leaving the gym and giving up their routine at a much higher rate than men, with the top three reasons cited being intimidation, loss of interest and lack of motivation.For more on this, Ciara is joined by Nathalie Lennon, Personal Trainer & Content Creator.

New research has found that Gen Z value sustainable habits in dating as much as they value good looks. Research carried out by Too Good To Go, an anti-food waste app found 70% of daters looked for an interest in sustainability in a long-term partner.Joining Ciara and Shane to give her opinion on the matter is Freelance Journalist Kate Henshaw.

Over recent days we have seen the government roll back on reforms to reductions in SNAs in schools around the country. Parents had been left angered and concerned as some schools received letters informing them that their SNA numbers would be cut from September.Fianna Fáil TD Catherine Ardagh has written in the Independent today about her experience as the mother of a non-verbal autistic child and she said she is “very disappointed in [her] own Government”...Shane is joined by Deputy Ardagh to discuss.

Iran's retaliatory strikes have so far targeted 500 sites linked to the US and Israel in the Middle East, Iran's Revolutionary Guards has said.For more on this, Ciara is joined by Dr Siavush Randjbar-Daemi, Senior Lecturer in Modern Middle Eastern History at University of St Andrews in Scotland.Also joining to discuss is Kevin McPartland, CEO of Fuels for Ireland.Image: Reuters

This week, Ciara and Shane were joined by Saoirse Hanley, Features Writer with Irish independent and Ger Gilroy from Off The Ball to look back on the week that was, but with a few twists…