The Hard Shoulder

Inquests into the deaths of five babies murdered by Lucy Letby have opened today, following the release of a new documentary by Netflix, which features unseen police footage. David Conn, Investigations Correspondent with The Guardian who was at the inquest joined Shane and Ciara with the latest on the case and why some believe her conviction should be overturned.

Ciara and Shane were joined by Newstalk’s Technology Correspondent and Presenter of Tech Talk Jess Kelly for Tech Takeover.

Rain warnings for eleven counties will come into effect tomorrow with a status orange alert for Wicklow and Waterford. For the latest on these warnings, Shane and Ciara were joined by Cathal Nolan, of the weather channel.

Almost three thousand adults are on waiting lists to see an HSE psychologist, and nearly half of those are waiting more than a year. And when it comes to CAMHS, over four thousand children and adolescents are on waiting lists to access their services. Those are just two statistics to tell the story of the many problems in our mental health services. Mary Butler is the Minister of State for Mental Health. She joined Shane and Ciara to discuss how the government plans to address shortcomings in the provision of mental health services.

A new study from the University of Edinburgh has found that people from the North West of Ireland have the highest risk of developing haemochromatosis. The disease, also known as the ‘Celtic curse’, is an inherited condition that causes an iron build-up in the body. But why is the condition so common here and what symptoms should you be aware of? Professor John Ryan is a consultant hepatologist at Beaumont Hospital and joined Shane and Ciara

Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton will bring to Cabinet proposals for statutory charter to strengthen accountability in schools.  Under this proposal parents will be told by schools the amount of money generated from these voluntary contributions and how exactly it is being spent by the school.To discuss this further Shane and Ciara were joined by Seamus Mulconroy, General Secretary of Catholic Primary School Management Association.    

The Oireachtas Media Committee met today to discuss the regulation of online platforms, with senior staff from Meta, Google and TikTok. Social media platform X has refused the invitation . It comes for Age verification for social media to go before Cabinet Sinead Gibney is Social Democrats TD for Dublin Rathdown, and member of the Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport.She joined Ciara and Shane to discuss what issues were raised at the Media Committee today.

The cabinet have agreed a complete ban on scramblers in public places. This is after the death of 16-year-old Grace Lynch in Finglas recently. The Minister for Transport, Darragh O’Brien, said the legislation will be in place in a matter of weeks. Saying we owe it to Grace and her family. But how widespread are Scramblers in communities in Dublin and how difficult will it be to enforce? Henry McKean joined Shane and Ciara.

‘AI-assisted mammograms result in fewer aggressive and advanced breast cancer’, according to a new study which used AI in 200,000 breast exams from various institutions in more than 10 countries.  Joining Shane and Ciara was Suzanne Little, Professor in the School of Computing at Dublin City University.

Every week for The Ultimate Guide on The Hard Shoulder, Fionn Davenport takes a closer look at some of the fantastic destinations to visit around the world.This week, as part of his 12 best cities in the world, Fionn joined Ciara and Shane to give the ultimate guide to Hanoi in Vietnam