The Last Word with Matt Cooper

The Government has been slammed for dropping plans for hate speech laws because of a lack of the consensus on the wording.Also, President Michael D Higgins has claimed that a letter he wrote congratulating his Iranian counterpart was leaked by Israel.Daniel McConnell, editor of the Business Post, Alan Shatter, former minister for justice and Fianna Fáil Senator Lisa Chambers join The Last Word to discuss the hate speech legislation and the President’s letter to Iran.President Higgins has also clashed with Taoiseach Simon Harris in relation to immigration and homelessness. Gary Gannon, Social Democrats TD, and Fine Gael Senator Barry Ward join The Last Word to discuss this.Catch the full chat by pressing the ‘Play’ button on this page.

Are you a binge watcher or do you space out your series?This week on the Last Word on TV and Streaming, Elaine and Joe give us the best in TV and streaming to get you through the week.

Sarah Slattery from TheTravelExpert.ie joined Matt for The Last Word’s weekly travel slot, giving you all the best tips and tricks for booking a ski holiday this winter.Hit the ‘Play’ button on this page to hear the chat.

The United Rugby Championship kicks off this weekend with Leinster away to Edinburgh on Friday night, Munster hosting Connacht and Ulster facing Glasgow Warriors on Saturday.Matt spoke to Billy Holland, Liam Toland and Paul Wallace about each province’s ambitions for the season ahead.Hit the ‘Play’ button on this page to hear the chat.

Exploding pagers killing at least 12 people and wounding 3,000 people. This has led to an exchange of strikes between Israel and Hezbollah and growing fears of further escalation.Matt spoke to our foreign correspondent in Beirut, Hannah McCarthy to see how the situation is escalating.

Molly Nic Céile, author of Gaeilge i mo Chroí, joins The Last Word to talk about learning to love the Irish language.Catch the full chat by pressing the 'Play' button on this page!

John Gibbons joins The Last Word to discuss climate change causing the earth to vibrate, life or death for cities should the earth continue to warm and overcoming climate fatalism.Catch the full chat by pressing the 'Play' button on this page!

Tom Clonan, Independent Senator, retired Army Officer and former Lecturer at TU Dublin, joined Mario Rosenstock to give his assessment of this week’s walkie-talkie and pager attacks in Lebanon which left dozens dead and hundreds injured.Hit the ‘Play’ button on this page to hear the conversation.

A study by Maynooth University has suggested that homework tasks of up to 15 minutes can be more beneficial than longer time periods.Mario Rosenstock was joined by Professor Andrew Parnell, Hamilton Professor and Director of the Hamilton Institute at Maynooth University and Jennifer Horgan, teacher and Irish Examiner columnist, to discuss the findings.Hit the ‘Play’ button on this page to hear the conversation.

But for how long? Will it disband in November for the election or in January for a rumored February election?Gary Murphy, Elaine Loughlin and Kevin Cunningham join Matt to discuss the potential timeline.