In The News

Guy Hedgecoe, Irish Times Spain correspondent known for reporting on Spanish current affairs. He explains the Noelia Castillo case: her injuries and trauma, the legal fight with her father up to Strasbourg, heated hospital scenes with supporters and protesters, and how Spain's euthanasia law and political divide shaped the controversy.

Olivia Kelly, Dublin editor at The Irish Times, explains the push for a tourist bed tax in Dublin and how it works across Europe. She outlines who wants the levy and why national legislation is needed. Olivia discusses proposed rates, revenue estimates and how councils might spend the money. She also covers collection methods, likely exemptions, political hurdles and public reaction.

Shauna Bowers, Irish Times health correspondent who covers medical and public-health stories, explains the surge in fake medicines reaching Ireland. She breaks down massive HPRA seizures, a spike in GLP-1 weight-loss fakes, and why people risk buying unregulated drugs online. She also outlines smuggling routes, testing challenges, and the broader rise in anabolic steroids and bogus erectile dysfunction products.

Conor Lally, crime and security editor at The Irish Times, unpacks the Clifton Collins story. He outlines Collins’ double life as beekeeper and criminal. He traces the chance arrest, the 6,000 BTC stash, why access codes were lost, and how Europol helped unlock one wallet releasing €30 million. Short, sharp and full of surprising twists.

Stephen McCullagh (36) thought he had created a cast iron alibi for himself when he planned the murder of his pregnant girlfriend Natalie McNally (32) in December 2022.An avid gamer he was, he claimed, at home playing a video game live at the time she was killed. But as the PSNI was able to prove, he had in fact pre-recorded hours of himself playing the game. Police found that when he hit “play”, he set off to his girlfriend's house in Armagh where he savagely murdered her.The case against McCullagh was built on circumstantial evidence, so for Natalie’s devastated family, conviction was not certain.Seanín Graham is Northern Correspondent of The Irish Times and she was in court in Belfast for the trial.She tells In the News she has never before witnessed such emotional scenes in court as when the guilty verdict was handed down on Monday.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon and Suzanne Brennan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Conor Gallagher, crime and security correspondent for The Irish Times, traced how alumina from Aughinish in Limerick moves through traders to Russian smelters and defence firms. He outlines the factory’s history, Rusal and oligarch ties, shipment routes from bauxite to aluminium, and why regulators hesitated to sanction this supply line.

Ellen Coyne, a political correspondent at The Irish Times, outlines a women's group that has shifted from campaigning on gender identity to focusing on immigration. She explains the group's origins, its controversial claims linking immigration to sexual violence, the evidence gaps, the political figures who backed them, and how the story could affect wider politics.

Mark Hennessy, Ireland and Britain editor at The Irish Times, gives on-the-ground courtroom reporting. He describes tense exchanges in court, Gerry Adams' denials and demeanour, disputed authorship of prison columns, the plaintiffs' vindicatory motive and funding, and legal arguments over timing and abuse-of-process. The episode focuses on the trial setting and what may come next.

Mary Carolan, legal affairs correspondent at The Irish Times, explains the recent court steps that let Meath County Council seize the property. Caroline O'Doherty, science correspondent who tracked the saga for decades, provides the long background. They discuss the unauthorised build, decades of retention bids and appeals, the Supreme Court rulings and why the council moved to take possession now.

If you got an invoice you’d been waiting for from your builder for work done, you’d get ready to pay it, wouldn’t you?And if, a couple minutes after that, you got another invoice from the builder saying that actually he’d made a mistake and he’d given you the wrong bank details, you’d think nothing of it and proceed to pay.Well that’s exactly what the reader who contacts our consumer affairs correspondent Conor Pope did. She sent the requested €30,000 to her builder and thought nothing more of it – until a week later when her builder contacted her politely wondering if where the payments was.She is tech savvy, has been made aware through her work about all kinds of fraud, and is cautious by nature yet she had been the victim of payment redirection fraud – also known as invoice fraud.Conor Pope came into the studio to explain how this scam worked and why this particular case should be a lesson to everyone who believes invoice scams are only targeted at big business.Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.