Newstalk Breakfast

Learner drivers are 'failing tests' due to severely faded road markings. That’s the warning from Ladybird Driving School. We discuss further with Brenda Bolger, Owner of Bolgers Motoring Schools. 

“When I was a boy, glasses were a source of shame that ruined my self-esteem. Now that contact lenses have failed me too, all that’s left is to embrace the blurriness”  So writes Adrian Chiles, broadcaster and Guardian columnist who spoke to Newstalk Breakfast.

X “will face the full rigours of the law” over Grok being used to create explicit photos, according to Niamh Smyth, the Minister of State responsible for AI.  She will meet with executives from the social media giant later today.  For more on this we heard from Sinead Gibney, Social Democrats TD for Dublin-Rathdown who sits on the media and AI committee and Brian Brennan Fine Gael TD for Wicklow-Wexford who sits on the Media Committee.

A famine-inspired board game has raised over 13,000 euros to get developed The Great Famine Game is it distasteful? Ciara and Shane discussed this morning.

Schools must use the preferred name and pronouns of transgender students, who should also be allowed to use the bathroom of their preferred gender. That’s according to a new guide on the rights of trans people produced by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties with support from the State’s human rights watchdog the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. Joining Ciara to discuss this is Prof Donal O’Shea, Consultant Endocrinologist who works with the National gender service.  

A famine-inspired board game has raised over 13,000 euros to get developed.  “The Great Hunger” invites players to build homes and families across Ireland before the “Great Blight” hits. The player with the largest surviving population is the winner.   We get reaction to this game with Nathan Mannion, Head of Exhibitions and Programme at EPIC, The Irish Emigration Museum. 

Youtube has overtaken the BBC for the first time in Britain. That’s according to recent data that showed the video streaming platform’s monthly viewing figures surpassed audience numbers across all BBC channels in December.  Is this a tipping point for tv, and is streaming gaining on telly here in Ireland too? Newstalk’s Sarah Madden reports:  

The Complex arts centre in Smithfield has shut its doors, after an emergency meeting to save it between the Arts Council and Dublin City Council was unsuccessful.   The Director of the centre Vanessa Fielding called this closure a “failure of cultural policy, accountability, and long-term planning within the public system”. We get reaction to the closing from Maria Fleming, Chair of the National Campaign for the Arts. 

Military personnel from Europe have arrived in Greenland as Denmark remains determined to “prevent” as US takeover of the country. US President Donald Trump has reasserted his claim on Greenland, insisting that the US “needs” the island for security.  We discuss further with Trine Mach, Danish MP and member of the Parliament's Greenland Committee. 

Elon Musk's platform X has announced measures to prevent its AI chatbot Grok from undressing images of real people, following global backlash over its generation of sexualised images of women and children.   We get all the details on this with Jess Kelly Newstalk's Technology Correspondent.