Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning
Gold Hat Productions
Free State is a podcast for the curious that stimulates, provokes, challenges and entertains, while never taking itself too seriously. Free State covers topics from sport to politics, love to loss, the human condition and how to fix the world, with guests from across the planet including Nigerian princes, former Prime Ministers, ex convicts, footballers, boxers and extraordinary people from every walk of life. Free State is presented by Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning. Brolly is a barrister, an original thinker with a fascinating backstory, who donated a kidney to a stranger and then led a crusade to transform organ donation on the island of Ireland, and Fanning is an award-winning interviewer and author. They are not motivational gurus or life coaches. They will never try to sell you a penis scented candle. They are two people from very different worlds, with one core belief uniting them - this is not a high performance podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Sep 25, 2025 • 56min
Sportwashing US Imperialism: The great Dave Zirin on the NFL in Ireland, Charlie Kirk and Kneecap
When Dave Zirin flew home to America last week, as a precaution he wrote the telephone numbers of a lawyer and an Irish politician on his arm.He had been away for only a week but a week is a long time in an authoritarian state. While he had been gone, JD Vance had declared an article about Charlie Kirk’s death in The Nation, the magazine Dave works for, to be ‘soulless and evil’. Dave wondered again what kind of country he was coming back to.On Free State today, Dave Zirin explains why Ireland has been conned by the NFL game taking part in Croke Park this weekend. He laments that a venue so historic as allowed itself to be hijacked for a sportswashing exercise. He details why the NFL has no place in Ireland but why Kneecap give him hope. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 23, 2025 • 45min
Heather Humphreys, Jim Gavin’s white trousers and the sash my husband didn’t wear
When Mary Lou McDonald announced a ‘game changing’ candidate many eyes looked to Joe Brolly. But was he ever in the running and would Dion have voted for him?On Free State today, Dion and Joe look at what Sinn Féin’s backing of Catherine Connolly means for the presidential campaign. They also wonder if Jim Gavin can redeem himself after farmgate and Joe reflects on Gavin’s words about Gaza.They also ask what does the Charlie Kirk memorial service tells us about America. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 20, 2025 • 55min
Never too old - Finding Ireland, and yourself, in hurling
What happens when a man tries to take up hurling at 41?What does he learn about himself and Ireland’s relationship with its fabled national game.On Free State today, Second Captains co-host Ciaran Murphy tells us what he learned about Ireland when he joined his father’s old club in West Waterford.Are the obstacles to more people playing hurling all to do with the skills demanded or are there other reasons we need to examine? Do we pay lip service to this game and is hurling another cultural jewel that Ireland treats poorly? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 18, 2025 • 60min
Leo Varadkar, United Irishman.
At the age of 45, Leo Varadkar decided to resign as Taoiseach. Many people wondered why.In an extraordinarily frank interview on Free State today, Leo Varadkar talks about how finding peace in his personal life dulled his political ambition.He speaks about his failings as a politician and a man. He explains why he believes in a united Ireland but isn’t a nationalist.He criticises Keir Starmer’s embrace of nationalism in Britain and denies he was conned by Boris Johnson during their summit at the Wirral in 2019. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 16, 2025 • 52min
Charlie Kirk: The Death of an American Hero
Who was Charlie Kirk and what had he got to do with Ireland?On a heated episode of Free State, Dion and Joe argue about how to respond to the murder of Charlie Kirk. Is it right simply to commiserate or do the ideas he advanced need to be challenged? They look at the rise of Kirk and how the MAGA movement has reacted to his killing.Do people who disagree with everything he stood for need to observe a respectful silence or should they make their case now when it matters most? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 13, 2025 • 1h 12min
The Ascent of Man: How Diarmuid Lyng made sense of the world
Diarmuid Lyng led the life many believe is the dream.But it wasn’t his dream.On Free State today he talks about how there has to be another way. How there has to be a version of ourselves outside the consumer western narrative that occupies so much of our lives.He explains what he is hoping to achieve with Wild Irish Retreats. And why the answers are all around us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 11, 2025 • 1h 5min
Our Man in Washington: Niall Stanage on Epstein, Trump and Down football
What is it like to cover the Donald Trump White House?How should the media engage with the presidency in a time of crisis?On Free State today, Niall Stanage talks to Joe and Dion about his time in America speaking truth to power. He recalls his encounters with the Biden official John Kirby over Gaza. Has the deferential nature of the media in America led too many to take a step backwards? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 9, 2025 • 45min
FBI Informant-The Shocking Truth about Donald J Trump
The Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson declared last week that Donald Trump had been an FBI informant working to take down Jeffrey Epstein. He subsequently said he might have got it wrong. In Britain Reform had their party conference with the BBC’s political editor gushing about the ‘insurgency vibe’.On Free State, Joe and Dion ask if the media knows how to handle the rise of figures who peddle nothing but misinformation.Joe and Dion disagree on why this is. As the Irish presidential election comes closer they wonder about the questions some candidates like Catherine Connolly face. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 6, 2025 • 56min
Four Green Fields: The Climate Crisis, Culture Wars and Myths
Ireland is a rural country. We believe that the values that sustain us are values that have been shaped by our struggle for land and our struggles on the land.But as the climate emergency reaches a point of no return, how damaging have these foundational myths about Ireland been?On Free State today John Gibbons talks about Ireland’s failure in tackling climate change.He explains why farming today is not what it was when we shaped our romantic view of it and why agribusiness has used national myths to advance one side of a culture war. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sep 4, 2025 • 48min
The Age of Deportation-How England’s political class embraced the hate movement
When Nigel Farage arrived in Washington this week, a US congressman Jamie Raskin spoke the truth about this snake oil salesman. In Britain the worst of Farage’s impulses are now indulged.On Free State today, Dion and Joe look at what the writer Tanjil Rashid has called ‘the age of deportation’.How have countries slipped closer to the authoritarian way of life and why is it being allowed to happen?They look at how Nigel Farage dominates the media and how the Labour Party led by Keir Starmer follows Farage agenda. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
