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
Aug 9, 2025 • 41min
Replacing the shit with something better. Tim McGabhann on his journey from addiction to salvation.
‘I probably need to start with the s***,’ Tim MacGabhann writes in his memoir.On Free State today, Tim MacGabhann talks about the shit and the salvation.His book is a story of addiction and recovery, a life trying to find something and then finding it in the place he didn’t think it would be.It’s a story of replacing the s*** with something better. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Aug 7, 2025 • 45min
When Ali met Ireland
When Muhammad Ali visited Ireland in 1972, the country was a different place.Nobody believed the greatest sportsman the world has ever seen would fight in Dublin except the men who made it possible.On Free State today Dave Hannigan tells talks about his book The Big Fight - When Ali Conquered Ireland. It is a tale of men with dreams from Kerry and Brooklyn who made it happen. It is also a story of how Ali responded to the unconditional love he encountered and how it changed him. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Aug 5, 2025 • 30min
Through a Glass Darkly. The sobering of Dion Fanning
As Dion celebrates a personal milestone, on Free State today Joe and Dion look at how to live without drink.They consider how dark it can get for those on the other side and what helps people become free.Joe reflects on those he has seen struggle with alcohol and those he has seen create a new and rewarding life for themselves. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Aug 2, 2025 • 40min
A summer on the brink
In the summer of 1976, the world was a different place.In Ireland and Britain, it was a summer of a heatwave. But were there cultural and political changes brought about by the long hot summer of 1976? On Free State today John Williams, author of a new book Heatwave - the Summer of 1976, Britain at Boiling Point, is our guest. John tells us how that summer changed a country and how the heatwave brought people to the brink in ways nobody could have imagined. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 31, 2025 • 46min
They’re behind you! How the mass murder industry is trying to spook Ireland into wasting billions on weapons of war.
Have you locked yourself in a panic room? Have you got your tinned foods and toilet rolls in for when the Russians invade? If not, why are you so complacent? Why don’t you understand the threats Ireland faces in the modern world? On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at how Ireland is being told to be afraid.Is there anything to fear or are the warnings designed to create opportunities for the defence industry? Their companies have names designed to disguise their true intentions. Are we being asked to surrender to them if not the Russians? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 29, 2025 • 59min
Superman unleashed. Can anyone stop David Clifford & another Golden Years?
After Sunday's All Ireland final proved yet again why David Clifford is Superman in shorts, Joe wonders can any team stop a new Golden Years style reign for the Kerry footballers? On Free State today he also looks back on Knockmore Juniors' win over the weekend and explains why the All Ireland final can never quite measure up to the winning feeling with your club.Producer Cormac O'Malley drops into the hot seat while Dion is away on today's episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 26, 2025 • 41min
A War Correspondent in Gaza
As a young reporter Phoebe Greenwood worked as a war correspondent in Gaza. She inhabited the world of fixers where journalists stayed at the Al Deira hotel and Israeli government spokespeople provided statements that contradicted what reporters had witnessed.Greenwood was there during the 2012 conflict and now she has written a novel, Vulture, which is described as a satire, but might as easily be described as the truth.On Free State today she talks about how journalism has failed in Gaza, a failure brought about the desire for false balance.She recalls her own time in Gaza and how the place she knew has gone, destroyed utterly in a genocide where once again much of the media have failed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 24, 2025 • 44min
Can Donegal beat David Clifford? Or are 15 mortal men enough against the God of football?
How do you stop a genius? How does a genius thrive? David Clifford is the greatest Gaelic football who has ever lived but will that be enough on its own to bring Kerry an All-Ireland?On Free State today, Joe explains the different type of genius that is Jimmy McGuinness. McGuinness has taken advantage of the new rules, the way he took hold of the old but can the spirit of Clifford be contained in Croke Park?Joe and Dion also look at the princes who have taken the stage at Croke Park before. Dion looks at old Kerry lore and remembers the players he was told about by his Kerry father. He also reveals a family split that will become apparent on final day. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 22, 2025 • 45min
Cork, a study in failure. Donal Og’s destructive legacy
Did Cork lose the All-Ireland hurling final at half time or was defeat guaranteed long before?On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at what a sporting humiliation does to a team and if they can ever recover.Joe identifies failings in the Cork management that led to the defeat on Sunday but it doesn’t end there. He looks at the strike action when Cork were marshalled by Donal Óg Cusack, the consequences of which are still being felt today. Only that can explain what happened in the second half. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 19, 2025 • 1h 5min
The Trump Dictatorship with writer Joseph O’Neill
One of Ireland’s great writers Joseph O’Neill is today’s guest on Free State.O’Neill’s novels Netherland and Godwin have reflected the centrality of sport in people’s lives. He talks about why sport matters so much and why in Ireland it matters even more than that. He reflects on his own upbringing and how he was raised in Holland before becoming a barrister and practising law in London. He has lived in New York for a generation and he reflect on how the media and the Democrats have enabled the rise of a dictator. And on All Ireland hurling final weekend, he shares the story of the time his father played hurling for Cork. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
