The Hard Shoulder

Mary McCarthy, columnist with the Irish Independent, joins The Hard Shoulder to discuss the rising trend of nicotine pouch use among young people. As these puches have seen such an explosion in popularity in the past few years, Mary is here to discuss why the rise in use by young people is quite disturbing.Listen here

Grace Boland, Fine Gael TD for Dublin Fingal West, Sinead Ryan, consumer journalist and presenter of The Home Show, and Graeme McQueen, Media Relations Manager with the DAA, join Anton Savage for Kieran to explore why Ireland is lagging behind on contactless payments across buses, trains and the Luas — and what’s being done to change it.Listen here

Pharmacist Sheena Mitchell joins The Hard Shoulder with advice for allergy sufferers on how to manage hay fever and pollen season symptoms, especially as temperatures rise.Listen here to put your pollen woes to rest.

Jonathan Healy is joined by John Fardy, host of Screentime, and entertainment journalist Sarina Bellissimo to preview the weekend’s best film and streaming picks — from hidden gems to blockbuster releases.Listen here

Architect and conservationist, Roisin Murphy, and UCD history professor, Conor Mulvagh join The Hard Shoulder to discuss why so many of Ireland’s heritage buildings are deteriorating.This comes after a viscious row erupted in the Dáil between Simon Harris and Sinn Féin on plans to redevelop the GPO.Listen here to hear if these plans will be positive, or yet another failure in the state acknowledging the past and present.

Comedian Jason Byrne joins The Hard Shoulder for the Thursday Interview this week.Get all the latest from Jason's career, his early life doing gigs in England and what's coming next.Listen to it all here.

Sean Defoe, Newstalk’s Political Correspondent, joins The Hard Shoulder to break down the latest in the race for Áras an Uachtaráin - or lackthereof - and to analyse a fiery exchange in the Dáil involving Tánaiste Simon Harris.Listen here for all the lates.

Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon attempts to break the barrier of the women’s four-minute mile this evening in Paris. She is already the world-record holder in the mile and the 1500m, but she now has her sights set on being the first woman to run the four-minute mile.  Sonia O’Sullivan, World Champion and Irish Olympian joins Jonathan to discuss what a milestone it will be for a woman to break the four-minute-mile.Listen to all the conversation here.

Thomas Gould, Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central, and Cllr. Joe Kavanagh, former Lord Mayor of Cork, join The Hard Shoulder to respond to growing anger over Cork’s road conditions.According to figures released to NewsTalk, Cork ranks the highest in number of pothole related complaints to local council.Listen here for all the latest.

Barra Roantree, Director of the Masters in Economic Policy at Trinity College Dublin, joins The Hard Shoulder to discuss ESRI’s latest economic outlook — including fears about a construction slowdown and rising costs related to US foreign policy moves.Where will the next economic crash come, or what form might it take?Listen here for more.