The Hard Shoulder

As the Justice Minister, Jim O Callaghan, gets approval for Jennie’s Law, which seeks the establishment of a Domestic Violence Register. Ciara Doherty is joined by  Dr Caroline Forde, member of the Domestic Violence Advocacy Service, and by David Hall Former CEO of Sonas Domestic Abuse Charity for reaction.

As a man is charged with sexual assault of 10 year old girl, Ciara Doherty is joined by Conor Lally, Crime and Security Editor for The Irish Times with the latest update.  

Following the launch of new bus connects services in recent days across Dublin, several commuters in the Finglas area feel the issues they are facing are more than just teething problems with the routes, urging the NTA to review the rollout immediately.  Ciara Doherty was joined by Brian Caulfield,  Professor of Engineering at Trinity College Dublin and by Finglas resident Cathy Benvin,  to discuss the issue.

With Halloween next week, you may have heard of an increase in fireworks and bangers in your area, but how do you ensure your pets are protected during these weeks?Ciara Doherty was joined by Pete Wedderburn to discuss this.

Reports are suggesting that police are facing a race against time to recover priceless objects stolen by thieves in a heist at the Louvre museum in Paris.The world-famous museum was forced to close yesterday, and remained closed today after thieves accessed a gallery containing the French Crown Jewels at around 9.30am local time.CBS Correspondent for Paris, Elaine Cobbe, joins Ciara Doherty with the latest.Obviously, this isn’t the first famous heist – there have been plenty of famous ones through the years. Irish Times Journalist and Historian Ronan McGreevy also joins to discuss some of them with Ciara.

The European Union Court of Justice ruled last week that pets can be considered as baggage. This was in response to a case where an airline lost a dog, and paid out €5,000 in compensation to the owner.To discuss this, Ciara is joined by Co-Founder of My Lovely Horse Rescue, Martina Hickey and Eoghan Corry, Travel and Aviation Journalist at TravelExtra.ie.

For this week’s Kids Health Check, Ciara Doherty is joined by Aoife Lee, Parenting Coach at ParentSupport.ie, to discuss how you can handle bedtime anxiety with your children.

Yesterday evening, Fine Gael posted a video on its X account where it questions Catherine Connolly’s previous career as a Barrister. Titled ‘Catherine Connolly’s hypocrisy’, the video shows some of Connolly’s Dáil dealings when working on housing and the banks in a legal capacity.Many in opposition have criticised this type of video and type of politics…Joining Ciara Doherty to discuss is Louse Burne, Political Correspondent with the Irish Examiner, and later to give his reaction, Barry Ward, Fine Gael TD for Dún Laoghaire.

Figures from TUSLA show that it inquired into less than one-in-five referrals it received about child welfare issues in parts of Dublin earlier this year.What does this say about the system? And, what needs to change?Joining Ciara Doherty to discuss is Jennifer Whitmore, Social Democrats TD for Wicklow and Caoilfhionn Gallagher, Special Rapporteur on Child Protection.

Penguin and Club bars can no longer be described as chocolate biscuits as they contain more types of oils than cocoa. So, what is really chocolate? And how can people know if what they’re buying isn’t actually chocolate?Joining Ciara Doherty to discuss is Chocolate Expert, Shobitha Ramadasan.