The Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast

In 2023, Cork man Tim Bowen was caught by a vigilante paedophile-hunting group when he turned up at a café expecting to meet a 14-year-old girl for sex. He was later convicted in connection with the incident. Former RTÉ producer Kieran Creaven was also caught by a vigilante group after contacting someone he believed to be a child online, and later convicted. However, the methods used by some groups have raised concerns about the presumption of innocence, due process and human rights. In Monday's Irish Examiner reporter Alex Cunningham met some of those who hunt paedophile. He also spoke to experts and Gardai about how the groups operate – and whether what they do helps or hinders in convicting child sex offenders. Alex joins Deirdre on today's episode. Murky methods and motivations of ‘predator hunter’ groups Cork man caught by vigilante paedophile hunters jailed for trying to sexually exploit a child Irish Examiner view: Due process remains a vital step Mick Moran: 'Ordinary' porn is now a gateway to child sex abuse material Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For a nation obsessed with money, we don’t like talking about our personal finances.Women can be left in particularly difficult circumstances in later life because of financial penalties around motherhood and child-rearing – and tackling that begins with becoming more financially literate.Irish Examiner consumer columnist Caitriona Redmond is guest editor of a special Money edition of Weekend Magazine in the Irish Examiner this week ahead of the budget. On today's episode she goes through the nine financial questions everyone should be able to answer. Covering everything from takeaway coffee to running away money, this is an essential starting point for anyone hoping to get to grips with their finances. Check out Saturday's Irish Examiner Weekend magazine or subscribe to IrishExaminer.com to read the special money edition. Caitríona Redmond: 10 things I've learned from living on a budgetSarah Harte: Belle Burden and I both 'let things happen' — we should have taken Gloria Steinem's advice Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The €300m universal Hot School Meals Programme has been running nationally for a full year and a review of the scheme brought to Cabinet this week highlights serious issues with nutritional value and food waste.Critics have been highlighting these problems along with issues like trucks of pre-cooked food being sent across the country and the use of 100 million disposable packaging items per year.The Government has responded to the review by committing to provide a cold lunch option each day and by expanding the range of portion sizes – however, experts say the scheme needs to be re-examined from the ground up.On today's episode of The Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast, Irish Examiner food writer and food policy expert Dr Michelle Darmody and children's cookbook author Jolene Cox discuss the scheme's teething problems and look at best practice in other countries.The scheme was originally implemented in order to provide a hot meal with no stigma for children living in poverty, but according to Cox, it often does not reach those children."Just because a child is hungry doesn't mean they're going to eat just anything," says Jolene Cox, "and it's very condescending of us to say that it's those children that are eating the meals, you know, that they're so hungry."Like, what is such a disservice to the hungry child is that they're actually refusing it and they're going home. There's a meal put down there - the standard is that bad that they're actually not eating it."Dr Michelle Darmody has conducted extensive research into how other countries operate school meal schemes – she has visited schools where food is sourced locally and cooked onsite."In the report yesterday, when you kind of take a deeper dive into it, only 7% of the meals meet the five basic nutrition standards that they have set themselves," she explains."14% of the meals meet the standard of serving of two veg or fruit, while 50% of the meals contain no vegetables at all. And 15% of the meals were still said to contain high salt, fat and sugar, even though the minister had announced in April 2025 these were banned," she adds.Community initiatives like the Duhallow Community Food Hub provide a working model that other areas of the country could emulate, says Darmody.Listen to The Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.Revamp of free school meals programme to include cold lunch option'Our children need to be fed right': This North Cork organisation cooks 3,000 meals every dayOur school meals programme must use community hubs and on-site kitchens cooking local produceJolene Cox: Hot school meals are a great idea — but we can do it better Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Across Cork city, homes, businesses and vacant properties have been falsely listed on Google Maps as vape shops. But these aren't genuine retailers. Many direct users to encrypted messaging apps where drugs including THC vapes, ecstasy, LSD and psychoactive mushrooms are openly advertised for sale.Irish Examiner reporter Alex Cunningham spent weeks investigating the issue, speaking to residents whose addresses had been falsely used, contacting those behind the accounts, and uncovering how drug sellers are using online platforms to reach customers.Alex joins the Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast to discuss Cork's fake vape shops problemhttps://www.irishexaminer.com/news/spotlight/arid-41909575.html Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Killeagh man Finbarr Fogarty hit the headlines in 2001 when he was involved in a horrific car crash in which two of his friends, Cian O'Mahony from Killeagh and Wayne Martin from Hollyhill, died.He survived serious injuries, including a broken neck and had to learn to walk again.Like a lot of young men, he had gone off the rails in his teens, using drugs and alcohol to find confidence and fit in. Adults in the community and in his school were aware of his drug usage, he says, but never intervened beyond a threat to expel him from school, something he now finds hard to understand.Like many teenage boys who become involved in risky behaviour, he believed he was invincible."...I was invincible as a teenager... there was a few times where we were doing 100 miles an hour and we just, you know, thought, there's nothing going to happen. It's grand."But when it happens, that switch has not gone off in our head just yet. This idea, you know, we could die. It's just, you know, we're not going to die."Even the crash did not break the power of his addiction – he was arrested a few months later after a local guard found him on the street in a drunken state."I was arrested, and I remember the bangarda who picked me up, she looked at me and said – are you the guy who was in the accident? The guards have a very tough job."Now, 25 years later, Finbarr lives in Australia where he runs a successful business and volunteers to help other people in recovery.He spoke to Deirdre for today's episode about breaking the cycle of addiction in his family; how recovery works; and how he and his friends were let down by adults who knew they were in freefall. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.