Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack When our friend and previous guest, Paediatrician Dr Liqa Ur Rehman posted online about the plight of a Psych Doctor, who has had his family reunification visa rejected and is now waiting over 3 years to see his wife and child, we were appalled, but not surprised. So joining us alongside Dr Ur Rehman, on this very important podcast, are three doctors who wanted to share their own experiences of the Irish immigration system. Dr X, a Registrar in...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Zarefah Baroud is a Palestinian American who has family in Gaza. When she visited Gaza in 2022 for the first time in her life, she could not have known what was awaiting the coastal enclave. Baroud has lost multiple family members, her uncle went missing and some of the people she met during her visit were killed, including our late friend, Dr Refaat Alareer. Yousef Aljamal, Helena Cobban and Tony Groves speak to Baroud about her role as a...

.wpedon-container .wpedon-select, .wpedon-container .wpedon-input { width: 170px; min-width: 170px; max-width: 170px; } Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Note: Published to members April 19th 2024 Since the broadcast of the TV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office, we have all been disgusted by the treatment of Post Masters by the bullyboy corporation, Post Office UK. It was truly shocking and upsetting to see. But what...

.wpedon-container .wpedon-select, .wpedon-container .wpedon-input { width: 170px; min-width: 170px; max-width: 170px; } Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Former Dublin Lord Mayor and Green Party Cllr Hazel Chu has, it’s fair to say, had more than a bumpy few years. From the Lord Mayor’s Office during Covid to the racially charged protests where she’s personally been the target of horrendous abuse; you'd have to ask...

.wpedon-container .wpedon-select, .wpedon-container .wpedon-input { width: 170px; min-width: 170px; max-width: 170px; } Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Hebh Aljamal, who grew up in New York, is a remarkable Palestinian-American journalist, who currently lives in Germany and is shockingly facing legal prosecution because of her Palestine activism. In this episode of PalCast, Yousef Aljamal, Helena Cobban and Tony...

.wpedon-container .wpedon-select, .wpedon-container .wpedon-input { width: 170px; min-width: 170px; max-width: 170px; } Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack In July 2018, the Public Accounts Committee and the Ministers for Social Protection, Finance and Media were all fully aware that the 'Eversheds Review', RTE's own bought and paid for legal advice, exposed that RTE owed more than it was worth for decades of bogus self...

.wpedon-container .wpedon-select, .wpedon-container .wpedon-input { width: 170px; min-width: 170px; max-width: 170px; } Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack "Give Everyone What They Need, Before You Give The Wealthy What They Want." Listener favourite, Prof Richard Murphy, has just published this:https://taxingwealth.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Taxing-Wealth-Report-2024-Summary.pdf and in between chatting to Bloomberg...

.wpedon-container .wpedon-select, .wpedon-container .wpedon-input { width: 170px; min-width: 170px; max-width: 170px; } Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Elbit Systems, Israel’s leading weapon manufacturing, is playing a major role in the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Huda Ammori, a co-founder of the Palestine Action Group spoke to PalCast co-hosts about the role of Israeli firm in the genocide in Gaza, campaigns against...

.wpedon-container .wpedon-select, .wpedon-container .wpedon-input { width: 170px; min-width: 170px; max-width: 170px; } Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack (Note: Published for members April 5th) Many hundreds of thousands of people used to wake up to the voice of Broadcaster, Presenter and Writer, Keith Walsh. But nobody would have been aware of how precarious his job was with the National Broadcaster. In this exclusive...

.wpedon-container .wpedon-select, .wpedon-container .wpedon-input { width: 170px; min-width: 170px; max-width: 170px; } Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack As you might've heard on a previous Martin and Tony member-only pod, I was invited to debate whether or not Ireland should have a general election post Leo Varadkar's resignation. I went through with it. But it ended up in the RTE editorial bin. But we took it out of...

.wpedon-container .wpedon-select, .wpedon-container .wpedon-input { width: 170px; min-width: 170px; max-width: 170px; } Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack As Israeli forces withdrew from Khan Younis, after four months of military operations they were ambushed by Palestinian fighters. Israel, it's clear, did not achieve its two stated goals of releasing the hostages and of eliminating Hamas. However once the IOF...

.wpedon-container .wpedon-select, .wpedon-container .wpedon-input { width: 170px; min-width: 170px; max-width: 170px; } Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Tommy Greene has covered the dangers posed to drinking water due to the environmental collapse of Lough Neagh well before it became a political football. But now that Stormont is up and running you might think things are looking (fresh water-wise) clearer? But he...

.wpedon-container .wpedon-select, .wpedon-container .wpedon-input { width: 170px; min-width: 170px; max-width: 170px; } Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack We all saw what happened to the tents around Mount Street last St Patrick’s Weekend. Politicians, wannabe fascists and media swarmed the area to advance certain interests that weren’t necessarily helping the vulnerable and homeless men. One journalist who has been...

.wpedon-container .wpedon-select, .wpedon-container .wpedon-input { width: 170px; min-width: 170px; max-width: 170px; } Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack The EU, which has advocated for human rights globally, has failed in Gaza. Some EU politicians understand the reality in Gaza, but they only talk about Rafah and humanitarian aid. Others understand but they refrain from talking and a third group don’t know (or don't...

.wpedon-container .wpedon-select, .wpedon-container .wpedon-input { width: 170px; min-width: 170px; max-width: 170px; } Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack We were all appalled to witness yet another atrocity carried out by the Israeli Occupation Forces, this time targeting and killing staff of an internationally recognised and lauded organisation, World Central Kitchen. But again we are left asking what will it take for...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack This twitter thread twitter thread on Ireland as a political laboratory by our guest and regular contributor, Economic Prof Constantin Gurdgiev, went viral. The funny thing was that it was in response to this podcast. Enjoy another belter of an hour inside the brain of the US-based Russian-Irish economist and his views on why the current economic models do very little for our quality of life. The Rafah Appeal is...

Please help #BringZakBack by clicking https://gofund.me/292c52c4 Alexandria Saleem is a first-generation Palestinian American from Gaza, whose family was displaced in 1948 and 1967. She joins PalCast co-hosts Yousef Aljamal, Helena Cobban and Tony Groves to talk about Gaza and how the genocide in Gaza resulted in the killing of many of her cousins, but also helped her forge ties with family that enabled her to better organize and advocate on their behalf in the US. Alexandria highlights the...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack The government’s new planning bill has been called anti-democratic, regressive and dystopian. And that was by its supporters. We now know, following the work of the Ditch, that there are real worries about who is driving this policy. Joining us to discuss the many flaws is solicitor Fred Logue. He’s worried that in seeking to fix a problem that doesn’t exist this Bill will cause more litigation, longer planning delays and slow down housing...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack We sat down for a chat about the week gone by with the best poll analyst around Mr irishelectionprojections.com Harry McEvansoneya We talk the standing of both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael following the resignation of Leo Varadkar, the differences of election strategies that are emerging from the coalition and the cult of civility rallying around a Taoiseach who never lived up to the hype. We also talk the horrible scenes in Moscow and some of the...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Is a bad deal better than no deal? Should we settle for fix it as we go? Would a shift further right in the European Parliament (EP) wreck any hope we have for meaningful climate and biodiversity action? Lifelong environmentalist, author and ecologist, Padraic Fogarty and MEP Luke Ming Flanagan, agree on a lot. But not on the Nature Restoration Laws that passed narrowly in the EP. They joined us to discuss there differences of opinion and where...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has announced that he's leaving. The tributes are pouring out across the airwaves and opinion pages. This podcast will not be among them. We look at how he has tried (and succeeded?) to normalise homelessness, his anti-people-in-poverty campaigns and a tenure that always put style above substance. We also talk about the need for a general election and the likely next leader of Fine Gael. Strong language throughout. Full...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack This is a belter of a podcast with Colombian, but Mexico-based El Pais journalist, Nicholas Dale Leal, on all things Latin and South America. We talk Argentina and the plunge into poverty that has created a budget surplus; we dig into Bukele as a celebrity of the aspiring autocrat and there's a lot to be said in advance of the Mexican general election. Nicholas, as always, breaks it down for us in ways that even Martin can understand. I'm not...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack In this Echo Chamber podcast special you'll here from survivor of child sexual abuse at the hands of a senior member of St John Ambulance, Mick Finnegan, Sinn Féin's spokesperson for Sport, TD Chris Andrews, Green Party TD and Chair of the Children's Committee, Patrick Costello and Irish Times journalist, Jack Power. They each give their perspectives and views on what has happened since the publication of the Shannon Report into child sex abuse...

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack In this very special episode of The Fresh Batch, Dean and Sparky chat with their longtime friend; singer-songwriter, Damien Dempsey. Hearts open, vulnerable and full of love. This is a conversation about Aboriginal wisdom, spiritual healing, the power of singing and friendship and why we're all dancing with our own madness. "If I'm going to find some healing..." Recorded by Ger Kellet The next Fresh Batch with Criminologist, Trina O'Connor, is...