Line of Duty Is Coming Back — Mother of God!

Line of Duty, one of the most-watched TV dramas of the century, is officially returning. After four years off air, the BBC has confirmed a brand-new six-part season, with filming in Belfast beginning next spring and the iconic AC-12 trio back together: Martin Compston, Vicky McClure and our own Adrian Dunbar as Ted Hastings. The announcement has detonated across the fandom. But Newstalk Daily’s Tara Duggan has never seen a single episode.

So, on today’s podcast, she’s joined by someone who has practically built part of his career on Line of Duty: Brendan O’Loughlin from 98FM, one of the voices behind Shrine of Duty — the fan podcast that became a runaway hit by decoding acronyms, analysing clues and channelling the intensity of AC-12 obsessives everywhere. Tara and Brendan talk about why the show became such a phenomenon, how Adrian Dunbar’s catchphrases entered everyday Irish slang, what the new storyline might hold, and why the fandom has already burst back to life.

📧 Email your thoughts or favourite Line of Duty moments to:
newstalkdaily@newstalk.com

▶️ Listen to Shrine of Duty here:
https://www.goloudplayer.com/podcasts/shrine-podcast-376

🎧 Catch Brendan every weekday morning on 98FM’s Big Breakfast:
https://www.98fm.com/podcasts/big-breakfast

The ‘Great Resignation’ has reached Irish politics. Paschal Donohoe is the latest big name to walk away from Leinster House — departing immediately for the World Bank in Washington and joining a fast-growing list of high-profile exits that already includes Simon Coveney, Leo Varadkar and dozens of TDs and Senators from the last election.

On today’s podcast, Tara Duggan asks why so many mid-career politicians are stepping back, not at retirement age, but at the height of their influence. Is it burnout? Toxicity? Online abuse? A changing culture in public life? Or the simple truth that the private sector now offers better pay, better hours and a saner existence?

Political correspondent Claire Scott of The Sunday Times digs into the trend and what it means for the next generation of leadership. Former Minister Ciarán Cannon reflects on life after politics, the pressures that drove colleagues to leave, and whether Ireland undervalues its politicians until other countries snap them up.

We also hear a voice note from former Fianna Fáil TD and Senator Lisa Chambers, once tipped for Cabinet, who left politics at just 38 and explains the moment she realised life outside Leinster House might be healthier — and happier.

From the politics of burnout to the politics of opportunity, this conversation explores a system struggling to retain talent — and asks whether the exodus is a warning sign for Irish politics.

For thoughts or feedback, email newstalkdaily@newstalk.com.

Ireland is in the middle of a masculinity reset. Andrew Tate’s influence hasn’t faded. The Conor McGregor civil rape verdict rattled classrooms where he’d been idolised. BBC Three’s Men of the Manosphere aired this week. And “parasocial” has just been named Cambridge Dictionary’s word of the year — a perfect description of the strange, intimate bonds teenage boys form with influencers they’ll never meet.

In real life, the picture is just as messy. Samaritans research suggests one in ten men fake interest in sport and exaggerate their drinking, while two-thirds say they’d live differently if freed from social judgement. And yet we also saw Irish footballer Troy Parrott break down after the Hungary match, offering a rare counterweight to the idea that Irish men must bottle everything up.

Educator Eoghan Cleary has spent years warning that boys are being raised — emotionally, sexually, socially — by the loudest, most misogynistic corners of the internet. Porn is shaping expectations long before adults intervene. Boys are anxious, angry, confused and algorithmically nudged toward men who promise clarity through dominance.

On today’s podcast, Tara Duggan and Eoghan talk about why this generation feels lost, what parents can do tonight, what schools urgently need, and whether Ireland is finally ready to create a healthier, more humane model of masculinity for our sons.

Comments and stories welcome at newstalkdaily@newstalk.com.

The release date for Grand Theft Auto VI has slipped again — it’s now not expected until late 2026 — and the fallout is ricocheting far beyond gamers. When the world’s biggest entertainment franchise hits pause, stock markets wobble, hardware makers rewrite sales forecasts, and governments even start talking. Poland’s parliament debated the delay; analysts are re-running their 2026 projections; and a row over Rockstar’s workplace practices has burst into the open.

In today’s podcast, Shane Beatty looks at why GTA matters so much, what’s really causing the repeated hold-ups, and how a single title has become an economic bellwether for the global games industry. We hear from our own Micheál O’Connell (whose holiday plans have been derailed by the latest postponement) and from tech podcaster Kelly Earley on what this means for gamers, studios and the rapidly growing Irish games sector.

🎧 Listen to Kelly Earley on the For Tech’s Sake podcast: https://www.fortechssakepod.com/

Weight loss injections were supposed to be for “other people” — the Hollywood elite, the super-rich, the anonymous “before and after” photos in newspaper health pieces. But what happens when your own GP prescribes one… and suddenly the miracle drug is in your fridge?

On today’s podcast, Shane opens up about starting a new injectable weight-loss treatment earlier this year, the dramatic impact it’s had on his body, and the monthly bill that comes with it. He talks frankly about what it’s like to be living on a medication that can transform your weight and your health — while still feeling nervous about telling people you’re on it.

Shane is joined by Dr Mick Crotty from the Irish Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism, and community pharmacist and WonderCare podcast host Sheena Mitchell. They explain how drugs like Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy work, why Ireland has become a manufacturing hub for their active ingredients, and what that means for everything from our hospitals to our corporation tax take. They also tackle the big questions: who can get these medicines through the HSE, who’s forced to pay hundreds of euro a month, and why an estimated three in four users never admit they’re on them at all.

From side-eye at the pharmacy counter to fears about “cheating” at weight loss, Newstalk Daily asks whether it’s time to rethink our ideas about obesity, willpower and what it means to take control of your own body.

📩 Email: Share your own experience of weight loss medication — anonymously or otherwise — at newstalkdaily@newstalk.com

🎧 Listen to Sheena Mitchell’s WonderCare podcast: https://www.wondercare.ie/episodes/

President Catherine Connolly wants to do something no Irish president has tried in a serious way before: make Irish the actual working language of her presidency. Not just the cúpla focail at a podium, but real-life emails, meetings, memos, and day-to-day business conducted as Gaeilge. It sounds inspiring, slightly terrifying, and raises a simple question: could anyone else pull that off?

In today’s podcast, we ask what it would mean for an ordinary workplace to follow her lead. Could a private company – say, a busy radio station like Newstalk – decide that Irish is the language of the office? What would that look like for staff who are fluent, staff who are rusty, and staff who still wake up sweating about their Leaving Cert oral?

Today FM presenter and How To Gael co-host Louise Cantillon joins Shane to talk about living and working bilingually every day, why she slips between Irish and English on air without thinking about it, and how listeners really react when a national presenter leans into Gaeilge. She explains where her own grá for the language comes from and what she learned interviewing President Connolly during the campaign.

We also hear from Natasha O’Flaherty of Hynes’ Pub in Stoneybatter, where customers are actively encouraged to order their pints in Irish. She explains how a few words at the bar can change the atmosphere of a place, and why making mistakes is part of the fun rather than something to fear.

Then HR expert Moira Grassick from Peninsula Ireland joins Shane to reality-check the idea of an Irish-language workplace. She talks through what the law actually says, whether a company could insist on Irish for certain roles, how contracts and policies would have to change, and how employers might promote Irish without alienating staff who aren’t confident speakers. From lunchtime conversation circles to bilingual signage and the branding benefits of using our first official language, she lays out what’s possible – and what would be a legal or practical nightmare.

So can Irish really move beyond the Gaeltacht, the classroom and the Dáil chamber to become a genuine working language again? Or is this one of those ideas we love in theory, but quietly abandon once the Monday morning inbox lands?

🎧 Listen to Louise Cantillon on the How To Gael podcast: https://www.howtogael.com/

🎧 Tune into Splanc with Cuán Ó Flatharta on Newstalk: https://www.newstalk.com/podcasts/splanc

📧 Tell us whether Irish could work in your office: newstalkdaily@newstalk.com

Another housing plan. Another set of promises. Another “urgent” response to a crisis that’s now shaped more than a decade of Irish life. Today, Government will unveil its latest plan to fix Ireland’s housing emergency. Titled ‘Delivering Homes, Building Communities,’ it’s expected to include around €100 million for long-term housing list families, new powers for the Land Development Agency, and tougher rules on derelict properties.

But with the cost of a two-bed apartment in Dublin now topping €550,000, and homelessness hitting record highs, will this one finally make a difference?

Joining Shane Beatty on today’s podcast are Seán O’Neill McPartlin, Director of Housing Policy at Progress Ireland — who’s published his own 25-point plan to deliver 300,000 homes — and architect Pat Barry, CEO of the Irish Green Building Council.

They discuss what real solutions look like:
– Cutting construction costs and planning red tape
– Balancing sustainability with speed
– Making better use of empty buildings
– Whether lowering building standards risks repeating old mistakes

They also present some big ideas, including local authority one-stop-shops across the country and integrating housing developments with major public infrastructure projects like Dublin’s new metro.

Ireland’s new president, Catherine Connolly, called housing “a fundamental human right.” But after a decade of failed strategies — from Rebuilding Ireland to Housing for All — can this latest plan finally deliver?

📩 Share your story: newstalkdaily@newstalk.com

A Garda–PSNI investigation into an alleged terror plot has led to charges against two men and a warning that violent far-right extremism is no longer confined to the online fringe.

On today’s Newstalk Daily, Shane Beatty speaks to Cormac O’Keeffe, Security Correspondent with the Irish Examiner, about the group calling itself the “Irish Defence Army” — the small, secretive network at the centre of the investigation.

The podcast explores how Ireland’s far-right has evolved from social-media agitation to real-world activity; the ideology fuelling it; and how authorities north and south of the border are responding. It also looks at the impact on Muslim and migrant communities, the verbal abuse of faith leaders such as Shaykh Dr Umar Al-Qadri, and the recent alleged arson attack on an IPAS centre in Drogheda.

🔗 Read more from Cormac O’Keeffe and the Irish Examiner: www.irishexaminer.com
📩 Share your thoughts or experiences with us: newstalkdaily@newstalk.com