There have been six chartered deportation flights out of Ireland so far this year. It comes as, against the backdrop of heated statements and debates, the Irish Government has been hardening its rhetoric on immigration.

Earlier this month, the Irish Examiner was given a rare look behind the curtain of what happens as people are forcibly removed from the country as 52 Georgian nationals – including three families – were sent on a chartered plane to that country’s capital Tbilisi.

Irish Examiner security correspondent Cormac O’Keeffe was the journalist who witnessed it all and he’s the guest on today’s episode of The Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast.

Inside Ireland’s deportation system: How gardaí carry out large-scale charter removals

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A man in his twenties is in Garda custody today after the stabbing of Stella and Brian Gallagher at their home in Ballinlough on Monday night.

Residents of the Shrewsbury Downs estate on the southside of Cork city heard a disturbance outside between 8 and 9pm on Monday night and were warned by Whatsapp message to remain in their homes and lock the doors.

Irish Examiner reporter Ann Murphy has been covering this story and is the guest on today’s episode of The Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast.

'It is frightening': Neighbours in shock as couple named locally after fatal Ballinlough attack

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The Holly Bough has been part of a Cork Christmas since 1897. With its unique combination of Cork folklore and history, photos from Corkonians here and abroad, puzzles, original writing and artwork, assembling it each year is a marathon task for Editor Mary Corcoran.

On this bonus Holly Bough edition of the Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast, Mary and Deirdre delve into the detail of what makes the Holly Bough so special.

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Growing numbers of new mothers are living in fear their babies will be taken from them by social services because they are homeless.

One woman who spoke to the Irish Examiner remains in hospital with her baby after a C section, but is afraid that when she is discharged her baby will go into care.

In a statement, Tusla the Child and Family Agency said “Our goal is always to keep children within their family units whenever possible. It is important to emphasise that managing any referral of concern involves an extensive process.

"This process can include several steps including screening, preliminary inquiries, initial assessments, and appropriate onward actions. Actions may then lead to family support services, safety planning processes, or, as a last resort, taking the child into State care, either voluntarily or through a court order.”

In September, 16,614 people were living in emergency accommodation, almost a third of them children. Over 3,000 women are now homeless, the highest number ever. The Government this week launched a new housing plan, promising 300,000 new homes by the end of 2030.

Irish Examiner Reporter Alison O’Reilly joins Deirdre on today’s episode of the podcast.

Homeless mums fear their babies will be taken into care

Some 76 babies impacted by mothers taking drugs during pregnancy

'I feel safe': How Anew helps pregnant homeless women and their babies

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23 year old Emer O’Loughlin was found dead in a burned-out mobile home in the Burren, Co Clare in April 2005. An inquest into her death last week established – 20 years on - that another person was involved in the young art student’s death.

Her sister Pam O’Loughlin has been campaigning for Gardaí to treat Emer’s death as murder since the family learned in 2010 that she had been buried without a cause of death, her case treated as accidental. A forensic examination at that time established that she had been violently killed.

23 year old Emer’s last known movements were to borrow a phone charger from neighbour John Griffin, a native of Mervue in Galway city.

Griffin is the chief suspect in Emer’s death, but a series of bizarre events culminated in his disappearance off the island of Inis Mór.P am believes he faked his own death, and is hiding somewhere in Europe.

In the years since Emer died, her mother has also passed away. Now her family, including her elderly father Johnny, hope that last week’s inquest may pave the way for a breakthrough in the case.

Pam O'Loughlin is the guest on today’s episode of The Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast.

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Over 42,000 families were affected by the tracker mortgage scandal, put under enormous pressure to pay money they never really owed, but just one person has ever been held responsible.

Caitríona Redmond and her family spent 20 years fighting the bank after their bank illegally withdrew the tracker rate. They were put under immense pressure to pay thousands more than they owed, at a time when her husband had lost his job and they had very young children.

The Redmonds went through seven separate procedures with the bank which involved every penny they spent being scrutinised – they were criticised for spending 70 euro a week on food for five people.

In today’s episode of the Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast, Caitríona describes the impact on the couple’s mental and physical health.

"There'd be some times when [John] would have walked out of the house and I remember ringing one of his brothers saying, I don't know where he is. Can you see where he is? I'm really worried about him. And I wasn't... I wasn't really worried that he'd do something, he was just so out of his mind with stress. You know, he just needed to talk to somebody other than me.”

Caitríona, who now writes a consumer column for the Irish Examiner, began blogging about her recipes and budgeting, and was contracted to write a cookbook – but the family budget didn’t extend to buying ingredients for recipe testing.

“I'd signed a contract to write a cookery book with Mercier and we didn't have enough money for me to pay for the ingredients for the recipe testing. And I rang Mam and I said, you know, I was under pressure, I was under deadlines.

“And Mam was like, right, I'm just gonna see what I have. And she arrived up with two big bags of shopping. Like she literally just like hoofed it all out and into the shopping bag.”

We took the bank's calls in hospital as we watched our new baby struggle to breathe

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A review of security at all IPAS centres nationwide is underway after a Halloween night arson attack on a Drogheda centre housing 28 people .

At the time the fire was set, families including a 20 year old baby were asleep in the building.

CCTV footage widely circulated of the incident shows a masked man pouring a substance onto the building’s only staircase and igniting it before fleeing.

The incident is part of a pattern of more than 30 arson attacks on buildings associated with asylum seekers since 2018, but according to Irish Refugee Council CEO Nick Henderson, an attack on a building that was inhabited at the time represents an escalation. It took place just days after an anti-migrant rally in the town.

One speaker at the protest on Saturday, October 25, previously made online comments about fires at Ipas centres, and reportedly wrote "burn baby burn" online about a hotel being used to house asylum seekers.

At the rally, he claimed that all migrants were provided "four-star accommodation" while some "16,000 Irish people don't know where they're going to sleep tonight".

Irish Examiner reporter Liz Dunphy has been covering this story – she's the guest on today’s episode of the Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast.

Anti-migrant rally held in Drogheda days before near fatal attack on Ipas centre

Fuel was poured on stairs at Ipas centre before it was set alight

'Terrifying ordeal': Children amongst those rescued as gardaí say Ipas centre fire was arson attack

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On Tuesday’s episode of The Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast, court reporter Liam Heylin described the daylight murder of Kieran Quilligan and the extensive Garda investigation that led to his remains being discovered in a bag by teh side of an East Cork road.

On Wednesday, his killers Luke Taylor and Niall Long were sentenced to life in prison – and the court finally heard about Kieran Quilligan the man, rather than Kieran Quilligan the murder victim.

“I miss my best friend every day. I feel lonely and lost without him. Kieran was a good man, a good friend and a good partner. Kieran was adored by his family and he will be missed forever and always,” said Mr Quilligan’s partner Colette O’Driscoll.

Today’s episode features moving testimony from his parents Stephen and Catherine, and his long-term partner Colette O’Driscoll.

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