Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning
Gold Hat Productions
Recent Episodes
In 1948, Herbert Simms, under increasing pressure from the demands of his job, took his own life.
The pressure came from his job as Dublin’s housing architect. Between 1932 and the time of his death, Simms was responsible for building 17,000 homes for the ordinary people of Dublin.
On Free State today Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin O Broin talks about his beautiful new book on Simms, produced in conjunction with the photographer Mal McCann.
He looks at how Simms transformed the city and suburbs with a vision and an ideology that placed communities first. He explains too why the same could happen today and why the question shouldn’t be could it happen but why isn’t it happening?
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During the heroin epidemic in Dublin in the 1980s, one drug baron infamously remarked as he was jailed, ‘If you think we’re bad, wait til you see what’s coming after us.’
Australia banned social media for under 16s this week but will the next wave of online consumption be devastating for us all?
If we thought social media was bad, what is coming next in terms of AI and the artificial friendships it promises?
On Free State, Joe and Dion look at the next wave of AI and what it means for future generations. Are you afraid of AI? [email protected]
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When Gianni Infantino created FIFA’s Peace Prize, how could he have imagined that the inaugural winner would be his great friend Donald Trump.
But there Trump was on stage in Washington, presenting himself with the peace medal.
On Free State, Joe and Dion look at how FIFA cosied up to autocrats, snake oil salesmen and Trump.
They examine how money not only drives professional sport but has become the distorting lens. These days Trump may be a fan of the FIFA World Cup but he has always been a fan of money
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“I believe to the core of my soul that the response Israel is taking, and with it the American support both for that response and for the status quo of the occupation, will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people.”
With these words, in October 2023, Josh Paul quit the US State Department. He was protesting over the Biden administration’s ongoing funding of Israel’s onslaught in Gaza.
On Free State today Josh Paul explains what led him to take the action he did. He speaks about his time in Iraq. He insists that Ireland must be strong on the Occupied Territories Bill, why the ceasefire will not bring a just and lasting peace and what his new organisation A New Policy is hoping to achieve in Washington.
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Are there reasons to embrace AI? Are the doomsayers wrong and the apocalyptic warnings overstated? What if an ordinary person can access medical or legal advice for fraction of the cost and difficulty it takes today?
But what if there is no room for an ordinary person?
On Free State today Dion and Joe look at the next frontier. In the technological revolution, we have allowed ourselves to become the product of the social media companies. AI promise us expertise at our fingertips but will the price be our own obsolescence
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