The scale of the Covid-19 pandemic is beyond anything seen in our lifetime. But we can learn from emergency responses from across the world. We are joined via Zoom by Irish man currently in Iraqi Kurdistan, Will Holden, who was in Yemen during the cholera outbreak, Iraq while ISIS rolled into power and Afghanistan when troops were withdrawing. In short, […]
There are at least 17,000 people including 6000 children (4000 homeless and 2000 in Direct Provision), in addition to Travellers in unsuitable and unsanitary accommodation in Ireland. Leilani Farha, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, is deeply concerned with such housing situations as she says “housing has become the front-line defence against the coronavirus and home […]
On the 4th of March, Samantha Kelly (@tweetinggoddess) used the hashtag #selfisolation on Twitter, asking her followers to bear in mind their elderly and vulnerable neighbours and support them as they self-isolated. Helen O’Rahilly (@HelenORahilly) followed up, within minutes, with the first offer of practical help and launching the new hashtag #selfisolationhelp, intending to generate volunteers around the country, with […]
Covid-19 has seen huge changes to how we live our lives. But as social distancing becomes the norm, we bring you a talk given by the Children’s Ombudsman and friend of the pod, Dr Niall Muldoon. Niall talks about the work of his office and speaks passionately about the real lived experiences of children living in emergency accommodation and “family […]
Only a few short weeks ago we implored you all to Vote Left, Transfer Left. We said “Hope + Action = Change.” Turns out it’s Pandemic + Action = Change. We discuss how seeing the old rules melt away and things like rent freezes, eviction bans and a single tier health service coming into force in a matter of hours […]
As the EU prints money at negative interest rates and our government throw insults at people who suggest that we might avail of the Apple money sitting in an escrow account, we want to talk about the workers who are facing the uncertainty of not knowing if they will be able to afford the rent or mortgage next month. To […]
The Covid-19 crisis has seen countries close their borders and limit people going outside except for essentials. We are joined from Madrid by Professor Joe Haslam, to discuss what life is like under lockdown. Joe has traveled extensively and has studied disaster management for many years. He talks about how this is pandemic is showing up the flimsiness of a […]
What do you do when a loved one shows symptoms of coronavirus? Well MEP and friend of the pod, Luke Ming Flanagan, went public and called on governments here and across the EU to pull all the levers they can to save as many lives as possible. We talk about the need to bring people along quickly and the necessity […]