The Echo Chamber Podcast, hosted by Tony Groves and Martin McMahon, brings you the voices you need to hear from the Venn Diagram of News, Politics and Culture. Always serious, yet always entertaining, we explore the issues of the day, the problems facing us in society and talk real solutions in a way you won’t hear anywhere else. Often irreverent, each episode aims to bring a unique perspective, break through the PR fog and set the record straight. This is Ireland as it is and Ireland as it can be. So join the fastest growing independent News and Politics podcast. You won’t be sorry you did. Enjoy!
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David Gibney #TheUnion
We are joined in The Tortoise Shack by Communications Officer with Mandate Trade Union, Mr. David Gibney. We discuss the origins of organised labour, the deportation of trade union activists and how the exiles built the trade union movement in Australia.
We also discuss the legacy of the Partnership for Prosperity and Fairness and the decline of union membership which reflects almost exactly the decline in middle class wealth. There is much to digest in this pod, not least of which is the average 30% pay gap between unionised and un-unionised workers.
Disturbing the Peace host, Rachel O’Neill is standing in for the ever absent Tony Groves.
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Eoin Ó Brion
#Home
The only way to provide housing in Ireland seems to be the private market. But as our guest in The Tortoise Shack, Sinn Féin TD and Housing Spokesperson, Eoin Ó Brion, outlines in his new book that was not always the case.
We sat down with Eoin to discuss how we got here and, more crucially, how we might get out of this mess and break the property boom and bust cycle we seem doomed to repeat.
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Neasa Hourigan
#ThePhoenixPark
The Phoenix Park is one of the oldest and largest public parks in Europe.
Our guest in The Tortoise Shack, carer and newly elected Green Party Councillor, Neasa Hourigan, tells us about plans to potentially “commercialise” the park and how instead of rewilding we might be heading down the slippery slope of some UK parks “pay to play” model.
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Sarah Sproule
#TheTalk
Sex education is a fraught subject not just for parents in Ireland but for parents everywhere. We are delighted to be joined by sex educator Sarah Sproule of thetalk.ie who chats with us about how to answer the sometimes awkward questions our children ask us.
This is a brilliant pod, informative, non-judgmental and a positive step forward for parents struggling to give the right answers at the appropriate time.
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Niall Carson
#ThePhoto
A picture can tell a thousand words and an iconic picture can last a lifetime.
Our guest in The Tortoise Shack is multiple award winning Press Association photographer, Niall Carson and he walks us through 10 of the most iconic pictures in Irish political history. We get the inside story in what goes into getting that snap, the craic, the toil and the art of photography.
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Tortoise Shack
#RebootBirthday
When the idea to do a podcast came up I imagined it would be a one season, ten episodes kind of thing. Over 70 episodes and 1 year later we are, for my money, Ireland’s number one solutions focused podcast.
So we decided to mark the occasion by answering some patron’s questions, sharing our personal highlights for the first year of this and our hopes for the next year to come. Thank you so much for the listening, sharing, reviewing and supporting.
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Simon McGarr
#WolvesNow
When the BAI was recently suggested as the online regulator for Ireland and therefore the de facto regulator for the entire EU, many where glad that we were doing something.
But our guest in The Tortoise Shack, Solicitor and Director of Data Compliance Europe immediately saw the flaws in this proposal. We take a deep-dive into all of this, RTE’s funding model and more.
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Jack Horgan-Jones
#JournalismMatters
Our guest in The Tortoise Shack was recently described as the Swiss Army knife of journalists and given the variety and efficiency of his work, we reckon Irish Times journalist, Jack Horgan-Jones kind of likes it.
Jack sat down to talk about the media landscape, the job itself and to have some healthy disagreement with us on some of the challenges facing the industry.
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Caoimhe Butterly
#SafePassage
Our guest in The Tortoise Shack is educator, trainee psychotherapist, Refugee Rights campaigner and one of the most remarkable people we’ve met, Caoimhe Butterly.
She talks to us about forced migration, building sustainable activism and the need to cede space to the next generation of activists, who see clearly the intersectionality between war, climate breakdown and Human Rights.
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Lynn Boylan
#MediaPlurality
Denis O’Brien selling his share in Independent News and Media has reignited the debate about media plurality in Ireland. Opinions vary over issues like editorial control, self-censorship and, as we know only too well ourselves, the difficulty in making it financially viable.
So we were delighted to be joined in The Tortoise Shack by Sinn Féin’s Lynn Boylan, who had worked at the previous European Parliament’s Employment Committee on diversity in media and media reform.
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Conall Ó Fátharta
#IllegalAdoptions
Ireland has a troubled history of dealing with women and children and our guest in the tortoise shack, Senior Reporter with the Irish Examiner, Conall Ó Fátharta, has dedicated much of his career to writing about and documenting it all.
His work on Mother and Baby Homes, Magdalene Laundries and Illegal Adoptions is some of the most important journalism undertaken about the horrendous things done by this State and its Institutions.
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Election Results
The Fallout
As the final votes are counted we sat down to discuss the results, the #GreenWave and the opportunity this has opened up for the broad Left.
Yes, Fine Gael got a kicking and Sinn Féin had a very bad day. But behind those headlines is a message that progressive politics is breaking through.
No swings were hurt in the making of this podcast.
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Luke Ming Flanagan
The #MEPshack
For the last of our #MEPshack interviews we sat down in his hotel room with Independent MEP, Luke Ming Flanagan, a few hours before the RTE Prime Time “debate.”
Luke talks us through his last 5 years in the EU Parliament, what he achieved, what he feels he didn’t and what he hopes to tackle in the next term, should he be re-elected.
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Diarmuid O’Flynn
The #MEPshack
Independent MEP Candidate, Diarmuid O’Flynn is an experienced campaigner.
His work with #BallyheaSaysNo is well known and rightly praised. But it’s his experiences as a Parliamentary Assistant to MEP Luke Ming Flanagan, that has inspired him to run himself for what he believes is a battle between the Haves and the Have Not’s.
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Saoirse McHugh
The #MEPshack
Joining us in our MEP candidate series is first time Green Party Candidate and proud Achill Islander, Saoirse McHugh.
If we can steal a phrase from another MEP candidate (thanks Gary): This isn’t about experienced politicians. It’s about people who have experienced their politics.
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Matt Carthy
The #MEPshack
Working in the European Parliament has been an eye-opener for our guest, Sinn Fein MEP, Matt Carthy.
He joins us to tell us about his work, the wins, the loses and why he feels it is critical that we have strong voices speaking up for the his constituents in the EU and explains to us some of the machinations around the EU’s stance on the seemingly never ending saga that is Brexit.
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Gillian Brien
The #MEPshack
People Before Profit #EP2019 Candidate, Gillian Brien has made speaking up and speaking out her career.
A successful Youth Work Manager, she joins us in The Tortoise Shack to explain why she wants to take the voice of her community to Europe, the need for more integration on some of the EU wide social crises and the need for EU reform.
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John Gibbons
#ClimateChange
Our guest in the Tortoise Shack is campaigning journalist and climate activist, John Gibbons. We have a conversation about the changes we’ve locked-in via the denial cycle, the worse vistas we face if we don’t act right now and the frustration of having to put up with framing debates just for inane fights over issues long since settled.
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Inner City Helping Homeless
#HousingFirst
We are joined in The Tortoise Shack by old friends Anthony Flynn and Brian McLoughlin of Inner City Helping Homeless.
Anthony has recently returned from a #HousingFirst fact finding mission in Helsinki, Finland.
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Alice Mary Higgins
The #MEPshack
We are delighted to be joined by Independent Senator and MEP candidate Alice Mary Higgins. Alice Mary has over two decades of experience in policy, strategy and advocacy across the areas of equality, international development and social inclusion.
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Gary Boyle
Chiara Viale
A young man wakes in bed beside his girlfriend, and then his hand shakes. This is the inspiration for the new film, The New Music, by our guest in The Tortoise Shack, writer, producer and director, Chiara Viale. Joining Chiara is board member of the Parkinson’s Association and self-proclaimed Parkinson’s survivor and thriver, Gary Boyle.
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Máiréad Enright
#Repealed
We are absolutely delighted to be joined by Máiréad Enright. We discuss her phenomenal work with Lawyers for Choice on #Repealthe8th and how complicated legal argument was broken down and made accessible to everybody through social media and direct face to face contact at town hall meetings.
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Peter Kavanagh
#OurFada
Our guest in The Tortoise Shack is Green Party Local Election Candidate, part of the Motherfoclóir podcast and Pop Up Gael Teams, Peter Kavanagh. We discuss the State’s complicity in the derogation of the Irish Language through the education system and lack of investment in the Gaeltacht.
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Cian Prenderville
#LimerickSoviet
Our guest in The Tortoise Shack is Solidarity Councillor for Limerick City and creator of Bottom Dog – The Story of the Limerick Soviet and he tells us the story behind this little known, but important part, of Irish history. We discuss the reasons why the strike was called and what lessons we can learn.
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Mark Malone
#Framing
Our guest in The Tortoise Shack is one of Ireland’s best online commentators on the insidiousness of repackaged far right views in the modern arena. Mark walks us through how the framing of debates and the lexicon used empowers bad faith players and busts the myth that “both sides are at it.”
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Sharon Nolan
#TeachSolais
We can be a bit cynical about politics in The Tortoise Shack. But our guest today, Local Election candidate for the Social Democrats in Galway City Central, Activist and bundle of positive energy, Sharon Nolan is enough to shake anybody out of their stupor, even Martin.
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Dr Ciara Conlon #Access2Meds
We are joined in The Tortoise Shack by Dr. Ciara Conlan from Access to Medicines Ireland, to discuss what can be done to improve access, the work Ciara is doing in Access to Medicines Ireland and the global crisis in profiteering from medicines that are vital to millions of people for survival.
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Ber Grogan
#ChangeMakers
Getting a seat in the Seanad is never easy. It is with great pleasure we welcome Ber Grogan to The Tortoise Shack. With a decade of social justice activism, grassroot organising and successful campaigning under her belt, Ber has a lot to bring to the bar.
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Ged Nash
#BogusSelfEmployed
We are delighted to have Senator Ged Nash in The Tortoise Shack to discuss his Bogus Self Employment Bill and the governments illogical refusal to address what many see as wide scale social welfare fraud by employers.
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Brexit
Peaceful Futures Conference
We took The Tortoise Shack on the road to the Soft Border for the Peaceful Futures South Armagh, Brexit & You Conference, to get a sense of what Brexit is doing, will do and hopefully won’t undo over the coming months and years.
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Luke Neale
#ClimateStrike
Our guest in The Tortoise Shack is River Projects Officer with Shropshire Wildlife Trust, Luke Neale. Luke, through his work in natural flood defence, has shown that not only can we #SlowTheFlow of climate change, but we can reverse the tide.
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Frank McGrath
#Listen
Persuasion is what I do, propaganda is what my opponent does. With this is mind we welcomed Activist, Audiologist and creator of leftbucket.com, Frank McGrath.
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The Archive
#MuchMore
Enjoying our podcasts and want to hear more? Just visit our Archive Page where you’ll find links to many more hours of top quality content.