In The News

When Irish Times consumer affairs correspondent Conor Pope got an email last June about the non-delivery of garden furniture, he couldn’t have known that it would be the start of a deluge of similar complaints from hundreds of frustrated customers.

All had ordered from Rathwood, a family business, operating for more than 30 years that had grown into one of the biggest outdoor living retailers in the State. And all had received excuses about delays, supplier issues and new investors.

It has now been estimated that customers are owed in excess of €2 million and that the company, now in examinership, is mired in debt.

So how did this family business come to be the second most complained about company in Ireland after Ryanair? Now that it has entered examinership what does that mean for consumers who have already paid for a range of items from furniture to fuel? Do they have any chance of getting their money back? And what is going to happen to this once thriving business?

Conor Pope outlines the experience of Rathwood customers over the past year and what they can now expect.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced Declan Conlon and Suzanne Brennan.
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For online fraudsters to be successful they need a web of bank accounts to first receive the money they steal and then to channel it, often out of the country.

Some people, often students, willingly let their bank accounts be used in exchange for a small sum of money. For others though, they have no choice, like the victim of sextortion before the courts this month who was blackmailed into letting his Revolut account be used by a crime gang.

Drug gangs still use bricks-and-mortar operations to launder money; businesses that are often cash based, from barbers to nail bars. But the volume of cash generated particularly by online fraud needs a more sophisticated banking-based solution.

Ten years ago An Garda Síochána was uncovering just 50 cases of money laundering a year in Ireland, in 2025 it was nearly 2,800. So why the huge increase and does the Garda have the resources to deal with this growing category of crime?

Irish Times crime and security editor Conor Lally explains why money laundering is now big business in Ireland.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey and Suzanne Brennan.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When 21-year-old Katie Simpson died in August 2020 after an event in her home, why did the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) accept the version of events offered by Jonathan Creswell, the man she shared a house with? He said she had taken her own life.

Why did they not look into his past as a convicted domestic abuser, or her history of presenting at hospitals with injuries and why did they so readily believe him?

Nearly a year after her death he was charged with her murder and on the second day of the trial in Belfast, he killed himself.

In doing so he not only denied his victim justice, he stopped the details of her death and the investigation into it being made public in a court.

A 200-page report on how her murder was handled has now been published and it reveals a shocking litany of failures by police that are not simply down to poor investigation techniques but something far more ingrained and sinister: “institutional misogyny”.

It also reveals that many more victims have come forward with allegations of abuse against Creswell who was active in equestrian circles in Northern Ireland.

Seanín Graham, Northern correspondent of The Irish Times, explains how the report on PSNI failings has been received.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey and Andrew McNair.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Wednesday, in the midst of a tentative ceasefire, Iran issued what could be the first step in a deal with the US over the Strait of Hormuz.

Meanwhile Iran’s foreign minister was in Beijing meeting China’s top diplomat who urged an end to the blockade of the vital waterway and an end to the war. Could a peace deal finally be in sight?

And why did German chancellor Friedrich Merz torpedo his relationship with US president Donald Trump by saying “an entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership”? Was it a tactical move by the German leader or was he shooting his mouth off? And at what cost?

Also, with Trump set to visit Chinese president Xi next week, what will be on the agenda for this meeting of two of the globe’s strong men?
Denis Staunton, Beijing correspondent and author of the Irish Times daily Global Briefing newsletter, considers the issues.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Iran war, which began on February 28th, has disrupted air traffic routes and pushed up jet fuel prices. That much is clear. But with the war showing little sign of resolution, what is less clear is what will happen as the aviation industry grapples with inevitable fuel shortages?

The disruption to aviation has been severe in the Middle East and Asia but, to date, the impact on European airlines has been relatively minimal. Flights have been cancelled and prices have risen marginally but for most, it has been a case of travelling as usual.

That though could change radically and soon as jet fuel becomes scarce and the price airlines must pay for it – already 90 per cent higher than before the war began – rises even further.

The industry is now talking of rationing but what might that look like?

Irish Times consumer affairs correspondent Conor Pope explains.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey and Declan Conlon.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.