The Mario Rosenstock Podcast

In all his years covering crime, Paul Williams says he has rarely, if ever, seen a public reaction to a story like this one.
The horrific crash on the M9, involving a car carrying a group of teenage joyriders travelling the wrong way down the motorway, has provoked an extraordinary level of anger. It seems to have tapped into something deeper too - a growing frustration about repeat offenders, the safety of ordinary people going about their lives, and a feeling that something in the system simply isn’t working.
So I asked Paul Williams, Special Correspondent with the Irish Independent, to come in and talk me through what happened and why this particular story has struck such a nerve.
We discuss who these young offenders are, why they appear to feel untouchable, the role social media plays in encouraging increasingly reckless behaviour, and what can realistically be done about it. We also get into Garda resources and pursuit training, deterrence versus rehabilitation, and Paul’s argument that Ireland urgently needs a juvenile justice system that is actually fit for purpose.
COMEDY - Students all over Ireland are getting their Leaving Cert results, and David McWilliams, as always, has a unique economic take on it on the David McWilliams podcast

Some people lead extraordinary lives, and Frank Diamond is certainly one of them.
Growing up on a farm in South Derry with Gaelic football in his blood, Frank won an All-Ireland club medal with Lavey before taking his life in a very different direction and becoming a missionary priest.
He spent nine years working in Africa, living in remote communities without electricity or running water, contracting malaria eight times and having experiences that would profoundly shape his outlook on life. And remarkably, throughout his years as a priest, he also managed to keep playing competitive Gaelic football.
Frank eventually made the huge decision to leave the priesthood and start again. On this episode of The Mario Rosenstock Podcast, we chat about religion, marriage and fatherhood, his daughter Laoise's extraordinary story, and finding a new purpose through his work in mental health and suicide prevention.
COMEDY – Donald Trump plans to ‘Make Ireland Great Again’ during his State visit in September. He’ll invest billions, but only if Micheal Martin agrees to a few important requests…
Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand

Frances Black is one of Ireland’s best-known singers, born into one of Ireland’s best-known musical dynasties. Nanci Griffith famously called her ‘the sweetest voice of Ireland. Frances also successfully reinvented herself as an Independent Senator, building a reputation as one of the Seanad's strongest advocates on addiction, mental health and social justice.
We recorded this episode just one day after the tragic and untimely passing of Glen Hansard, and in our chat we pay tribute to Glen and Frances shares some lovely stories about him. She also talks about her upbringing in the tenements of inner city Dublin, using her position as a senator to fight for social justice, and why she thinks that a woman’s heart may have been the inspiration for the Spice Girls!
COMEDY – it’s ‘'The Kids Are Driving Us Absolutely Mental In The House Handicap Hurdle'!
Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand

John Gibbons is one of Ireland’s most vocal climate commentators - he has a weekly slot on Matt Cooper’s Last Word on Today FM and his articles are regularly published across print and online media. He has also joined me here on the podcast several times over the last few years as I like to stay up to date on whats happening in this area – and right now there’s an awful lot happening.
So we invited John back on to the show to chat about everything from the wildfires raging across Ireland and Europe, and the increasingly baffling anti-environmental policies of the US government, to rising world temperatures and the speed at which we’re adopting renewable sources of energy.
COMEDY – So it seems EVERYONE is from Mayo this week. With the Mayo football team’s historic win over Kerry, the tributes have been pouring in to the Mario Rosenstock Podcast hotline, from well-known people with Mayo roots

It was an email out of the blue from one of the world’s biggest book publishers that completely changed the course of Vicki Notaro’s career. Having spent over 15 years as a journalist and managing director of a magazine group, Vicki suddenly got the chance to turn a long-held dream into reality, and become a fiction writer.
Fast forward four years, and Vicki has already had two best-sellers on the shelves; her latest novel, Anywhere But Here, has just been published; and she’s already working on the next!
On this episode of The Mario Rosenstock Podcast, Vicki and I have a great chat about life before and after that life-changing email from Penguin Ireland, what makes a book become a best-seller (hint – sexy dragons), trying to crack international markets and get optioned by the big streamers like Netflix, and her love of romantic comedies and her podcast about them, called ‘You Had Me At Hello’.
COMEDY - Crime World investigates: Hosepipe Mobsters
Produced by Patrick Haughey, AudioBrand