Highlights From Moncrieff

A man who has spent the past four decades tending to the graves of the only two unclaimed victims of the 1985 Air India disaster has been honoured by an Indian cultural group.Finbarr Archer, who is the official driver to the Lord Mayor of Cork, was working for an undertaker at the time of the terrorist attack.All 329 passengers and crew on board Air India flight 182 were killed in June of that year, when a bomb exploded on board the aircraft, approximately 190km off the south-west coast of Ireland on route from Montreal to Delhi…The flight, which was brought down off the coast of Cork, remains the worst aviation disaster in Irish and Canadian history.Finbarr Archer joins Seán to discuss.

A Councillor in Limerick city is calling for businesses to take more responsibility for their shopfronts and to reduce the scourge of shoddy signage.Joining Seán to discuss is Maria Donoghue, an Architect and Independent Councillor in Limerick…

While the Saudis have invested enormously over the past few years into sports such as soccer and golf, they are now stepping into the cultural arena, with the Riyadh Comedy Festival kicking off this weekend. It has an almost unbelievable line up on the cards, from Dave Chapelle to Whitney Cummins and Jimmy Carr.But, is this an attempt to whitewash the regime?Joining Seán to discuss is Liam Kelly, Senior Culture Writer for the Daily Telegraph, who has been investigating…Image: Riyadh Comedy Festival

This week, the White House released a video of the new ‘Presidential Walk of Fame’, featuring portraits of American Presidents. But, one particular frame didn’t feature a President at all. Instead, it showed a machine.Newstalk’s Simon Tierney has been investigating, and joins Seán to discuss.Image: @WhiteHouse on Twitter

You know those saucy books your nana might read on holiday? What is it like to voice the audiobook for them?Joining Seán to discuss the world of erotica voiceovers is Davey Comerford, Quinn Voice Actor and Trainer.

AI griefbots are personas made to fill in for a deceased individual. They can be used to help people grief a loved one’s death, by talking to an AI program pretending to be them.So, how do they exactly work, and are they effective?Justin Harrison, tech entrepreneur and Founder of You, Only Virtual, joins Seán to discuss.

A Dublin-based Playwright is exploring deaf culture with a creative, innovative spin in his new play.Shane O’Reilly’s play ‘Her Father’s Voice’ (with music by Tom Lane) will premiere at the Dublin Theatre Festival, with six performances from October 1st to October 5th.It draws on Shane’s own experience as a child of deaf parents.This new work fuses theatre, opera, and film in a production that explores identity, family, and the unspoken consequences of life-altering decisions.Shane joins guest host John Fardy to discuss more…Image: Dublin Theatre Festival

Human towers, or ‘castells’ as they are known in Catalonia, are hugely popular in their home country, but now there is a club in Dublin.So, how do human towers actually work?Joining guest host John Fardy to discuss is Irene Gabara, from Castellers d’Eire...Image: Castellers d’Éire

Rihanna has posted on her socials that her new baby is called Rocki Irish Mayers. So, what’s the connection to Ireland, and is it unusual to name a child with a placename or nationality?Joining guest host John Fardy to discuss is SJ Strum, a baby naming consultant and the author of ‘Baby Name Envy’...Image: @badgirlriri on Instagram

As the Government commits to establishing more places in special needs schools and special needs classrooms, John’s guest is calling for a different policy to be adopted, where children of all needs learn together in the same place.Professor Joe Travers, who is the Director of the Centre of Inclusive Pedagogy at DCU’s Institute of Education says we are at a crossroads in relation to inclusive education in Ireland, and joins guest host John Fardy to discuss.

People who engage in small talk have the potential to live longer than those who don’t.An article recently published in the Irish Examiner explored how small talk helps us feel a sense of belonging.While it is one of the most dreaded aspects of the workplace, experts say communication is a vital component of how we function as humans, and it can define how we perceive our environment.Joining guest host John Fardy to discuss is Clinical Hypnotherapist and Self-Leadership Coach based in Galway, Rachel Gotto.

During a lengthy digression of his address to the UN yesterday, US President Donald Trump complained that the floors in the UN building are terrazzo instead of marble…So, why is he so upset, and what’s wrong with good old terrazzo? Joining Seán to discuss is Architect and artist Róisín Murphy.Image: Reuters

The pile on against Gen Z is unrelenting, but have older generations always looked at young people with a sense of distaste?Corkonian Ross Frenett, CEO of Moonshot, a company working to end online harms, has been exploring this history, and joins Seán to discuss…

Could heat generated from data centres be the answer for our energy crisis?Heat produced in an Amazon data centre in Tallaght is already being used to heat student accommodation and local authority buildings.Joining Seán to discuss is Sadhbh O’Neill, Climate and Environmental Researcher.

When you think of Fashion you think of New York, London, Milan, but what about Limerick?Well, plans are afoot for Limerick to get its very own fashion museum, but just how stylish is the city, and how does the manufacturing history inform fashionistas there today?Celia Holman Lee, is the founder of one of Ireland's Longest Running Modelling Agencies, and she has been instrumental in this. She joins Seán to discuss.

Do you wear shoes indoors? It might be time to stop, unless you enjoy carrying in bacteria from the less hygienic outside world…Dr Primrose Freestone, Associate Professor in Clinical Microbiology at Leicester University, joins Seán to discuss.

One question that many find hard to understand is how ordinary Israelis can go about their daily lives with a genocide happening or their doorstep…Paul Kearns, an Irish journalist based in Tel Aviv, has been writing about this for the Irish Times, and joins Seán to discuss.

Is there anything Harry Styles can’t do?The musician impressed fans by running the Berlin Marathon in under three hours… So just what kind of a feat is it to run a marathon this fast?John Kinsella is a mountain runner and he has run all the major marathons in under 2 hours and 30 minutes. He joins Seán to discuss.

A new book chronicles how the gay rights movement was organised in Ireland, and examines what lessons can be learnt from its losses and successes, and ultimately how these lessons can be passed on to future social movements.Joining Seán to discuss is Michael Barron, author of ‘How Ireland’s LGBTQ+ Youth Movement Was Built: Civil Society in the Pursuit of Social Justice’...

The loss of one’s parents can be a ‘deeply traumatic’ experience for both young and old.That’s according to Journalist Deirdre O’Shaughnessy, who lost both her parents in the past three years…While her parents had been ill for years, she says they died ‘two different deaths,’ and her life has never been the same since.Deirdre is the Opinion Editor at the Irish Examiner and host of the Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast, she joins Seán to discuss.