Everyone is talking about The Traitors — the hit reality TV series where deception is currency and trust is constantly under threat. But what happens when lying moves from the gameshow roundtable to a Garda interview room? In real life, spotting deception isn’t a parlour trick. It can mean the difference between conviction and acquittal.

In today’s podcast, Ciara Doherty is joined by former investigator and forensic psychologist Geraldine Noone, who spent decades in policing and helped bring killer Graham Dwyer to justice. Together they explore why humans are so bad at spotting lies, whether body language really gives the game away, and how detectives actually uncover the truth when the stakes are at their highest.

From poker-style “tells” to the myths about shifty eyes, Geraldine explains what science really says about lying, and why elaborate stories often trip people up. Along the way, she compares the chaotic decision-making of the Faithful on The Traitors with the careful, evidence-driven strategies used inside police interview rooms. If you’ve ever wondered whether you could survive in The Traitors castle - or whether you’d spot a liar in real life - this conversation has the answers.

🔍 Want more from Geraldine? Revisit our earlier episode 🎭 Unmasking Graham Dwyer, where she explains how careful investigative work exposed one of Ireland’s most infamous killers.

They’re big, they’re bold, and they’ve crash-landed in Cork. The Asian hornet - an uninvited tourist with a sting in its tail - officially arrived in Ireland this summer. Picture it: beach-ball nests hidden in your local sycamore, buzzing with thousands of honeybee-hungry invaders. The National Parks and Wildlife Service has already registered 24 verified sightings.

But hornets are just the latest in a long parade of alien gatecrashers. From rhododendrons running wild in the woods, to grey squirrels muscling in on our reds, to coypu lurking in canals, invasive species have been rewriting Ireland’s nature story for centuries.

Biologist and broadcaster Éanna Ní Lamhna joins Ciara Doherty to separate the myths from the stings. How dangerous are these hornets really? Why do invasive species thrive once they set up shop? And can our native wildlife fight back?

It’s a conversation that’s part creepy-crawly horror film, part natural history lesson, part call to arms. Because spotting, reporting, and understanding these invaders might be the only way to keep them in check – or, as Éanna puts it, “clobber them” early on!

🐝 Report your Asian hornet sightings at invasives.ie
📚 The new edition of Éanna Ní Lamhna’s book, Wild Dublin: Exploring Nature in the City, is published by The O’Brien Press

Enoch Burke has become one of the most talked-about figures in Ireland’s courts - a teacher turned serial litigant whose refusal to accept rulings has made headlines from Wilson’s Hospital School to Mountjoy Prison.

And the saga shows no sign of slowing. At a High Court hearing just last week, Mr Justice David Nolan ordered Burke to pay a total of €225,000 in fines for repeatedly breaching a court order directing him to stay away from the school where he once worked. The judge also increased the daily fine to €2,000, after Wilson’s Hospital School applied to have Burke arrested and jailed again for continuing to appear at the campus despite the injunction.

Suspended in 2022 after row about the school’s request to use a transgender student’s chosen pronouns, Burke’s battle with the school has spiralled into a long-running confrontation with the Irish legal system. He’s been jailed for contempt of court, had his salary and bank accounts seized, and insists his fight is about freedom of religion and free expression.

So what’s really at the heart of this case - a clash over pronouns and belief, or a challenge to the authority of the courts themselves? How does contempt of court actually work, and why was Burke released from Mountjoy without “purging” that contempt? And when judges suggest a school might need private security to keep someone out, what does that say about the limits of judicial power in practice?

In today’s podcast, Ciara Doherty speaks with barrister Peter Leonard, co-host of The First Court legal podcast, to explore the Enoch Burke saga from start to the latest developments. From the school gates in Westmeath to the High Court in Dublin, this is a story about the rule of law, the resilience of institutions, and what happens when one man simply refuses to comply.

🎙️ Peter Leonard – The Fifth Court Podcast: https://www.thefifthcourt.com/

A Banksy mural appeared outside London’s Royal Courts of Justice this week, depicting a judge in full wig, striking down a protester with his gavel. It arrived just days after almost 900 people were arrested at a demonstration supporting Palestine Action, the group proscribed by the UK government in July as a terrorist organisation.

The scale of the crackdown is extraordinary. On 7 September 2025, the Metropolitan Police made 890 arrests, 857 of them under anti-terror laws. Peaceful protesters, many older adults in their 60s and 70s, were handcuffed and hauled away. Amnesty observers say the protest was overwhelmingly peaceful, yet Britain’s terror legislation is now being used to silence campaigners.

The controversy has rattled Westminster. Ministers insist the proscription is justified after Palestine Action caused millions in damage to RAF aircraft. Critics argue it’s a legal overreach that endangers free expression — with Irish novelist Sally Rooney among those warning she could face prosecution simply for voicing support. Meanwhile, Israel’s war in Gaza continues to drive outrage worldwide, with Amnesty accusing Israel of deliberately starving civilians.

In this episode of the podcast, Ciara Doherty asks: has Britain crossed the line in its policing of protest? What does this mean for civil liberties? And should the Irish government respond?

Ciara is joined first by Georgina Prodromou, UK Political Editor with Bauer, before speaking to Stephen Bowen, human rights barrister and Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland. Together they explore how anti-terror laws are being applied, what’s at stake in the legal fight to overturn the ban, and what happens when long-standing rights collide with domestic security politics.

The presidential race has kicked up a gear and, this week, the contest takes centre stage. Fianna Fáil is preparing to unveil its candidate for the Áras, while Fine Gael rallies around Heather Humphreys at the party’s think-in in Mullingar. But the real twist comes from Sinn Féin: Mary Lou McDonald’s withdrawal from consideration yesterday, leaving the party without a runner and creating an opening that independents like Catherine Connolly are moving fast to seize.

Meanwhile, the county council nomination process is proving just as colourful as the national stage. In Tralee, a whole team of hopefuls lined up to woo councillors in what looked occasionally less like politics and more like theatre.

Ciara Doherty is joined by Newstalk’s political correspondent Sean Defoe, who’s tracking every twist and turn of the campaign. From party strategy to council-room drama, we break down what’s happening, why it matters, and what it tells us about the road ahead in the battle for the presidency.

Email us your thoughts at newstalkdaily@newstalk.com — we’d love to hear what you make of the race so far.

Donald Trump’s second term as U.S. President has been marked by mass firings, loyalty displays, and the use of federal power in ways that critics say cross the line into authoritarianism. In recent weeks, Trump has floated the idea of a third term, deployed the National Guard at home, and overseen ICE raids that historian Daniel Geary describes as efforts to “suppress democracy.”

Geary, the Mark Pigott Professor of U.S. History at Trinity College Dublin, argues that Trump is concentrating coercive power under a loyal executive, undermining the autonomy of states and local authorities. He points to the firing of senior officials as part of a wider strategy that has weakened civilian agencies essential to public health and scientific research. Universities, too, have been targeted, with Geary warning that Trump’s attacks amount to “McCarthyism on steroids” aimed at destroying higher education as an institution.

Yet the United States still has pockets of resistance. Geary highlights the courts as the most significant brake on Trump’s agenda, with dozens of legal challenges ongoing. But in Congress, Democratic leaders have been remarkably subdued, leaving many critics stunned at their inability to match the speed and ferocity of the President’s moves. Within the Republican Party, Trump’s personal grip has tightened further: his endorsement all but ensures the success of candidates loyal to him.

So how close is America to sliding into authoritarianism? Geary has cautioned in the past that, while the US is not yet a fascist society, acting as if it is could become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Ciara Doherty is joined by Daniel Geary on today’s podcast to examine whether Trump’s latest actions are a mere extension of presidential power or evidence of democracy under siege.

Email newstalkdaily@newstalk.com with your thoughts on today’s discussion.

How much does it really cost to build or rebuild a home in Ireland? The answer might shock you. On today’s podcast, Ciara Doherty is joined by quantity surveyor Claire Irwin – a familiar face from RTÉ’s Room to Improve – to break down the numbers behind the country’s housing crisis.

Claire explains why building a standard 150-square-metre home can now set you back at least €500,000, and why that figure doesn’t even include the price of a site, landscaping or furnishing. She looks at the soaring cost of labour, the often-overlooked expenses of servicing a site, and the challenges posed by delays in state funding.

For families in the Defective Blocks Scheme, the problem is especially acute. According to Claire, many contractors won’t take on rebuilds unless homeowners can show they have €50,000–€60,000 in cash to keep projects moving while waiting for local authorities to release funds. And while there are state supports for building, retrofitting and renovation, navigating them is no easy task.

This episode connects the personal struggles of homeowners with the wider economic reality of construction in Ireland today – and asks whether building your own front door is slipping further out of reach.

For more information:
🏠 Claire Irwin – irwinconsulting.ie
📊 SCSI – scsi.ie
🎧 Newstalk Daily: Cracks in the System – The Human and Financial Cost of Ireland’s Defective Block Crisis

Every year, thousands of children in Ireland are reported missing. Most are found, but a troubling number remain unaccounted for. In today’s Newstalk Daily, Ciara Doherty addresses the reality behind the country’s missing children - from homes, streets, and state care systems - and examines why some cases go unnoticed for years.

The podcast explores the heartbreaking cases of a boy from Donabate, missing for a number of years, and Kyran Durnin from Drogheda, whose disappearance prompted a murder investigation and whose body has never been found. Fergus Finlay, former head of Barnardos, joins the conversation to explain the systemic challenges in protecting vulnerable children, the delays in reporting to Gardaí, and the disproportionate risks faced by migrant children and unaccompanied minors.

Fergus explains how state agencies like Tusla track (or fail to track) children and highlights the need for a cross-government approach, more robust data transparency, and improved early warning systems to prevent tragedies from going unnoticed.