It has been the setting for many a robust confrontation, but is The Hard Shoulder (Newstalk, weekdays) now seen as a soft touch? Whereas guests previously had to be prepared for a sceptical reception from the likes of Kieran Cuddihy or Ivan Yates, there’s no such wariness in evidence as the former Labour Party adviser Fergus Finlay is interviewed by the guest presenter Ciara Doherty.
“It’s lovely to be here, not talking about anything controversial or difficult or unpleasant,” Finlay chirps, his markedly carefree mood prompting a friendly rejoinder from Doherty: “Well, we’ll probably get there, knowing you and I.”
As it happens, the conversation unfolds without any contention, though the prevailing affability is down to the benign subject matter – Finlay is on to talk about his favourite books – rather than any kid gloves on Doherty’s part.
Not that it lacks surprise. Nominating At Swim-Two-Birds, Flann O’Brien’s surreal comic classic, for the show’s regular Bookshelf slot, Finlay says he was initially drawn to the novel’s dissolute undergraduate protagonist when a “morose, withdrawn, introverted student” himself. “I was not in a good place,” he says, describing the book as “a biography of me”, to Doherty’s mild alarm.
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It’s a gently engrossing segment, but it does little to dispel the notion that Newstalk’s early-evening show has been adrift since Cuddihy’s surprise exit to host Liveline, on RTÉ Radio 1.
Again, this has little to do Doherty’s abilities. Best known as a former host of The Tonight Show on Virgin Media Television, she sounds comfortable holding the fort. But in the absence of a permanent replacement for Cuddihy – Doherty has been alternating with Seán Defoe – there’s a sense of The Hard Shoulder being stuck in suspended animation: the stand-ins aren’t fully able to stamp their identity on proceedings, not unlike with Liveline in the months after Joe Duffy’s retirement.
That said, aside from a garbled hot-mic moment when her voice unexpectedly blares over the ad break before Wednesday’s show, Doherty performs in steady yet relaxed style, whether she’s hearing the Irish Prison Service whistleblower Noel McGree describe the negative official blowback he experienced following his disclosures, or discussing the virtues of Melbourne with the programme’s regular travel contributor Fionn Davenport.
Doherty’s most striking interview is with Andrew McGinley, whose three children were killed by their mother, Deirdre Morley, in January 2020. Morley, who was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity, is bringing a legal challenge to the scope of the coroner’s inquiry into the killings, a move supported by McGinley, who wants any inquest to examine wider medical evidence and identify contributory factors: “I would love to see something positive come out of Conor, Darragh and Carla’s inquest,” he says.
With the host posing questions suitably sensitively, McGinley speaks of the case in a remarkably calm if clearly pained manner. But when Doherty asks how her guest is doing, his grief is clear. “One of the hardest things you’ll ever do is stand over your kids’ grave,” he says, choking back his emotions. “It’s a tough time of year.”
His tone again changes when discussing the systemic failings he encountered both before and after the tragedy. “I’ve an awful lot of anger,” he says. “Christ, I’m angry.”
It’s distressing to hear such anguish, but, to Doherty’s credit, she doesn’t duck the difficult subjects.
At the other end of the schedule, Newstalk Breakfast (weekdays) embraces controversy with alacrity, its presenters, Shane Coleman and Ciara Kelly, using the soapbox of their daily editorial slot to attention-grabbing, if not rabble-rousing, effect.
On Wednesday the pair are exercised by news that Dublin’s long-stalled MetroLink is to be further delayed by judicial review following objections from residents in Ranelagh: “There was a collective groan,” Coleman says, not unreasonably. His colleague chimes in, suggesting Ireland has lost the concept of the common good, with individuals holding up infrastructure projects as costs rise.
Many listeners, not to mention Cabinet Ministers, would share such frustrations. But Kelly then ramps up the rhetoric. “The legal system does not serve the people,” she says bluntly. While not quite at the level of the infamous Daily Mail headline that called English judges “enemies of the people”, it’s the kind of slogan that sounds snappily provocative – Kelly repeats it an hour later – but one that unedifyingly plays to the populist gallery.
Coleman laments the lack of legal reform but shies away from endorsing his colleague’s sweeping verdict.
Kelly’s polemical flourish also overshadows her more considered coverage of the issue. She hears the planning consultant Tom Phillips bemoan the MetroLink judicial review but also make the case more eloquently. He says the Irish system is “incredibly open” to such legal challenges, while lauding the thoroughness of the planning inspector’s 1,600-page report on the project. “If that’s not dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s, I don’t know what is,” Kelly says admiringly. It’s important to think things through, for sure.
The need for strategic thinking crops up when Seán Moncrieff (Newstalk, weekdays) hears the author Ben Collins make the case for a united Ireland. Collins may seem an unlikely advocate for unity, coming as he does from a Presbyterian, unionist background. But he clearly explains the Belfast Agreement and how his experience of studying across the water changed his perspective – “Living in Britain made me feel more Irish” – and lays out the benefits of ending partition in economic terms: “We can achieve more on an all-island basis.”
As Moncrieff ventures, persuading unionists that their cultural identity would be preserved in a united Ireland is a harder sell. Collins argues that unionists would have more political power in the Dáil than they have at Westminster.
For the Border to disappear, however, he thinks one step in particular is essential to convince unionists. “The Irish Government needs to step up to the plate and start preparing for a Border poll,” he says. Given the State’s recent record with planning, that may be a tall order. With just one phrase, the prospect of a united Ireland seems farther away than ever.
Moment of the week
As the new presenters of Drivetime (RTÉ Radio 1, weekdays), Katie Hannon and Colm Ó Mongáin, have struck up a lively partnership, but they’re still learning things about each other.
On Monday, for instance, they discuss one of most arduous of parental duties, with Ó Mongáin asking, “Are you right now rushing home from work to make a parent-teacher meeting, with that knot in your stomach?”
The scene set, he claims that he looks forward to such meetings about his own children more than his parents did when he was a schoolboy: “There were words like ‘needs to concentrate’,” he says, chuckling.
“So they found that, too, did they?” Hannon shoots back.
Ó Mongáin isn’t done, however. “Those teachers who did have to deliver those reports to my parents are now mercifully blessed with a volume and on/off switch for my voice,” he says airily. Hannon is understandably lost for words.
