If this is indeed what the "serious" pundits call "moving week", then Fine Gael are moving down at a rate of knots. We talk about the interesting outcomes of last nights debate, the need for the Left to capitalise on this opportunity with a more positive message and the totally inappropriate comments by Fine Gael Senator, Catherine Noone.

Then People Before Profit TD for Dublin South Central, Brid Smith, comes in to tell us about her long history of activism and why she is excited and energised by the last few weeks.

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A young man wakes in bed beside his girlfriend, and then his hand shakes. This is the inspiration for the new film, The New Music, by our guest in The Tortoise Shack, writer, producer and director, Chiara Viale. Joining Chiara is board member of the Parkinson's Association and self-proclaimed Parkinson's survivor and thriver, Gary Boyle.

Chiara talks about her process from that image, to meeting people with Parkinson's and how the experience of making this film has changed her outlook so much.
Gary, in his uplifting way, brings us through his own story, from receiving his diagnosis at only 44 years of age, to how he lives with the disease and remains more active than nearly everyone you know! This is an important film about an important topic and we are very grateful to Chiara for her work and to Gary for sharing his story with us.

More information on Parkinson's is available: HERE

To support The Tortoise Shack click: HERE & for tickets to #RebootLive click: HERE

https://soundcloud.com/user-394580658/echochamber-chiara-and-gary-ep-160

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Ireland is a funny place, we have some of the most archaic defamation laws to ensure (wealthy) people are entitled to their good name. We also have a Data Protection Commissioner who reckons we have "no absolute right" to having that name spelled correctly.

Our guest in the tortoise shack is Green Party Local Election Candidate, part of the Motherfoclóir podcast and Pop Up Gael Teams, Peter Kavanagh.

We discuss the recent DPC finding, the State's complicity in the derogation of the Irish Language through the education system and lack of investment in the Gaeltacht and more.

Join us: patreon.com/tortoiseshack https://soundcloud.com/user-394580658/echochamber-peter-kavanagh-ep-158

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We are in unprecedented territory as Covid-19 spreads across the globe and Italy has locked down 60 million people. In Ireland the government have announced several measures as part of their containment strategy, but we would hope they will move more quickly to the mitigation stage.

Martin, just out of hospital, argues for more decisive action and for the "I'm alright, Jack" attitude to go in the bin.

Remember to follow the advice of the medical experts and keep an eye on https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/coronavirus for the latest updates.

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While Martin is off sunning himself (in hospital), Tony talked with campaigning journalist and climate activist, John Gibbons about the price the Green Party must extract in order to enter government with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

John talks about the need to be in government and the healthy scepticism we share for any deal with the two parties that have thus far specialised in producing plans to be great at something at sometime in the future.

The clock is ticking: Electoral Destruction or Climate Devastation?

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This is a humongous day. If anything the Exit Poll underestimated the Broad Left Vote and while FF/FG might end up with more seats than SF, the Broad Left is the real winner. Don't buy the narrative of "the people want change, but they don't know what change they want". That's nonsense. The people have said they no longer want a €5er in tax cuts and poorly funded public services and the people have said that politicians who think accountability is only for the working class will no longer be tolerated.

To talk about all this and what it might mean I'm joined by 2 candidates who are very likely to be TD's in the coming hours: Green Party's Dublin Central, Neasa Hourigan and Sinn Féin's Meath East, Darren O'Rourke. Both offer their thoughts on what this result means and their willingness to engage in a Broad Left Govt.

This is very exciting!

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We gotta talk about last night...

Martin brings us his insights into the Sinn Féin meeting in Liberty Hall and what was in essence a return to old school politics. We discuss the slow bicycle race to the Fianna Gael Coalition and why they don't have a willing mudguard.

We also talk about the signs that our property market is just about to tank.

With various crises looming we need action, but what we have is stagnation.

join us: patreon.com/tortoiseshack

How can you stay home during the Covid-19 pandemic if you have nothing to eat? Our guest is Head of International Advocacy at Concern Worldwide, Réiseal Ní Chéilleachair and with over 12 years experience of working in some of the worlds poorest countries she understands that the hunger can be more deadly than the virus.

She outlines what Covid-19 means for humanitarian programmes, the impact it is having on those who are already extremely poor and how the economic impact has the potential to worsen these already difficult situations. Réiseal also outlines steps governments and citizens can take in a human rights based model that can avert the worst outcomes of this pandemic.

To learn more or donate go to concern.net

Maybe try the Long Jump Challenge by attempting to jump 2 meters, nominating 2 friends and donating €2.

While we were all losing our minds over the General Election, our guest in The Tortoise Shack, CEO of Vizlegal, Co-founder of Right to Know and former innovation director with Storyful, Gavin Sheridan, was busy fighting the good fight to make sure that we can have access to information about how our country is run. Gavin walks through his journey from scanning pages political expenses up to taking cases to the Supreme Court and on into the EU.

This is a terrific conversation with a man, who along side a handful of others, we all owe a debt of gratitude to.

Join: patreon.com/tortoiseshack

All of the Political Parties have attempted to steal the clothes of Green Policies. But which are paying lip service and which ones are serious about Climate Action. Our guests in the tortoise shack are Aideen O'Dochartaigh and Brian Cuthbert of the Environmental Group, Not Here, Not Anywhere, and they've developed a score card that, while not perfect, is in our opinion the best rating guide for Irish Politics.

We discuss who is going to get things done and who wants a Green-Washing BAU and why it is vital that this is a Climate election and a new Climate Dáil.

To support visit: notherenotanywhere.com or @NHNAireland on twitter

Join us: patreon.com/tortoiseshack

It's always hard to imagine something that hasn't been done before. So while it's understandable that people are defending Virgin Media TV's (and RTE's) decision to hold a "leaders" debate, it is, in our opinion wrong. We discuss why this is not representative of the majority of the electorate and needlessly gives the historical parties of government an unfair advantage. We also talk about FG's need to bench the Taoiseach and push Simon Coveney forward, the daft shots at Saoirse McHugh for believing in a 'power for the people' politics and what we believe the Left should do post-election. We're then joined by Independent TD and candidate for Dublin South Central, Joan Collins and Soc Dems candidate for Cork North West, Ciaran McCarhty.

Enjoy.

Join us please: patreon.com/toroiseshack

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Skeuomorphic thinking: where you attempt the jam the design language of a previous technology into a new technology in order to make it easier to digest and understand.

When the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland was recently suggested as the online regulator for Ireland and therefore the de facto regulator for the entire EU, many where glad that we were doing something. But our guest in The Tortoise Shack, Solicitor and Director of Data Compliance Europe immediately saw the flaws in this proposal.

We take a deep-dive into all of this, RTE's funding model and more.

From minute 56 we talk Genomics Medicine Ireland, the idea of a DNA fingerprint for the entire country and the high bar of informed consent, that Simon isn't convinced these companies are reaching. And from 1hr 7mins we get down to the real business, rewiliding Ireland and Wolves Now!

Help keep this podcast going: patreon.com/tortoiseshack

Having read the excellent article by Taryn De Vere featuring my friend and fellow activist, Izzy Kamikaze, I thought I'd put together a #tortoiseshack tribute to one of the most relentless and remarkable campaigners this country has ever known!

Taryn's piece: https://www.her.ie/life/supposed-feel-shame-pride-antidote-470471
#PrideIsProtest
Have a great #Pride2019 weekend everybody. And thank you Izzy.

Martin

Our guest in The Tortoise Shack was recently described as the Swiss Army knife of journalists and given the variety and efficiency of his work, we reckon Irish Times journalist, Jack Horgan-Jones kind of likes it.

Jack sat down to talk about the media landscape, the job itself and to have some healthy disagreement with us on some of the challenges facing the industry.

We also talk housing and the governments Climate Action Plan.

Buy a newspaper!

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In our second podcast of the day we talk about why the teacher's strike, the early childhood educators march and a bed beside a toilet for €425 per week are all related. This is the election where we say we enough. Equal pay for equal work, pay people a living wage and make housing safe and affordable!

Then we are joined on the pod by Labour Candidate in Meath East, Annie Hoey and independent candidate in Dublin Fingal, Dean Mulligan.

Please join us: patreon.com/tortoiseshack

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It was a great treat to be joined for another of our Tortoise Shack Live in #LockDown podcasts by filmmaker, director and Live Line content creator, Lenny Abrahamson. Caroline, Tony and Martin ask Lenny about the (unforeseen?) success of Normal People, the good and bad reactions to the sex scenes and the thought and care that went into the consent putting consent on screen.

We also get an insight into Lenny's upcoming project, A Mans World - the Emile Griffith Story.

Then our brilliant members, including some familiar voices ask some terrific questions. Enjoy.

To support us and come along to our next "live" pod join us on: patreon.com/tortoiseshack

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We all love a good story and award winning director, filmmaker and sleep deprived daddy, Ross Whitaker, knows how to tell them. From the Shane Lowry doc to the Katie Taylor film and on to the upcoming Italia 90 doc - The Boys in Green - we've all seen and enjoyed his work.

Ross came into The Tortoise Shack to discuss his creative process, what drives him and how pitching and failing to ESPN's 30 for 30 was actually a good experience.

The Boys in Green is on RTE 1 on Monday evening just after the 9 o'clock news.

Thanks Ross #COYBIG

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Martin, whether he likes to admit it or not, is high risk when it comes to the Covid-19 outbreak and he feels strongly that not enough focus is on the people who will be the worst impacted by the disease. Protecting consumer sentiment won't stop the spread; not spooking the markets won't stop people getting spooked. So I called him in the hospital (he asked me to) to get his views on what is happening and the standard of political leadership we are (or are not) seeing.

Please support our medical professionals and heed their advice. More people than you think are at risk and you probably know several. Don't take chances. Visit: https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/coronavirus for more.

And Wash Your Hands.

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Rory, Martin and Tony discuss where the numbers are and what the permutations of the next government might be. We don't agree on much, but we do agree that the train is ready to leave the station and that if Labour, the Green's, PBP and the Soc Dems aren't ready to jump on board it would be a colossal mistake.

Then we are joined by Sinn Féin's Eoin Ó Broin, to discuss the results and what happens tomorrow.

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We are absolutely delighted to be joined in The Tortoise Shack by Senior Lecturer at Birmingham University, Máiréad Enright. Máiréad is especially interested in how patriarchal legal and religious structures can be resisted and changed. Her research in this respect looks beyond traditional methods of law reform to consider illegality, protest, private litigation, and experimental legal drafting. She is Co-Director of the Northern/Irish Feminist Judgments Project (www.feministjudging.ie), and often consults with and advises groups campaigning around reproductive rights and historical gender-based violence in Ireland.

We discuss her phenomenal work with Lawyers for Choice on #Repealthe8th and how complicated legal argument was broken down and made accessible to everybody through social media and direct face to face contact at town hall meetings. We chat about the obstacles faced in drafting legislation and how the shortcomings in that legislation are still failing women. There is still much work to be done and Máiréad is at the coalface of striving for the necessary change required. We learned so much from Máiréad in this pod and we thank her for her selfless dedication to reproductive rights.
Our pods have no sponsors except members, please join us at: patreon.com/tortoiseshack

Ciara Kenny is the talent behind our branding and graphics.
Check out her work at: www.inprnt.com/gallery/ciaraioch/ https://soundcloud.com/user-394580658/echo-chamber-mairead-enright-ep-159

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