The Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast
The best stories from the Irish Examiner brought to you by Opinion Editor Deirdre O’Shaughnessy
The best stories from the Irish Examiner brought to you by Opinion Editor Deirdre O’Shaughnessy
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14.08.2026
42 Minuten
Five years on from the dramatic scenes of desperate people clambering onto planes at Kabul Airport, the Taliban are back in power and Afghanistan's women have been silenced.
No singing, talking or showing their faces in public. No education, no work, no access to healthcare in most cases.
A small number of Afghan women travelled to Ireland in the direct aftermath of the US departure, under a specific refugee scheme opened by the Government.
Mahbooba Faiz was a lawyer in Afghanistan. After years of further study, she is now a paralegal with the Cork based law firm RDJ and has written for the Irish Examiner about the importance of DEI schemes in the workplace. She is the founder of the Irish campaign against gender apartheid.
She speaks candidly in today's episode about leaving Aghanistan, her campaign against gender apartheid, her time in Ireland and her fears for the women she has left behind.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
No singing, talking or showing their faces in public. No education, no work, no access to healthcare in most cases.
A small number of Afghan women travelled to Ireland in the direct aftermath of the US departure, under a specific refugee scheme opened by the Government.
Mahbooba Faiz was a lawyer in Afghanistan. After years of further study, she is now a paralegal with the Cork based law firm RDJ and has written for the Irish Examiner about the importance of DEI schemes in the workplace. She is the founder of the Irish campaign against gender apartheid.
She speaks candidly in today's episode about leaving Aghanistan, her campaign against gender apartheid, her time in Ireland and her fears for the women she has left behind.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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11.08.2026
22 Minuten
The case of a 15 year old girl raped by 18 year old Patrick Faulkner at a Limerick birthday party caused outrage last week after defence counsel raised the victim's clothing choices in court.
Speaking to the Irish Examiner, representatives from women's rights groups called for guidelines to be introduced in relation to 'victim blaming' in rape and sexual assault case.
This is not the first time this issue has arisen. In 2018, protests erupted after a Cork defence barrister held up the complainant's underwear in court. The #thisisnotconsent campaign was reported internationally, but no legal change ensued.
Reporter Ann Murphy has been covering the response to this case and she joins Deirdre on today's episode to discuss victim blaming, sexual assault cases, and the various campaigns underway to make the court proceedings less traumatic for victims. Ann has also been writing about the lack of Sexual Assault Treatment Unit in Limerick city – another difficulty facing complainants there.
Young Limerick man who raped teenage girl jailed for seven years
Rape victim's dress was shown during Limerick rape trial in 'blatant form of victim-blaming'
'It is disgraceful': Showing rape victims' clothes in court 'weaponising against women'
'Abhorrent and barbaric': Calls for sexual assault treatment unit in Mid-West after rape victim had to travel to Galway
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Speaking to the Irish Examiner, representatives from women's rights groups called for guidelines to be introduced in relation to 'victim blaming' in rape and sexual assault case.
This is not the first time this issue has arisen. In 2018, protests erupted after a Cork defence barrister held up the complainant's underwear in court. The #thisisnotconsent campaign was reported internationally, but no legal change ensued.
Reporter Ann Murphy has been covering the response to this case and she joins Deirdre on today's episode to discuss victim blaming, sexual assault cases, and the various campaigns underway to make the court proceedings less traumatic for victims. Ann has also been writing about the lack of Sexual Assault Treatment Unit in Limerick city – another difficulty facing complainants there.
Young Limerick man who raped teenage girl jailed for seven years
Rape victim's dress was shown during Limerick rape trial in 'blatant form of victim-blaming'
'It is disgraceful': Showing rape victims' clothes in court 'weaponising against women'
'Abhorrent and barbaric': Calls for sexual assault treatment unit in Mid-West after rape victim had to travel to Galway
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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07.08.2026
34 Minuten
Nancy and Mark Reilly had a charmed life together. Irish-American retirees based in Kinsale, their 36 year marriage saw them travel the world teaching English refugee children and getting involved in community projects in their adopted home.
That idyllic life together came to a sudden, tragic end, when Mark Reilly hanged himself while in isolation at Cork University Hospital on 19 March 2022. He had been brought to Bandon Garda station after a suicide attempt four days prior, in the midst of what Nancy believes was a psychotic episode. He had no history of mental health difficulties before that.
Ms Reilly is deeply critical of the systems failures that led to Mark's death, identifying a number of issues including the lack of a consultant psychiatrist on duty during St Patrick's weekend; availability of ligature points in the acute mental health unit; isolation of a patient who was supposed to be on suicide watch.
"There were going to be no psychiatrists on duty all weekend because it was St. Patrick's Day. Now, right there that raises a question. You don't wait to have a heart attack. There would be a cardiologist available if you had a heart attack on St. Patrick's Day.
"Why was there not a psychiatrist on duty?"
Nancy's case against CUH and the HSE was settled at the High Court last month, with the clinical director of South Lee Mental Health Service, Dr Thomas Cronin, writing a letter of apology for shortcomings in Mark's care.
Wife of man who took his own life in CUH unit calls for change in mental health treatment
Pieta.ie The Samaritans 116 123 24
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
That idyllic life together came to a sudden, tragic end, when Mark Reilly hanged himself while in isolation at Cork University Hospital on 19 March 2022. He had been brought to Bandon Garda station after a suicide attempt four days prior, in the midst of what Nancy believes was a psychotic episode. He had no history of mental health difficulties before that.
Ms Reilly is deeply critical of the systems failures that led to Mark's death, identifying a number of issues including the lack of a consultant psychiatrist on duty during St Patrick's weekend; availability of ligature points in the acute mental health unit; isolation of a patient who was supposed to be on suicide watch.
"There were going to be no psychiatrists on duty all weekend because it was St. Patrick's Day. Now, right there that raises a question. You don't wait to have a heart attack. There would be a cardiologist available if you had a heart attack on St. Patrick's Day.
"Why was there not a psychiatrist on duty?"
Nancy's case against CUH and the HSE was settled at the High Court last month, with the clinical director of South Lee Mental Health Service, Dr Thomas Cronin, writing a letter of apology for shortcomings in Mark's care.
Wife of man who took his own life in CUH unit calls for change in mental health treatment
Pieta.ie The Samaritans 116 123 24
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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04.08.2026
34 Minuten
Cork City Council is responsible for almost 12,000 homes – ranging from state of the art modern builds to the now notorious rat-infested 1960s O'Byrne flats.
With a budget of approximately €147m, an average rental payment of E80 per week, and 5,000 people on the social housing waiting list, the City's housing department is led by Assistant Chief Executive Brian Geaney, who acknowledges the challenge.
This week the Irish Examiner is publishing an extensive investigation into Cork City Council's housing stock – how many, how much, who lives there, how it's managed - and what the future holds.
Reporter Donal O'Keeffe is the guest on today's episode of the podcast.
This episode was funded by Coimisiún na Meáin.
This podcast was funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
With a budget of approximately €147m, an average rental payment of E80 per week, and 5,000 people on the social housing waiting list, the City's housing department is led by Assistant Chief Executive Brian Geaney, who acknowledges the challenge.
This week the Irish Examiner is publishing an extensive investigation into Cork City Council's housing stock – how many, how much, who lives there, how it's managed - and what the future holds.
Reporter Donal O'Keeffe is the guest on today's episode of the podcast.
This episode was funded by Coimisiún na Meáin.
This podcast was funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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31.07.2026
36 Minuten
"They put the pressure on while I was pregnant."
"But after, it was like, he'd be better off without you, and he deserves better. He'd end up with some lovely family that could bring him up and look after him and he could become a doctor one day.
"... I was constantly told that a mother like me, a person like me, shouldn't have a child. Because at the time I would have had Indian ink up my arms and stuff like that."
Cindi Bonny was just sixteen but she had already experienced homelessness, drug addiction and an abusive relationship when she first entered Bessborough in 1993, pregnant with her son Kevin.
Adamant that she wouldn't give him up for adoption, determined to breastfeed her baby, she was kept from him for six weeks as the pressure mounted to give him up.
Eventually she left with Kevin and returned to her abusive boyfriend – only to fall pregnant a second time, returning to Bessborough in 1994.
Her second stay was different, but ended in tragedy with the sudden, shocking death of baby Zoei at just two days old.
Zoei was the last baby to die under the care of Bessborough. Unlike so many others before her, she has a grave her family can visit.
Cindi shared her story in the Irish Examiner earlier this week in an impassioned plea to authorities for a full investigation of burials at Bessborough, and for a memorial there instead of the planned apartments.
Cindi is today's guest on The Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast.
Read her article here: 'Do not bury our history beneath concrete', mother of last baby to die at Bessborough tells Government
The Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast: Paving over Bessborough's missing babies
The Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast: Dominic Finn’s story of being adopted from Bessborough
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
"But after, it was like, he'd be better off without you, and he deserves better. He'd end up with some lovely family that could bring him up and look after him and he could become a doctor one day.
"... I was constantly told that a mother like me, a person like me, shouldn't have a child. Because at the time I would have had Indian ink up my arms and stuff like that."
Cindi Bonny was just sixteen but she had already experienced homelessness, drug addiction and an abusive relationship when she first entered Bessborough in 1993, pregnant with her son Kevin.
Adamant that she wouldn't give him up for adoption, determined to breastfeed her baby, she was kept from him for six weeks as the pressure mounted to give him up.
Eventually she left with Kevin and returned to her abusive boyfriend – only to fall pregnant a second time, returning to Bessborough in 1994.
Her second stay was different, but ended in tragedy with the sudden, shocking death of baby Zoei at just two days old.
Zoei was the last baby to die under the care of Bessborough. Unlike so many others before her, she has a grave her family can visit.
Cindi shared her story in the Irish Examiner earlier this week in an impassioned plea to authorities for a full investigation of burials at Bessborough, and for a memorial there instead of the planned apartments.
Cindi is today's guest on The Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast.
Read her article here: 'Do not bury our history beneath concrete', mother of last baby to die at Bessborough tells Government
The Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast: Paving over Bessborough's missing babies
The Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast: Dominic Finn’s story of being adopted from Bessborough
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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The Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast takes you inside the best Irish
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powerful personal stories.
With award‑winning journalists and exclusive voices you won’t
hear anywhere else.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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The Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast
Bessborough survivor Cindi Bonny on the death of her baby Zoei in 1994
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