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Joe Duffy's Liveline highlights: From scammers to Normal People and banks to menopause, this was appointment radio
Joe Duffy's Liveline highlights: From scammers to Normal People and banks to menopause, this was appointment radio

Irish Times

time3 days ago

  • Entertainment
  • Irish Times

Joe Duffy's Liveline highlights: From scammers to Normal People and banks to menopause, this was appointment radio

Joe Duffy will host his final edition of Liveline on Friday , bringing the curtain down on one of the most popular and influential tenures in Irish radio history. Since taking over from the late Marian Finucane as presenter in 1999, Duffy has turned RTÉ Radio 1's afternoon phone-in show into a phenomenon. Under Duffy's stewardship, Liveline – with its famous tagline, 'Talk to Joe' – could be a safe space for deeply personal stories, a chaotic small claims court and a crusading platform for social justice. As he hangs up his mic on the show, these 10 memorable moments highlight Duffy's inimitable style, as well as his knack for capturing the public mood. Joe builds a house An early indication of Duffy's ability to stir listeners to action came in January 2001. Helen, a mother of autistic twins, phoned the show 'in pure desperation' to describe her dire living conditions: her Wicklow house had been left unfinished by a builder who had scarpered, despite having been paid £25,000. 'It's just a nightmare,' she said, recounting how she had to cook Christmas dinner in her garage. Duffy appealed for help, the show was duly inundated with offers from tradesmen, and 101 days later, Helen – real name Catherine Doyle – was hosting both Duffy and President Mary McAleese in her newly rebuilt home. The legend of the Liveline effect was born. READ MORE Joe talks to a prisoner In hindsight, Duffy's first decade at Liveline was wilder and more sensationalist than in later years, never more so than during the 2007 on-air barney between crime journalist Paul Williams and criminal Alan Bradley. The temperature really spiked when Duffy took a call from John Daly, an inmate at Portlaoise Prison, who accused Williams of stirring up a feud between himself and fellow Finglas native Bradley. 'I can't stay long, I'm in a cell,' said an agitated Daly. 'Get off the phone you f***ing liar.' The episode prompted a clampdown on mobile phones in Irish jails. But it had a grim coda: Daly was murdered a few months after being released from prison. Joe stops a scammer One of Liveline's enduring strengths has been as a consumer watchdog, calling out shoddy customer service or – in the case of Mark Townley – serial conmen. In June 2008, Duffy heard several complaints about a Dublin-based model agency approaching teenage girls with bogus promises of a spot on an Irish version of reality show America's Next Top Model – for a fee, naturally. Bangor native Townley, the agency's boss, phoned in and brazenly defended his scam, while Duffy picked apart his guest's murky past, before delivering a dramatic coup de grace: 'I'm putting it to you straight now, and you can take me to the High Court on this – you are the Mark Townley that has been banned from entering England and Wales for two years.' Townley never sued: in a tragicomic twist, he was later imprisoned in England for threatening to kill Prince Harry. Joe Duffy out on the streets of Dublin in 1999 Joe spooks the banks In September 2008, with the Celtic Tiger faltering, Liveline was flooded with calls from people anxiously withdrawing their money from banks and placing it in supposedly safer post office accounts: a postmaster spoke of queues out the door. Duffy knew reassurances from banks were falling on deaf ears: 'Look at Lehman Brothers, look at Enron, Rusnak and AIB – the issue is trust,' he said, modestly adding, 'I know I sound like Jimmy Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life.' Then finance minister Brian Lenihan was so worried about Duffy's potential to cause a run on the banks that he phoned RTÉ's director-general Cathal Goan to complain. Days later, however, Lenihan issued the fateful bank guarantee, thus heralding Ireland's great economic crash – something Duffy cannot be blamed for. But the host displayed his occasionally preternatural facility for taking the public pulse; as he later remarked, 'The punters knew the banks were dodgy before the politicians did.' Then minister for finance Brian Lenihan leaves RTÉ following a radio interview. Photograph: Eric Luke Joe saves lives Down the years, Duffy has had many heartbreaking conversations with people suffering from grave medical conditions, from cancer patient Susie Long in the months before her passing in 2007, to the late Charlie Bird 's revelation of his motor neuron disease diagnosis in 2021. But few interviews had the immense empirical impact of Duffy's 2009 interview with screenwriter Frank Deasy. A friend of the host, Deasy candidly spoke of his agonising wait for a liver transplant, likening it to 'being on death row'. It was a sadly prophetic description: Deasy died only days later , during an operation to transplant his liver. But the effect of his brave account was spectacular. Within days, 15,000 people had applied for organ donor cards, with surely life-saving results. Joe halts the head shops Once Duffy has a target in his sights, he can be relentless. This was certainly the case in 2010, when the host spearheaded a campaign against head shops selling so-called 'legal highs'. For days on end, Duffy heard from people whose family members had suffered terrible effects after consuming psychoactive substances from the 100 stores across the country. One caller, Paul Hodkinson, recounted how his brother Colm died after taking magic mushrooms in 2005. Duffy's unremitting campaign whipped up emotions, though not always to edifying effect, with pickets placed on some shops. But the public pressure yielded action. The government clamped down on the sale of legal highs, leading in turn to the closure of most head shops. A decade later, Duffy commented: 'Our campaign to close down head shops was our best achievement.' Joe Duffy at a news briefing with the Spiritans in Ireland and former Blackrock College pupils at the RDS, Dublin, November 16th, 2022. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA Joe covers clerical abuse Arguably Duffy's most significant achievement, however, is his uncompromising and compassionate coverage of clerical abuse in Ireland. Following the 2009 publication of the Ryan and Murphy reports into sexual abuse in Catholic-run institutions , Duffy provided a sympathetic space for survivors to share their stories in raw, unfiltered fashion. In other hands, the deluge of abusive experiences could have been numbing, but Duffy handled the issue sensitively, with callers testifying to the traumas endured by vulnerable people in the Church's care. Taking just one example, a caller named Maureen later recalled the harsh regime she endured in a Magdalene laundry , as well as the harrowing fate of her older brother at Artane Industrial School: 'He was rented out to a bank manager for weekends.' Duffy has revisited the subject regularly ever since, whether allowing survivors to furiously decry the inadequacy of the mother and baby homes report in 2021 , or, the following year, hearing how schoolboys sexually assaulted by priests at Blackrock College in the 1970s were shamed into silence by their clerical abusers: 'They make you feel so ashamed, so guilty, it's actually frightening.' In allowing survivors to find their voice, Duffy helped reveal the truth about one of Ireland's most shameful chapters. Joe deems Dublin dead A proud son of Ballyfermot, Duffy has never hidden his Dublin roots, given to sentimentally reminiscing with older callers about the city in the rare auld times. Equally, however, he has fulminated against the capital's less attractive side, be it antisocial behaviour, street crime or, during an unforgettable 2015 rant, the city itself. Duffy declared Dublin 'dead', with shuttered landmark stores replaced by pound shops and fast food joints. 'Dublin city centre is turning into an unadulterated kip, and nobody is shouting stop.' The possibility of such cranky outbursts ensured Liveline remained appointment radio for many throughout Duffy's tenure. Normal People: Connell (Paul Mescal) and Marianne (Daisy Edgar-Jones). Photograph: Element Pictures/Enda Bowe Joe defends Normal People At the height of the first Covid lockdown in April 2020, between his signature pandemic-era exhortations to 'washyourhands', Duffy brought much-needed gaiety to the nation by hosting a riotous discussion on the TV series Normal People, complete with the classic Liveline elements of sex and religion. The host first heard genteel-sounding caller Mary voice her displeasure at the sexually explicit scenes in the small screen adaptation of the Sally Rooney novel. 'I imagine it was like something you would expect to see in a porno movie,' Mary ventured. 'What would you see in a porno movie, Mary?' replied Duffy, deploying his trademark sigh. (Mary didn't know.) [ Normal People: Putting Sally Rooney's novel on the small screen Opens in new window ] From there on, proceedings grew more entertainingly fractious, as a devout Christian named Tommy started railing against 'fornication', 'the teaching of promiscuity' and, most unfortunately, 'sluts'. The derogatory terminology aside, the captive audience was treated to a vintage episode. Joe discovers the menopause He can be hammy, tetchy and mawkish, as well as empathetic and engaging, but if Duffy has one defining characteristic as a broadcaster, it's his capacity to hit upon and tease out the urgent conversations bubbling under the surface of Irish life. This was evident in May 2021 when the host spoke to Sallyanne Brady, who described the multitude of distressing effects of menopause on her health. Despite the fact that half the population will face menopause, Brady said, there was a silence on the matter: 'I want a voice for these women.' Duffy soon noted that 'the calls are coming in thick and fast', and over the next two weeks women phoned in to share their experiences of menopause. Not for the first time, Duffy put a previously taboo subject firmly on the public agenda. That a male presenter should facilitate such a necessary conversation on women's health probably says something about Irish society; but equally, Duffy was always adept at tapping into his audience's concerns. People talked to Joe, after all.

The rise of romantasy: Escapist books become more popular as real-world challenges loom
The rise of romantasy: Escapist books become more popular as real-world challenges loom

Irish Times

time15-06-2025

  • Entertainment
  • Irish Times

The rise of romantasy: Escapist books become more popular as real-world challenges loom

You're all alone. Abandoned, scared and defenceless. Then a tall, dark, handsome and magical stranger enters – and you're swept up in an exciting adventure. Swept up, that is, until you close the pages of the book before you. Romantasy – a blend of romance and fantasy – is the term that has been given to the rapidly rising literary genre that is taking over bookshelves here and abroad. Authors including Sarah J Maas and Fourth Wing writer Rebecca Yarros are queens of the genre, netting sales in the millions across the globe – Yarros's new novel Onyx Storm sold 2.7 million copies in its first week of sales in January – but Irish authors are also part of the literary trend, with names such as Catherine Doyle, Sarah Rees Brennan and Jessica Thorne sealing deals for romantasy novels with international publishing houses. In romantasy fiction, human heroines are often plunged into fantastical realms, where faeries, vampires and magical beings rule, and love blossoms between unlikely characters and in thrilling circumstances. Often, the suitor is older or immortal, while the usually very young heroine tends to be capable (though they may not know it), beautiful (though they may not realise it), and forced to take on death-defying challenges (almost always). What's the appeal of such fiction for readers? 'It's wish fulfilment,' says Mila Taylor (37) a Dublin -based librarian who hosts the Wisteria romantasy book club in Dundrum Library. 'It's living a greater, better, more exciting life. Another thing you see in a lot of romantasy books is not only romance, but a sense of friendship, loyalty and community.' READ MORE 'It's taking off, even among people who don't read,' says Nikki Shields (37) a corporate marketer who is a member of the Wisteria book club. 'Lots of people are getting into it. Romantasy is its own world. It follows normal life – it's somewhat realistic – but there's a magical element. There are different elements of folklore, it manages to combine old worlds and new worlds without it seeming ridiculous.' Nikki Shields: 'Romantasy is somewhat realistic but there's a magical element.' Photograph Nick Bradshaw With a large following among female readers in their 20s through to their 40s, romantasy also appeals to teenagers who may have come to the genre through their enjoyment of young adult novels such as Twilight by Stephenie Meyer or Leah Bardugo's Shadow and Bone fantasy series. 'Most of my reading right now is in the romantasy genre,' says Chloe Horgan (16), from Dublin. 'It's very popular with people my age. The two genres mixed together add layers to the story, plus most of the time the stories tend to be very easy to read.' Around the country, bookshops are creating new sections devoted to the romantasy genre. In the Dubray bookshop in Rathmines, Dublin, bookseller Molly O'Neill shows me to their section devoted to romantasy and fantasy fiction. 'When I'm in meetings on Zoom with representatives from publishers and they're trying to sell us the books for three months from now, they are saying the word romantasy a lot,' O'Neill says. 'I'm hearing it more and more, especially in young adult fiction and fantasy.' The romantasy section of the Eason bookshop on O'Connell Street, Dublin As a fan of romantasy herself, how did she get into the genre? 'I've always read fantasy,' she says. 'My sister had some of the Sarah J Maas books so I started reading them. Sarah J Maas isn't exactly high literature but I will read all of her. The Cruel Prince by Holly Black is another classic in the genre. It's quintessential romantasy.' We pause by a shelf featuring a new romantasy bestseller from Galway author Catherine Doyle entitled The Dagger and the Flame. 'There's a group of thieves and a group of assassins and it's a Romeo and Juliet-type story,' O'Neill says, describing 17-year-old heroine Seraphine and her love interest Ransom, heir to the Order of Daggers. What did she think of the plot? 'I wouldn't forgive him for some of the stuff he does. The male characters in romantasy tend to be very tortured. It's a grumpy sunshine kind of thing, but the girls are always the sunshine and the man is always the grumpy.' Catherine Doyle, Galway author of romantasy bestseller The Dagger and the Flame Grumpy sunshine? That's a BookTok term, referring to a love story where one character is dark and brooding, and the other cheerily optimistic. It's part of a shorthand often used online on Reddit, Goodreads and StoryGraph alongside others that are sometimes easy to understand ('love triangle'), and sometimes require a certain leap of the imagination ('reverse harem' is where the woman character has many male lovers). For younger readers in particular, BookTok and Bookstagram – the book-loving corner of Instagram – play a large role in driving sales and sparking interest. Books are given 'spice' ratings online to indicate how much explicit sexual content is in them. On BookTok, popular posters will merrily spend whole videos unpacking the amount of 'spice' in romantasy novels. For readers new to the genre, the surprise may lie in discovering how conservative many of the offerings actually are. Yes, it's true there are plenty of longing looks cast in A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas, but her human heroine Feyre Archeron (19) spends most of the first novel in the series chastely mooning over the 'muscled midriff' of her masked suitor Tamlin, a High Fae and High Lord of the Spring Court who can transform into a beast. [ From the archive: Sarah J Maas: 'Just because you have great hair doesn't mean you can't kick ass' Opens in new window ] In The Cruel Prince by Holly Black, a romantasy that follows the adventures of Jude who is brought up in the faerie world after her human parents are murdered, the pace of the action would make Jane Austen look almost racy. Or as one Reddit user puts it: 'it's low/almost no spice.' Many romantasy novels are grounded under the wider category heading of young adult fiction, and many romantasy authors, like Catherine Doyle, started off writing for young adults. Doyle began writing romantasy during Covid, when she penned a trilogy with her sister-in-law Katherine Webber called Twin Crowns. 'It's about a witch and a princess separated at birth. We wrote it for the love of the genre and as a bright spot during the pandemic. It turns out we were tapping into something that publishers were crying out for. We were very fortunate to sell Twin Crowns to 20 different foreign publishers at a time when everyone was looking for light, escapist fantasy.' [ Catherine Doyle: 'Death and loss do exist in the world of children, so I never try to shy away from them' Opens in new window ] In Doyle's opinion, the reason the romantasy genre has become so successful is because it plays off classic fairytale tropes readers have grown up loving. 'Even as adult readers so many of us never lose that grá for whimsical, childlike concepts,' Doyle says. 'Magic, adventure and enchantment continue to appeal, romantasy just makes them more accessible to us.' Escapist literature may also be becoming more popular as real-world challenges – from job insecurities to the realities of emigration or housing issues – loom for a new generation of readers. Reality biting? Burying your head in a romantasy novel might seem a solid option. When Mila Taylor first arrived in Ireland in the early 2000s from Poland with her family, fiction was an important refuge for her as a lonely teenager struggling to find her way. Librarian Mila Taylor, founder of the Wisteria book club at Dundrum Library. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw 'I joined fifth year in Tullow Community School in Carlow. It was a huge adjustment because I was one of the few non-Irish people there,' she says. 'I found my group of people in the migrant group mostly and we all loved fantasy. I went on to university, I started meeting people, and going to book clubs. Then I met my wife, who is a writer. And an opening came up in the council in the library section so I moved: I did the degree and became a librarian.' Now a librarian with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Taylor founded the Wisteria book club in March in part because she wanted to nurture readers who may crave the community that books can offer. She is protective of the romantasy genre, as she believes it often comes in for unfair criticism from highbrow readers who dismiss it as 'popcorn fiction' without ever bothering to read it. As with women's literature in the 1990s, there's a sense that women are being scorned for their reading tastes. This, she says, is unfair. 'Fiction helps you develop empathy,' she says. 'It helps you look at things from a different point of view. Romantasy has that extra something to it that makes it more wish fulfilment, but also fun. It's already becoming mainstream and hopefully more accepted.' Nikki Shields believes the genre is ephemeral but enjoyable, and maybe that's the point. 'I wouldn't be reading them the whole time,' she says. 'I don't like that they all blend into one, to a degree. I find some of them are quite lazy in their writing and ideation because they're just trying to tap into something that's a popular scene. But I enjoy reading them while I'm reading them. They're otherworldly.' Perhaps the genre's very simplicity is also its strength: it has the capacity to bind readers together and build community. In the United States, fans in their thousands attend literary gatherings to have a chance to be close to romantasy stars like Yarros and Maas. Just as with Twilight and Harry Potter, there are midnight release parties for books and costumes for Halloween based on iconic characters such as Feyre Archeron. For fans of the genre, these literary gatherings and parties are invaluable in a world where so many are isolated online. For Taylor, her love of romantasy and fantasy fiction has given her both a career and a community. Having had a tough start in Ireland in the 2000s, is she in a good place in life now? 'I'm in a very happy place,' she says. 'A love of stories and books is what got me here.'

AI adoption can add €250bn to Irish coffers, says Microsoft chief
AI adoption can add €250bn to Irish coffers, says Microsoft chief

Irish Examiner

time13-06-2025

  • Business
  • Irish Examiner

AI adoption can add €250bn to Irish coffers, says Microsoft chief

Ireland can boost its per capita GDP by 42% with widespread AI adoption and supportive policies, once the nation's workforce is encouraged to embrace the opportunities currently emerging. Catherine Doyle, general manager, Microsoft Ireland, cites her firm's recent analysis suggesting Ireland could aspire to adding anything up to €250bn to the economy by 2035. In this Q&A interview, she outlines some of the national policy actions that would be helpful in optimising this opportunity. She also suggests some of the skills enhancements and other steps that can be taken within the workplace, starting small and rapidly growing the ambition for AI adoption. How well — or otherwise — are businesses in Ireland adapting to the rise of AI? AI adoption in Ireland has surged dramatically over the past year, with the adoption rate increasing from 49% to 91%, as highlighted in our recent report, The AI Economy in Ireland 2025: Trends, Impact & Opportunity, in collaboration with Trinity College Dublin. This growth showcases Ireland's proactive approach to leveraging AI's transformative potential, showing that Irish people are not merely observing the AI trend, but actively embracing it. That said, we're still on a journey with AI. While larger companies and multinationals are leading the way with more comprehensive and strategic adoption, smaller businesses are making progress but still face real hurdles like cost, lack of expertise, and uncertainty around where to start. We've consistently seen that successful digital transformations happen when an organisation has a change agent — someone within the organisation who champions technology adoption and inspires others to embrace new ways of working. To build this momentum, organisations should begin with small steps: experimenting with AI-powered productivity tools and identifying practical use cases where AI can deliver meaningful value, and then identify an individual who will drive and champion this change across the organisation. In what way could business owners benefit from greater engagement with AI? Business owners who actively engage with AI and explore its practical application stand to gain the most. Our recent research found 79% of senior business leaders said they had experienced productivity gains within their organisation. Still, 40% of Irish organisations haven't yet identified a clear AI business case, so aligning AI with business goals is crucial. AI isn't just another tool — it's a general-purpose technology, much like electricity or the internet, transforming business operations, teamwork, and customer service. Early adopters are better equipped to anticipate market changes, personalise customer experiences, and streamline processes. For instance, companies using AI-powered analytics have halved the time spent on data collection, allowing teams to focus on strategic work. Yet, despite these benefits, many organisations in Ireland still haven't aligned AI initiatives with their core strategies. The real breakthrough emerges when organisations directly connect AI adoption to their business vision, pinpointing valuable use cases and empowering teams with AI skills. By embracing AI now and investing in people, business owners can move from simply adapting to change to leading it — delivering lasting value to customers, employees, and the wider economy. What could be AI's potential contribution to business and the Irish economy going forward? The economic opportunity here is significant. As highlighted in our report, with deliberate and strategic investments in AI skills and infrastructure, Ireland could add up to €250 billion into the economy by 2035. This is a tangible possibility if we act now and act together. Our analysis shows that Ireland's per capita GDP could be 42% higher with widespread AI adoption and supportive policies compared to a scenario without AI. Even in more moderate projections, AI could still add over €60 billion more to the economy by 2035. Our vision is for Ireland to become the most AI-advanced nation in Europe, leading in safe and rapid AI adoption by equipping an already highly skilled workforce. Ireland is possibly the most well-positioned to grasp this opportunity — leveraging its vibrant tech community, world-class talent, and strong government support to ensure AI delivers meaningful impact for society and the economy. What guidance do you have to offer for employers and employees? My advice is simple: don't wait. Now is the time to start small with AI adoption. For example, you can begin by using AI to assist in day-to-day tasks such as drafting emails, managing documents, and organising meetings. This will help you see the practical benefits of AI and identify use cases within your business where AI can make a significant impact. Read More Business movers: People starting new jobs in Ireland In addition, our report highlights a rising 'shadow AI culture,' where employees use unapproved AI tools without guidance, risking sensitive data. Organisations must prioritise secure, enterprise-grade AI solutions with strong security and privacy safeguards as adoption grows. Alongside investing in tools, we need to invest in people. At Microsoft Ireland, we support organisations through initiatives like Skill Up Ireland, which helps build AI skills across the workforce. Upskilling your teams will better equip them to adopt AI confidently and responsibly. Adoption should not just align with business goals but also with ethical considerations and regulatory frameworks. For instance, public sector bodies in Ireland are guided by the Guidelines for the Responsible Use of AI in the Public Service, which offer a practical framework to ensure AI is used in a transparent, fair, and accountable manner. Businesses — large and small — can look to these principles as a foundation for responsible AI integration, building trust with employees and customers alike. At Microsoft, we've been proud to be part of Ireland's digital journey, working with both public and private sector organisations across Ireland for the last 40 years. Looking ahead, we're committed to ensuring that AI benefits everyone — businesses, employees, and society at large. Together, we can make Ireland a global leader in AI innovation.

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