Latest news with #Joe
Extra.ie
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
How Joe Duffy changed Ireland: From head shops to Magdalene laundries
On Friday, the Liveline finally closed – on Joe Duffy's tenure, at least – as the 69-year-old Ballyfermot-born broadcaster bade a fond farewell to his listeners. But in his final week, Joe continued to do what he has been doing best for over 27 years. On Wednesday's show his comforting and sympathetic voice guided a number of callers through one of the most harrowing experiences of their lives. It began in response to a fire in Granby Row, which reminded them of the Noyeks fire in the city centre that claimed the lives of eight people. Joe Duffy leaving RTÉ Radio Centre after presenting his final Liveline show. Pic: Andres Poveda As Joe listened, Geoff Peat recalled the horrific details of the 1972 fire on the corner of Kings Inn Street in Dublin city centre. He wept as he remembered how the fire claimed the lives of people working in the offices above the shop where the fire took place and how he and his brother Harry pulled people from the flames. Joe had been instrumental in getting a plaque erected at the site of the fire and this time he listened as Madge rang in to say Geoff was the man who had put a ladder up to her and another work colleague, allowing them to escape the flames. 'I really do thank Geoff for my life,' she told the nation. It was powerful and impactful radio which allowed the extraordinary stories of ordinary people to be heard, something that, under Joe, Liveline has become synonymous with. Joe Duffy presenting his final farewell show in Studio 1 at the RTÉ Radio Centre. Pic: Andres Poveda Throughout his tenure at the Liveline desk, Joe listened to those who had been left broken by a system that should have protected them, offering a sympathetic ear to many who were telling their stories for the first time. From social justice and tragedy to stories that had people chuckling into their afternoon cuppa, for 27 years Joe has been the instrument for extraordinary radio moments, some that have even been a catalyst for societal change. Here, we take a look at some of the Liveline chats that helped bring about change in Ireland, when talking to Joe got the nation talking in turn. Joe Duffy presenting his final farewell show in Studio 1 at the RTÉ Radio Centre. Pic: Andres Poveda It was Christmas 2009 when Joe went shopping for presents and saw a huge queue at a place he hadn't noticed before. 'I saw this queue at a shop with a window like you'd see in a petrol station and it was a head shop,' he told Morning Ireland. 'I hadn't a clue what a head shop was. It was basically drugs they were selling, let's be blunt.' Within two days of his post-Christmas return, Joe addressed the topic of so-called 'legal highs' on Liveline and discovered there were over 100 head shops in Ireland that were thriving. 'People started ringing in about the effects of this – we didn't know what they were selling,' he said of the unregulated products. It became a hot Liveline topic as people started talking about the effects the products from these stores were having and how anyone could buy them, no matter what age. Then in May 2010, the Government launched a crackdown, raiding every shop in the country and shutting them down. 'That was the power of people on Liveline, bringing this to people's attention,' Joe said. He believes this campaign was one of his best achievements behind the Liveline microphone. But he admitted that due to his role in getting these shops closed, it was the only time he was ever targeted and threatened with violence. 'A young man approached me in a multi-storey car park in Dublin city centre and made a lunge at me,' he said in a past interview. 'I thought he wanted to say hello, but he tried to punch me. He said that he owned a few head shops and that I closed down his business. Another guy did the same thing to me on Talbot Street and spat in my face saying, 'You did me out of a job.'' In January 2007, a woman using the name Rosie rang the Liveline to speak of how, as a public patient, she had been kept on a waiting list for so long that her bowel cancer had spread and was too far advanced for her treatment to be successful, while a patient who had been diagnosed at the same time was going to survive as he had private healthcare and had received scans earlier. 'I am happy he is going to live, he deserves to live, but so do I,' she told listeners. It was an emotional moment and the woman, who was subsequently revealed as Susie Long, laid bare the stark reality of public healthcare versus private healthcare. The Liveline phones were hopping as callers rang in with their own stories. Susie died of bowel cancer on October 12, 2007. Aged 42, she left behind two children, Fergus and Aine, and her husband Conor. Ten years after her death, Joe opened the Liveline again to find that despite the promises made at the time, little had changed. On that show in 2017, Dr Greg Kelly, who was practising medicine for almost four decades, told Joe that for most of his career as a GP, getting patients seen in public hospitals has been very difficult. 'The very idea that a patient is seen quicker based on their ability to pay, as opposed to their clinical, medical condition, is very wrong and is discriminatory and it's apartheid and it shouldn't be happening in a state hospital which is funded by taxpayers,' he said. It was in the midst of the pandemic, on May 5, 2021, that Joe became the person to bring the menopause into the spotlight of Irish life. Women at this stage of life found in Joe an unlikely hero as caller after caller told their own stories on air, shattering one of the major taboos around women's health in Ireland. Sallyanne Brady emailed Joe to say she lost five years of her life to the menopause, and went on air to describe her symptoms. 'I had cyclical depression, I had tinnitus, I had night sweats, I had flushes, I had migraine with aura, I had tingling, I had dizzy spells, I had all over body pain, I had vertigo, I had brian fog, I had digestive issues, I had issues with my teeth, I was permanently exhausted, I didn't sleep – the list goes on and on and on,' she said. She told how doctors had fobbed her off to the point where she became suicidal. 'I was nearly a statistic,' she said, before telling Joe that she had set up a support group for those in the same position. 'We have nearly 11,000 in it and what I have asked of you today is I want a voice for these women,' she said. 'These women have no voice. There is no help for them, there is no support.' She was horrified to find out that GPs were not trained in menopause and were 'not equipped to help half the population'. From then the floodgates opened as for the next five days women rang Joe to tell him of their own experiences and the lack of help that was available. These calls in no small part led to the announcement in September 2021 by the then Health Minister Stephen Donnelly that specialist menopause clinics would be rolled out the following year and that GPs would get training in how to spot and treat menopause-related illnesses. Since the beginning of this month, women in Ireland can get HRT for free as part of their menopause care. In no small way we have Joe and the brave women who spoke on RTÉ to thank for that. On November 2, 2022, Stephen emailed Liveline because he wanted to tell his story to rid himself 'of the shame and the guilt'. He was a student of Willow Park and Blackrock College, detailing how his mother and father had sacrificed a lot to get him there. But at the age of nine he became the victim of abuse at the hands of a teacher. His harrowing story was just one of many that emerged in the following days which led to a further inquiry being set up to examine allegations of abuse at Blackrock College. So often, Liveline was a place where those who had suffered at the hands of the Church and State were given space to tell their stories. Anne from Kilkenny told Joe in 2018 that her twin brother Joey, 51, had been abused in the industrial school they were both placed into. 'It's very hard to get the picture of my twin brother being bate every morning for wetting the bed… It's very hard to get that image out of my head,' she said. Anne told how the abuse her brother suffered led to a life of addiction before his untimely death. Anne's own story was just as tragic – she ended up in Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork at a young age, expecting twins who were subsequently put up for adoption. Three weeks after her brother's death, she was able to meet one of her daughters. 'It was lovely [meeting her], but it's not like what you see on the television, Long Lost Families, hugs and kisses,' she said. 'It might be for some of them, but there's an awful lot of mixed emotions. You give up those children as babies, and all of a sudden you walk into a hotel, scanning the corridor, the lobby area to pick out, I wonder which one is she? That is terrible for anyone to go through that. 'I told her my story and she understood and thanked me for giving her the life she had. It was lovely, but it's very hard to build a relationship. And the Church is there saying sorry for that.' In 2003, Imelda Murphy called to talk to Joe from the US. She had been previously forced to work at a Magdalene laundry. 'She said she had just discovered that a woman she worked with in the Magdalene laundry had died six weeks earlier and she did not want her buried in the communal [burial] plot in Glasnevin,' Joe said earlier this year. 'She wanted Margaret to have her own individual grave with her name on it and her own headstone. By the end of the programme, Margaret's two daughters had phoned in – two girls she gave birth to while in the Magdalene laundry – to say, 'we didn't know our mother was dead. We didn't know our mother had died eight weeks ago.' That was jaw-dropping.' Margaret's daughter Samantha later thanked Joe for 'effecting societal change in Ireland'. 'We first phoned in 2003, when we had found out live on your programme that our birth mother was dead and we weren't informed,' she said. 'She never got out of the institution, she was in there for 49 years altogether, impregnated in care. But when we first made that call after her friend highlighted the appalling vista of her being buried with so many other people – that, Joe, lit a spark and that spark turned into a fire and that fire was lit under the church and State in Ireland. That led to a massive national campaign.' Liveline hasn't all been doom and gloom though – Fiver Friday has always been a high point in the Liveline calendar. Fridays have normally been a day of fun with comedians and musicians like Syl Fox, Brendan O'Carroll, June Rodgers, Brush Shiels and many more gathering for a celebration to lighten the mood. It has always been a way of encouraging Irish people to spend that extra fiver in their local shops and a way for local businesses to offer discounts to customers, helping to boost the coffers of small Irish businesses and giving listeners a welcome start to the weekend.
New York Post
9 hours ago
- New York Post
Newly promoted detective will wear same shield number as 9/11 hero dad
A newly promoted Big Apple detective — who has the same job as his 9/11 hero dad — will now wear his father's identical shield number, decades after it was retired. Joe Vigiano, 32, of the NYPD's elite Emergency Service Unit, sported shield number 4511 at a promotions ceremony Friday — years after his father, Joseph Vigiano, died wearing it while rescuing those trapped in the World Trade Center. 'Now I have the privilege of wearing my dad's shield number,' a beaming Joe Vigiano told The Post. 4 Joe Vigiano, 32, surrounded by his proud family at a promotions ceremony. Matthew McDermott Vigiano was 8 years old when his father, a detective with ESU's Truck 2 on Sept. 11, 2011, never returned home. His dad's FDNY brother John also perished in the terrorist attack. Joseph Vigiano and his widow, Kathy, met while the pair worked in Brooklyn's 75th Precinct. 'He went to work and never came home,' Kathy, a retired cop, said about her beloved husband. 4 Joe Vigiano wearing his hero dad's shield number. Matthew McDermott 'Now, my son Joe wears his father's detective shield and does the same job his father did.' Joe said he was inspired to follow his father's footsteps after ESU members helped the shattered family grieve after the devastating attacks. 4 Joe Vigiano poses for a photo with NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch during a promotions ceremony. Matthew McDermott 'It was definitely the camaraderie I saw with the passing of my father,' he said. 'After my dad passed away, it was definitely the men and women of the 75th Precinct and the Emergency Service Unit that took my family in.' Joe joined the department eight years ago and has worked out of Brooklyn's Emergency Truck 7 — where his dad started out. His brother John is in the Marines. While his other one, James, also works in the NYPD. 4 Brothers Joseph and John Vigiano died in the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11. Copyphoto Last year, the cop brothers saved a man in Brooklyn after he was shot in the chest. At the ceremony, Joe was surrounded by his proud family including his mom, wife Jenny and 3-year-old son Joseph, who is named after his brave grandfather. Asked how his dad would feel about his ascent in the department, Joe said, 'I'm sure he would be proud.' 'More importantly, I think he would be proud of my family, my wife and son. They're great'
Newsweek
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Why Was Joe Giudice Deported? Bravo Star Asks Trump for Pardon
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Reality star Joe Giudice, who was deported from the United States back to his native Italy in 2019 after being convicted on federal fraud charges asked President Donald Trump for a pardon on Thursday. "President Trump, I respect you and I'm asking for a second chance," Giudice wrote on Instagram, along with the hashtag "PardonJoeGiudice." Newsweek reached out to representatives for Giudice for comment. Why It Matters Giudice rose to fame alongside his now ex-wife Teresa Giudice on Bravo's Real Housewives of New Jersey. Teresa also appeared on the fifth season of The Celebrity Apprentice, which was hosted by Trump. Trump pardoned reality stars Todd and Julie Chrisley last month. The Chrisley Knows Best couple was convicted on fraud and tax evasion charges. Giuseppe "Joe" Giudice, from the "Real Housewives of New Jersey," stands during a hearing in the Passaic County Courthouse in Paterson, New Jersey, on October 15, 2014. Giuseppe "Joe" Giudice, from the "Real Housewives of New Jersey," stands during a hearing in the Passaic County Courthouse in Paterson, New Jersey, on October 15, 2014. William Perlman/NJ Advance Media via AP, Pool What To Know In 2014, Joe and Teresa each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, one count of bankruptcy fraud by concealment of assets, one count of bankruptcy fraud by false oaths and one count of bankruptcy fraud by false declarations. Joe also pleaded guilty to one count of failure to file a tax return. Teresa was sentenced to 15 months in prison, while Joe was sentenced to 41 months. After Joe completed his sentence, he was deported to Italy. Joe was born in Italy and moved to New Jersey when he was 1 years old. He never obtained U.S. citizenship. He has since relocated to the Bahamas. Teresa and Joe, who share four daughters, finalized their divorce in 2020. Joe's Instagram post, which currently has over 38,000 likes, is captioned: "I'm Joe Guidice. I served my time, and I've been deported from the U.S. for nearly a decade. I was raised in Jersey. I'm a father of four amazing daughters and I just want to be allowed to visit them again. President Trump, I respect you and I'm asking for a second chance. @realdonaldtrump @donaldtrumpjr." Teresa commented on Joe's post on Thursday with prayer hands and heart emojis. "I love you dad," Milania Giudice, Joe and Teresa's daughter, wrote. Their oldest daughter Gia Giudice also wrote, "I love you." Fellow Real Housewives of New Jersey stars Siggy Flicker and Jen Aydin shared supportive comments on Joe's post. "I'm trying. Joe should be back home with his beautiful daughters," wrote Flicker, who was appointed to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's board of trustees by Trump. Earlier this year, Joe Guidice appeared on his ex-wife Teresa Guidice's podcast Turning the Tables where he spoke about fighting his deportation. "I got a lawyer working on something, but she's been working on it and hasn't done anything yet, so, I don't know, we'll see. I did get in front of the embassy and they denied that was it. I paid a bunch of money for that, so...I went, and it took not even five minutes and they denied it, so I'm done with this crap. It is what it is." What People Are Saying Joe Guidice said earlier this year on his ex-wife Teresa Guidice's podcast Turning the Tables about missing the U.S.: "Well, I mean, you got friends, family. I mean, everything. You grow up someplace, you get used to everything. I mean, that's why I adapt[ed] here in the Bahamas, Nassau, because it's kind of like Americanized, and I always see American people here. So, I kind of feel like I'm close to home. When I was in Italy, it wasn't really the same. It was nice, but it just felt far. Like, here, it's close. It's only two-and-a-half hours away, and I guess because everybody comes and visits me, I don't feel like I'm too far." What Happens Next? Trump has not commented publicly on whether he will pardon Joe. Do you have a story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have any questions about this story? Contact LiveNews@
Metro
13 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
Emmerdale confirms mystery new romance for Kim
Kim Tate (Claire King) appears to be ready to move forward in the world of romance in Emmerdale. Over Christmas, Kim lost her partner Will Taylor (Dean Andrews), who died after having a heart attack. Because Joe Tate (Ned Porteous) returned at the same time, Kim's focus so far in 2025 has predominantly been on him. Convinced that Joe was hiding something, Kim attempted to find out his secrets by hiding an audio bug in his room. Kim's plan failed, meaning she didn't learn that Joe was plotting to steal Caleb Miligan's (William Ash) kidney. In recent weeks, Kim has acted as an advice giver for other people in Home Farm, rather than being at the centre of the drama herself. She was on hand to offer her thoughts on Dawn Taylor's (Olivia Bromley) affair with Joe, and also tried to support Billy Fletcher (Jay Kontzle) after his marriage broke down. Things look set to change for Kim soon, as tonight's episode saw her acting suspiciously. In the lounge, Kim was listening to Joe, who believes someone is trying to blackmail him. It was obvious Joe was troubled by the fact someone had previously been in his bedroom but the problem? Kim wasn't exactly paying attention. More Trending Instead, she was focused on the fact her phone was pinging. As she sent Joe to the kitchen, Kim wasted no time in sending a somewhat flirty text to someone called Eddie. Want to be the first to hear shocking EastEnders spoilers? Who's leaving Coronation Street? The latest gossip from Emmerdale? Join 10,000 soaps fans on Metro's WhatsApp Soaps community and get access to spoiler galleries, must-watch videos, and exclusive interviews. Simply click on this link, select 'Join Chat' and you're in! Don't forget to turn on notifications so you can see when we've just dropped the latest spoilers! It certainly would be nice to see Kim dating someone again after Will but this is a soap, which means we can't help but wonder if a classic plot twist will be on the way for her. Is Eddie a genuine man, interested in Kim? View More » Or someone else? MORE: New Joe Tate culprit enters the mix as Emmerdale fans 'suss' who is behind revenge MORE: Emmerdale fans 'work out' who keyed Joe Tate's car – and it wasn't Billy MORE: Emmerdale's Joe Tate strikes again as much-loved character is in serious danger
Irish Independent
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
‘Startled earwigs', Kerry's Clifford reliance & Donegal's tough assignment
Joe is joined by Tomás Ó Sé to preview a blockbuster All-Ireland quarter-final weekend with the clash between Armagh and Kerry the pick of the bunch.
