On today’s podcast, Niall is joined by journalist Fatima Gunning from Gript Media to discuss a deeply sensitive and divisive situation sent in by a listener.

A mother has contacted the show after discovering that her 15-year-old daughter is pregnant by her 17-year-old boyfriend. While the young couple have reportedly been together for two years, the parents are now sharply divided on what to do next. The father believes the only responsible course of action is to go to the Gardaí and report the boyfriend. The mother strongly disagrees, fearing that involving the authorities could alienate their daughter, fracture the family, and ultimately do more harm than good. She believes the boyfriend intends to stand by their daughter and that the family must now face the reality of the situation together.

With legal, moral, and emotional questions colliding, Niall and Fatima examine the complexities of consent, age of responsibility, parental duty, and the unintended consequences of involving the criminal justice system in a family crisis.

Listeners then join the conversation live, offering mixed and often conflicting views on what the father should do — from those who say the law must be followed regardless, to others who argue that compassion, trust, and keeping the family together should come first.

What would you do?

Would you report the boyfriend — or handle it within the family?

A difficult conversation, with no easy answers.

On today’s show, Niall begins with the latest on the Mercosur trade deal, getting an update directly from Brussels with TD Paul Lawless as concerns continue to grow about its potential impact on Irish farming and food standards.

Then we turn to today’s main topic — and it’s one that’s igniting fierce debate across Europe. Following developments in the UK, where MPs have voted in favour of tighter restrictions that could effectively ban under-16s from accessing social media platforms, many are now asking whether Ireland is next.

The move comes after months of warnings about the harm social media can cause to children’s mental health, exposure to adult content, and online exploitation. But it also raises uncomfortable questions. Why are governments now stepping in to ban children from private platforms in order to keep them safe? Is this really about protecting young people — or about filling a gap left by parents?

Have we reached a point where parenting has been outsourced to legislation? Has this generation of parents been too permissive, allowing children unchecked access to adult conversations and content, only to demand state intervention when the consequences become clear?

And ultimately, are children today suffering from a lack of good parenting — or is this simply a new challenge that society is still learning how to handle?

We’ll be discussing it all, live from 12pm.

Today on the podcast, Niall is joined by Jackie Flannery from the Irish Rural Farmers Association to discuss the growing backlash from family carers following a major move by the Revenue Commissioners.

Revenue has written to 34,000 carers, confirming that Carer’s Allowance and Carer’s Benefit have always been taxable, and that from 1 January last year the tax is now applied in real time. Carers who did not previously declare the payment as income are now being told they may face back-tax bills, some of them significant.

Carers are pushing back hard. Many argue they provide round-the-clock care for payments of just:

€270 per week for caring for one person under 66

€308 per week for caring for someone aged 66 or over

They question how an allowance they rely on to survive can now result in unexpected tax demands years later.

Revenue maintains the payment is taxable income and subject to means testing, while critics online ask why carers should be treated differently to other taxpayers.

Niall and Jackie examine the human impact, the fairness of the system, and the wider implications for rural and family carers — and Niall asks listeners to weigh in:

👉 Should the Carer’s Allowance be exempt from tax regardless of household income, or should it remain means-tested and taxable?

Callers are invited to have their say.