On this week’s episode, Niall is joined by social commentator Karl Deeter for a provocative discussion about free speech, censorship, and who really gets to decide the limits of public debate.

The conversation centres on reports that the US has developed a new portal — freedom.gov — designed to allow users, including Europeans, to access content blocked under national or EU laws, including material deemed hate speech or linked to extremism. The move comes amid growing tension between the Trump administration and the European Commission over Europe’s tightening regulation of big tech platforms.

With investigations into companies like X and Meta, and increasing enforcement of hate speech and disinformation rules across the EU, the debate over who controls online speech is intensifying. At the same time, critics argue that speech laws in Europe are becoming more restrictive — while supporters say they are necessary to protect democracy and public safety.

So where is the line?

Are our speech limits changing?

Do you feel more cautious about what you say publicly — or post online?

Are people self-censoring for fear of being cancelled, fined, or even arrested?

And should America be interfering in Europe’s laws at all?

Niall and Karl explore whether this is a battle for freedom of expression — or a geopolitical power struggle dressed up as one.

We want to hear from you.

Has the space for open debate shrunk?

Do you think free speech is under threat — or properly regulated?

And should the US have any role in challenging European speech laws?

In this powerful and unsettling episode, Niall sits down withjournalist and author and writer Dr Eoin Lenihan to unpack his reflections after spending a week in County Clare.

Drawing from conversations with locals — including a farm supply merchant — Eoin recounts a stark and troubling story: cocaine has reached deep into rural Ireland, and the fallout is devastating families. He tells of a well-known farming family whose teenage son accumulated €60,000 in cocaine debt. Dealers arrived at the family home demanding payment from the father. Desperate to protect his son, he paid. When the son later ran up another €40,000 the father couldn’t cover, the intimidation escalated — the family’s tractor was set on fire, with a chilling warning that the house would be next.

Niall focuses on what he believes is the most confronting part of this story: the shift in tactics. Drug dealers now routinely target parents to settle their children’s debts. Rural communities are living in fear, and what was once seen as an urban problem has firmly embedded itself across the countryside. Even young people from nearby Gort are avoiding nights out, saying the social scene is saturated with drugs and no longer enjoyable.

At the heart of the conversation, Niall asks listeners a deeply difficult question:

If your 16-year-old son owed tens of thousands to drug dealers, would you pay the debt to protect him — or would you go to the police?

This episode doesn’t offer easy answers. Instead, it opens an honest discussion about fear, responsibility, community, and the growing grip of cocaine on Irish family life.

A sobering conversation that asks: how did we get here — and what do we do next?