{"podcast":{"title":"Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning","slug":"free-state-with-joe-brolly-and-dion-fanning-6213217","podcast_index_feed_id":6213217,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/641338125bde790011089c5b","website_url":"https://shows.acast.com/free-state-with-joe-brolly-and-dion-fanning","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/cover/1678981116872-078471f28dd3685d12e6a3cc8147fbb4.jpeg","author":"Joe Brolly","episode_count":390,"summary":"Free State is a podcast for the curious that stimulates, provokes, challenges and entertains, while never taking itself too seriously. Free State covers topics from sport to politics, love to loss, the human condition and how to fix the world, with guests from across the planet including Nigerian princes, former Prime Ministers, ex convicts, footballers, boxers and extraordinary people from every walk of life. Free State is presented by Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning. Brolly is a barrister, an original thinker with a fascinating backstory, who donated a kidney to a stranger and then led a crusade to transform organ donation on the island of Ireland, and Fanning is an award-winning interviewer and author. They are not motivational gurus or life coaches. They are two people from very different worlds, with one core belief uniting them - this is not a high performance podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/free-state-with-joe-brolly-and-dion-fanning-6213217"},"episode":{"title":"Fuel me once: When Leo Varadkar ran out of diesel","slug":"fuel-me-once-when-leo-varadkar-ran-out-of-diesel","published_at":"2026-04-16T00:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/free-state-with-joe-brolly-and-dion-fanning-6213217/fuel-me-once-when-leo-varadkar-ran-out-of-diesel","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/free-state-with-joe-brolly-and-dion-fanning-6213217","url":"https://freestatepodcast.com","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/641338125bde790011089c5b/e/69e01014e733e47189729fca/media.mp3","summary":"This week Irish life returned to normal and Irish politics resumed its normal parlour games. The resignation of Michael Healy Rae was described repeatedly as a ‘bombshell’ and the political parties shouted at each other in the Dail. Outside protestors and malcontents hovered but will their protests take on those who are really exploiting the ordinary people? Since Israel and the US launched their war against Iran, the top 100 oil companies are making an additional unearned ‘war profit’ of $30 million an hour. There are calls for a windfall tax but who will take the side of the ordinary consumer over big oil? On Free State today we look at the real divide in society and we consider the moment when Leo Varadkar ran out of diesel Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","meta_description":"This week Irish life returned to normal and Irish politics resumed its normal parlour games. The resignation of Michael Healy Rae was described repeatedly…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2867,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/free-state-with-joe-brolly-and-dion-fanning-6213217/episodes/fuel-me-once-when-leo-varadkar-ran-out-of-diesel/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/free-state-with-joe-brolly-and-dion-fanning-6213217/fuel-me-once-when-leo-varadkar-ran-out-of-diesel.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}