{"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":"Urban-rural toxicity, a Guard's fears for Ireland and the even more toxic Roscommon-Mayo divide","slug":"urban-rural-toxicity-a-guard-s-fears-for-ireland-and-the-even-more-toxic-roscommon-mayo-divide","published_at":"2026-04-28T00:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/free-state-with-joe-brolly-and-dion-fanning-6213217/urban-rural-toxicity-a-guard-s-fears-for-ireland-and-the-even-more-toxic-roscommon-mayo-divide","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/69efe4293f40b76716ed55f1/media.mp3","summary":"“I’m getting in touch because I’ve written the attached open letter as a serving Garda,” this email was one of many we received since Sinead O’Sullivan came on the podcast.  “I’ve never done anything like this before,” it continued, “but I felt I had to say something given how things are going. I wrote it out of a genuine sense of frustration with the direction the country seems to be heading. More than that, I’m writing as a father of a young family, and I’m increasingly worried about what kind of Ireland my kids are going to grow up in.” On Free State today we ask why people hurting has been turned into an urban versus rural debate when everyone is affected. Does this tell us something about the inability of the ruling class to see beyond the short term? Why is there always a defensive attack or a short term fudge rather than leadership? And when it comes to lack of leadership? Could things actually get worse for Mayo? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","meta_description":"“I’m getting in touch because I’ve written the attached open letter as a serving Garda,” this email was one of many we received since Sinead O’Sullivan ca…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2888,"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/urban-rural-toxicity-a-guard-s-fears-for-ireland-and-the-even-more-toxic-roscommon-mayo-divide/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/urban-rural-toxicity-a-guard-s-fears-for-ireland-and-the-even-more-toxic-roscommon-mayo-divide.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}