{"id":72903,"date":"2025-09-19T06:12:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T06:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/72903\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T06:12:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T06:12:07","slug":"rte-host-colm-o-mongain-goes-nuclear-on-rudderless-liveline-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/72903\/","title":{"rendered":"RT\u00c9 host Colm \u00d3 Mong\u00e1in goes nuclear on rudderless Liveline \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having sounded distinctly rudderless of late, Liveline<\/b> (RT\u00c9 Radio 1, weekdays) goes nuclear, perhaps in an attempt to stir things up. On Monday, Colm \u00d3 Mong\u00e1in<\/a>, its current guest host, hears from Frank, who\u2019s concerned about the readiness of Ireland\u2019s<\/a> emergency public-warning system for sending text alerts to mobile phones in the event of a disaster.<\/p>\n

With the system apparently untested for two years<\/a>, Frank contrasts this with the preparedness demonstrated by B\u00e1s agus Beatha, a government handbook for surviving nuclear war from 1965. But as he reads through the stark publication, \u00d3 Mong\u00e1in is more interested in broadcasting recommendations than survival tips.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is one line that jumps out,\u201d the host says. \u201c\u2018When you hear the national alert, keep your radio switched on and tuned into Radi\u00f3 \u00c9ireann all the time\u2019.\u201d He impishly adds: \u201cNot many people in this neck of the woods quibbling with that particular piece of advice.\u201d \u00d3 Mong\u00e1in is obviously being irreverent, though the advice isn\u2019t as clear-cut as it might seem: given a choice between listening to Liveline or braving fallout, taking your chances in the rampant radiation might seem a less onerous option than sitting through the phone-in show\u2019s more ponderous moments.<\/p>\n

For instance, Monday\u2019s item about young people failing to give up bus seats to older passengers has its merry moments \u2013 one caller, Anne, describes herself swaying \u201clike a pole dancer\u201d while standing on a crowded bus \u2013 but quickly reverts to standard tropes about modern Ireland lacking the manners of the old days. <\/p>\n

Later, when another caller talks about a \u201ccoloured man\u201d giving her a look when asked to move from his seat, \u00d3 Mong\u00e1in quickly jumps in before things get problematic. \u201cSounds like you\u2019ve had plenty of experience, regardless of people\u2019s colour,\u201d he remarks, a faint note of alarm in his voice.<\/p>\n

It has ever been thus on Liveline, of course. But where Joe Duffy<\/a> revelled in such situations, theatrically egging on his callers, none of his putative successors has created the same rapport since his retirement<\/a>, in June. As his stewardship of Radio 1 shows such as The Late Debate and his eponymous Saturday panel programme attest, \u00d3 Mong\u00e1in is an appealing broadcaster, relaxed yet engaged. But while he chats easily \u2013 and patiently \u2013 with callers on Liveline, there\u2019s a feeling that his talents could be better used elsewhere. (The same notion occurs when Katie Hannon<\/a>, another gifted broadcaster, helms the show.)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s probably no coincidence that \u00d3 Mong\u00e1in sounds most at home when talking to the political commentator Larry Donnelly and the Fine Gael county councillor Yemi Adenuga about the revelations that the Social Democrats TD Eoin Hayes once dressed in blackface<\/a>: it\u2019s the kind of in-depth discussion he regularly conducts on his other shows. <\/p>\n

Either way, the prolonged process of selecting Duffy\u2019s permanent replacement not only adds to a sense that Liveline is drifting but also underlines how much the show\u2019s previously untouchable status rested on its former supremo\u2019s inimitable presence.<\/p>\n

That said, \u00d3 Mong\u00e1in taps into the trusted Liveline formula of using personal stories to illuminate wider issues when he speaks to Dr Liqa Ur Rehman about increasing incidences of racism. The Pakistan-born paediatrician recounts being racially harassed while in the park with his family, and notes that many medical colleagues from the international community in Ireland are encountering greater levels of abuse. <\/p>\n

It has reached the point where many doctors, including Rehman, are considering leaving Ireland: \u201cIf I\u2019m stressed about my family\u2019s safety, I find it hard to concentrate on work,\u201d he says, with obvious regret. It\u2019s an upsetting item, well handled by \u00d3 Mong\u00e1in, and ominous too, given how much our health service depends on those foreign-born medical professionals now targeted by racist attacks. In the absence of an emergency public-warning system, Liveline still sounds the alarm.<\/p>\n

\"BrendanBrendan O\u2019Connor (RT\u00c9 Radio 1, weekends) remains the station\u2019s most reliable source of heavyweight interviews. Picture: Kinlan Photography. <\/p>\n

With much of Radio 1\u2019s schedule in flux, Brendan O\u2019Connor<\/b> (RT\u00c9 Radio 1, weekends) remains the station\u2019s most reliable source of heavyweight interviews. Certainly, Saturday\u2019s conversation with Leo Varadkar<\/a> mixes big topics with personal experience to absorbing effect. The former taoiseach appears on the show to promote his memoir, but O\u2019Connor<\/a> dispels any prospect of a soft-focus chat with rapid-fire questions that keep his guest off-balance.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Leo Varadkar on resignation, regret and repressing his identity: \u2018Coming out was like emigrating\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Varadkar talks about growing up as a biracial child in culturally homogenous Blanchardstown, in Dublin, and how being a closeted gay man when younger fuelled his arrogance, but his host intently prods the \u201creserved\u201d ex-politician to dig deeper. Similarly, O\u2019Connor keeps pressing his guest on his opinion that the national public-health emergency team, better known as the Nphet advisory committee, wielded too much power during the pandemic lockdown and on his admission that his government failed to deliver on housing.<\/p>\n

Varadkar responds to his host\u2019s questioning vigorously if not always convincingly \u2013 he calls the housing crisis a \u201cmathematical problem\u201d \u2013 but O\u2019Connor\u2019s approach helps uncover a more reflective side to the former taoiseach\u2019s somewhat aloof public image.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor\u2019s other guest on Saturday, the writer and broadcaster Manch\u00e1n Magan<\/a>, is anything but reticent, as he talks about life and impending death. \u201cWe might get a year or two, definitely a few months,\u201d he says of the prostate cancer that is \u201cdevouring\u201d him.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Manch\u00e1n Magan on living with cancer: \u2018Death is something I\u2019ve always been very comfortable with\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Despite the grim prognosis, however, Magan cuts a positive figure. He admits to sadness at the thought of his partner being alone, as well as being unable to keep writing books such as his latest lexicography of the Irish language, Ninety-Nine Words for Rain (and One for Sun)<\/a>, but \u201cfor some reason I\u2019m not scared\u201d.<\/p>\n

This time O\u2019Connor sounds more sympathetic, unsurprisingly, while eschewing maudlin shows of pity. (\u201cIt\u2019s of no use,\u201d Magan says of the pity of others.) Instead the host voices justifiable wonder at his guest\u2019s manner \u2013 \u201cIf this was going on for me, I wouldn\u2019t be sitting here as upbeat as you are\u201d \u2013 and shows his instinctively sceptical side when asking the ever-enthusiastic Magan about his sincere belief in the spirit world: \u201cLet\u2019s get a bit wacky now.\u201d <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Magan\u2019s sense of wonder persists, making for an ebullient conversation, oddly life-affirming despite its ostensibly morbid nature. B\u00e1s agus beatha indeed.<\/p>\n

Moment of the week<\/p>\n

Kieran Cuddihy<\/a> is in satisfyingly ranty form on The Hard Shoulder<\/b> (Newstalk, weekdays) as he comments on texts complaining about government funding of non-governmental organisations. \u201cEvery charity in Ireland is an NGO,\u201d he says. \u201cYet in some people\u2019s minds NGOs are these things spreading this so-called liberal left-wing woke mind virus. And I hate to break it to you, but you\u2019ve all been hypnotised by Elon Musk<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n

Cuddihy says he never encountered Irish complaints about NGOs until the far-right billionaire bought Twitter, in 2022, when the social-media network started \u201cpushing this nonsense\u201d. Hitting his stride, the host concludes that if people think NGOs are a problem, \u201cyou\u2019ve been hoodwinked\u201d. Only then does he catch his breath. \u201cI feel better having got that bee out of my bonnet \u2013 or an Asian hornet<\/a>, maybe.\u201d It\u2019s certainly a stinging rebuke.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Having sounded distinctly rudderless of late, Liveline (RT\u00c9 Radio 1, weekdays) goes nuclear, perhaps in an attempt to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72904,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,49161,46359,18,1647,13,14,6,19,17,49974,49975,23900,11,12,34886,15,16,49976,5,5287,1181,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-72903","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-brendan-oconnor","11":"tag-colm-o-mongain","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-elon-musk","14":"tag-featured-news","15":"tag-featurednews","16":"tag-headlines","17":"tag-ie","18":"tag-ireland","19":"tag-joe-duffy","20":"tag-katie-hannon","21":"tag-kieran-cuddihy","22":"tag-latest-news","23":"tag-latestnews","24":"tag-leo-varadkar","25":"tag-main-news","26":"tag-mainnews","27":"tag-manchan-magan","28":"tag-news","29":"tag-newstalk-radio","30":"tag-rte","31":"tag-top-stories","32":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}