The future of Ireland’s Triple Lock is moving from political argument to legislative reality. Following a Cabinet decision last week, the Government is preparing to bring the Defence Amendment Bill before the Oireachtas — setting up one of the most consequential debates about Irish neutrality in decades.

The Triple Lock currently requires Government approval, a Dáil vote, and a UN mandate before Irish troops can be deployed overseas. Ministers argue the UN Security Council is increasingly paralysed, making the system unworkable in a world of rising global tensions. Critics say removing the UN element would quietly weaken neutrality and lower the threshold for overseas military involvement.

On today’s Newstalk Daily, Ciara Doherty is joined by John O’Brennan, Professor of European Politics at Maynooth University, and Niamh Ní Bhriain from the Transnational Institute. They debate whether this is a technical reform or a fundamental shift in Ireland’s foreign and defence policy.

Have your say by emailing newstalkdaily@newstalk.com.

It’s one of Ireland’s most baffling missing persons cases.

And it’s in the news again with Gardai confirming that they now believe the couple in question never left the country despite numerous reported sightings abroad.

So what really happened to Conor and Sheila Dwyer?

And what, if anything, has a renewed investigation uncovered?

Ciara is joined by Southern correspondent with the Irish Independent, Ralph Riegel

Yesterday was, of course, St. Brigid’s day.

But your ancestors would have known it as Imbolc.

And in celtic countries like Ireland and Scotland there are some who still celebrate it as such.

So what is Imbolc and what has it got to do with St. Brigid?

Ciara is joined by Kelly Fitzgerald from the School of Irish, Celtic Studies and Folklore in UCD

50 years ago this year a new genre of music was created.

Suddenly there was this strange and raw sound. Angry looking young people were screaming about their dissatisfaction as to the state of their lot in life and the stale and seemingly hopeless future they had been handed by the establishment.

There were leather jackets, mohawks, safety pins and a whole lot more.

Punk had been born.

But a half a century on, what is its legacy?

Tara Duggan is joined by “Professor of Punk”, Cultural Sociologist, Creative Writer and Experimental Musician at University Limerick, Eoin Devereux

At what point do politicians decide X is no longer fit for purpose?

Dublin City Council saw the writing on the wall and removed their account.

Will others see the logic in their thinking?

Are politicians staying on X because they need it, or because they were told to use it?

And if X is no longer fit for democratic discourse, what — if anything — should replace it?

Tara Duggan is joined by Clare O’Donoghue Velikić, Director of ODV Digital, and Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond,

“TAX THE RICH” — it’s a slogan we’ve heard shouted on streets and trending online

But it’s not a new idea.

Ireland tried a wealth tax before — and — promptly — dropped it.

But times have changed, so the question returns: could a wealth tax work this time? And would it actually change anything?

Eamonn Torsney is joined by Jim Clarken, CEO of Oxfam Ireland and Dr. Emmett Oliver, from Trinity Business school

A new survey shows Holocaust denial among young people in Ireland is rising — and it’s happening at a moment of extreme political tension globally.

For many Jewish people, including those here in Ireland, there’s a growing fear of being forced into this binary: that remembering the Holocaust somehow means endorsing the actions of the Israeli state — or that criticising Israel erases Jewish trauma.

On Holocaust Commemoration Day, remembering history has become harder and more emotionally charged. But how has it come to this?

To talk about that complexity, Tara Duggan is joined by Ria Czerniak-LeBov — a Jewish woman living in Ireland, the granddaughter of a Holocaust escapee, and a vocal critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza

It’s the dawn of the Age of Aquarius, and Gen Z are letting their voices be heard

From Bulgaria, to Bangladesh, From Nepal to Ecuador — mass political upheaval is happening across almost every continent since 2022

So, could the west be in some very early stages, and should the power brokers start getting worried?

To help us unpack why Gen Z has become the generation of protest, Tara Duggan is joined by Examiner Columnist Jane Cowan, who’s been following these movements closely.