Mick Heaney

3 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Mick Heaney

As a broadcaster, Tom Dunne comes across as the personification of natural good humour. In his various incarnations on Newstalk he projects an air of amused affability, whether presenting his nocturnal music programme, The Tom Dunne Show (Monday-Thursday), or discussing pop matters on The Hard Shoulder (weekdays). Tuesday, however, seems to mark a change in his demeanour. As he stands in on Seán Moncrieff’s afternoon show, Dunne becomes uncharacteristically sniffy. Why is soon clear.

4 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Mick Heaney

Midway through his interview with Brendan O’Connor (RTÉ Radio 1, Saturday and Sunday), Bono confesses to a failing that has been evident to listeners since he’s been on air. “I’m not very succinct,” the U2 frontman says by way of explaining his convoluted answers to O’Connor’s questions. The host seems happy enough to let his guest speak at his own pace, possibly viewing any verbal rambling as a small price to pay for having one of the most famous people in the world on his show for an hour.

1 month ago | irishtimes.com | Mick Heaney

As if we didn’t have enough on our plates already, Ray D’Arcy (RTÉ Radio 1, weekdays) urgently wants to bring another contentious issue to our attention. “This is really important,” the presenter declares, “Would you allow anyone else to pour gravy on your dinner?”D’Arcy is pondering this moral conundrum on foot of survey findings that 81 per cent of people think it wrong to add said sauce to someone else’s food.

1 month ago | irishtimes.com | Mick Heaney

The kids are all right? Whatever the case when The Who originally made the claim, in the swinging London of 1965, it seems a dubious assertion in Ireland 60 years later. “Irish teenagers are succeeding in school but struggling in life,” the reporter Kate Carolan baldly declares on Morning Ireland (RTÉ Radio 1, weekdays), summing up the findings of a Unicef report that teens here are among the least happy in high-income countries.

1 month ago | irishtimes.com | Mick Heaney

It’s a week when the airwaves are awash with talk of people in traditional garb, be it men in cassocks or women in skorts. But while the robes worn by cardinals at the papal conclave signify the wearers’ lofty status, the hybrid garment foisted on camogie players only underscores how overlooked and undervalued they feel, as Andrea Gilligan hears on Lunchtime Live (Newstalk, weekdays).