A heated Cabinet row, a leaked digital strategy, and one big question: should Ireland limit access ban social media for under-16s?

As tech giants face court battles in the United States over alleged harm to children, the Irish Government considering its options. Instead of an outright ban, Ministers want to trial a state-backed “digital wallet” to verify age online — promising protection for children without handing social media platforms any more personal data.

But will it work? Critics warn that age verification could push users towards VPNs and expand data-sharing, while supporters argue it’s more realistic than a blanket ban that might fall foul of EU law.

Ciara Doherty is joined by Elaine Burke of the For Tech’s Sake podcast to break down what the strategy really means, while Olga Cronin from the Irish Council for Civil Liberties weighs in on whether this digital fix could become a privacy risk.

Is this smart child protection — or the start of age-gating the entire internet?

Britain's former prince Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, a younger brother of King Charles, was arrested today on suspicion of misconduct in public office and is in police custody. On this special edition of Newstalk Daily, Ciara Doherty gets the latest from Tom Sykes, European Editor at Large with The Daily Beast and host of the @TheRoyalistChannel on Youtube.

Tom's substack is here: https://theroyalist.substack.com/

A Taoiseach warning of a “slippery slide to disaster” — while sailing a 52-foot yacht decked out in mahogany and teak, with an “Admiral’s” cabin and vintage Champagne on ice. Celtic Mist wasn’t just a boat. It became shorthand for power, privilege, and the contradictions of 1980s Ireland.

Bought after Charles Haughey’s first yacht was wrecked off Mizen Head, and later examined by the McCracken and Moriarty Tribunals, the vessel raised sharp questions about money, loans from businessman Dermot Desmond, and the gap between public austerity and private luxury which included a private island, Inishvickillane, Charvet shirts, and summer voyages to Brittany with Terry Keane.

Then came an unexpected second act. After Haughey’s death, Celtic Mist was donated to the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, circumnavigating Ireland, logging more than 100,000 kilometres of research and even heading for Arctic waters in search of humpbacks. It will retire from service later this year.

From tribunal exhibit to conservation vessel, Celtic Mist charts a course through scandal, spectacle, and reinvention. Newstalk’s Aisling Moloney joins Ciara Doherty to tell the story.