Catch up with Faculty staff in the media this week, speaking on their research and helping our understanding of current issues. Listings are in staff alphabetical order. School groupings appear at the end of the listings.

 

Professor Deirdre Ahern, School of Law, appeared before the new Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence on 24 June 2025. A specialist in AI regulation, Professor Ahern is a member of Ireland's AI Advisory Council. Her appearance is featured in the media:

 

Mike Becker, School of Law, provides expert comment for this article about Trump-Netanyahu plans to relocate Palestinians. NBC News 08 July 2025: Trump-Netanyahu meeting revives bitterly opposed plan to relocate Palestinians

 

Dr Brendan Ciarán Browne, School of Religion, Theology and Peace Studies, writes in an opinion piece in the Journal about Palestine says the persecution of the Palestinians by Israel carries all the hallmarks of previous European and American colonial exploits.

 

Dr Ann Devitt, School of Education, as co-principal investigator on a project which has received €500,000 from Enterprise Ireland’s Commercialisation Fund to develop an AI-enabled platform to help teachers create assessments and provide formative feedback to learners, is featured in media articles:

 

Professor Anne Dolan, School of Histories and Humanities. Professor Dolan’s research was cited by the Taoiseach Micheál Martin when he was speaking at the launch of a history of the Boundary Commission. Irish Times 08 July 2025: Partition was ‘designed to be intractable’, says Micheál Martin (Subscriber content)

 

Professor Patrick Geoghegan, School of Histories and Humanities, provided the historical perspective on the defence of democracy at a recent conference, reports the Law Society Gazette 27 June 2025: Regulation ‘not only safeguard’ for democracy.

 

Dr Sarah Hamill, School of Law, writes an opinion piece on rent reforms saying that ‘by offering something to landlords and tenants with new rental rules, the Government is taking something from both. Irish Independent 26 June 2025: Rent reforms are the sticking plaster on a crisis – only radical change will work.

 

Dr Georgina Laragy, School of Histories and Humanities, discussed the future potential of the GPO on Newstalk Radio 106-108FM 03 July 2025: Does Ireland need a national women’s museum? And should we put it in the GPO?

 

Professor Ronan Lyons, School of Social Sciences and Philosophy, appears in a number of media outlets on findings on house price increases in his Irish House Price Report Q2 2025 for Daft.ie:

 

Dr Eoin Mac Cárthaigh, School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies, is interviewed on Radio nan Gàidheal, a Scottish Gaelic language radio station, about the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland project. BBC Radio nan Gàidheal 10 July 2025: Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland.

 

Dr Selina McCoy, School of Social Sciences and Philosophy, co-writes an article on blanket bans on smartphones saying that ‘Prohibition resonates with public anxieties about youth wellbeing. However, bans are fraught with practical, human rights and ethical implications’ in the Irish Times 25 June 2025: Blanket bans on smartphones are not the answer.

 

Dr John O’Connor, School of Psychology, is mentioned in an article on self-sabotage suggesting it stems from our ‘fundamental ambivalence as creatures’ in the Irish Independent on 24 June 2025:  Self-sabotage: why you do it and how to stop (Subscriber content).

 

Dr Eoin O’Dell, School of Law, provides an expert view on the news that Denmark are to introduce protections giving individuals automatic copyright over their own likeness in effort to tackle AI and deepfakes on Newstalk Radio 106-108FM 01 July 2025: Should You Own the Copyright to Your Likeness?

 

Dr Eoin O’Dell, School of Law, provides comments on the news that 29 organisations call on the Seanad to take action over anti-SLAPP measures, calling it a missed opportunity to protect freedom of expression, on the Index on Censorship website 09 July 2025: Ireland's Defamation (Amendment) Bill fails to protect public interest speech - Index on Censorship.        

Dr Barra Roantree, School of Social Sciences and Philosophy, wrote an opinion piece in which he writes that as the share of children below the poverty line is now lower than during the worst years of the financial crisis, he argues for a second tier of child benefits to target children in poverty in the Irish Times 05 July 2025: Will the government really put McDonalds ahead of children in Budget?

 

Dr Clemens Ruthner, School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies, is quoted in article about a village that produced what's claimed to have been the first vampire in France 24 on 30 June 2025:  Serbian village stakes claim to the first vampire.

 

Staff from the School of Histories and Humanities continue to feature in the ‘From that Small island’ four-part documentary series about the history of Ireland on RTÉ.

  • Professor Micheál Ó Siochrú, Professor Patrick Geoghegan, and Professor Jane Ohlmeyer feature in episode three. 
  • Professor Jane Ohlmeyer and Professor Patrick Geoghegan feature in the final episode of the RTÉ four-part documentary series.
  • The documentary series is available on the RTÉ Player.

 

Staff from the School of Histories and Humanities involved in the Virtual Record Treasury Ireland project appear and are mentioned in multiple media articles and programmes, on the latest release of documents as part of this project. 200,000 new historical records lost in a fire at the Four Courts in Dublin during the Civil War in 1922 are being made available online, including 60,000 names from the Irish 19th century censuses, and the project and this news proved extremely popular across all media. Staff in the reports include Dr Ciarán Wallace, Dr Peter Crooks, and Dr Brian Gurrin. Further details on the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland are available on the project’s website here.