Prime Time - Season 6 / Year 2024

Examining the recent deaths of people using E-scooters and asking the minister responsible for this area, James Lawless, why enforcement of new laws has been so slow

Prime Time debates housing with Minister Darragh O'Brien and Sinn Féin's Eoin Ó Broin. 

Prime Time looks at the ban on XL bullies which is due to take effect shortly.  Can it stop dog attacks taking place? Plus, the shocking revelations of abuse in Ireland's special schools revealed this week.

Prime Time previews the U.S. Presidential election debate.

As Ireland records the highest number of drug treatment cases on record, a special RTÉ Prime Time report tonight asks how bad is the drug debt issue in Ireland, and can anything be done to stop it destroying lives?

Drug users are racking up tens of thousands in debts while some innocent families - who are victims of drug related intimidation - have had to flee the country. The prevalence of cocaine in every town and village is Ireland, is such that cows, tractors and farm land are being sold by farmers to pay off drug debts. 

Drug related intimidation occurs when a criminal or criminals allege that a sum of money is owed as a result of a drug debt. It usually involves family members of the person in debt being subjected to intimidation or the threat of intimidation.

The consequences of the current high rates of cocaine use can be terrifying as people face threats and violence from drug dealers seeking repayment.

People working in addiction services have told RTÉ Prime Time some farmers have sold livestock, farm land and machinery such as tractors to pay off drug debts.  It is not uncommon for a farmer to pay €50,000 to clear off a family member's drug debt and make a drug dealer go away.

Prime Time looks at why Ireland has one of the lowest turnout rates at elections across the whole of Europe. 

Calls for Irish Rail's new train timetable to be scrapped as commuters complain of travel chaos, and the row over the €1.4 million Oireachtas security hut.

On RTÉ Prime Time tonight, Aoife Johnston's mother and father, Carol and James, are interviewed for the first time about the devastating loss of their daughter. In December 2022, 16-year-old Aoife Johnston died after waiting nearly 14 hours for treatment at the Emergency Department of University Hospital Limerick. Aoife, who presented with suspected sepsis, passed away after a delay in receiving medical care. A recently published report into the incident has confirmed that her death was "almost certainly avoidable."

Speaking about the night Aoife was admitted to UHL, her father, James Johnston said: "There's not a day that goes by that I don't blame myself for not doing more later on during the night, and just... I just didn't think she was going to die. Like, I really. I just. If I had. If I had known, I would have torn the place apart, but I just didn't. Just didn't think like, that she was going to die on us. I really didn't."

The official report into Aoife's death highlights significant delays in care at University Hospital Limerick, where Aoife waited nearly 14 hours in the Emergency Department before receiving any form of treatment for suspected sepsis.

Aoife's parents tell presenter Miriam O'Callaghan about the family's ongoing grief and the impact their daughter's death has had on the family and the wider community.

Tonight in a special report on Prime Time, RTÉ Investigates broadcasts new undercover footage of Irish bull calves being cruelly treated including recordings at a major cattle export facility in Kerry revealing calves being repeatedly struck in the face, force-fed, jabbed with tools and dragged by the ears and tail. 

RTÉ has continued to investigate the treatment of Irish calves in the wake of Europe-wide interest in its major report published and broadcast in July 2023, RTÉ Investigates: Milking It, Dairy's Dirty Secret. It exposed how EU regulations on the transport of live animals were being broken as Irish bull calves were transported by truck to mainland Europe. The programme also raised major questions about the treatment of animals at marts in Ireland. 

Leading animal welfare expert Dr Simon Doherty of Queens University Belfast described what he saw in the footage to be shown tonight as cruelty: "I think where there's kicking and screaming and slapping and prodding with pitchforks, that is at the cruelty level." 

The footage was filmed in Hallissey Livestock Exports in Fossa, near Killarney in March this year. It was recorded on cameras secretly placed and brought onto the site by animal rights campaigners, and provided to RTÉ Investigates. 

Denis Drennan, President of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA), said what he saw in the new footage is "completely unacceptable."  Watching the footage, Mr Drennan said "there's a man there with a stick beating calves. It's completely abolished and against the law, and there's a man there with a pitchfork, trying to run calves out the gate - completely unacceptable." 

Calves are prepared for export on trucks at the facility. Denis Drennan says footage of two calves being force fed using stomach tubes raises concern about why they are at the facility in the first place. "The rules and regulations say that if an animal is not fit to travel, it shouldn't travel. It's going to damage the reputation that we have across Europe of providing top quality, fit, healthy animals," he told RTÉ Investigates. 

Tonight's report also shows how dead animals were piled into a mound and left to rot outside the facility in Kerry, which raises major disease-risk concerns, according to Dr Simon Doherty of Queens University Belfast.  

Cameras captured over four days several dead calves being removed from sheds. Some were dragged out by farm hands, others lifted using a teleporter. They were placed on a mound of dead and decaying calf carcases lying in the open air, rain pouring over them.  

Dr Simon Doherty of Queens University Belfast said it appeared some of the animals have been there for weeks. "If those are still within sight, sound, smell of other living animals, I mean that's just absolutely fundamentally wrong from a welfare perspective, there's a huge disease risk," he said. 

"It looks like they're just thrown in a heap somewhere. I just really don't understand, it beggars belief that somebody would leave animals that length of time around their premises," said Denis Drennan.  

The report reignites questions raised by RTÉ Investigates last year about the treatment of Irish bull calves here during the live export process. Following the 2023 RTÉ investigation the then Taosieach Leo Vardkar, described the cruelty exposed as "repugnant" and he told the Dáil that the Department of Agriculture would commence a "robust and timely" investigation into the incidents highlighted. 

In response to queries from RTÉ a solicitor for Hallissey Livestock Exports said that their client's business "provides a valuable service to the farming community and at all times takes reasonable care to ensure it does so in a manner which protects the welfare of the animals in its charge." Pointing out that Hallissey Livestock Exports Limited is regulated by the Department of Agriculture, the solicitor's letter states, "while no system is ever perfect, it is satisfied that its business is compliant with the highest standards." 

Tonight's special report will also feature footage of the condition hundreds Irish calves were left in after being exported across Romania and onwards to Israel. RTÉ Investigates traced their journey and witnessed the Irish calves exiting transport vehicles in Haifa Port in Northern Israel. 

Israel has had an increased demand for cattle imports from Romania since several countries ceased transporting live exports to it after the outbreak of the war in Gaza. Research by RTÉ Investigates found that thousands of calves originating from Ireland are listed as Romanian in official Israeli import figures.   

Prime Time takes a look at the details of the, as yet unpublished, charities regulator draft report into The Peter McVerry Trust and the latest in Lebanon as Israel fires at three UNIFIL positions.

Prime Time reveals internal Tik Tok documents which show the level of content that goes unmoderated. Plus, tackling the issue of poor water quality in Ireland's rivers.

The latest in the Kyran Durnin murder investigation; and  we hear from Kathleen Correia whose husband was jailed for 8 years for raping and coercively controlling her. 

With one week to go to polling in the US presidential election Prime Time will be live in the key swing state of Pennsylvania. 

Special report on what's behind the recent spate of closures in the restaurant sector. Plus a look at measures to protect the integrity of the US Presidential election ballot. 

RTÉ Prime Time has been reporting from the key swing state of Pennsylvania in the run up to voting. Reporter Louise Byrne is travelling across Pennsylvania looking at the issues for voters and the measures that have been put in place over the last four years to protect the integrity of the ballot.  

As voters go to the polls on November 5th, Miriam O 'Callaghan will co-present a special Prime Time programme live in Washington, as she is joined by a panel of experts both independent and partisan, bringing viewers the first early results. 

How big is the problem of school avoidance and what can be done to tackle it? Prime Time hears from the teenagers who just can't face school. 

As the election campaign gets into full swing Prime Time will debate the issues in health. The programme will also hear the latest in the JoJo Dullard investigation. 

Prime Time is live from King John's Castle in Limerick discussing a range of issues with voters and candidates. 

Prime Time is live in Carrick on Shannon in Co Leitrim talking to voters about their issues and concerns and to candidates. 

RTÉ's Prime Time is set to host the final General Election 2024 Leaders' Debate this Tuesday night, November 26, offering voters further opportunity to hear directly from Ireland's leading political figures.
 

Presented by Miriam O'Callaghan and Sarah McInerney, the live broadcast will feature Fine Gael's Simon Harris, Fianna Fáil's Micheál Martin, and Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald. The debate promises in-depth discussion and rigorous questioning on the key issues shaping Ireland's future, providing a platform for the prospective Taoiseach to share their vision with the electorate. 

Power Struggles - Who is making the first moves and what kind of new government will Ireland get? 

And as the French government teeters on the edge, can Barnier's government hold on to power. 

This Thursday on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player, Prime Time will broadcast an interview with the family of the late Detective Superintendent Colm Fox. The segment comes following the recent conclusion of an inquest into his death, which occurred seven years ago at Ballymun Garda station in Dublin. 

The inquest returned a verdict of death by suicide, shedding light on the circumstances surrounding Detective Superintendent Fox's passing. In their only sit-down interview, his family share their reflections, offering perspective on the man behind the job and the impact of his loss. 

Speaking about the day he passed, his wife Edel told Prime Time "That morning, he just, there was something not quite right, but I actually couldn't put my finger on it." 

The inquest had previously heard how he was under intense pressure over the Regency Hotel murder investigation and following trial. 

His daughter Megan said "I knew that he was involved in this high profile case, and I knew that he was under pressure. No one really knew how bad things actually were for him." 

By speaking about their loss, the Fox family hope to raise awareness in the hope that it may help others who are struggling and encourage them to seek support.  

Bitter pills, the number of prescription medicines unavailable in our pharmacies continues to grow but what is the real impact on patients - and when will an inconvenience start to hurt our health…

And all the latest on the Holyhead closure.