Aug 25, 2026 · 47 min · 12 segments
Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan joins us in studio for a sit-down interview. We asked him what needs to change after the M9 collision, whether the State is failing the small group of young people its…
Jim O'CallaghanGuest
Sinead O'CarrollHost
Christina FinnPanelist
Ronan DuffyPanelist
Jane MatthewsPanelist
He was very much all business in the sense that, like, obviously it's a very, very serious topic that I think has been dominating the news for the past week.
I feel with Jim McCallaghan, you know, I think we've talked before about because it's very much this, you know, opinion that he always wants to look tough and I think he had opportunities to do that but he didn't really go there I didn't think I think when yourself Christina you were asking her about you know perhaps using the children's act you know for parents to be punished in that regard he Didn't really kind of bite on that question.
He kind of half mentioned, you know, when speaking around Oberstown, he said kind of detention is necessary.
That's about as hard as he got kind of on this issue saying detention is necessary.
I think he was suggesting that previously more young people, young boys especially, as he kept saying, were detained.
But again, I don't think it was in any way wanting to lay down the law or anything like that.
Do you think that was because of his audience in this room or the perception of a journal audience? Or do you think that is because he's hearing things like Cockle Crow calling the boys thugs and he's trying to take some of the anger or some of that rhetoric out of the conversation?
I think maybe he doesn't feel like he needs to give voice to any kind of anger like that because I think it's already out there and he just kind of wants to come across as being, not come across as being like he is the impartial person in this.
Yeah, I thought it was interesting him bringing up sort of the different options perhaps that judges have at their disposal when it comes to the Children's Act.
I'd be interested to see what this new youth strategy looks like in the aftermath of what we've, you know, been seeing over the summer months.
I'm a bit skeptical, you know, when you hear of these new strategies, be it the new housing plan or whatever.
I'd love to see some out of the box thinking, some fresh, modern ideas about how we're actually going to tackle such, like he kind of pointed to it, that it's a...
It's a situation where, like, it brings in so many different aspects of society, be it, you know, youth crime, child poverty, parental responsibility.
You know, I would just love to see something with a bit of meat on it when it comes to that strategy and see if it would actually make sense.
He was very much all business in the sense that, like, obviously it's a very, very serious topic that I think has been dominating the news for the past week.
I feel with Jim McCallaghan, you know, I think we've talked before about because it's very much this, you know, opinion that he always wants to look tough and I think he had opportunities to do that but he didn't really go there I didn't think I think when yourself Christina you were asking her about you know perhaps using the children's act you know for parents to be punished in that regard he Didn't really kind of bite on that question.
He kind of half mentioned, you know, when speaking around Oberstown, he said kind of detention is necessary.
That's about as hard as he got kind of on this issue saying detention is necessary.
I think he was suggesting that previously more young people, young boys especially, as he kept saying, were detained.
But again, I don't think it was in any way wanting to lay down the law or anything like that.
Do you think that was because of his audience in this room or the perception of a journal audience? Or do you think that is because he's hearing things like Cockle Crow calling the boys thugs and he's trying to take some of the anger or some of that rhetoric out of the conversation?
I think maybe he doesn't feel like he needs to give voice to any kind of anger like that because I think it's already out there and he just kind of wants to come across as being, not come across as being like he is the impartial person in this.
Yeah, I thought it was interesting him bringing up sort of the different options perhaps that judges have at their disposal when it comes to the Children's Act.
I'd be interested to see what this new youth strategy looks like in the aftermath of what we've, you know, been seeing over the summer months.
I'm a bit skeptical, you know, when you hear of these new strategies, be it the new housing plan or whatever.
I'd love to see some out of the box thinking, some fresh, modern ideas about how we're actually going to tackle such, like he kind of pointed to it, that it's a...
It's a situation where, like, it brings in so many different aspects of society, be it, you know, youth crime, child poverty, parental responsibility.
You know, I would just love to see something with a bit of meat on it when it comes to that strategy and see if it would actually make sense.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.