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Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning

Gold Hat Productions

Free State is a podcast for the curious that stimulates, provokes, challenges and entertains, while never taking itself too seriously. Free State covers topics from sport to politics, love to loss, the human condition and how to fix the world, with guests from across the planet including Nigerian princes, former Prime Ministers, ex convicts, footballers, boxers and extraordinary people from every walk of life. 


Free State is presented by Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning. Brolly is a barrister, an original thinker with a fascinating backstory, who donated a kidney to a stranger and then led a crusade to transform organ donation on the island of Ireland, and Fanning is an award-winning interviewer and author. 


They are not motivational gurus or life coaches. They are two people from very different worlds, with one core belief uniting them - this is not a high performance podcast.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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  • 21 episodes
  • Updated Yesterday
  • Explicit

Episodes21

Newest first
  • Yesterday · 42 min

    Embrace the Mediterranean life. Embrace death.

    July was the driest July on record in Ireland and the second hottest since 1900. Most of us have enjoyed this summer but should we just now accept our Mediterranean climate and whistle past the climate graveyard. On Free State today we look at how climate and migration became weapons to protect the elites and sustain inequality. Dion and Joe look at the way the events in Ceuta were seized upon. It provided a backdrop for misinformation and fear and another chance to tell you your freedoms were under attack while your freedoms were being trampled on somewhere else. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • Tuesday · 47 min

    Merchants of doubt. The men who conspired to destroy the planet.

    In the 1980s, there were 21 days when the temperature in London reached 30 degrees. In 2026 there have been 24. In Greece, two died in a midair collision between helicopters fighting wildfires. France has seen the greatest civilian evacuation outside wartime as people flee the danger areas. And yet people will take issue with what they are seeing. On Free State we look at the movement that turned climate science into a climate debate. We examine how the methods that were used by big tobacco transferred to the climate arena. We look at how Brexit may be the model as the same alliance that drove the UK out of the EU, question the science as the world can burn so long as it doesn’t affect the bottom line Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • Saturday · 1 hr 2 min

    How John Ware searched for the truth in the darkness of the Troubles

    Running agents during the Troubles has become one of the darkest element of the history of the north. John Ware has covered this story since the 1970s and produced a ground breaking Panorama on the topic. Ware talks to Dion today about a lifetime covering this subject and the stories of Brian Nelson and Freddie Scappaticci. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • July 30 · 36 min

    Mayo vs Gianni Infantino

    Can you put a price on what we watched at Croke Park on Sunday? What would you sell a Mayo victory in the All Ireland for? We know that what we watched affects us in ways that money can’t buy but Gianni Infantino thinks he can sell the essence of sport. On Free State today Dion and Joe look at why sport is so important and why men like Infantino are a danger to the things that are most important in our lives. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • July 28 · 44 min

    How Mayo Shook Up the World (and Joe Brolly)

    Everybody wants to know how Mayo did it, but when something like this happens what is more important is why Mayo did it. Why did these players play without fear? Why did the world weep along with Mayo people on Sunday when they won the All Ireland? On Free State today we look at why Mayo were able to do what they did against Kerry. In a county that has been waiting for so long, Joe and Dion look at how Andy Moran didn’t run from the emotion but instead made it an ally and created an adrenaline loop for his side. Joe reflects on his comments about Mayo earlier in the year - and earlier in the decade and earlier in the century - and talks about what it was like to watch it unfold on Sunday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • July 25 · 48 min

    Joseph O'Neill on how the world got worse during the World Cup

    Will the world have changed thanks to the World Cup? Or did the world change while the World Cup was taking place and people were too busy watching the World Cup to notice. On Free State today, the great novelist Joseph O’Neill talks to Dion about what he learned watching the World Cup and how the authoritarian US regime prospered during the tournament as other authoritarian regimes prospered in the past. He talks us through his own views on the tournament and tells us the identity of the one team he can support unconditionally. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • July 23 · 37 min

    Death, taxes and Mayo’s sorrowful mysteries

    Mayo have been denied in All Irelands in every way possible - balls bouncing over the bar, the referee blowing up early, own goals... they've also taken a few pastings along the way, but what will they do with the freedom they will have on Sunday? Somehow Mayo have reached an All Ireland final this year against all odds, but does that make this year different? Does everything change because it would be one of the most stunning shocks in history if Kerry lost? Does that give Mayo a freedom they’ve never had before or will it make no difference? On Free State today, we look at the lengths some teams go to win and the ways some find to lose. Does luck play a part when you lose by a point or is it about something more. Joe explains too why he will have a Mayo jersey with him on Sunday and why he hopes that finally the curse is ended. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • July 21 · 33 min

    Why the World Cup has nothing to do with sport

    Did the World Cup final hit different from the million dollar seats or was the best thing about them the helicopter that flew you back to New York City? On Free State, today we ask who mourns the end of Gianni Infantino’s dance with Donald Trump and the depraved nature of football today? Dion does and he explains why football still matters despite the decadence at the top of the game. Things get heated as they discuss it and Dion wonders if he’s talking to Joe or Fr Dougal. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • July 16 · 43 min

    Why England Lose: the true cost of professional sport

    England lost at the semi final stage again but what does how players are shaped for professional football tell us about how they perform? England lose when they play a team more cunning than them but they have a system designed for obedience. Kids will be dreaming of playing in a World Cup but what is the reality of professional sport. On Free State today we look at how the attritional nature of succeeding in sport can break so many who try to make it. And we ask what it does to those who succeed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • July 14 · 33 min

    How Mayo can win the All Ireland (don’t walk under any grand pianos)

    And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make. It made sense for Paul McCartney and it makes sense when we consider why we engage with whatever gives us pleasure in life. On Free State today we look at the meaning of sport. Why winning doesn’t matter as much as how sport makes you feel. Does this mean Mayo can win the All Ireland? Does it matter? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • July 11 · 41 min

    Putin's Billions: The oligarchs and stolen riches

    Martin Sixmith was the BBC's man in Moscow as the Soviet Union collapsed and Vladimir Putin came to power. In today's podcast he talks about his time in Russia, the fight for the billions lost and his time working on The Lost Child of Philomena Lee. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • July 7 · 37 min

    How to buy a World Cup, feat Donald Trump and Gianni Infantino

    Donald Trump destroys everyone in his orbit. His transactional nature means that eventually whoever is close to him is ruined Gianni Infantino might soon know how that feels. ‘I regularly discuss matters related to the FIFA World Cup with the President of the United States,’ Infantino said as he explained how FIFA had lifted the suspension on the USA forward Folarin Balogun. “During our conversation, I explained that there was an ongoing legal process involving FIFA’s independent judicial bodies and that the case would be decided in due course by the competent bodies. That is how FIFA’s system works, and it is a principle that I will always uphold.” On Free State, we look at those principles and how they fit in with Donald Trump’s. The White House insists that Trump’s only concern is the American people. As he spends every hour thinking about them, he just happens to have made more than a billion dollars from crypto in his first year back in office. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • July 4 · 48 min

    Original Sin: The man who shaped modern football

    You might not have heard of Helenio Herrera but without him, you might not have the modern football manager. Herrera was a lowdown and a dirty football manager who wasn't so much a pragmatist as an absolutist. He was full of contradictions: he hated his players having sex but he ruined many lives with his own pursuit of sex. He would do anything to win and stopped at nothing for victory. He wasn't a pragmatist, it was more pathological than that. On Free State today, Dion talks to Richard Fitzpatrick about HH and how he shaped the modern football world, for better and for worse. Although not a lot of it was for the better. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • July 2 · 48 min

    How the Gambling Industry Hijacks Young Brains

    The World Cup continues to captivate. France stunned the world with their performance against Sweden, with a display of pace and skill that was as good as anything witnessed in the competition. But what is the hidden World Cup? What is the secret anguish that this and all sporting events facilitate. In their final episode in this series looking at the dangers of online gambling, Joe and Dion look at how the dopamine hit is so carefully regulated and how the ebb and flow of sporting events became another hook. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • June 30 · 47 min

    Addiction by Design-How we became the gambling industry’s lab rats

    How many times do you look at your smartphone each day? How often do you pick it up? How aware are you of how it makes you feel? On Thursday’s Free State we looked at how gambling has got out of control. Today Dion and Joe examine how what we are dealing with is an entirely new phenomenon, a supercharged addiction of smartphone and gambling, a dopamine hit of huge power. We look at the demographic most affected and ask when will people do enough to help them? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • June 27 · 1 hr 8 min

    Why the west stayed silent over genocide

    When Fintan Drury wrote his first book on Palestine - Catastrophe, Nakba II, the manner in which it resonated with people told its own story. Now he has written Genocide - Sponsoring the destruction of Palestine, another searing and detailed account of how the Palestinian people have been failed. He talks to Dion about why now is the time to act. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • June 25 · 51 min

    The Imitation World Cup - Gamble Responsibly (LOL)

    The 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act prohibited betting on baseball, basketball, American football and most other sports in nearly every US state. In 2018, the Supreme Court declared the act unconstitutional, opening up America to a stampede of betting. On Free State today we look at how the gambling industry achieved such prominence and how they made gamblers feel that the problem wasn’t them it was you. With tens of billions being bet on the World Cup and prediction markets like Polymarket allowing people to take a position on everything, we wonder where it will end? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • June 23 · 34 min

    Can the World Cup save America?

    ‘I have come to sell a product called soccer.’ The former FIFA president Joao Havelange announced himself in 1974 with these words. They have been the model for the expansionist, grasping FIFA that has existed to this day. But maybe what matters was not the product but everything but the product? On Free State today we look at why the World Cup matters and why it might be everything that Donald Trump’s America is not. From David Clifford and Kerry to Messi and Argentina, sport is what it is because of the communities that are brought together. Could it be that as America experiences the World Cup, they see that the world is a better place than their leaders want them to believe? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.