As the Christmas spirit makes way for new year resolve, Claire Brock declares this “a time for giving back”. And while Brock – standing in as guest host on Today with David McCullagh (RTÉ Radio 1, weekdays) – is specifically referring to an item on volunteering, she displays her own charitable side by preserving the final embers of seasonal afterglow for her listeners.
This is no mean feat. As she helms the current affairs magazine, Brock has a full in-tray of gloomy news stories to work through, from the uncertain prospects for peace in Ukraine to the precarious ceasefire in Gaza. And sure enough, she hosts suitably downbeat discussions on these topics. But while none of this boosts any lingering festive cheer, Brock softens the blow by wrapping such segments deep within an insulating layer of more sanguine items, by turns aspirational and useful.
Among the latter category is Wednesday’s segment on what to do with unwanted presents, an awkward if inevitable dilemma at this time of year. “Sometimes gifts don’t necessarily hit the mark,” consumer columnist Caitríona Redmond notes tactfully, while her host sums up the phenomenon in equally diplomatic terms: “I appreciate the thought, but it’s just not me.” (Remember that line the next time you receive a pair of novelty socks.) More helpful advice comes from Pauline McDonogh of Mywaste.ie on disposing of the discarded packaging and ripped gift wrap accumulating in homes everywhere. “You’re now staring at a pile of recyclables, I know you are,” the host remarks, slightly sternly but probably accurately.
[ Christmas, done and dusted. But what can I do to cut down on waste next time?Opens in new window ]
Other items speak of fresh starts, such as the discussion on volunteering, which has Brock’s guests describing how they give their time to a charity or a hospice; the conversation is suitably inspirational, shining a light on a vital if often overlooked sector. Meanwhile, goals of a more predictable variety are covered on Tuesday’s show when personal trainer Karl Henry shares tips on getting fit. As a subject, it’s a hardy annual, though it seems unfair to raise it in the days before New Year’s Eve, when many listeners may prefer to slump on the sofa in guilt-free fashion, with the last selection box for company. Read the room, Claire!
Such minor misjudgments aside, Brock is a quietly formidable presence as she deputises for McCullagh. Formerly presenter of The Tonight Show on Virgin Media TV and latterly a regular substitute host on Radio 1, she handles topical stories with the deft authority one expects from a broadcaster of her pedigree. And while not one of nature’s comedians, she approaches lighter material with an easy manner.
Moreover, Brock highlights an issue of everyday relevance that might otherwise slip by during the holiday break, when she hears of Government plans to purchase vacant buildings and convert them into State-run childcare facilities. With 40,000 young children on creche waiting lists nationwide, it appears a laudable scheme, backed by €177 million in funding. But when Brock asks Elaine Dunne of the Federation of Early Childhood Providers for her reaction, the answer comes as a jolt.
“We know nothing about it, there’s been no consultation whatsoever,” says Dunne, who wonders how such facilities will be staffed: “We can’t get staff anywhere.” Given the State has long outsourced responsibility for childcare to the private sector, such caveats are surely worth heeding, but Dunne says her organisation has yet to meet with Minister for Children Norma Foley. Brock’s coverage hardly inspires confidence, but raises important questions that Government needs to address if the plan isn’t to fizzle out like so many other well-intentioned new year resolutions.
Brock also brings a sense of solidity to Radio 1’s holiday schedule, otherwise dominated by a motley selection of idiosyncratic factual programming and music shows. Some of the documentaries are quirkily arresting – The Intangibles (RTÉ Radio 1, Tuesday) has producer Jim O’Donoghue Martin meeting people who maintain bygone traditions and crafts, such as letterpress printing and mummery – while others are more conventional, such as Rory McIlroy’s Holywood Ending (RTÉ Radio 1, Tuesday).
The plodding pun of the title – it’s the winningest golfer’s Co Down hometown, geddit? – gives a taste of the documentary’s unabashedly laudatory tone. One may wonder whether the fabulously rewarded McIlroy needs yet more accolades for his Augusta Masters triumph, but the documentary also provides a salutary reminder of the verbal abuse he endured from American spectators at the Ryder Cup. Fellow Irish golfer Shane Lowry recalls how he and McIlroy resolved to face the yobbish behaviour with “excellency and class”. His somewhat odd phrasing notwithstanding, Lowry makes a good point: class was conspicuously absent from the crowd.
Similarly, Radio 1’s roster is largely denuded of its usual programmes and indeed presenters. Barry Lenihan, filling in as anchor of Drivetime (RTÉ Radio 1, weekdays), impishly alludes to the absence of regular hosts when opening the show: “No need to adjust the wireless.” But like Brock, Lenihan performs his role ably.
On Tuesday, the presenter hears Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín outline how his party is protesting against newly-introduced toll increases on the M50 and other motorways. Lenihan first asks his guest what form the protests will take: reasonable enough, given that further blocking the chronically congested highway would hardly be noticed. (As the jazz age writer Dorothy Parker acidly remarked on the death of somnambulant US president Calvin Coolidge: “How can they tell?”)
Tóibín says his party’s campaign will consist of banners on bridges over the M50, but is more interested in complaining that the motorway has become a cash cow for the State rather than an efficient piece of infrastructure. “The idea that people have to pay jacked-up toll costs for the pleasure of sitting in traffic that’s hardly moving is an absolute disgrace,” he says, a characterisation that is hard to disagree with, whatever one’s political persuasion. Tóibín goes on to claim that better public transport would solve the country’s traffic woes; again, a suggestion that few would argue with, but also a resolution that somehow never gets followed up. Maybe this year will be different, but don’t hold your breath.
Moment of the Week
With Irish radio celebrating its centenary this year, there are few more apposite ways to usher in 2026 than by tuning into RTÉ Lyric Live with Paul Herriott (Lyric, New Year’s Eve), which has the presenter marking “a century of song, swing and soul” in the company of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. Broadcast live from the National Concert Hall, there’s an infectiously celebratory air to proceedings, as conductor and arranger Guy Barker oversees a host of singers and musicians as they run through exuberant renditions of classics from the last hundred years, by the likes of Jelly Roll Morton, Etta James, Al Green, Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles. As with the same event last year, the concert revels in the music of the past as it looks forward in joyous fashion, lifting the spirits of even the most curmudgeonly listener. Or critic, for that matter. Happy New Year.