The FAI have decided to move Ireland’s game against Israel to a neutral venue. But is this a pragmatic move or another attempt to avoid making a principled decision?

On Free State today Joe and Dion talk to Sinead Gibney of the Social Democrats about why this is a cop out.

Would there be consequences for Ireland if they refused to play the game or would it lead to others following?

Sinead Gibney explains why this is a moral issue and even if Ireland were removed as hosts of the Euros in two years, they should refuse to play. The decision to move the game doesn’t address the moral core of the problem.

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John Kampfner doesn’t believe there is a better way, he believes there is only one way for western democracies to survive.

On Free State today he talks about what democracies have to do to survive. They - we - are drinking in the last chance saloon he says. He explains why there has to be a reckoning and why so many politicians do not have the capability to change.

He speaks about his new book Braver New World which we have discussed on the podcast and where in the world countries are doing things differently. If the rest of us don’t do the same, there will be trouble ahead.

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Have you been watching Love Island? As part of his deep research for the podcast, Dion has and on today’s Free State he shares his concerns about Fitzy and the world he has walked in to.

Joe encouraged Dion to watch it but hasn’t done so himself but he marvels at the Love Island universe and what it contains.

Yet it is the universe of the late great Frank McGuigan that holds his attention. Joe recalls a player of preternatural gifts whose genius drew people to him and whose vulnerability ensured they always willed him on.

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