Podcast Corner: Colm O'Regan goes behind the scenes with the Probation Service
Colm O'Regan. Picture: Denis Minihane.
Conversations on the Margins with Senator Lynn Ruane took us inside Ireland’s prison system, while the Bar of Ireland has an ongoing self-titled podcast series looking at various aspects to the legal system, past and present. Now we have On Probation, a six-episode podcast from the Probation Service, exploring the role of the service in building safer communities across Ireland. It’s responsible for the assessment and management of offenders in the community, providing services to adult and young offenders, in the community, in detention, and in custody.
The series is hosted by hosted by author, comedian, and Irish Examiner columnist Colm O’Regan, who talks with Probation Service staff, people with lived experience, victims, and key stakeholders, exploring a range of topics such as rehabilitation, reintegration, and restorative justice.
O’Regan says: “It helped me to challenge some of the misconceptions I had about criminal offending. I realised that it’s not about being ‘soft on crime’, that you need to understand the underlying causes of crime, and overcoming inequalties and barriers to social inclusion if we’re to reduce reoffending.”
The first of the weekly episodes was released on Monday, October 1. Titled ‘A Unique Relationship’, it’s a conversation between Neil, a senior probation officer, and Derek, a probation service client. O’Regan says theirs must be one of the more unusual working relationships, having met at Mountjoy Prison in 2001.
It helped Derek turn both his life, and the lives of others, around. Derek explains how cold and intimidating he found the system as a young man. Neil agrees: “Sometimes as a service, we can be too formal.”
Of course it’s an interesting dynamic and it’s clear they have a good relationship. Derek says: “The biggest impact that people have made on my life has not been from family members, it’s been from other professionals, people who you meet along the way who really care, that really want to help, and so on.”
Clocking in at between 40 minutes to over an hour, future episodes look at, among other topics, the delivery of probation services, the important role played by community-based organisations, and restorative justice.
The Irish Examiner business podcast returns for a second season of interviews with a variety of individuals working across myriad sectors.
Hosted by Cáit Caden, the first guest is Samantha Barry. Born in Ballincollig, Cork, she is editor-in-chief of Glamour magazine and talks to Caden about topics including her own journey to New York City, her appetite for hard news, and how media companies like Glamour are coping in 2024 and whether they’re feeling their own cost-of-living crisis.
“My staff is front and centre of the content, and that’s been a big push for us this year,” explains Barry, adding: “The constant in media is change.”
